TRANSACTIONS OF THE BERLIN LABOUR CONFERENCE, DEALING WITH MATTERS
BEYOND THE RANGE OF LABOUR PROTECTION; DALE'S DEPOSITIONS ON COURTS OF
ARBITRATION, AND THE SLIDING SCALE OF WAGES IN MINING.
The demand for a legal minimum wage, for wage tariffs, and the sliding
scale of wages, form no part of Labour Protection. The State cannot, as
we have seen, regulate wages directly, but only indirectly, by favouring
an adjustment of wages that shall be fair to each side. But even in
measures of that kind it does not interfere for the purpose of
protecting the persons of the wage earners in their _relations of
dependence_ on the employer. Politico-social proposals for indirectly
influencing the movement of wages, do not for this very reason, belong
to Labour Protection, in the sense which I have assigned to the term in
this book. Therefore, I shall content myself, on the one hand, with
clearing up a misunderstanding concerning the minimum wage and the wage
tariff; and on the other hand, with supplementing my former contribution
to the subject (_Jahrg., 1889, Die Zeitschrift fuer die gesammte
Staatswissenschaft_) from the reports of the Berlin Conference, having
special reference to the regulation of wage in the English mining
industries.
These proposals, dealing with minimum wage and the wage tariff, which I
shall now introduce into my treatise on Labour Protection, do not aim at
enforcing a minimum rate of wage from above, regardless of the
individual value of the labour, they merely aim at providing as far as
possible a stable adjustment and classification of efforts and rewards
between the whole body of employers and the whole body of workers in any
branch of industry or industrial district, _i.e._ at substituting
_general_ for _individual_ control, for the protection not of the worker
alone, but also of the employer, _i.e._ against exploiting competitors.
In Germany the printers have led the way; the number of their followers
in other industries is increasing. But this is a matter that must be
settled by the two classes, not by the State.
Questions of wage policy, however, even when unconnected with protective
policy, are often drawn into discussions on protective policy; and even
the Berlin Conference, which was officially designated[14] "an
international conference on the regulation of labour in industrial
establishments, and in mining industries," frequently overstepped the
limits of questions of purely protective policy. I feel myself fully
justified, therefore, in touching upon a few of the further questions
dealt with by the Conference.
In an earlier treatise, written before the proclamation of the Imperial
Decree of February 4th, 1890, I pointed out the need for the special
cultivation of Labour Protection in mining industry, particularly in
coal mining, and I expressed an opinion as to the advisability of
establishing government mines as a kind of politico-social model to the
rest; while, on the other hand, I declared against the necessity for the
nationalisation of coal mines.
Pamphlets of an opposing tendency, which circulated freely in the wake
of the great coal strike of 1889, have, it is true, brought to light
more and more reliable evidence; but hitherto I have found in them
nothing to shake my confidence in the correctness of my fundamental
contention: as far as I am concerned, I await without anxiety the issue
of the latest Coal Trust.
As I pointed out in the same treatise, the special danger of the strike
agitation, attacking as it does the very centres of activity and
channels of healthy movement in the social body, has unfortunately been
only too fully exemplified. The coal strike, and the railway and dock
strikes, have become samples, and are triumphantly quoted as typical
instances of the success of the method.
In the same treatise I raised the question whether the branches of
industry under consideration should be constituted a department of the
public service, involving special obligations and special safeguards
against breach of contract, but also ensuring special security of work
and a good standard of pay. This question has also risen to a high level
of importance since that time; it does not, however, belong to the
sphere of Labour Protection, and in this treatise I must therefore leave
it on one side.
But I consider myself bound to supplement the information given as to
the means of avoiding strikes in the mining industry by bringing forward
the communications made by the best informed English expert, who sat in
the Berlin Conference (session of March 4). The reports read as follows:
"Mr. Dale reminded the Conference that about twenty-five years ago
numerous and protracted strikes took place in the north of England (in
mining). In consequence of this, the employers met together to discuss
means of regulating the wage question. At first they refused to treat
with the workmen _in corpore_, but they finally decided on the advice of
a few of their number more far-seeing than the rest, to recognise the
union of miners belonging to one and the same mining district. This
principle once admitted formed the groundwork of the prevailing system
of the day for the settlement of all disputes. This method has obtained
for twenty years. At first the representatives of the employers and
workmen were only summoned to negotiate on special questions. The
principle of settlement by arbitration was admitted in all questions,
and was applied in the following manner: each party nominates an equal
number of arbitrators, usually two, and these elect an umpire; this last
office is willingly accepted by persons of the highest standing. Since
the questions laid before the board of arbitration mostly concern the
relation of wages to the market price of coal, this relation has to be
first ascertained from examination of the employers' books by a legally
qualified auditor, before a decision can be given. The most important
experimental method, which has so far been adopted for regulating the
relations between the rate of wage and the market price, has been the
sliding scale. The sliding scale aims at the establishment of a
numerical ratio between the rate of wage and the price of coal. At first
this was sometimes determined by the following method: five consecutive
years are taken, in the course of which considerable fluctuations have
taken place in the market prices and the price of coal (the latter
brought about by strikes, agreements, and arbitration). These five years
are divided into twenty quarters; the average price of coal and the
average rate of wage for each quarter is ascertained, and by this means
the numerical ratio of the two amounts to each other is determined. The
average of these numerical ratios is taken to express the normal
relation which must exist between the rate of wage and and the market
price of coal. Upon the scale thus determined the average market price
for all coal produced in the district for the last preceding quarter is
reckoned. The required numerical normal proportion between prices and
wages is now computed on this basis, and the rate of wage for the
current quarter thus determined. This calculation takes place for every
ensuing quarter. These calculations are made by two qualified auditors,
who are appointed by the labourers' union and the employers' union. The
books of all the works are submitted to these experts, who are bound to
the strictest secrecy as to the information thus obtained. They confine
themselves to the task of attesting: (1) that during the latest
preceding quarter, the average price of coal in the district is such and
such; (2) that such and such a rate of wage results therefrom. In this
way the workmen obtain, without the necessity of negotiation, of
strikes, or arbitration, the same wages which they could not otherwise
have obtained except by repeated efforts. The numerical ratio between
wages and market prices is generally fixed for two years. After that
time each party may give a half year's notice; but during six years, the
first sliding scale introduced has only been subjected to very slight
alterations. Notice will shortly be given by the employers in
Northumberland and the miners in Durham. Mr. Dale believes that this
double notice does not aim at the abolition of the system, but only at
revision of the existing scale. In the districts where for the moment
the sliding scale has been abolished, an attempt is being made to take
the nearest conjectural price of the current quarter as the basis,
instead of the price of the previous quarter. In this way the workmen
would receive official information as to the market prices, which would
be a great advantage, for strikes are most frequently caused by the
ignorance of the workmen as to the real position of the coal trade. As
to local questions which do not affect the whole district, they are
settled by so-called 'joint committees,' or mixed commissions formed by
an equal number of workmen and employers; either the President of the
county court, or some other person of high position, is chosen as
chairman. These commissions meet generally once a fortnight; their
decisions operate from the date of the complaint. Mr. Dale asserts that
the heads of the labour unions are, for the most part, intelligent men,
and when this is the case, the relations between workmen and employers
are easily arranged; in Durham, _e.g._, the miners union has four
secretaries, who devote their whole time to the affairs of the
association. In this district more than 500 disputes yearly are settled
by the joint committee."
At the request of the President, Mr. Dale gave some information as to
the strike of the past year; it did not affect the northern district
where good relations existed, although notice had previously been given
on the sliding scale. He further pointed out that former strikes had
often been caused by the fault of the foremen, who treated the workmen
with undue harshness. "The introduction of joint committees, on which
the workmen are equally represented, has had the effect of establishing
better relations between the foremen and the miners. Mr. Dale considers
this the best system for the avoidance of crises. The decisions
pronounced by the board of arbitration, and by the joint committees, are
generally accepted; thus the principle of decision by arbitration takes
the place of that of decision by strikes."
FOOTNOTE:
[14] Concluding speech of the Prussian Minister of Commerce.