In 1859, in order to remove certain doubts which had arisen as to the true import and meaning of the undefined words " molestation " and " obstruction," it was provided by an amending act that " no person, by reason merely of his endeavouring peaceably and in a reasonable manner, and without threat or intimidation, direct or indirect, to persuade others to cease or abstain from work, in order to obtain the rate of wages or the altered hours of labour agreed to by him and others, should be deemed to have been guilty of ` molestation ' or ` obstruction.' " In spite of the partial recognition which trade unions had thus received, they continued to be unlawful, although not necessarily criminal, associations. In certain cases, As of they were by statute exempted from penal con sequences, and their members were empowered to combine for specified purposes, and to collect funds by voluntary contributions for carrying them into effect. But in the estimation of the common law the special privileges which had been accorded to them under particular circumstances did not confer any general character of legality upon them, and where their rules were held to be in restraint of trade, as in the prohibition of piece-work or the limitation of the number of apprentices, they were still regarded as conspiracies. In this condition the law was when what became notorious as the " Sheffield and Manchester outrages " suggested the appointment of the royal commission on trade unions, which investigated the subject from 1867 to 1869. The outcome was, first, a temporary measure for the more effectual protection of the funds of trade unions, passed in 1869, and, secondly, the two measures which, as amended and amending, are cited together as the " Trade Union Acts 1871 and 1876." Under these statutes, construed with the Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act 1875, the law relating to combinations, whether of workmen or of masters, entered upon a new phase. In connexion with trade disputes no person can be prosecuted for conspiracy to commit an act which would not be criminal if committed by him singly. The purposes of a trade union are not to be deemed illegal merely because they are in restraint of trade, and the circumstance that they are in restraint of trade is not to render any member of it liable to prosecution, nor is it to avoid or make voidable any agreement or trust relating to it. No court, however, can entertain legal proceedings with the object of directly enforcing or recovering damages for the breach of an agreement between the members of a trade union as such, concerning the conditions on which the members for the time being shall or shall not sell their goods, transact their business, employ or be employed, or the payment by any person of any subscription or penalty to a trade union, or for the application of the funds of a trade union to provide benefits or to furnish contributions to my employer or workman not a member of such trade union in consideration of such employer or workman acting in conformity with the rules or resolutions of such trade union, or to discharge any fine imposed upon any person by any court of justice or any agreement made between one trade union and another, or any bond to secure such agreement. But such incapacity to sue on such agreements is not to be taken as constituting any of them illegal. Every person, however, commits a misdemeanour, and on conviction is liable to a maximum fine of Sao, or to a maximum imprisonment of three months with hard labour, who wilfully and maliciously breaks a contract of service or hiring, knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that the probable consequence of his so doing, either alone or in combination with others, will be to endanger human life or cause serious bodily injury, or to expose valuable property, whether real or personal, to destruction or serious injury; or, who, being employed by a municipal authority or by any company or contractor on whom is imposed by act of parliament, or who have otherwise assumed, the duty of supplying any place with gas or water, wilfully and maliciously breaks a contract of service or hiring, knowing, or having reasonable cause to believe, that the probable consequence of his so doing, alone or in combination with others, will be to deprive the inhabitants of that place, wholly or in part, of their supply of gas or water; or who, with a view to compel any other person to
do or to abstain from doing any act which such other person has a right to abstain from doing or to do, wrongfully and without legal authority uses violence to or intimidates such other person or his wife or children, or injures his property, or who persistently follows such person about from place to place, or who hides any tools, clothes or other property owned or used by such other person, or deprives him of or hinders him in the use thereof, or who watches or besets the house or other place where such person resides or works or carries on business or happens to be, or the approach to such house or place, or who follows such other person with two or more other persons in a disorderly manner in or through any street or road. Attending at or near the house or place where a person resides or works or carries on business, in order merely to obtain or communicate information was not watching or besetting within the statute, but this proviso has since been repealed. In regard to registration, trade unions are placed on a similar footing with friendly and provident and industrial societies, and they enjoy all the privileges, advantages and facilities which those associations possess and command, except in so far as they differ by the fact that there is no legally enforceable contract between a trade union and its members, and that the right of a registered trade union to invest funds with the National Debt Commissioners is limited, and in a few other matters. On their side, however, they have to comply with the same conditions, are subject to the same liabilities, and are compelled to make the same periodical returns.
During the years following 1876 several important amendments of the law, other than special trade union legislation, Later and the decisions of the courts in various cases, led L Legislation. up to the important act of 1906. These affected principally the liability of trade union funds to be taken in execution for the wrongful acts of agents of the union, the statute law relating to picketing and other incidents of strikes, and the law of conspiracy as affecting trade unions.
| UNITED KINGDOM] | | The two latter points are dealt with in the article on Strikes And Lock-Outs, and it may suffice here to say that the clauses in the act of 1875 prescribing punishment for watching and besetting a house, &c., with the view of compelling any other person in the manner set forth, have been amended by the repeal of the proviso that " Attending at or near the house or place where a person resides, or works, or carries on business, or happens to be, or the approach to such house or place, in order merely to obtain or communicate information, shall not be deemed a watching or besetting within the meaning of this section " by the enactment in the act of 1906 that " It shall be lawful for one or more persons, acting on their own behalf or on behalf of a trade union or of an individual employer or firm in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute, to attend at or near a house or place where a person resides or works or carries on business or happens to be, if they so attend merely for the purpose of peacefully obtaining or communicating information, or of peacefully persuading any person to work or abstain from working." The object was to include the right of peaceful persuasion which had been supposed by parliament be implied in the terms of the act of 1875. Further, the law of conspiracy has been amended by enactments in the act of 1906 that: " An act done in pursuance of an agreement or combination by two or more persons shall, if done in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute, not be actionable unless the act if done without any such agreement or combination would be actionable," and " An act done by a person in contemplation or furtherance of a trade dispute shall not be actionable on the ground only that it induces some other person to break a contract of employment or that it is an interference with the trade, business or employment of some other person, or with the right of some other person to dispose of his capital or his labour as he wills." The act of 1875, in the words of Lord Cairns, was framed on the principle that " the offences in relation to trade disputes should be thoroughly known and understood, and that persons should not be subjected to the indirect and deluding action of the old law of conspiracy," but no one during the discussion of the bill was thinking of the civil action. This matter became important when the dicta of various judges in the House of Lords in the case of Quinn v. Leathem showed that there might be an action for damages based on any conspiracy to injure or do harm, particularly when it is considered that the very essence of a strike is in one sense injury to those against whom it is directed, and these opinions became of the utmost import to trade unions when the Taff Vale case showed that the fact of procuring to strike might also involve trade union funds in liability, even where there had been no procuring to break contracts. This important decision arose through the amendment of general procedure under the Judicature Acts in 1881. The distinction was abolished between legal and equitable rules as regards parties to sue and be sued, and in 1883 there was issued a General Order No. xvi. of the supreme court, rule 9 of which prescribed that where there. are numerous parties having the same interest in one cause or matter, one or more of such persons may sue or be sued, or may be authorized by a court or judge to defend in such cause or matter, on behalf or for the benefit of all persons so interested. It was decided in Temperton v. Russell in 1893 where three trade unions were made defendants to represent all the members, and the order did not apply in the case of a trade union, because the words of the order " numerous parties having the same interest in one cause or matter " could only be satisfied by parties who had, or claimed to have, a beneficial proprietary right which they were asserting or defending, from which it was inferred that they could not be sued at all, and in the report of the Royal Commission on Labour in 1894 the opinion was either assumed or expressly stated that they could not be sued in tort. In 1901 the House of Lords overruled Temperton v. Russell in the case of the Duke of Bedford v. Ellis, holding that the General Order No. xvi. rule 9, was universal in its application. In the same year the Taff Vale case came before the House of Lords. In the first place, expounding the Trade Union Act 1871,., they held unanimously that from the provisions in that act concerning registered trade unions there is to be legally inferred an intention of parliament that a trade union might be sued in tort in its registered name, with the conse- Taff Vale quence that trade union funds would be liable for any damages that might be awarded. Secondly - apart from the Trade Union Act - Lord Macnaghten and Lord Lindley expressed an unhesitating opinion that under the General Order No. xvi. as interpreted in Duke of Bedford v. Ellis, any trade union, whether registered or not, could be sued in tort by means of a representative action. Trade unionists protested against the result as a decision of judges making a practically new law against trade unions and nullifying the settlement of their status made by the legislature in 1871, and in June 1903 a royal commission was again appointed to inquire into the subject of trade disputes and trade combinations and as to the law affecting them, and to report on the law applicable to the same and the effect of any modifications thereof. The majority of the commission reported in January 1906 in favour of an alteration in the law relating to picketing and of conspiracy, but against any alteration of the law as laid down in the Taff Vale judgment. A different view was, however, expressed in the Trade Disputes Act passed in the same year, whereby it was enacted with reference to trades union funds that " an action against a trade union, whether of workmen or masters, or against any members or officials thereof on behalf of themselves and all other members of the trade union in respect of any tortious act alleged to have been committed by or on behalf of the trade union, shall not be entertained by any court, " although " nothing in this section shall affect the liability of the trustees of a trade union to be sued in the events provided for by the Trades Union Act 1871, section 9, except in respect of any tortious act committed by or on behalf of the union in contemplation or in furtherance of a trade dispute. " This act and the two previous acts are cited together as the Trade Union Acts 1871 to 1906, and form the present statutory enactments upon the subject. In December 1909 one of the most important judgments in connexion with trade unions was delivered in the case of Osborne v. Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants. The litigation had extended over two years, ending in the House of Lords (December 21, 1909) upholding the decision of the court of appeal (L.R. 1909, ch. 163). The plaintiff, who had been a member of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants since 1892, sued his trade union to have it declared that one of its current rules, which provided, amongst other things, for parliamentary representation and the enforced levy of contributions from him and other members of the society, towards the payment of salaries or maintenance allowance to members of parliament pledged to observe and fulfil the conditions imposed by the Labour Party, was ultra vices and void. It was decided in the King's Bench against the plaintiff, but the judgment was reversed by the court of appeal, whose decision was upheld by the House of Lords. This meant that the Labour Party in the House of Commons would have to find other ways and means than contributions from trade unionists to maintain their members in parliament. A voluntary levy was attempted, but did not meet with any success, and in 1910 agitation was set on foot by the Labour Party for the reversal of the " Osborne judgment. " They also announced in September their intention of making a change in the constitution of their party by eliminating the necessity of each member signing an acceptance of certain conditions, on the ground that the party had arrived at a state when it could trust to ordinary party loyalty to keep their members' action in accordance with the policy of the party. It was also hoped that it would meet many objections raised against their agitation for the reversal of the Osborne judgment. The agitation had the result of increasing the force of the movement for payment of members, not only in the Liberal party but also among the more progressive Conservatives. Trade unions, in the sense in which the term is now understood, appear to be almost exclusively of modern growth. Though combinations among various classes of less been formed from time to time from an early period, such combinations, up to comparatively recent years, were mostly ephemeral, almost the only class among whom permanent associations of journeymen are known to have existed in the middle ages being the masons, whose confederacies were prohibited by law in 1425. With this doubtful exception, there is little or no trace of permanent combinations corresponding to the modern trade union before the 18th century. During the period when wages and conditions of employment were the subject of State regulation under the Statute of Apprentices of Elizabeth), combinations to exact higher rates or other conditions than those so fixed were naturally regarded as illegal conspiracies. The craft gilds of the middle ages have sometimes been regarded as the true predecessors of trade unions, but the analogy must not be pressed too far. The structure, constitution and functions of a gild of craftsmen, aiming at the protection and regulation of the craft as a whole, were essentially different from those of a trade union, formed to protect one class of persons engaged in an industry against another. Nor is there any trace of direct continuity between gilds and trade unions, for the claim of certain Irish trade unions to be descended from gilds will not bear scrutiny (see Webb, History of Trade Unionism, appendix). The only true sense in which it can be said that there is a certain indirect historical filiation between gilds and trade unions is that, as pointed out by Brentano, some of the earliest trade unions had for their original object the enforcement of the decaying Elizabethan legislation, which in its turn had taken the place of the obsolete regulation of industry by the craft gilds, so that among the rules and objects of such unions would naturally be some bearing a likeness to gild regulations. The actual way in which trade unions first came into being probably varied very greatly. In some cases, as stated above, their origin can be definitely traced to associations for enforcing the legal regulation of industry against the opposition of employers; in others, the meetings of journeymen belonging to the same trade for such purposes as sick or burial clubs became naturally the nucleus of secret combinations to raise wages. The growth of the " capitalistic " system of industry, under which the workman no longer owned the materials or instruments with which he worked, was one of the most potent causes of the development of workmen's combinations. The efforts of trade unions to revive the enforcement of the Elizabethan legislation not only failed, but led to its repeal (1813-1814); but the laws against combinations, which had been made more stringent and more general by the acts of 1799-1800, remained unaltered until 1824. In spite of these acts, which made all combinations illegal, there is evidence that trade clubs of journeymen existed and were tolerated in many trades and districts during the first quarter of the 19th century, though they were always subject to the fear of prosecution if they took hostile action against employers; and in many cases strikes were suppressed by the conviction of their leaders under these acts or under the common law of conspiracy. The partial protection accorded to societies for the purpose of regulating wages and hours of labour by the law of 1825 led to a rapid multiplication and expansion of trade unions, and to an outburst of strikes, in which, however, partly owing to the widespread commercial depression, the workmen were mostly unsuccessful. Thus the first impetus given to trade unions by the modification of the combination laws was followed by a collapse, which in its turn was followed (in the third decade of the century) by a succession of attempts on the part of workmen to establish a federal or universal combination, to embrace members not of one but of several trades. To this new form of combination, which excited a good deal of alarm among employers, the term " trades union, " as distinct from trade union, was applied. All these _ general movements, however, proved short-lived, and the most extensive of them, the " Grand National Consolidated Trades Union," which was formed in 1834 and claimed half a million adherents, only had an active existence for a few months, its break-up being hastened by the conviction and transportation of six Dorchester labourers for the administration of unlawful oaths. In the years of depressed trade which followed, trade unionism once more declined, and the interest of workmen was largely diverted from trade combinations to more general political movements, e.g. Chartism, the Anti-Corn-Law agitation and Robert Owen's schemes of co-operation. From 1845 we trace another revival of trade unions, the workmen to improve their position have doubt p p characteristic tendency of this period being the amalgamation of local trade clubs to form societies, national in scope, but confined to single or kindred trades. High rates of contribution, and the provision of friendly as well as trade benefits, were among the features of the new type of union, of which the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, formed in 1851, was the most important example. The growth of unions of the new type was followed by a development of employers' associations in the 'sixties, and by a number of widespread strikes and lock-outs, and also by various efforts to promote arbitration and. conciliation by the establishment of joint boards of employers and employed. (See Arbitration And Conciliation and Strikes And Lock-Outs.) A series of outrages at Sheffield and Manchester in 1865-1866, in which officials of some local trade societies were implicated, led to the appointment in 1867 of a Royal Commission on Trade Unions, whose report was followed by the passage of the Trade Union Act of 1871, which as amended in 1876 and 1906 now governs the legal position of trade unions. Conferences of trade union representatives held in 1866 and 1867 to determine their policy with respect to the royal commission of inquiry, led to the gatherings of the trade union congress which are still held annually. The period of inflated trade which began in 1871 caused, as usual, another rapid growth of trade combinations, of which the most characteristic feature was their extension to agricultural and general labourers. To meet this new development of combination, the National Federation of Associated Employers of Labour was formed in 1873. The years of depression, 18 751880, were marked by a series of unsuccessful strikes against reductions of wages, and by a general decline of trade unions, which did not again revive until nearly ten years later, when the new wave of prosperous trade brought with it an outburst of strikes, chiefly among unskilled labourers, for improved conditions, of which the most notable was the strike of the London dock labourers in 1889. These trade movements were accompanied by the formation of a large number of unions of a type more akin to those of1830-1834than to the more modern trade-friendly society with its high contributions and benefits. The " new unions " were chiefly among unskilled labourers; their rates of contributions were from 1d. to 3d. a week, and as a rule they only offered strike benefit. Another characteristic was the extent to which their leaders were permeated with the Socialistic doctrines which had then recently taken root in Great Britain, and which led them to advocate positive state interference with industry in the interests of the labourers (e.g. the legal limitation of hours of labour). The reports of the Royal Commission on Labour, which sat from 1891 to 1894, contain much valuable information on the state of facts and on the opinions of employers and workmen at this period. From 1892 onwards the progress of trade unionism can be traced statistically. The depression of trade, 1892-1895, brought with it, as usual, some decline in trade unionism; but though many of the " new unions" collapsed, some of the more important have survived to the present time. The revival of trade which began in 1896 was naturally accompanied by an increase in the strength of trade unions; but the most marked characteristic of this period was the extension and consolidation of employers' associations, of which perhaps the most notable is the Engineering Employers' Federation, which was originally formed on the Clyde, but gradually extended to other districts and became a national organization of great strength during its successful struggle with the Amalgamated Society of Engineers in 1897-1898. Among the other more important employers' associations and federations of a national character may be mentioned the Shipping Federation, the Federated Coal Owners, the Ship-building Federation, the Federation of Master Cotton-Spinners' Associations, the National Federation of Building Trade Employers, and the Incorporated Federated Associations of Boot and Shoe Manufacturers. In 1899 a general federation of trade unions was established which had in 1907 a membership of 650,000 in 117 affiliated societies. This federation links the trade unions of the United Kingdom with those of other countries by its affiliation with the international federation of trade unions, which embraces the national federations of the principal European countries. During recent years there has been a noticeable tendency towards the creation of federations of trade unions, and the absorption of the smaller by the larger societies. Trade unions, both in their historical development and their present organization, present a very great variety of constitutions. The oldest type is that of the local trade club, con sisting of a comparatively small number of men Constitu- following the same occupation in the same locality. A large number of unions have never progressed beyond this primitive form of organization. The government is of the simplest kind, by a general assembly of all the members, while such officers as are required to carry on the necessary routine business of the society are chosen by rotation or even by lot. Indisposition to concentrate power in the hands of permanent officers and a tendency to divide the business of management equally among all the members, instead of delegating authority to a few chosen representatives, are leading characteristics of trade unions in this primitive form. The organization here described, even if adequate for ordinary current requirements, is ill suited for conducting a contest with employers, and accordingly in times of strife an improvised " strike committee " often comes into existence and practically governs the conduct of the dispute. No doubt this double constitution of the old trade club as a loosely organized friendly society, converting itself at times into a more or less secret strike combination ruled by an irresponsible committee, is to be traced to the time when trade unions as such were illegal combinations and had to carry out their objects under the guise of friendly societies. The Friendly Society of Ironfounders (established in 1809), though it has to a great extent outgrown its primitive constitution, retains in its name the mark of its origin, while the government of the London Society of Bookbinders, by mass meeting of its members, offers an example of the persistence of traditional methods under wholly changed conditions. The Sheffield trade clubs, responsible for the outrages which led to the appointment of the Trade Union Commission in 1867, and subsequently to the passage of the Trade Union Acts, conformed as a rule to the primitive type. At the present time over 750 trade unions are known to exist which are purely local in character, with no branches. The next step in trade union evolution seems to have generally been an alliance or federation of two or more local clubs belonging to the same trade. This federation would make it necessary to provide some machinery for common management, the simplest and crudest expedient being for each of the allied clubs to act in rotation as the governing branch. Thus 'the government of the federation or " amalgamated society " was _at any given time confided to the members of a single locality, and the seat of government was periodically shifted. Some federal societies (e.g. the Mutual Association of Journeymen Coopers) still retain this primitive form of government. As the tendency developed for local clubs to unite, the necessity of permanent officials to cope with the growing business of the amalgamation caused the institution of a paid secretary (usually elected by the whole body of members), and this led naturally to the fixing of the seat of administration at a particular centre instead of rotating among the branches. Some continuity of policy and of office tradition was thus made possible, but the executive committee almost invariably continued to consist of the local committee of the district where the seat of government happened to be. Thus up to 1892 the business of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, a society with hundreds of branches all over the United Kingdom and even abroad, was conducted by a committee elected by the London branches. The Boilermakers continued a somewhat similar form of government up to 1895; and many great societies, e.g. the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners, continue a somewhat similar system to the present day. The plan of entrusting the government of a national society to a local executive has obvious conveniences, where the society consists of a body of working men scattered over a large area and with no leisure for travelling. But the control exercised by a locally-elected committee over a general secretary deriving his authority not from them but from the vote of a much wider constituency, could hardly be expected to be very effective; while the expedients of referring all important questions to a vote of the whole body of members, and of summoning at periodical intervals special delegate meetings to revise the rules, have proved in practice but clumsy substitutes for the permanent control and direction of the executive officers by a representative council. Quite as ineffective in some cases has been the authority of a mere local executive over the committees of other districts. Accordingly, some of the largest " amalgamated " unions have now adopted a representative system of government. Thus in 1892 the Engineers revised their rules so as to provide for the election of the executive council by vote of all the members divided into eight equal electoral districts. The members of council so elected are permanent paid officials, devoting all their time to the work of the society. The general secretary, however, continues to be chosen by the whole body of members, while the responsibility of the council is also weakened by the institution of " district delegates " nominally responsible to them, but chosen by direct election in the various districts. (This division of authority and consequent weakness of responsibility was one of the causes of the state of things which led to the great engineering dispute of 1897, and it also led to a deadlock in negotiations on the north-east coast in 1908, the executive being powerless to enforce its views.) The Boilermakers adopted the system of a permanent executive in 1895. In the case of certain highly-localized industries, such as cotton and coal, the conditions have admitted of a somewhat different form of constitution from that describedabove. Thus the Amalgamated Association of Operative Cotton-Spinners is a federal organization, consisting of a number of local associations, all, however, situated within a comparatively small area. The governing bodies of the association are - (1) a quarterly meeting of about a hundred representatives of the districts; (2) an executive committee of thirteen chosen by the above representative meeting, of whom seven must be working spinners and the other six are usually permanent district officials; (3) a subcouncil to transact the ordinary daily work of the association, consisting of the six official members referred to above. The secretary is chosen by the representative meeting, and engages his own office assistants. Here we have the familiar features of representative institutions - a large legislative body, a small executive chosen by and responsible to this body, and a still smaller group of permanent officials to transact ordinary business. Lastly, there are some large societies constituted not by the aggregation of local clubs or the federation of neighbouring associations, but originally founded as " national societies " divided into districts and branches for administrative convenience. An example is the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, founded in 187 2. Besides the tendency of the national society with branches to swallow up the local trade club, there is a further tendency among the larger societies to form federations for certain common purposes. Such federations are to be distinguished from national trade unions, inasmuch as their members are societies and not individuals, and as a rule their powers over their constituent organizations are limited to certain specific objects. On the other hand, they are more than merely consultative bodies (such as local trades councils). Some federations consist of unions in the same industry in different districts (e.g. the Miners' Federation). " Single trade " federations like this have usually considerable powers, including that of imposing levies. In the cotton-spinning trade, the trade. union organization has a federal character, and the Amalgamated Association of Operative Cotton-Spinners, in spite of its name, is, strictly speaking, a federation. Other federations (e.g. in the building trade) are formed of allied trades in the same locality, and usually have little executive power. The Federation of Engineering and Shipbuilding Trades has among its objects the settlement of disputes between members of its constituent societies as to the limits of their work. Some federations aim at embracing societies in all kinds of industries, but as a rule such organizations have not proved long-lived. The most recent example is the " General Federation of Trade Unions," formed in 1899, referred to above. Since 1866 a congress of delegates from trade unions has met annually for discussion, and a parliamentary committee elected by this congress watches over matters in which trade unions are interested during the ensuing year. The principal object of every trade union is to protect the trade interests of its members, and to strengthen their position in bargaining with their employers with regard to the conditions under which they work. The chief means Objects y by which they seek to attain these objects (apart from political methods such as the promotion of legislation or of administrative action by public authorities) are twofold: viz. the support of members when engaged in a collective dispute with employers by the payment of " dispute " benefit, and the insurance of members against loss from want of work by the payment of " unemployed " benefit, so as to enable them to refuse any terms of employment inferior to those recognized by the trade union. All trade unions in one form or another provide " dispute " benefit, but a separate " unemployed " benefit is by nomeans universal, though, except in certain groups of trades, it is usual among more powerful and well established societies. Thus in the mining, clothing, and even many branches of the building trade, comparatively little is spent by trade unions on " unemployed " benefit, while, on the other hand, in the metal,. engineering, shipbuilding, printing and other trades a large proportion of the total expenditure is devoted to this object (see Statistics below). In some important societies, such as. the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, " unemployed " and " dispute " benefits are mixed up together, members engaged in a dispute receiving an addition of 5s. per week (known as. " contingent " benefit) to the ordinary out-of-work pay (known. as " donation "). Unemployed benefit may, of course, be regarded as a " friendly "' benefit, i.e. a provision against one class of the casualties to which a workman is exposed - the loss of employment through slackness of trade. But in practice it also operates as a method of maintaining the " standard " rate of wages, members being entitled to it who could obtain employment, but only on conditions disapproved by the society or branch. The conditions under which the members of a union are, entitled to financial support in a strike vary in different societies, and are prescribed in the rules. Usually, though the initiative may come from the localities, the central executive must approve of the strike before it takes place, and may at any time declare it to be closed, though in some societies the central authority is. often unwilling to take the responsibility of curbing its members, by exercising its powers in this respect. " Dispute " and " unemployed " benefits are the only ones which are specially characteristic of trade unions, and as regards, the latter benefit, it may be said that trade unions have hitherto been the only form of organization capable of meeting the difficulties arising. from " malingering." Most of the more firmly established unions, however, add to their trade functions. those of friendly societies, providing sick, accident, superannuation, and funeral benefits, or some of these. The position of a trade union, however, with regard to these benefits differs very materially from that of a friendly society. The trade union i"s. under no legally enforceable contract with its members to provide the stipulated benefits: it can change their scale, or even abolish them, by vote of its members, and a member who has contributed for years in hope of receiving them has no legal redress. Again, a member excluded from the society for some " trade " reason incidentally loses all claim to friendly benefits. The funds of a trade union applicable to trade and friendly purposes are never kept distinct (in the few cases in which some distinction is attempted, the society may " borrow " from the one fund in aid of the other in case of emergency); and a prolonged strike or depression of trade may so deplete the funds as to make it impossible for the society to meet its engagements as regards sickness or superannuation. Thus the friendly society operations of trade unions have strictly no actuarial basis, and in some cases the scale of contribution and benefit have been fixed with little regard to ultimate solvency. On the other hand, the power of levying and varying the scale of contributions adds to some extent to the financial stability of the funds, and the provision of " friendly " as well as " trade " benefits by a trade union undoubtedly gives strength and continuity to the society, and increases its power of discipline over its members. Societies that only provide " dispute " pay are exposed to violent oscillations of membership, and also to a dangerous temptation to rush into an ill-considered strike owing to the mere accumulation of funds which can be used for no other purpose. The statistics of trade union expenditure on benefits of various classes are given below. Of the Ioo principal unions, all provide dispute benefit; 79 in the year 1905 provided unemployed benefit (including in some cases travelling pay); 7 9, sick or accident benefit; 37, superannuation benefit; and 87, funeral benefit; 32 unions providing all four classes of benefit. One of the most important functions of trade unions in many industries is the negotiation of agreements with employers and employers' associations for the regulation of the conditions of employment in those industries. While undoubtedly the power of withdrawing its members from employment in the last resort adds to the power of a trade union in such negotiations, many of the most important agreements by which the conditions of labour of large bodies of workmen are governed are habitually concluded, and from time to time revised, by conferences of representatives of the trade union and employers without any strike taking place. To the functions of trade unions as fighting organizations and as friendly benefit societies should therefore be added that of providing the necessary machinery and basis for the conclusion of industrial agreements between bodies of workpeople and their employers (see Arbitration And Concilia Tion, and Strikes And Lock-Outs). While the broad objects of trade union policy are generally similar, their methods and features vary greatly in detail. Among the objects most frequently met with (besides those of raising wages and shortening hours, which may be said to be universal) are the enforcement of a " minimum " wage; the limitation of overtime; the restriction of numbers in the trade through the limitation of apprentices, or the regulation of the age of entrance; the restriction or regulation of piecework (in trades accustomed to " time " work); the preservation for members of the trade of the exclusive right to perform certain classes of work claimed by other trades (leading to so-called " demarcation " disputes); resistance to the encroachment of labourers on work considered to be " skilled " (leading to disputes as to the class of persons to be employed on machines, &c.); and the securing of a monopoly of employment for members of the union by a refusal to work with non-unionists. | Year. | Number of Unions. | Membership of Unions.' | 1897 | 1292 | 1,622,713 | 1898 | 1261 | 1,659,480 | 1899 | 1255 | 1,820,755 | 1900 | 1244 | 1,928,035 | 1901 | 1238 | 1,939,585 | 1902 | 1203 | 1,925,800 | 1903 | 1187 | 1,903, 596 | 5904 | 1153 | 1,864,374 | 1905 | 1136 | 1,887,823 | 1906 | 1161 | 2,106,283 1 Includes a small number of members abroad. The statistics of trade unions are very complete for recent years, but for earlier years the records are so fragmentary that it is impossible to give exact figures showing the total growth of trade unions over a long period. The table at foot of preceding column, based on the statistics published by the board of trade, shows the number and membership of all trade unions in the United Kingdom making continuous returns for each of the ten years 1897 to 1906. The fluctuations in membership correspond in the main to the oscillations of trade, membership declining in the years of depression and increasing with the revival of trade. The decline in the number of separate unions is chiefly due to the growing tendency to amalgamate into large societies. | Groups of Unions. | v u ,.c 5 2 | Membership in 1905. | Number. | Percentage of Total. | Mining and quarrying.. . | 68 | 495,968 | 26 | Metal engineering and shipbuilding | 222 | 339,282 | 18 | Textile | 253 | 2 39,539 | 13 | Building. .. . | 101 | 205,383 | II | Railway, dock and other transport | 55 | 162,563 | 9 | Public employment. . | 48 | 72,182 | 4 | Printing, bookbinding and paper . | 40 | 62,368 | 3 | Clothing. . | 35 | 60,407 | 3 | Wood-working and furnishing | Ioo | 40,115 | 2 | General labour | 18 | 96,094 | 5 | All other unions | 196 | 113,922 | 6 | Total.. . | 1136 | 1,887,823 | Ioo The following table shows the distribution of trade unions among the various groups of trades in 1905: - This table shows that the strength of trade unionism lies in the five first-named groups of trades - mining; metal engineering and shipbuilding; textile; building; and railway, dock and other transport - which among them account for over three-quarters of the total membership. In agriculture, trade unionism is at present practically nonexistent, but in 1875 there were important unions of agricultural labourers, though at no time did they include any considerable proportion of the total agricultural population. Taking the men belonging to all trade unions together, we find that their number does not amount to more than about one in five of the adult men who belong to the classes from which trade unionists are drawn. Only in a few groups do trade unionists form a high percentage of the total working population, e.g. coal-mining and cotton manufacture. The number of women belonging to trade unions at the end of 1906 was 162,453, distributed among 156 unions, of which, however, only 28 consisted exclusively of women. The great bulk of women trade unionists are found in the cotton trade, in which they actually outnumber the male members. Of all the women employed in factories and workshops, about one in twelve belongs to a trade union. The available statistics with regard to the financial resources of trade unions, and their expenditure on various objects, are not so complete as those of membership, as the board of trade figures only relate to Ioo of the principal unions. As, however, these unions include nearly two-thirds of the total membership, the figures showing their financial position may be accepted as being representative of the whole number of societies. In 1906 the income of these Ioo societies was £2,344,157 or 36s. 92d. per head; and their expenditure £1,958,676 or 30s. 9d. per head; and at the end of the year the funds in hand amounted to £5,198,536 or 81s. 74d. per head. The actual rates of contribution per member vary greatly among the unions - from 7s. up to £4 per annum. Generally speaking, the highest income per member is found among the unions in the metal, engineering and shipbuilding group, where in 1905 it averaged £3, 5s. 74d., while the average in the mining unions was only £1, 4s. I Zd., and among dock labourers still lower. The metal trades and the textile unions appear to hold the highest amount of funds compared with their membership, the amounts at the end of 1905 being £6, 3s. 84d. and £6, os. 3d. per head respectively in these groups, while in the building trade unions it was only 18s. 82d. and in some societies of unskilled labourers far less than this. The main items of expenditure of trade unions are " dispute " benefit, " unemployed " benefit, various friendly benefits (including sick and accident, superannuation and funeral), and working expenses. The proportions of expenditure on these various objects naturally vary greatly in different groups of unions, and also in different years, some of the items being affected largely by the general state of employment, and the occurrence or absence of important disputes. On the basis, however, of an average of the ten years 1897-1906, the following analysis of the proportionate expenditure of the Ioo principal unions on various classes of objects has been made: on disputes, 13.4%; on unemployed 22.1%; on friendly [UNITED KINGDOM benefits (other than " unemployed "), 4 2.5%; on working expenses 22%. The 42.5% of expenditure on friendly benefits is made up of 19.1% on sick and accident, 12.4% on superannuation and II % on funeral and other benefits. The mining unions devoted 28.6% of their expenditure to the support of disputes (friendly benefits in this industry being largely provided by other agencies), while the unions in the printing and bookbinding trades only used 3.9% for this object, over threequarters of their expenditure going to unemployed or friendly benefits. As illustrations of the variation in the expenditure by the same group of unions on a particular object from year to year, it may be stated that within the ten years' period referred to the annual expenditure of the metal, engineering and shipbuilding group on disputes varied from £514,637 in 1897, the year of the great engineering dispute, to £13,266 in 1899. Again, the expenditure of the same group of unions on unemployed benefit varied from £80,512 in 1899 to £303,749 in 1904. The burden of superannuation payments by the lock unions has steadily increased during the ten years from £137,813 in 1896 to £306,089 in 1906. At the end of 1906 there were 89 federations, including societies with a gross membership of over a million and three-quarters, but a considerable deduction must be made from this total on account of duplication. In the same year 231 " trades councils " were known to exist, with an affiliated membership of over 895,000. The number of employers' associations and federations known to exist in the United Kingdom in 1906 was 953, including 60 federations and national associations. Of the total number of associations 398 are in the building trades. II.-Foreign And Colonial Modern trade unionism has had its chief development in English-speaking countries, and especially in the United Kingdom, where the conditions necessary for its growth have been present to the fullest extent. With some exceptions, such unions as are found elsewhere are either derived or copied from English organizations, or are associations with political objects. It is therefore unnecessary to give more than a brief summary of the position of trade unions in some of the principal countries and colonies outside the United Kingdom (for United States see IV. below). Germany.-In Germany the majority of trade unions are of a political character, being closely connected with the Social Democratic party. These Socialist trade unions, termed " Gewerkschaften, " were started by a congress held at Berlin in 1868, under the auspices of Fritscher and Schweitzer, two followers of Lassalle. In 1878 many of them were dissolved under the law prohibiting socialistic organizations, but shortly after their place was taken by local unions termed " Fachvereine," which ostensibly abstained from politics, but which in various ways succeeded in evading the law and carrying on the work of the Gewerkschaften. In 1887 a general committee of the German Gewerkschaften was formed, and in 1890 the General Commission of Trade Unions in Germany was established. Later years of prosperous trade have been marked by a rapid growth in the strength of trade unions in Germany. The Social Democratic (Gewerkschaften) trade unions included in 1907 a membership of 1,886,147 as compared with 743,296 in 1902 and 419,162 in 1897. Of the total number of members in 1907, 1,865,506 belonged to branches affiliated to central federations; the membership of non-federated local unions being returned as only 20,641. The income of the federated trade unions in 1907 was £2,569,839, or over 27s. per member as compared with £554,887 (or about 15s. per member) in 1902 and £204,185 (or about Ios. per member) in 1897, and the expenditure in the same years to £2,156,126, £500,276 and £'77,'40 respectively. Of the 61 federations in existence in 1907, 43 paid travelling benefit, 42 paid unemployed benefit, 47 paid sick benefit and 57 paid funeral, removal and special allowance. Another group of trade unions in Germany, less important as regards number and membership than the above, are the " Gewerkvereine," or non-political trade unions, sometimes known as " HirschDuncker " unions, from the names of their founders. These unions were first formed in 1868, immediately after the Berlin congress referred to above. They were directly modelled on British trade unions. Since 1876 Social Democrats have been excluded. In their earlier years these unions suffered in membership from a series of unsuccessful strikes, and of late years they have been mostly benefit societies. In 1907 the Gewerkvereine embraced 108,889 members. Their income amounted to £77,068 in 1907 and their expenditure to £71,717. Another group of unions, the Christian trade unions (Christliche Gewerkvereine), was formed in 1894. In 1907 the membership of this group was 354,760. The income of these unions in 1907 was £225,821, and the expenditure £167,867. Besides these groups of unions there were a number of independent societies with a membership of 96,684 in 1907. It will be seen that German trade unions of one type or another included a membership of nearly two and a half millions in 1907, their membership having more than doubled in the last five years. France.-In France combinations of workmen as well as of employers were prohibited by the laws of the 14th of June and the 28th of September 1792, which overthrew the old gild or corporation system. They were also penalized under various articles of the Penal Code, and it was not till 1864 that the prohibition was modified by law. At present the status of trade unions in France is regulated by the law of 1884, which repealed that of 1791 and modified the articles of the Penal Code so far as regards professional syndicates of employers or workmen. Since then there has been a considerable growth of workmen's unions, which in 1906 numbered 5322 with a membership of 896,012. Of the unions in existence in 1906, 3675 with a membership of 152,362 belonged to 187 federations. There is, however, some duplication owing to the fact that some unions belong to more than one federation. In 1906 there were 260,869 members of unions in the transport, warehousing, &c., groups of trades, 103,835 in the metal, 73,126 in the mining and quarrying, 78,854 in the textile, 66,678 in the building, 51,407 in the agricultural, forestry, fishing and cattle breeding, 48,353 in the food preparation trades and the remainder in various other trades. Austria.-Apart from the Austrian gilds, membership of which is compulsory for persons engaged in non-factory handicrafts and trades (under a law of 1883) and in mining (under a law of 1896), there are a certain number of trade unions in Austria, though freedom of combined action among workmen is less complete than in many other European countries. Such right of combination as exists rests on the law of 1870, which removed the restrictions imposed by the Penal Code on combinations for influencing the conditions of labour. The impulse given to the formation of unions by this law, and by the advantages gained for the workmen during the years of prosperous trade that immediately followed, received a severe check during the succeeding depression of trade, when these advantages were mostly lost. Trade unionism did not revive until 1888, from which time the unions formed have mostly been on a Social Democratic basis, the majority being affiliated to a central organization in Vienna. Since 1901 statistics relating to the trade unions of Austria have been published annually by the Central Trade Union Commission (Gewerkschafts-Kommission) at Vienna. In 1907 there were 5156 trade unions in particular trades, with a membership of 501,094, affiliated to the Social Democratic trade unions (Gewerkschaften). Of the total number of unions, 49 were central unions, 77 were district unions and 5030 were local unions. Of the total number of members 454, 6 93 were males and 46,401 were females. The greatest membership, 84,085 in 1907, is shown to have been in the metal engineering and shipbuilding group of industries, the building trades coming next with 68,543 members. The transport trades showed a membership of 61,744, and the textile trades, 51,632. The chemical, glass and pottery trades included 54,469 members and the wood-working and furnishing group included 36,502 members. Food and tobacco trades accounted for 32,6 Copyright Statement
These files are public domain. Bibliography Information
Chisholm, Hugh, General Editor. Entry for 'Trade Unions'. 1911 Encyclopedia Britanica. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/bri/t/trade-unions.html. 1910.
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