Trade Unions

progress.

CHAPTER XIII.

TRADE UNIONS.

§ 1. IN considering the recent progress of the working classes, but little has yet been said of the growth in relation to of Trade-unions; but the two movements have certainly kept pace with one another; and there is a prima facie probability that they are connected, each being at once partly a cause and partly a consequence of the other. We may now proceed to inquire into the matter more closely.

Early action of
Unions.

We have already noticed1 how the first endeavours of the new workmen's associations or Unions at the beginning of this century were directed to securing the enforcement of medieval labour laws. But these, no less than the ordinances of the old gilds, were unsuited to the modern age of mechanical invention, and of production on a large scale for markets beyond the seas; and early in this century the Unions set themselves to win the right of managing their own affairs, free from the tyranny of the Combination Laws.

Combination

These laws had made a crime of what was no crime, the Repeal of the agreement to refuse to work in order to obtain higher wages; and "men who know that they are criminals by the mere object which they have in view, care little for the additional criminality involved in the means they adopt." They knew that the law was full

Laws.

1 Book I. Ch. III. § 5.

of class injustice: destruction of life and property, when it was wrought for the purpose of enforcing what they thought justice, seemed to them to have a higher sanction than that of the law; and their moral sense became in a measure reconciled to crimes of brutal violence. But step by step the Combination Laws have been repealed: until now nothing is illegal if done by a workman, which would not be illegal if done by anyone else; nothing is illegal when done by a combination of workmen, which would not be illegal when done by a combination of other people; and the law no longer refuses to protect the property of the Unions.

With freedom came responsibility. Violence and the intimidation of Non-Unionists, which had lost all excuse, soon went out of favour; and workmen generally chose for their leaders able and far-seeing men, and under their guidance the modern organization of Unions has been rapidly developed1.

Twofold func

Unions.

A modern Union is generally an Association of workers in the same or allied trades, which collects funds from all its members and applies them firstly to tions of support those of its members who cannot obtain employment except on terms which it is contrary to the general trade policy of the Union for them to accept, and secondly to grant certain Provident Benefits to members in need. The policy of the Unions varies in detail with time and circumstances; but its chief aims are generally the increase of wages, the reduction of the hours of labour, the securing healthy, safe and pleasant conditions of work, and the defending individual workers from arbitrary and unjust treatment by their employers. Most of their regulations are framed either for the direct attainment of some of these aims; or for securing conditions of hiring which will enable the employed to deal as a body with their employers, conditions

1 The various stages through which the chief aims and the plan of organization of the Unions have passed are explained in The History of Trade Unionism by Sidney and Beatrice Webb.

which they regard as generally needed for the attainment of all their aims.

Local responsibility and

central

authority.

§ 2. A large Union is often an amalgamation of numerous smaller associations, originally local or confined to a subdivision of the trade. But whatever its origin, nearly every important Union has many branches, each of which, while managing its own affairs in details, is bound to conform to the general rules of the whole body. These rules are very explicit; and in particular they prescribe rigidly the ways in which each branch may spend the funds in its charge: for the power of the purse is retained strictly in the hands of the central body. The branch dispenses Provident Benefits according to rule; but except on emergency and for a short time it may not spend the corporate funds on a trade dispute, without the sanction of the central council or Executive representing the whole body, who are generally selected from the branchofficials that have deserved best of their Society.

The character and ability of the branch-officials are tested in action as well as in speech. For they have important business to manage, and those who neglect their duties, who prove themselves lax financiers, or give advice that is not justified by the event, are not promoted, however eloquent they may be; and consequently the Executive of the best Unions are shrewd, far-seeing men, resolute but with great self-control.

Precautions

It is these men whose sanction has to be obtained by any branch that wishes to use the corporate funds in against unwise a trade dispute. They come to the question disputes. with tempers unruffled by any personal vexations. Their vanity is not enlisted in the continuance of the struggle; they can decide without loss of prestige that it is inopportune, or even wrong in principle; and they have nothing to gain, but much to lose, by becoming responsible for an expensive strike that ultimately fails. The decisions of the Executive are generally binding till the next annual general meeting

of the representative delegates of the whole body; but in certain emergencies a special meeting of the delegates is called, or a plébiscite of the whole body is taken by voting

papers.

matters.

Benefits.

The administration of the funds with regard to Provident Benefits is more a matter of routine, and is Provident governed strictly by rule. These Benefits vary. The "New" Unions that have sprung up in recent times, chiefly in unskilled trades, generally regard Provident Funds as an encumbrance, hindering freedom in fight, and tending to an over-cautious and unenterprising policy in trade And the list of Benefits afforded by many even of the older Unions is a meagre one. But the best Unions pride themselves on rendering their members independent of all charitable aid, public or private, during any of the more common misfortunes of life. They provide Sick, Accident, Superannuation and Funeral Benefits; and above all, they give out-of-work pay for a long (though of course not unlimited) time to any member, who needs it through no fault of his own-a Benefit which none but a trade Society could undertake. For only the members of his own trade can judge whether his want of work is due to his idleness or other fault, and whether he is putting too high an estimate on the value of his work: and they alone have an interest in supporting him in the refusal to sell his work for less than they think it is really worth. And at the same time the expense of managing the whole business of the Union is less than would be that of managing its Provident business alone by any other Society: for the local officers get good information without trouble, they spend nothing on advertising, and they receive but trifling salaries'.

1 The reader is referred to the excellent Reports of Mr Burnett to the Board of Trade, which give details of the expenditure of all the chief Unions for each successive year of their history. It is instructive to note that all the Benefits increase and the Funds diminish during periods of commercial depression. But the burden of Superannuation Benefit increases steadily with

§ 3. Such being the general plan of Trade-unions, we may pass to examine the influence which they can exert on

wages.

An artificial

bour in a trade can raise wages much

if four conditions are satisfied.

We have already incidentally inquired whether wages can be raised permanently by diminishing the supply scarcity of la- of labour; and we may begin by recapitulating the results obtained. If the workers in any trade are able to limit artificially the supply of their labour, they can certainly secure a considerable increase of wages, which will be the greater, the more fully four conditions are satisfied1. They are: Firstly, that there is no easy alternative method of obtaining the commodity which their trade helps to produce; and this generally requires (a) that they have control over the supply of labour in their trade and district; (b) that the commodity cannot easily be brought from some other district, in which the conditions of labour are beyond their control; and (c) that there is no available mechanical or other contrivance by which the commodity can be produced independently of them: Secondly, that the commodity is one the price of which will be raised considerably by a stinting of supply, or in other words the demand for it is not very elastic: Thirdly, that the share of the total expenses of production of the commodity which consists of their wages is small, so that a great proportionate rise in them will not greatly raise its the lapse of years; for the average age of the Unionists has not yet reached its maximum. Less than a tenth of the total expenditure comes under the head of strike pay in an average year's budget of the first class Unions. But many of the differences between individual workpeople and their employers, which result in their ceasing to be employed, are of the nature of trade "disputes," though not technically so called. And some Unions do not even attempt to make any distinction in their accounts between "out-of-work" pay and strike pay: though the former, when given at all, is at a lower rate than the latter. It seems however that not more than a fifth of the total expenditure can be ascribed to "disputes" in the broadest use of the term. The accumulated Funds of the chief Old Unions average about two weeks' wages of their members.

1 Comp. Book V. Ch. vi. § 2.