I

TERNATIONAL LABOUR
OFFICE
GENEVA
—
31 March 1921.

A Demand for Workers' Control in Industry
in France.
Correspondence Between the Federation of Metal Workers
and the Association of Metallurgical
and Mining Industries

As a result of the Socialist Congress at ToUrs, the General
Confederation of Labour issued a manifesto which was intended
to be an answer to Communist attacTcs. This manifesto stated
that the Confederation, although not abandoning its "revolutionary
ideals," yet proposed to pursue a concrete policy towards :
" Worlcers'' control over production, a practical share in
controlling employment, dismissals, and wage-rates ; prevention
of unemployment crises : socialisation of the big public services ;
housing policy; restoration of the devastated districts ; a temper anee
campaign . . . . "
It was apparently the influence of these ideas and the wish
to launch a policy calculated to retain the confidence of its members
which induced the Federation of Metal Worlcers to address a
communication to the Association of Metallurgical and Mining
Industries ; this communication contained a request for the
setting up of workers'1 trade union control in the industry.
The Association of Metallurgical and Mining Industries
in turn despatched a reply which would seem to be a veruygGfa^
indication of the present state of mind of the French ewfylQ/er.
<V,
The Federation replied to the Association, and co'r/s0erable
attention was drawn in the Press to the principles involved in
this public controversy ; the general tendencies current hotlL ¿—
^
among tvorlcers and among employers were emphVs{zed^.M»^' »J«
weUjis the actual principle of worlcers'1 control.
L0-SR/B8
OP.

• Studies and Reports
Series B.
No. 8.

1

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The Federation of Metal Workers further proceeded to publish
proposals about control over workers'1 contracts by workers'1
representatives ; these were submitted for consideration to the
trade unions affiliated to it.1
We publish the text of these documents below.
I
Communication Circulated by the National Federal
Committee of the French Federation
of Metal Workers.
Comrade and Secretary,
At its meeting of December 7 the Executive Committee
decided to summon a meeting of the National Federal
Committee for December 25 at Paris. The National
Committee, by request of the Executive Committee, was
to discuss the general situation within the metal working
industry, that is to say, the effects on the trade unions of
the growing unemployment crisis, which has already markedly
affected some districts.
The employers have taken full advantage of the weakening
of organized labour and of the worker's fear of losing his
employment during the hard times which are upon us ; they
are showing themselves to be united and arrogant, and are
in process of destroying, in the course of a month or two,
material and moral gains which were only won at the cost of
prolonged and painful struggles. The working classes cannot
possibly believe themselves to be so powerless and defenceless
as to have to submit feebly to such treatment. The very
existence of unemployment has been exaggerated, or even
wholly invented, in the sole hope and aim of winning an easy
triumph over the worker and of weakening his energies.
Employment and dismissal have once more been turned, as
they were turned years ago, into instruments for the
treacherous destruction of the 8-hour day, instruments for
stamping on the worker's most elementary rights, for striking
at his militant leaders, and for forcing them to leave the localities
where their influence is useful and legitimate.
The Executive Committee counselled strenuous resistance.
They were of opinion that the problem of trade unionism
needed to be put on a fresh basis. The aim should be not merely
to solve problems, but actually to acquire on behalf of the
1
The text of these proposals was published by le Temps of March 1.
Le Peuple of the same date, commenting on the publication of this text
in le Temps, writes : " These proposals are anything but final in their
nature ; the title shows that they have still to be discussed, amended,
and ratified by the Trade Unions; this means prolonged discussion in
stages which are indicated in the pamphlet addressed "to the unions. "

3 —

workers' organizations such powers as would per
keeping watch and ward, through the exercise of i
and undisputed rights, yet always within the limit,
by the law, over the execution of all regulations madi?
protection of the worker, over the carrying out of trade
bargains, over the practical working of employment and
dismissal, and over the disciplinary measures arising therefrom.
Workers' organizations are finding more and more plainly
that the guarantees accorded to their activities by the law
of 1848 are insufficient. With an increasing display of power
and hostility the employers tend to arrogate to themselves
a position above all law ; they have got the whole economic
system into their hands ; they make a cynical abuse of those
opportunities of exercising repression and of imposing misery
which they enjoy in virtue of their mastery of the economic
world. Such is the problem to which the Executive Committee,
and subsequently the National Federal Committee, have
devoted their attention.
After serious discussion, the Federal • Committee decided,
with the unanimous consent of the sixteen branches represented
on it, to make a public statement of the problem, and to
communicate the results of their observations to the
employers' association ; further, to inform them of the new
demands, the fulfilment of which was in their opinion
indispensable, whether in the Light of past experience, whether
in view of the breaches in standing agreements, or whether
in view of the impotence of the law to secure to the working
classes, by the maintenance of rights won at an earlier stage,
their most elementary guarantees.
ïfor must our activity be limited to this field alone. Trade
unionism must exert all the pressure in its power in order to
carry the whole of its announced programme to a successful
conclusion. We annex . herewith the communication which
we have addressed to the employers' organization, and we
hasten to add that the success of these purely social claims
is by no means intimately dependent on the particular attitude
which, the employers' association may adopt. In unfolding
our militant action we shall needs have to adopt such methods
as the situation may force upon us ; decision on such points
will lie in the hands of the National Committee acting through
its future meetings and in pei feet agreement with the trade
unions, whose opinion will be ascertained through the channel
of the, nineteen branches.
The communication addressed to the employers' association
was based on a text submitted to the Federal Committee
for consideration \ the Committee unanimously approved
it ; it does not go beyond a general statement of the position.
The co-opeiation of the trade unions will be required in
order to work out the details of a system of joint control
and of the exercise of intimate industrial power by the unions.

— i —
All Federation branches should hold frequent meetings ;
their delegates will in all cases receive information to assist
them. We must, however, insist from this point on that,
contrary to the policy hitherto adopted in the branch meetings,
each union make a point of being directly represented by
one of its members, elected by the union ; indirect
representation is improper at branch meetings and defeats
the very objects it is meant to serve.
The Federation will, in addition to this first document,
circulate to the unions and also to the members of the Federal
Committee, a set of proposed regulations for defining the
working and functions of Trade Union Committees for the
Controland Administration of Labour Agreements. Neither of
these two documents will carry final force until approved
by the organizations and branches. Meanwhile, any Union
will, of course, be entitled to address its suggestions direct
to the Federation. The Federation will give them every
attention and will view them as a proof of interest in the
important campaign on which it is about to engage.
You are asked to bring this circular to the notice of your
members.
We send you our hearty greetings.
The Secretariat.
II.
Letter from the Federation of Metal Workers to the Association
of Metallurgical and Mining Industries.
Federation of French Metal Workers and Allied Workers,
members of the International Federation of Metal Workers.
Office of the Union ; 33 rue de la Granges-aux-Belles (Xe).
Paris, December 31, 1920.
To the President of the Association of Metallurgical,
Mining, and Allied Industries, 7, rue de Madrid, Paris.
Sir,
In the name of the National Federal Committee of Metal
Workers, met in session on December 25, 1920, we beg to
address you on the general situation obtaining within our
industry and on the state of mind of the workers. This
situation calls for sincere and unblushing examination and
we propose to proceed to such an examination without beating
about the bush or unnecessary reticence.
In 1919, the Federation of Metal Workers and the
Association of Metallurgical and Mining Industries came to
entire agreement in concluding the first bargain ever made
between them on the subject of the 8-hour day ; when

this bargain made the 8-hour day practical politics, we
had a sense of having forestalled a long series of disagreements
.and attacks which would have profited neither side.
We do not in any way wish to deny the valuable results
accruing from voluntary arrangements made since June 1,
which was the date on which the 8-hour day came into
force ; nor do we forget—we have no wish to forget— the
unavoidable incidents which occurred at the same time.
B u t our main impression is as of an effort at co-operation
made with equal sincerity by the two sides, and of the difficulties
we found in making it. It was our fiist general experience
of methods of discussion and of action where the indispensable
bases were the organizations set up by workers and employers.
Unstable conditions, however, and the continued rise of the
cost of living, together with local misunderstandings about
the new principles which were to be applied to labour,
originated
a large number of disagreements ; these
disagreements were often only temporarily solved, for fresh
iluctuations in the value of goods off ered to the consumer almost
instantly made them out of date. The situation became
more and more strained ; the new principle of discussing
difficulties together no longer held good.
We were still waiting for the authorities to make
arrangements for carrying out the provisions of the Law
of April 23, 1919, on the 8-hour day ; it was here that
the first rift appeared in the bargain agreed upon. The
Association of Metallurgical and Mining Industries asked
the political authorities for regulations which were absolutely
contrary to those signed to by their own representatives,
which had limited overtime to a maximum of 100 hours.
They demanded a 200 hours' maximum for overtime, time to
be worked for the annual week's holiday, time to be worked
lor temporary stresses, for forced stoppages, for accidents,
for local holidays, for stock-takings, etc.; had these conditions
been carried out, it would have been impossible to keep any
check, and the mathematical application of the 8-hour day
would have been a raie exception.
To-day it is quite usual not even to trouble to quote
arguments which at that time were considered beyond the
pale of discussion ; 9-hour, 10-hour, and even longer
days are required and involve no danger of labour shortage
in view of the dangerous spread of unemployment. Far too
many employers in far too many cases are openly taking
advantage of a situation, whose origin lies in very complex
and very tragic causes ; their idea is destroy the positions
conquered and get the labour conditions now in force altered.
Once more methods have been taken into use which amount to a
policy of reprisals ; workmen are black-listed ; local
agreements are re-established to prevent the immediate
Te-engagement of men who had of their own accord thrown
wp their work in a factory or workshop in the same district.

— 6 —
Pre-war conditions have been re-established ; policies of
systematic opposition once more flourish, entrenched in all
their former power. On the other side there are the workers,
who for over two years have been waiting for a return to
normal standards, for a just regulation of conditions under
which to work, for less inadequate regulations such as shall
ensure them a greater measure of secure privilege, for better
protection against the tyranny and caprice of too many
employers, such protection as would force the employers
as a body so to recognize their responsibilities that no single
individual among them would be in a position to disown
what had been done.
Under such circumstances there is no hope of re-awakening
in the worker a sense of conscientiousness, or of dreaming of
a maximum output, or of re-introducing the elements of
stability and continuity into the productive system, unless
definite, action be taken in the worker's favour and different
conditions be granted to him ; indisputable and undisputed
privileges must be accorded to him, amounting to a right
of sharing in the control of industry and a right to enjoy
the exercise of some of the executive powers springing out of
such control.
We are aware that many employers are dallying with
the profoundly mistaken hope of inaugurating a policy ot
systematic opposition. They are counting, to an unwise
degree, on a kind of disintegration of the workers' united
forces. The spirit of the times is calculated to arouse the ;
gravest uneasiness ; there is no coherence in what men want ;.
and the employer interprets this as a sure and certain sign
of weakness, a readiness once more to bow the knee to outworn
standards. This estimate, this judgment, is a mistaken one.
The prevailing tendency is not the tendency merely to be
discouraged ; it is the tendency towards a renunciation of
principles hitherto accepted as valid. It is a tendency towards.
bitter and critical scepticism of all creative impulses in the
worker's heart. When the 8-hour day disappears, when
wages are too low and prices too high, when no obvious.
remedy can be found, a condition of affairs is produced which
the worker reads as a series of moral victories and interprets
in his own mind as so many proofs of a principle ' which is.
rapidly gaining in popularity ; this is the principle increasingly
disinclined to attach any ralue whatever to the practical
side of trade unionism or to success obtained by constitutional
means. This is not the place, nor do we desire, to assign
responsibility for the spread of these ideas ; but we do not
hesitate to say that, if trade union bargains are undermined
and broken, or even made merely ineffective, the result is
bound to be a demand for violent and illegal methods, or
else an impulse to take refuge in that proud, exultant spirit
which fosters itself on dreams of utter dissolution or even on
the negativism of a general nirvana.

— 7 —

We accept neither this spirit of fatalism, nor the spirit
of opposition which has caused it to arise. Our belief is that
the basis of all progress is the united and organized body
of workers ; that this is the pre-requisite condition for every
step taken in advance, for all reorganization of the economic
system, for every human effort to reach a better future.
We want to safeguard this natural route, so well suited to
the demands of labour; that is why we lay stress on the urgency
of supplying positive guarantees of its practicability, such
as the certainty that an agreed bargain will not be re-submitted
for discussion because times are once more favourable to reaction, or indeed that it will not be at the mercy of, and subject
to the will and uncontradicted caprice of, employers whose
eyes are either foolishly or obstinately shut to the coming
forces of the future. This is our conviction, and it is not
lightly held.
In its light we now proceed to put three basic problems
which aie at the bottom of most of the disagreements and
quarrels which tend to arise, disagreements so intimately
and legitimately illustrative of the worker's anxieties, that
it would appear almost impossible for the employer to continue
to claim an exclusive right of judgment and action. These
three problems, the very bases of labour principle, are :—
1. The length of the working day ;
2. Employment and dismissals ;
3. Wages.
I t may be of use to take these three points separately
and to add a few remarks on each.
Length of the Working

Day.

We draw attention to the fact that neither the bargains
made by the trade unions, nor the Law of April 23, 1919,
nor the regulations made by the public authorities, are
calculated to popularize or to inculcate respect for the 8hour day or for the 48-hour week. A systematic policy
of objections, interpretations, and explanations, a policy
which was at first made all the easier by the very sanity of
the bargains made by the trade unions, little by little whittled
the principle away ; this was especially the case after the
promulgation of the regulations by the public authorities,
regulations which were so complicated, so crowded with
exceptions and modifications, that out of a formally stated
and beneficent law they made a mere hotch-potch of rules,
giving interminable opportunities for dispute and chicanery.
A system of control by the workers is the only method capable
of re-establishing the solidity and moral value of a reform
which is now almost nil and has almost made' a burlesque
of legislation itself.

— 8 —

Employment

and Dismissals.

This problem involves the whole question of the worker's
security of tenure. We cannot believe in any appreciable
reform on this point as long as the rules governing employment
and dismissal fail to include a statement of the disciplinary
and moral principles which should regulate the question of
punishments and dismissals imposed on the worker ; at
present the workers are without assistance and without
means of defence. They will never believe themselves safe
from reprisals or guarded against persecution as long as
the engagement and dismissal of workers remains an
autocratic privilege, an instance of the exercise of personal
power, where severity and abuse have the effect of drawing
between men a gulf wide enough to invalidate whatever
progress man makes in society in our country and in our day.
I t is not an impossible demand for us to claim that even in
concerns which are privately owned minimum safeguards
should be set up, which should be independent of personal
goodwill and^based on a system of justice under the ultimate,
and indeed actual, control of the' workers.
Wages.
The links which bind the worker to his work are his
conscience and his need to provide for his own wants, and
the wants of his family. .The wages paid to him have a
relative worth only. Their sole value depends on a comparison
with the prices of commodities. ÎTow, except for an extremely
small minority of workmen and for certain kinds of piecework, wages correspond exactly to the cost of living. To
demand wages-sacrifices of the worker in order to bring
down prices is to make an impossible demand, which is simply
irritating and useless. Claims made against the worker
infthis sphere are exceedingly misleading, inasmuch as the
sacrifice which the worker is periodically asked to make has
to be made good to him in order to restore old standards.
f» •*•'A systematic method is also called for in order to deal
with price-fluctuations, which from time to time interfere
with and lessen the worker's satisfaction.
Such are our three problems. Can we hope to give the
trade unions fresh vitality by supplying them with more
power and larger opportunities ? Can we hope to bind the
worker closer to the work of production by opening to him,
within the sphere assigned to him, a means of advancement
which will safeguard each step he takes forward by giving
him, through the agency of works councils responsible to
the labour world, an actual share in controlling his
own industry %

— 9 —
We have no wish to deny the important character of our
suggestions. We have no wish to undervalue them or to
despise the prejudices which they will have to surmount.
We must, however, point out that they make no proposition
to interfere with the management of mines, nor to intervene
in the financial or commercial running of such ; they are
strictly limited to the question of basic conditions, of
elementary guarantees, of the. most ordinary safeguards of
the workers' interests. We claim that they cannot in any
way be called excessive, and we call on the employers to say
whether a labour system where all authority and all sanctions
are in their hands is capable of advance and improvement.
We therefore beg to communicate our suggestions for your
consideration.
In our eyes they are the inevitable
accompaniment to any fruitful negotiation and the only
thing which can give value and sincerity to any agreements
which may be made between us.
f*\
Our suggestions may therefore be summed up as follows^
Employers to recognize works and factory councils ;
such councils to be elected in the freest possible way by the
trade union workers, who alone shall be responsible to their
own organization.
Works councils to be endowed with power and functions
which will allow them to :
1. supervise the execution of all legislation promulgated
for the protection of the worker (hours, sanitation, combination
laAvs, etc.)
2. control disciplinary measures taken against any
particular worker, and to have the right of veto on such
measures.
During the present unemployment crisis managements
should co-operate with these works councils, whether with
a view to instituting rotation of jobs, or shortening hours, or
making a selection of labour applicants. Such works council
would further h ave the right to see the list of waiting applicants
and to make sure that employment is allotted in a fair and
just order.
3. Such works councils would be empowered to see that
wages-scales are properly applied and review any necessary
departures made from them. They w7ould be empowered
to make or to suggest modifications of these scales, producing
documents in support of their theses, which would be based
on living conditions and their proved fluctuations ; here
they would be guided by the trade unions, which in their
turn would be guided by the interests of the general public
as well as by the interests of the industrial worker.
Such, Sir, are the propositions which we have been commissioned to submit for the consideration of the association
of which you are President. We have only attepted to trace

— 10 —
them in a general way and to give a brief exposition of the
general principles on which are based the proposals we submit
for your examination. We are inclined to belive that the
difficulties of the present situation, the enormous effort
being everywhere made to obtain a re-adjustment and larger
degree of prosperity will contribute towards clarity of thought
and elevation of aim commensurate with the vast and
threatening character of the difficulties confronting us and
with the chaos reigning in the economic system. That chaos
calls for a bold cure ; it calls for solutions consonant with
the dignity of the workers viewed as a class Avhose numbers
are increasing and whose capacities entitle them to attack
a fresh range of problems.
We have the honour to remain, etc.,
For

the National Federal

Committee :

BLANCHABD, LABE, LENOIR, MERRHEIM,

Secretaries.
Ill
Reply of the Association of Mining and Metallurgical Industries
to the Federation of Metal Workers.
Paris, January 20, 1921.
Sirs,
Your letter from the Committee of the Federation of Metal
Workers, dated December 31, 1920, was laid before our
Executive Committee at its meeting on January 18, 1921.
We beg to point out in this connection that, although
in April 1919 we entered into relations with your Federation
by signing an agreement regarding the establishment of an
8-hour day, your Federation has since then, instead of
maintaining these relations, severed all connection with
this Association by its support of the general strike of May
1, 1920.
You now approach us afresh, in a letter which you have
published, with reference to two questions, the practical
application of the 8-hour day, and the present unemployment
crisis.
As regards the first point it appears to us that the whole
question resolves itself into the following alternatives :
Either the Act of April 23, 1919, and the administrative
regulations issued in pursuance thereof, which recognize the
existence of our agreement, no longer correspond in essence
or form to your present desires, in which case you are at liberty
to invoke legislative intervention for the modification of these
measures.

*

— 11 —
\
Or the Act and the regulations, which were drafted according
to your requirements, are not being observed in practice,
in which case, where you are able to prove individual
contraventions, you can have recourse to the means of redress
available to all citizens for enforcing the execution of the law.
With reference to the unemployment crisis, which happily
is less serious at the present moment in France than in other
countries, and in our metallurgical and engineering industries
than in others, you may rest assured that it is the subject
of our most serious consideration.
We are deeply imbued with the idea that every effort
should be made to ensure the stability and security of the
conditions of life and labour of the workers. Like yourselves,
we are anxious that the worker should be protected to the
fullest extent possible from economic fluctuations and their
attendant evils, and that, as his labour is his chief and vital
source of income, this income should be constant and
Tegular. We have always striven towards this end, which
we succeeded in attaining during the years before the war,
when our industries were largely exempt from unemployment
crises. We are always prepared to welcome any suggestions
of measures tending in this direction.
Unfortunately the remedy which you now propose cannot
be regarded as valid.
I t cannot actually have escaped your notice that the present
nnemployment crisis is not limited to our country or
our industry ; it is the result of a number of economic factors,
the origin of which is not to be found in industry, but which
concern the whole nation and the whole world. These multiple
and complex factors can no more be controlled by the
workers' organizations than by those of the employers. The
effect which could be produced on them by workers' commissions in the factories controlling the engagement and
discharge of workers and the fixation of wages would be
practically nil.
In other respects your proposal gives rise to less serious
objections.
In view of the unemployment crisis, you ask us, in effect,
to allow the establishment in our works of committees,
elected by trade union members only, with the right to
control the application of laws for the protection of labour,
disciplinary measures taken with regard to the staff, the
engagement and discharge of workers, the distribution of
work, and conditions of wages.
We beg to call your attention to the fact that the
enforcement of laws for the protection of labour, as of laws
in general, is prescribed by the law itself, and devolves on
the public authorities, whose essential function it is. I t is
impossible in any organized country for a single class of
citizens, which you would limit to trade union members

9

— 12 —
/
only, to take upon itself the administration of justice ; to
take the place of the State in performing a State function is.
strictly an act of anarchy.
Moreover,- in spite of the precautions which you have
taken to differentiate them from extremist conceptions,
the commissions you demand are the direct outcome of these.
You ask us to alloAv you to set up in our establishments,
as regards the staff, the system of factory Soviets which
the communists propòse to institute by force : the lest will
follow, whether you wish it or no.
Yet you know—and we willingly recognize your courage
in saying so—that wherever the experiment of Soviets has.
been tried, Avhether in industiy or government, it has produced
deplorable results, culminating in the destruction of industry
and the enslaving of the working population.
You know us sufficiently well to be convinced that our
refusal to accede to your proposals is not actuated by any
obsolete conception of the employer's authority. We have
given proof in the past and are prepared to do so again in
the future, not only of the interest which we take in the
lot of our working-class colleagues, but also of our loyalty
to the close community of interest which unites all the factors
in production, and which they aie increasingly realizing
every day. But there are some things to which we cannot
consent, because consent would involve the transfer to others
of responsibilities which are ours alone. I t is essential for
the success of an industrial undertaking, in fact of any human
undertaking, that it should be diiected by a responsible
authoriy with the power of decision resulting from
responsibility. In any human oiganization leadership must
be effective and efficient. What is true in your trade union
is also true in the factory : the responsible leader may and
should make use of committees, but to create in addition a
many-headed and irresponsible authority equal to his own
would be to ruin industry itself and plunge the whole nation
into poverty.
. Our reply cannot come as a surprise to you. We shall
always be ready to consider proposals for combatting
unemployment, and for maintaining and extending industrial
peace between our working-class colleagues and ourselves,
but we shall be equally opposed to all ideas tending to overthrow
the principles of individual liberty, equality, and responsibility
in the democracy of to-day.
We have the honour to be, etc.
G. CORDIER, President.
ERNAUI/T, DE W E N D E L , EICHEMOND,
Vice-Presidents.
FouRNiER, Secretary.
T H . LAURENT, Treasurer.

— 13 —
IV.
Reply of the Federation of Metal Workers to the Association
of Mining and Metallurgical Industries.
Sir,
We have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the
20th inst. We note the statements contained therein without
surprise, since attitudes previously defined had warned us
what to expect.
Lest any misunderstanding should arise out of our recent
exchange of correspondence, we desire to establish certain
essential points.
The Employers'1 Responsibility for the Breaking
of Agreements.
With regard to the observance of the 8-hour day,
you refer us to the legislature as the only authority competent
and qualified to amend the text of the law.
Hitherto we regarded agreements concluded and signed
by the qualified representatives of our respective organizations
as weighty documents, since they were drawn up by those
most nearly concerned, discussed and accepted by the
responsible authorities, and ought for this reason to meet the
needs of production, which had been considered at such length.
The signatory association of employers now regards these
agreements as non-existent and annulled in consequence of
the May strikes ordered by the General Confederation of
Labour.
We note this statement, venturing, nevertheless, to recall
that the modifications previously demanded from the
Government by the Association of Mining and Metallurgical
Industries at the time of the drafting of the administrative
regulations could hardly at that time be ascribed to the
same pretext, but were explained by a desire to correct the
errors and repair the weaknesses into which the original
negotiators had been led.
We beg to assure you that such a precedent is a warning
against seeking justification on such debatable grounds for
the complete and final disavowal of the agreement.
The entire responsibility rests on you, and we, on our
side, as representatives of the workers, feel a certain pride in
having remained loyal to our agreement in spite of all
obtacles.
The experiment, moreover, has not been without value,
and the manner of its collapse is instructive.
We must revert, however, to the subject of our letter of
December 31, to which your organization replies with an
absolute and categoric'al refusal. Under this head, too,
certain explanations are due to you.

— 14 —
The Crux of our Claims.
Your reply shows that you attribute our intervention
almost entirely to the unemployment crisis and its remedies,
while, in reality, we only referred to unemployment because
it exemplifies the arbitrary exercise of power and the
persecution of the workers, which it is our duty to restrain.
We have no desire in any Avay to minimize or extend the
interpretation which you place on the " Trade Union
Committees for the Control and Administration of Labour
Agreements." There is no question of averting fortuitous
causes or of alleviating periodical inconvenience, but of
putting a stop to continual reprehensible practices, officially
countenanced and carried on by employers' associations.
We shall, therefore, bring irrefutable documents before
your notice through the medium of the Press. No one,
whether employer or employee, could fail to condemn the
facts therein recorded, or to seek the only means to prevent
their recurrence.
This is the crux of our claims, and here alone can satisfaction be given.
Eeforms are at stake, the importance of which you
Tecognize as well as ourselves. You invoke the spectre of
total disorganization and poverty. You cannot, you say,
allow us to enter your establishments. Your workers enter
•them every day for purposes of production ; would they
suddenly put themselves entirely in the wrong if some of them,
empowered by their comrades, proposed, in addition to their
ordinary work, to supervise the observance of their rights,
hardly won and incontrovertible, guaranteed by law and
inseparable from the dignity of man Ì
We cannot, like yourselves, oppose change because it
leads to the unknown : are not the present crying abuses
—extensive as they are—forces inducing worse conditions ?
Your reply, thus, is not opposed to the theories to which
you refer with affected terror. Their stoutest supporters
are delighted at your attitude.
We recall the statement in your letter that your refusal
is not actuated by an archaic conception of the employer's
authority, but mere statement does not prove a fact.
The Ethics of Control,
The collective agreements which were drawn up, and
which you are now destroying, were really the result of the
abandonment of this divine right, which you yourselves
rejected.
But what traces of these now remain, where can we observe
these new powers in action, how are the resultant rights of
the working classes defined "? We do not wish to discuss
what was the idea or even the intention, but the fact remains

— 15 —
that, from the standpoint of ethics and of the guarantees
demanded, nothing has been done to establish a standard
for labour, a new level on which production would be freed
from the obsolete rules of the autocracy wielded by t h e ,
owners of works and factories.
Far from being admitted into your undertakings, as you
declare, democratic principles are resolutely excluded from
them. Democracy implies the exercise of sovereignty by
the community in enjoyment of the authority inherent in
its decisions.
nothing comparable to this is to be found in the factories,
nothing like this receives your support, and no steps towards
it will succeed so long as the employers maintain their
privileges intact. They can no longer deny that these privileges
are abused or that their moral effects undermine the stability
of production and the peace of mind of the community.
Clinging to principles which you consider impregnable,
you meet our proposals with a categorical refusal. The
politeness of your replies in no way obscures their significance.
W e . consider ourselves entirely consistent, and, therefore,
inform you that the proposals which we have submitted to
you remain valid, and that the Federation of Metal Workers
maintains its wish and intention to realize them.
We are, moreover, convinced that we have the sympathy
not only of the metal workers, but also of public opinion,
which is keenly interested in any attempt at reconstruction,
and realizes that extensive reforms are necessary for the
rehabilitation of the country and the restoration of balance
and stability to labour and of peace to every aspect of life.
We shall continue to justify our position on these grounds
of progress and economic reconstruction. These you reject,
and this divergence of opinion typifies the opposition which
is oppressing the working classes and maintaining the dependent
position of labour, thereby decreasing its morale and its
productivity.
On behalf of the Federation of Metal Workers,
E.

LENOIR ; MEKRHEIM ; L E B E ; BLANCHAKD.

V.
Draft Bill.
Proposed by the National Federation of Metal Workers.
Principles.
i.

With a view to ensuring that labour agreements shall
be effectively observed, committees shall be instituted in
factories, workshops, and constructional works, on the

— 16 —
initiative and responsibility of the trade unions, and shall
be known as " Trade Union Committees for the Control
and Administration of Labour Agreements. "
The term " Labour Agreement " shall be so interpreted
as to include (1) all trade union contracts regarding hours
of labour, rates of wages and all special conditions, according
to the nature of the work and as defined in accordance with
trade union principles by the two parties; (2) all matters
involving legal protection, laws on sanitation and safety, and
any legislation which may hereafter be added thereto; (3)
the exercise, without hindrance, prejudice, or reprisals, of the
right of association; the strict observance of equitable rules,
drawn up in conformity with trade union principles, affecting
conditions of engagement, dismissal, discipline and punishments
which may eventually be applied to the staff.
Constitution and Appointment of Committees.
ii.

These committees shall consist of delegates chosen and
elected on the basis of one from each industrial category.
Labourers shall not form a separate category, but shall be
included in the industrial category to which they are
particularly attached, with equal rights therein, nevertheless
no obstacle should be placed in the way of their nominating
a representative among themselves ; the determination of
this privilege is left to the local organizations.
The number of representatives on the committees shall
be determined by the number of distinct processes of
production justifying separate industrial classification. A
minimum of three delegates shall be appointed in undertakings
employing only a single class of workers.
in.
In order to provide for the appointment of these
committees, the Trade Union shall proceed to summon a
meeting of the staff of each undertaking, or, if its numerical
importance warrants this, in each industrial category.
Candidates for election must have been members of the Trade
Union for a year and have satisfied its regulations. Their
appointment shall terminate automatically on their ceasing
to be members of the Trade Union, whether by resignation
or expulsion.
Election shall take place by a simple majority vote of the
staff present at an ordinary meeting.
IV.

The election of delegates shall take place annually.
Eetiring representatives are eligible for re-election ; delegates
may be dismissed during their year of office by the majority

— 17 —
vote of a meeting summoned for this purpose by the Trade
Union at the request of the organized workers in the industrial
category which they represent. When the committees
have been elected and constituted as above, the Trade Union
shall inform the management concerned and notify to it
the names and occupations of the members thereof.
Functions and Powers of Committees.
v.
The duties of committees are limited entirely to the
strict control and application of prescriptive rights as well
as of all rules drawn up by the Trade Union. They have
no power to permit occasional infractions or to modify on
their own initiative rules which it is their duty to enforce ;
nor have they the power to extend their own sphere of action.
Agitation is excluded from their functions ; their members,
who retain their trade union rights, are entitled on this
ground, and on this alone, to advocate demands and modes
of action which seem to them necessary and practicable.
Working of the Committees.
VI.

Every month a general report shall be issued by the
Committee for the Control and Administration of Labour
Agreements. This report shall be drawn up in co-operation
with the representatives of the different industrial services.
They should call attention to abuses noted during the month,
permanent or temporary -infractions of the rules established
by agreement ; they should point out causes of discontent
regarding malinterpretation of agreements or any position
adopted by the employers incompatible with the dignity
of the workers.
These monthly reports shall be first sent to the Trade
Union, who will forward them to the employer for whom
they are intended, thereby accepting responsibility for them.
Two copies shall be made of these reports, one for the Trade
Union, the other to be sent to the Committee concerned if
it should have finally to take action for the reasons therein
stated.
Employers'1 Opposition.
VII.

In the event of systematic opposition from the management
of an undertaking, the committees shall establish themselves
on the. same lines, regardless of the employer's hostility,

— 18 —
and shall sent their report to the Trade Union, which should
forward it to the parties concerned. In short, the Committees
for the Control and Administration of Labour Agreements
should organize their work openly, and communicate the result
of their observations regularly to the employers, thus
demonstrating their existence.
Engagement.
VIII.

The management of factories,workshops, and constructional
works shall keep a register of applications for employment
by industrial categories. A serial number as well as the date
shall be affixed to each application. The Trade Union
Committees shall nevertheless be empowered to consider
technical reasons which may in some cases justify priority
of choice among the registered applicants, on the ground of
special qualifications which are immediately needed in the
interests of production. Definite guarantees must, however,
be given that the rota of engagement shall only be interrupted
to a strictly justifiable extent.
Dismissal.
IX.

In cases where there is a shortage of orders, the management
shall notify the Trade Union Committee of the steps it proposes
to take. The Trade Union Committee shall then consider
possible alleviations of the temporary difficulty, e.g., reduction
in the hours of labour, short time in rotation, or even, when
the slackness of work is not due to a general depression, but
is rather peculiar to one factory, dismissal, giving the discharged
men opportunities for finding employment in other works
in the neighbourhood.
Wages.
x.
The Committee should safeguard the observance of
wage contracts, or, in the absence of these, the maintenance
of the normal rate of wages in force in the factory within
its jurisdiction. Regarding this complex question, it may
be stated that wages received continuously for a given period
constitute a prescriptive right which should be protected
by the Trade Union ; the schedules of wages never represent
more than the minimum due to workers with the minimum
of industrial skill and training. The function of the

— 19 —
committees in this sphere is not to put forward claims,
but to control and apply conditions laid down in trade union
contracts or sanctioned by established custom.
Discipline.
XI.

The Trade Union Committee for the Control and Administration of Labour Agreements, either as a whole or by delegation
to certain of its members, shall form the disciplinary council.
When it acts as a disciplinary council, representatives of the
management shall also be present. One disciplinary council
shall be set up in each factory. Five members, in addition
to the employer's representatives, shall be considered sufficient.
The council may hear the explanation of the member of the
Trade Union Committee belonging to the industrial category
of the workman concerned.
Consideration of

Punishment.

XII.

The management shall outline the reasons for disciplinary
measures, also the nature of the punishment it proposes to
inflict. 3sTo punishment shall be effective until the disciplinary
council has been notified and has considered it. The period
of notice, which shall be compulsory, shall be utilized for
considering the case and hearing the parties concerned. If,
for unforeseen reasons, consideration has to be prolonged,
the notice shall be automatically renewed. The disciplinary
council may approve or oppose proposed punishments, or
suggest alternatives.
Method of Deliberation.
XIII.

The right of appeal to the disciplinary council should
be maintained. The council should reach agreement : (1)
on the existence of the offence; (2) on themoral circumstances
and technical conditions under which it Avas commited ;
(3) on its gravity, its consequences, and the evidence that
the accused worker could or could not have foreseen the
latter. Punishments should be inflicted on principles of the
highest equity. Decision by a majority vote being a capricious
and often arbitrary method, the council should agree
unanimously : (1) on the fact that an offence has been
committed ; (2) on the necessity for punishment; (3) on the
nature of the punishment.

— 20 —

Geìieral Rules.
XIV.

When a manufacturer accepts a Trade Union Committee
for the Control and Administration of Labour Agreements, in
the free exercise of its legitimate powers, he should sign,
together Avith the local trade union, agreements defining
the functions and powers of the committee.
In order to facilitate the work of the committees, the
management of factories, workshops, or constructional works,
in agreement with- the workers' organizations, might as a
preliminary define the principles of engagement and dismissal,
the observance of which would subsequently only necessitate
the normal control of the Trade Union Committees. The
same action might be taken regarding wages fixed bj* trade
union contracts.

— 21 —
STUDIES AND REPORTS
already issued
Where the English or French text of a Report has not yet been published it
will be issued at a later date.

Series A
N° I.

T H E AGREEMENT

BETWEEN

THE SPANISH

WORKERS'

ORGANI-

SATIONS, issued September 25th 1920. French and English.
"

2.

T H E DISPUTE
IN THE METAL INDUSTRY IN ITALY. T R A D E
UNION CONTROL OF INDUSTRY, issued September 25th 1920.

French and EngKsh.
"

3.

ANNUAL

MEETING

OF

THE TRADES

UNION

CONGRESS

1920,

issued October 4th 1920. French and English.
"

4.

INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF WORKERS
IN THE FOOD AND
DRINK TRADES, issued October 11th 1920. French and English.

"

5.

T H E BRITISH GOVERNMENT AND THE MINERS' FEDERATION O F
GREAT BRITAIN. CONFERENCE BETWEEN SIR ROBERT HORNE
AND THE MINERS' FEDERATION, issued
October 11th 1920.

French and English.
"

6.

T H E CONGRESS OF THE LABOUR

AND SOCIALIST INTERNATIONAL,

issued October 14th 1920. French and English.
"

7.

T H E MINERS'

INTERNATIONAL

CONGRESS,

issued

October

19th

1920. French and English.
"

8.

T H E INTERNATIONAL

LABOUR

ORGANISATION.

A

COMPARISON,

issued October 21st 1920. French and English.
"

9.

T H E INTERNATIONAL

CONGRESS

OF

METAL

WORKERS,

issued

October 22nd 1920. French and English.
"10.

T H E BRITISH
GREAT

MENT

GOVERNMENT

BRITAIN.

AND

THE

AND THE MINERS' FEDERATION O F

CONFERENCE

TRIPLE

BETWEEN

INDUSTRIAL

THE

GOVERN-

ALLIANCE,

issued

October 26th 1920. French and English.
"11.

T H E DISPUTE I N THE METAL INDUSTRY IN ITALY. TRADE UNION

CONTROL OF INDUSTRY. (Second
4th 1920. French and English.
"12.

part)

issued

November

T H E FOURTH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF BOOKBINDERS,

issued

November 26th 1920. French and English.
"13.

T H E MINERS' STRIKE IN GREAT

1920.
" 14.

BRITAIN,

issued

December

T H E X V t h CONGRESS OF THE GENERAL CONFEDERATION O F
LABOUR (CONFÉDÉRATION GÉNÉRALE DU TRAVAIL) held at Orleans

the 27th
September to the 2nd October
December 23rd 1920, French and English.
" 15.

21st

French and English.

1920, issued

T H E INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF GENERAL FACTORY

WORKERS,

issued January 24th 1921. French and English.
" 16.

TENDENCIES OF EUROPEAN LABOUR LEGISLATION SINCE THE WAR,

" 17.

T H E GROWTH

issued February 11th 1921. French and English.
OF TRADE

UNIONISM

DURING

THE TEN YEARS

1910-1919, issued February 16th 1921. French and English.

— 22 —
N°18.

F I R S T SPECIAL INTERNATIONAL

November
English.
" 19.

TRADE

UNION CONGRESS. LONDON,

22-27 1920, issued March 15th 1921. French and

T H E MINIMUM

PROGRAMME

OF THE GENERAL CONFEDERATION OF

LABOUR OF FRANCE, issued March 18th 1921. Freme A and English.
Series B
N° 1.

COAL

PRODUCTION

I N THE RUHR

DISTRICT.

Enquiry

by

the

International Labour Office, end of May 1920, issued September 1st 1920. French and English.
" 2.

PAPERS RELATING TO SCHEMES
TION FOR THE DISTRIBUTION

OF INTERNATIONAL
OF RAW MATERIALS

ORGANISAAND FOOD

STUFFS, issued October 5th 1920. French and English.
"

3.

T H E CONDITIONS OF LABOUR AND PRODUCTION IN THE UPPER SILESIAN

COALFIELD, issued December 10th 1920.
" 4.

French and English.

T H E SOCIALISATION OF COAL MINES I N GERMANY,

issued

January

25th 1921. French and English.
" 5.

T H E ESSEN

MEMORANDUM

ON T H E SOCIALISATION

OF THE COAL

MINES IN GERMANY (6 Nov. 20), issued 28th January 1921.
French and English.
" 6. WORKS COUNCILS IN GERMANY issued January 29th 1921, French

and English.
"

7.

T H E BILL

TO ESTABLISH

WORKERS'

CONTROL

IN ITALY,

issued

February 28th 1921. French and English.
Series C
N° 1.

BRITISH

LEGISLATION

ON UNEMPLOYMENT

INSURANCE,

issued

October 26th 1920. French and English.
"

2.

GOVERNMENT ACTION IN DEALING WITH UNEMPLOYMENT IN ITALY,

" 3.

T H E BULGARIAN LAW ON COMPULSORY LABOUR, issued November

issued October 27th 1920. French and English.
4th 1920. French and English.
"

4.

T H E ACTION

OF THE SWISS

UNEMPLOYMENT, issued
English.
" 5.

GOVERNMENT

November

IN

DEALING

WITH

13th 1920. French and

T H E ORGANISATION OF UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE AND EMPLOYMENT

EXCHANGES IN FRANCE, issued February 21st 1921. French and
English.
Series D
N° 1.

STAFF

REGULATIONS ON

T H E FRENCH RAILWAYS,

issued

Sept-

ember 4th 1920. French and Enghsh.
Series E
N° 1. COMPENSATION FOR WAR DISABLEMENT IN FRANCE. A C T OF MARCH

31st, 1919, issued February 28th 1921. French and English.

— 23
Series F
N° 1.

CANCER OF THE BLADDER AMONG WORKERS IN ANILINE FACTORIES

issued February 23rd 1921. French and English.

Series H
N° 1.

CONSUMERS'

CO-OPERATIVE

SOCIETIES

IN

1919

(Denmark

and

Sweden), issued September 8th 1920. French and English.
" 2.

SEVENTH

CONGRESS

OF

THE

BELGIAN

CO-OPERATIVE

OFFICE.

issued September 25th 1920. French and English.

Series K
N° I.

F I R S T INTERNATIONAL
CONGRESS OF
AFFILIATED TO THE INTERNATIONAL

LAND WORKERS'
UNIONS
FEDERATION OF TRADE

UNIONS, issued November 1920. French and English.
" 2.

AGRARIAN

CONDITIONS

IN SPAIN, issued November

10th 1920.

French and English.
" 3.

SMALL

HOLDINGS

IN SCOTLAND,

issued

November

12th

1920.

French and English.
" 4.

T H E EIGHT-HOUR

DAY IN

ITALIAN AGRICULTURE,

issued Dec-

ember 10th 1920. French and English.
" 5.

T H E EIGHT-HOUR

DAY IN AGRICULTURE,

BEFORE

THE FRENCH

CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES, issued February 10th 1921. French and
English.

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