CANADIAN INDUSTRIAL DISPUTES INVESTIGATION ACT OF 1907.

In Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor No. 76, May, 1908, and again in Bulletin No. 86, January, 1910, the operation of the Canadian Industrial Disputes Act was reviewed, and the purpose, administration, and results of the law and the sentiment toward it were discussed in detail. The purpose of the present article is to bring down to as near a date as practicable the history of this act, in order that a study of the experience under the act may be based upon the largest possible amount of data. The facts covering the entire operation of the act are especially desirable here in order that they may be available for comparison with the record of mediation and arbitration proceedings under the Erdman Act in the United States, presented elsewhere in this Bulletin, and with the other studies of conciliation and arbitration as existing in Great Britain and in some of the continental countries.

The details of the Canadian act and the methods of its application have been fully discussed in the two previous articles which have been devoted to the subject. It will be sufficient for the purposes of this article to give a brief description of the act and its method of operation.1

The act applies to all public utilities, including municipal service corporations, transportation companies of all kinds, and occupations (like stevedoring) subsidiary to transportation, and also to coal mines and to metal mines. In these industries and occupations it is unlawful for employers to lock out their workmen or for employees to strike until an investigation of the causes of the dispute has been made by a government board appointed for this particular case and the board's report has been published. After the investigation is completed and the report made, either party may refuse to accept the findings and start a lockout or a strike. The investigating board usually tries by conciliation to bring the parties to an agreement, so that the functions of the board considerably exceed those of a body appointed solely to procure information.

The law does not aim at compulsory arbitration or to force men to work against their will after all chance of an amicable settlement has disappeared. Neither employer nor employee is compelled to become party to a bargain he does not voluntarily accept. The purpose of the act is limited to discouraging strikes and lockouts in

1 This description is taken in part from Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor No. 86, and in part from the Fourth Report of the Registrar of Boards of Conciliation and Investigation of the Proceedings under the Industrial Disputes Investigation Act, 1907. Ottawa,

1911.

industries that serve immediately the entire public and to preventing the cessation of such industries through the arbitrary or unwarranted acts of either employers or workmen. It seeks to enforce the right of the people who use railways and burn coal, for instance, to know on how just grounds, in case of an industrial dispute, they are deprived of so necessary a service or commodity.

The procedure and machinery for accomplishing this end are as follows: In the industries in question any change in working condi tions affecting hours and wages, whether demanded by employers or workers, must be preceded by 30 days' notice. If such a contemplated change, or if any other point at issue between the parties, threatens to end in a strike or a lockout, either party may apply to the Dominion Labor Department for a board of conciliation and investigation.

Application forms are supplied by the Department of Labor, but it is not necessary that applications be made on these forms. The application must be, however, accompanied by a statement setting forth (1) the parties to the dispute; (2) the nature and cause of the dispute, including all claims and demands made by either party on the other to which exception is taken; (3) an approximate estimate of the number of persons affected; and (4) the efforts made by the parties themselves to adjust the dispute. The law requires, further, that the application should be accompanied by a "statutory declaration setting forth that, failing an adjustment of the dispute or a reference thereof by the minister to a board of conciliation and investigation under the act, to the best of the knowledge and belief of the declarant, a lockout or strike, as the case may be, will be declared, and that the necessary authority to declare such lockout or strike has been obtained."

This last provision was subjected to a slight modification during the session of Parliament of 1909-10. Representations had been made from time to time on behalf of railway men to the effect that in obtaining the authority to declare a strike or lockout over a line of railway several thousand miles in length much expenditure of money and time was necessitated and that the act in this respect bore severely on the class of labor concerned. The act was therefore amended so as to provide that where a dispute concerned employees in more than one Province, thus embracing, it was felt, all cases where injustice might result from the earlier procedure, there should be an alternative procedure permitting action to be taken upon declaration of an authorized trade union committee that, failing adjustment, to their best knowledge and belief, a strike will be declared.

1 During the session of 1909-10 of the Canadian Parliament the act was amended to require that any such contemplated changes may not take place "until the dispute has been finally dealt with by a board."

In order that both parties to the dispute may be made acquainted with the proceedings taken under the act at the earliest moment possible and all unnecessary delay prevented, the applicant for a board is required to send to the other party concerned a copy of the application at the time it is transmitted to the department, and the second party to the dispute is similarly required to prepare without delay a statement in reply and forward the same to the department and to the other party to the dispute.

Upon the receipt of the application the minister of labor or his deputy appoints a board of three members, one upon the recommendation of the employers, another upon the recommendation of the workers, and a chairman selected either by the first two members of the board, or, in case they fail to agree, by the Government. If the workers or the employers, either through indifference or in order to block an investigation, refuse to recommend a representative for appointment, the minister of labor selects at his discretion a suitable person to fill the place. The members of the board are paid for the time they serve and for the necessary traveling expenses incurred. The Government also provides for necessary clerical expenses and for the fees of witnesses called for either party.

Each board controls its own procedure, which varies greatly under different chairmen and in different cases. Usually the most information is obtained and the quickest settlements are made where the board discusses informally with committees representing both sides in joint session the various points at issue without laying much stress on technical evidence. Such informal meetings are apt to reveal sentiment, air grievances, and explain misunderstandings. But some boards, on account either of the judicial training of their members or of the technical character of the points at controversy, have conducted their proceedings like a law court. If the board succeeds in bringing the parties to an agreement, it embodies the terms of this agreement in its findings. But if it is unable to end the controversy it presents a report, or majority and minority reports, describing the conditions that cause the dispute and usually recommending what appear fair terms of settlement. The report or reports are at once published by the Government, and the employers and employees involved, if unable otherwise to agree, may then resort to the last measures of industrial warfare.

The penalty for causing a lockout before the board has reported is a fine upon the employer ranging from $100 to $1,000, and the penalty for striking, under like conditions, is a fine of from $10 to $50 upon each striker. Prosecutions are brought by the aggrieved party, not by a public officer.

The Canadian act came into force March 22, 1907, and the experience under the act is now available to December 31, 1911, covering, therefore, a period of four years and nine months. During this time 121 applications for intervention under the act were made, 107 of which were by employees, 13 by employers, and 1 was a joint application. Upon these applications 109 boards were appointed to deal with labor disputes. In the following table are shown the number of applications under the act and the number of boards granted, as well as the number of strikes averted or ended and the number not averted, for each calendar year since the act came into effect:

NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS AND OF BOARDS GRANTED UNDER THE ACT, AND of STRIKES AVERTED AND OF STRIKES NOT AVERTED, BY CALENDAR YEARS. [Compiled from Fourth Report of the Registrar of Boards of Conciliation and Investigation of the Proceedings under the Industrial Disputes Investigation Act, 1907, for the fiscal year ending Mar. 31, 1911, and monthly issues of the Labor Gazette, May, 1911, to January, 1912, both issued by the Department of Labor, Dominion of Canada.]

1 The act became law Mar. 22, 1907, so that proceedings cover 9 months only.

Including the dispute of December, 1908, involving the John Ritchie Co. (shoe factory), where both parties made application.

Boards granted are counted as of same calendar year in which application was received. boards were constituted in the year following year of application.

In 5 instances

Not including North Atlantic collieries, closed down in liquidation January, 1911, and 3 disputes still pending Dec. 31, 1911.

It will be seen from this table that the number of applications under the act has differed but little from year to year, the minimum being 19 applications in 1911, and the maximum 28, appearing in both 1908 and 1910.

The distribution of the boards by industries, the number of employees affected directly and indirectly, and the number of cases in which strikes resulted are shown in the following table:

NUMBER OF BOARDS GRANTED, EMPLOYEES AFFECTED, STRIKERS IN ILLEGAL STRIKES AND IN LEGAL STRIKES, AND SETTLEMENTS WITHOUT STRIKES, BY INDUSTRIES, MAR. 22, 1907, TO DEC. 31, 1911.

[Compiled from Fourth Report of the Registrar of Boards of Conciliation and Investigation of the Proceedings under the Industrial Disputes Investigation Act, 1907, for the fiscal year ending Mar. 31, 1911, and monthly issues of The Labor Gazette, May, 1911, to January, 1912, both issued by the Department of Labor, Dominion of Canada.]

1 These strikes were: Western Coal Operators Association (7 companies), 3,595 men, April, 1907, before they were familiar with terms of act; Nicola Valley Coal & Coke Co., 150 men, Apr. 28 to June, 1909; Western Coal Operators Association (7 companies), 2,100 men, Apr. 1 to July 1, 1909; Canada West Coal Co., 300 men, Apr. 23 to July 30, 1909; Western Coal Operators Association (18 companies), 6,000 men, Mar. 31 to Nov. 17,

1911.

2 These strikes were: Cumberland Railway & Coal Co., 1,700 men, Aug. 1 to Oct. 31. 1907; Dominion Coal Co., 3,000 men, July 6, 1909, to Apr. 28, 1910; Cumberland Railway & Coal Co., 1,550 men, Aug. 9, 1909, to March, 1910.

3 Not including North Atlantic Collieries Co., closed down in liquidation, pending completion of board, January, 1911.

These strikes were: British Columbia Copper Co., 225 men, June 28 to July 24, 1909; and same company, 350 men, Apr. 19 to May 11, 1910.

Not including Intercolonial Railway employees, number not reported, dispute of May 14, 1908.

6 These strikes were: Intercolonial Railway of Canada, 250 men, June 20, 1907, men unfamiliar with terms of act; Grand Trunk Pacific Ry. Co., 300 men, Oct. 10, 1911.

7 These strikes were: Canadian Pacific Ry. Co., 8,000 men, Aug. 5 to Oct. 5, 1908; Grand Trunk Ry. Co., 3,017 men, July 18 to Aug. 2, 1910; Canadian Northern Ry. Co., 432 men, July 7 to Sept. 27, 1910. 8 Not including two disputes still pending Dec. 31, 1911.

9 Winnipeg Electric Ry. Co., Dec. 16 to Dec. 31, 1910.

10 Not including Montreal Street Ry. Co. dispute of June, 1911, still pending Dec. 31, 1911. Including freight handlers, longshoremen, and teamsters.

12 These strikes were: Shipping Federation of Canada, 3,100 longshoremen. May 13 to 15, 1907; Furness Withy Co. (and 2 other companies), 500 longshoremen, May 26, 1907; Canadian Pacific Ry. Co., 250 freight handlers, May 7 to May 10, 1909; also same company, 700 freight handlers, Aug. 9 to Aug. 16, 1909. 13 In these industries strikes are never illegal, and intervention occurs only with the consent of both parties. One cotton-mill strike was terminated by the appointment of a board.

14 See notes to details.

According to the foregoing table, in 20 cases strikes occurred, 11 of which were begun before or pending investigation and were thus illegal, and in the 9 other cases were begun after the report of the board and were therefore legal. In 84 cases settlement was effected without strike.

Of the industries which have made use of the act, the railways are most important, both on account of the number of boards which have been appointed and on account of the number of employees directly and indirectly affected, 38 out of a total of 109 boards and 70,768 out of the total of 131,947 employees directly and indirectly