The Theory and Policy of Labour Protection. Germany. Laws, statutes, etc.

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      The Resolutions of the Berlin Conference, and the protective measures submitted to the German Reichstag early in the year 1890, have, as we shall find, strictly confined themselves to this essentially limited definition of Labour Protection.

      It appears as though hitherto no clear theoretical definition of the idea of Labour Protection has been forthcoming. But the necessity for drawing a sharp distinction at least between Labour Protection and all other kinds of care for labour is often felt. Von Bojanowski speaks very strongly against vague extensions of the meaning: “The matter would become endlessly involved,” he says, “if, as has already happened in some cases, we were to extend the idea of protective legislation to include all such enactments (arising out of other possibilities based upon other considerations) as grant aid to workers in any kind of work or in certain branches of work, or such as are based on the rights of labour as such, and are therefore general in their application, or such as seek to further all those united efforts which are being made in response to the aspirations of the working population or from humanitarian considerations. This would result either in confounding it with an idea which we ought always carefully to distinguish from it, an idea unknown in England, that of the so-called ‘committee of public safety,’ or it would lead to more or less arbitrary experiments.”

CHAPTER II.

      CLASSIFICATION OF INDUSTRIAL WAGE-LABOUR FOR PURPOSES OF PROTECTIVE LEGISLATION. – DEFINITION OF FACTORY-LABOUR

      Those forms of industrial wage-labour which are dealt with by protective legislation do not all receive the same measure of protection, nor are they all dealt with according to the same method. This is only to be expected from the constitution of Labour Protection, which is an extraordinary exercise of State interference in cases where it is specially necessary.

      All over the world we find that industrial wage-labour requires protection of various kinds, differing, that is, not only in its nature but in the course and method of its application. On account of these very differences, before we can go a step further in the elucidation of the Theory and Policy of Labour Protection, we must divide industrial wage-labour into classes, according to the kind of protection which is needed, and the manner in which such protection is applied by protective legislation. It will now be our task, therefore, to classify them, and to be sure that we arrive at a clear idea of the various classes into which they fall for the purposes of protective legislation, some of which may not perhaps be readily apparent at first sight.

      The varieties of protection needed by industrial wage-labour arise, partly out of dangers peculiar to the particular occupation in which the wage-labourer is employed, and partly out of the personal characteristics and position of the labourer to be protected; i. e. they are partly exterior and partly personal.

      When the protection is against exterior dangers we have to consider sometimes the great diversity of conditions in the different occupations and industries, and sometimes the special manner in which workmen may be affected within the limits of a single occupation peculiar to some special branch of industry. When the protection is of the kind which I have called personal, the need for it arises partly out of the special dangers to which the protected individual is liable outside the actual limits of his business, partly out of the special dangers attached to his position in that business.

      Hence results the following classification of industrial wage-labour, according to the kind of protection required: —

      I. Labourers requiring protection against exterior dangers:

      a. According to the kinds of occupation:

      1. Having reference to the different branches of industry:

      Wage-labour in mining, manufacture, trade, traffic and transport, and in service of all kinds.

      2. Having reference to the special dangers of employment within any particular branch of industry: dangerous – non-dangerous work.

      b. According to type of business:

      1. Having reference to the position or personality of the employer:

      Wage-labour under private employers – wage-labour under government.

      2. Having reference to the choice of the labourers by the employer, and the nature of their mutual relations.

      Factory-labour,

      Quasi-factory labour (especially labour in workshops of a similar nature to factories), other kinds of workshop labour,

      Household industries (home-labour),

      Family labour.

      II. Labourers requiring protection against personal dangers:

      a. Having reference to the common need of protection as men and citizens.

      1. Adult – juvenile workers;

      2. Male – female workers;

      3. Married – unmarried female workers;

      4. Apprentices – qualified wage-workers;

      5. Wage-workers subject to school duties – exempt from school duties,

      b. Having reference to the need of protection arising out of differences in the position occupied by the wage workers in the business:

      Skilled labourers (such as professional wage-workers, business managers, overseers and foremen; or technical wage-workers, mechanics, chemists, draughtsmen, modellers); unskilled labourers.

I. Protection against Exterior Dangers

      A glance at existing legislation on Labour Protection, or even only at the various paragraphs of the von Berlepsch Industrial Code Amendment Bill, clearly shows the definite significance of all these foregoing classes in the codification of protective right. Each one of these classes is treated both generally and specifically in the Labour Acts.

      Mining industries, industrial (manufacturing) work, and wage service in trade, traffic, and transport, do not all receive an equal measure of Labour Protection.

      Differences in the danger of the occupation play a great part in the labour-protective legislation of every country.

      Labour Protection has therefore hitherto been, and will probably for some time continue to be in effect, protection of factory and quasi-factory labour (I.B. 2, supra), but in all probability it will gradually include protection of household industry also. Even the English Factory and Workshop Acts do not, however, extend protection to wage-labour in family industry.

      Business managers have hitherto received no protection, or a much smaller measure than that extended to common wage-labourers.

      Furthermore, Labour Protection has hitherto been administered through different channels, according as it is applied to professions of a public nature, in which discipline is necessary, especially the military profession, or to professions of a non-public nature.

      Lastly, with regard to individual differences of need for labour protection, adult labour has hitherto received only a restricted measure of protection, whereas the labour of women and children has long been fairly adequately dealt with; the prohibition of employment of married women in factory-labour still remains an unsolved problem in the domain of Labour Protection question, but it is a measure that has already received powerful support.

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