The Development Of Collective Bargaining Guided By The British Government, 1896-1914

Collective Bargaining is the principle mechanism for resolving labor disputes and adjusting labor relations in the modern market economic countries. And it originated from Britain in the second half of the 19th century. The end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century was an important period in the development of the collective bargaining system. The government’s guiding role became the important impetus of the development of collective bargaining during the period. During this period, the British government enacted the collective bargaining act which highlighted voluntary principle, improved the collective bargaining institutions, and implemented a series of legislation to protect the rights and interests of workers and trade union, which had created conditions for the development of collective bargaining. These practices had prompted the collective bargaining system which is characterized by voluntarism develop rapidly in the British industry area. This paper is divided into four chapters and their main contents are as follows:Chapter One mainly explains the Conciliation Act of 1896. In the late 1880s, in the face of a growing number of labor disputes, and the situation that current collective bargaining acts could not ease strained labor relations, the British government promulgated an act for resolving labor disputes in 1896 under the influence of new liberalism and after careful investigation. The act is called the Conciliation Act of 1896 which made detailed provisions for the settlement procedures of labor disputes. The most important feature of the act is that it ended the compulsory principles of the government legislation, began to follow the voluntary principles which were pursued by the folk collective bargaining, and made the government transformed from restrictive control agency to mediatory and assistant agency for workers and employers. After the law went into effect, it played an active role on the solution of disputes and promoted the development of collective bargaining.Chapter Two mainly explains the development of collective bargaining institutions. After the Conciliation Act of 1896 went into effect, the collective bargaining department had formed which mainly took the Board of Trade as the core. The Conciliation Act gave the Board of Trade power to deal with disputes. Through active intervention, Board of Trade solved lots of labor disputes, promoted the recognition of trade union and the development of collective bargaining. Otherwise, the Board of Trade set up the courts of arbitration system and Industrial Council in 1908 and 1911 respectively. The establishment of the two collective bargaining institutions improved the way of dealing with labor disputes by arbitration, provided a relatively fair method to arbitrate disputes for the two sides, promoted the solidarity and cooperation between trade union and employers’associations, and further encouraged and developed collective bargaining.Chapter Three mainly discusses that the government provided conditions for the development of collective bargaining through improving the industrial relation legislations. For guaranteeing the practice of collective bargaining in an equal basis between employers and employees, the government had promulgated the Trade Disputes Act,1906 and The Trade Union Act,1913, which had confirmed the legal status of trade unions. And workers had obtained equal positions with employers in law. Furthermore, government promulgated the Workmen’s Compensation Act which made occupational injury become un-shirkable responsibilities of employers, and set up the Minimum Wage Act that controlled low wages in some industries, which had reduced labor disputes induced by these problems. Otherwise, government implemented a series of social legislations which involved the employment of workers, health insurance, labor conditions and other aspects. These legislations defined the responsibilities of the government to workers and employers, protect workers from the threat of unemployment and poverty, safeguarded workers’ legitimate rights, and promoted the stable development of labor relations.Chapter Four mainly studied the development of collective bargaining in various industries and the role that collective bargaining played in defusing labor conflicts.According to the different collective bargaining levels in each industry, collective bargaining in main industries was divided into regional levels and national levels. Coal mining, iron and steel, building and other industries are classical industries to carry out regional collective bargaining. The development of regional collective bargaining in the industries had provided expedite communication channels for workers and employers and promoted the solution of industrial disputes. Spinning, engineering, railway and other industries are classical industries to carry out national collective bargaining. The national collective bargaining enlarged the area of collective bargaining and played an important role in preventing and defusing labor conflicts and other aspects.Conclusion summarizes the government’s support and guidance role for collective bargaining from 1896 to 1914, and generalized the characteristics of the development of collective bargaining in Britain at this stage. Under the stimulus and guidance of the government, the labor conflicts resolving mechanism with collective bargaining at the core was able to further develop. This mechanism played an important role in building benign industrial relations.