Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - V. Social Movements - 1. Labour Questions and Social politics - Conciliation and Arbitration in Labour Disputes. By H. Elmquist
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conciliation and arbitration in labour disputes.
655
ship of masters and men and are likely to preclude the occurrence of labour
disturbances". This particular branch of their functions has more especially come into
play through a number of Conciliators having been called upon to act as
chairmen of meetings convened to discuss the terms of a proposed collective
agreement or the means of terminating a conflict; they have also been appealed to
for the name of some other suitable person to act in the same capacity. The
Act (§ 3) defines the principal duty of the Conciliator as being to summon the
parties to a conference whenever any dispute between them has attained such
dimensions as to involve actually a cessation of work; moreover, when it proves
necessary, the Conciliator is empowered, after consulting the two parties, to
appoint, special experts to form with himself a board to carry out the
mediation in question. The last-named expedient has, however, been rarely resorted to.
The negotiations that the Conciliator sets on foot with the disputing parties
separately and between them, are principally directed towards arriving at some
basis of agreement in the form of a proposal or offer put forward by the
disputants themselves, though the Conciliator is at liberty to make suitable
suggestions for conciliation (§ 6). Conciliatory suggestions of that kind have
indeed often resulted in a settlement of the conflict, but sometimes that
consummation has not been reached until after they have been modified more or
less, and occasionally they have had to be entirely rejected.
When unanimity cannot be attained in any other way, it is open to a
Conciliator to propose that the matter in dispute should be referred to an
Arbitration Court (§ 7) and, if the parties agree thereto, to assist them in the task of
constituting a court of that character (§ 8). This method has moreover in
a certain number of cases been put into practice, now and then even for
matters involving a conflict of interests, in spite of the disinclination
nowadays displayed towards allowing such to come before an Arbitration Court.
The Conciliator is not permitted (§ 8), to undertake himself the functions of
Arbitrator; he is not, however, considered by that restriction to be prevented,
if requested, from appointing some other person to act in that capacity, and
contending parties have often availed themselves of his help in that particular. In
collective agreements especially it has been a fairly common thing for one
clause to state that the odd man (the chairman) of any Conciliation or
Arbitration Board or Boards that the collective agreement calls into being, shall
be selected by the Conciliator of the District.
In cases where such a proceeding may seem desirable, the Government
may appoint a Conciliator for dealing with one or more labour disputes of a
special kind (§§ 11 & 12). That expedient is resorted to when a conflict that
has arisen embraces more than one District (§ 11); the Conciliator is then
generally the one belonging to the District where the dispute first arose, who
consequently had to deal with it first, or else the one who owing to previous
experience of conflicts of the same or a similar kind or for some other reason,
may be deemed to be more of an expert in the particular department within
which the dispute falls. On account of the recent consolidation in organization
and owing to the centralization of the management of the unions representing
the two parties, employers and employees, the Conciliator residing in
Stockholm, the seat of the centralization referred to, has as a matter of fact had
a majority of the more serious disputes to deal with, becoming thereby, as it
were, a Conciliator in Chief. In certain cases the Government has ordained
(§ 12) that the duty of effecting a mediation shall be entrusted to a
Conciliation Commission, constituted of one Conciliator or other person along with some
of the other Conciliators.
The Instructions issued with respect to the duties of a Conciliator strongly
emphasize the necessity for the Conciliator to proceed with due caution and
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