イギリス労使関係史における調停・仲裁制度 : 一八七〇〜九〇年代の炭鉱業の場合

The topic of industrial arbitration and conciliation has long been discussed in the context of the voluntaristic assumption on collective labour-capital relations. The history of arbitration and conciliation in British industrial relations has been treated as a typical case of the autonomous organization of industrial relations. Much focus has been brought into the impact of the autonomous development of arbitration and conciliation within some industries and trades upon the turnabout in the government policy under the Conciliation Act of 1896, from compulsory arbitration using the power of the justice of the peace to noncompulsory or voluntaristic way of dealings of industrial disputes. This kind of thesis, however, is not constructed on the full empirical research on the actual constitutions and works of the established boards. Even the Fifth and Final Report of the Royal Commission on Labour (1894) suggests that, while the practice of arbitration and conciliation spread during the 1860s-1880s within some well-organised industries and trade like coal, iron and steel, hosiery,etc., it can not be said that the state of things continued well into the 1890s. This article is, therefore, to examine what was the actual phase of industrial arbitration and conciliation with reference to the coal industry. Followings are the main points this article will suggest; (1) Although the several well-organised districts established 'joint boards' or 'joint committees' in the mid-187Qs in order to deal with 'local disputes' (disputes within a firm or coriery), disputes involving 'general principle' which might affect all or parts of a district could not be treated through 'joint boards'. Even these boards had ceased to operate by the end of 1880s because of their oppressive function to the wage increase demands from the workmen's side. (2) As far as the disputes of 'general principle' are concerned, the system of coal price sliding scale was widely introduced in the industry. Sliding scales were introduced by mutual agreements in the late 1870s. However, most of the sliding scales were abolished a decade later for the rise of the 'living wage' movement which criticized an automatical increase or reduction of wage through the market mechanism. (3) Both sides in the districts where any kind of arbitration and conciliation did not exist were, generally speaking, in favour of the state intervention to encourage the peaceful settlement of disputes. (4) Therefore, it can be said that, at the time of the enactment of the Conciliation Act, the state's involvement into industrial relations was inevitable both to settle the industrial conflicts which failed to conclude by the mutual efforts, and to encourage the establishment in each district of a well organised collective bargaining system for the preventation of conflicts.