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TRADE unions
[ECONOMIC EFFECTS

membership of 1908 are 48,877 building trades workers, 40,000 railway employés and 17,110 metal-trade workers. The agricultural labourers' trade unions were stated to have a membership of 425,983 at the beginning of 1908 as compared with 273,698 at the beginning of 1907.

Denmark.—In 1907 there were 99,052 members of 1249 trade unions in Denmark, and of these 78,081 were in unions affiliated to the National Federation. The largest unions in the Federation are those of the general labourers with 22,660 members; blacksmiths and machinists with 8000 members; masons, 5300 members; railway employés, 4990 members; carpenters, 3855 members; textile workers, 3700 members; and cabinet-makers, 3590 members.

Sweden.—In Sweden there were, in 1906, 126,272 members of 1596 trade unions, and of these 30,645 were factory workers (trades not specified), 24,485 were in unions connected with the metal trades, 10,706 were in the transport trades, 17,862 were in the woodworking trades, 7132 were in the food, &c., trades, 6602 were in the building trades, and 6005 were in the clothing trades.

Norway.—The trade union movement in Norway dates practically from 1884. At the end of 1906 there were 25,339 members of trade unions, as compared with 16,087 at the end of 1905. Of the membership in 1905, 5277 were iron and metal workers, 4910 journeymen (factory workers), and 1117 printers.

Holland.—In 1893 a National Labour Secretariat was formed, to which, in 1899, 45 societies with 13,050 members were said to be affiliated. After a general strike in April 1903 the membership of trade unions in Holland decreased considerably, the Secretariat losing half its members and several trade unions dissolving. In 1906 it was stated in the International Report of the Trade Union Movement that a new national centre of unions had been formed with trade unions affiliated to it, having a membership of 26,227, while the old centre still continued with a membership of 5000. The Diamond Workers' Federation, with a membership of over 8000, was affiliated with the new national centre.

The total number of members of trade unions at the end of 1906 is given as 128,845, 33,125 of these belonging to Christian organizations, while 95,720 belonged to other organizations.

Belgium.—The status of trade unions in Belgium is regulated by the law of 1898, under which they can be incorporated, provided that their objects are non-political and are confined to the furtherance of the interests of particular trades. Belgian trade unions, nevertheless, are mostly political in character, the majority being connected either with the Socialist-Labour, Catholic or Liberal parties. The membership of the Socialist-Labour group of unions in 1905 was 94,151, of the Catholic unions 17,814, of the free trade unions 34,833 and of the Liberal unions 1685, making a grand total of 148,483.

Of the 94,000 members of the Socialist-Labour unions, 60,000 are employed in mining, 11,500 in the textile industry and 7800 in the metal industry. Of the 17,800 in the Catholic trade unions, 5300 are in the textile trades, and 3200 in the building trades. Of the 35,000 in the free trade unions, 11,000 are in the textile industry, 6000 in the glass industry, 3600 in the applied art trades and 3300 in the printing and bookbinding trades.

Several organizations, e.g. the diamond workers, the printers' federation of Brussels, &c., are affiliated with the trade union committee without, however, joining the political organization. The Catholic and Liberal associations also do not affiliate with the other organizations.

British Dominions and Colonies.—Trade unionism has only developed to any considerable extent in a few of the industrial centres of the self-governing dominions. A great number of the unions in Canada are branches of organizations having their headquarters in the United States or in England. In July 1907 the Canadian Labour Gazette stated that of the 1593 local trade unions known to be in existence, 1346 were affiliated with central organizations of an international character. Besides these 1593 local trade unions, there were 8 congresses and national associations of labour, 49 trade and labour councils and 31 federations of trade unions known to be in existence.

Between 1876 and 1890 all the principal Australian states passed statutes more or less resembling the Trade Union Acts of the United Kingdom. A similar law was passed in New Zealand in 1878, but in this dominion and in some of the Australian states trade unions can now become incorporated and acquire a special legal status by registration as industrial unions under the laws relating to industrial conciliation and arbitration. In New Zealand there were, in 1906, 261 unions of workers with a membership of 29,869 and 133 unions of employers with a membership of 3276. In the years immediately preceding 1890 certain Australian unions, especially among the shearers and the seamen and wharf labourers, acquired great strength, and their determined attempts to secure a monopoly of employment for members of their organizations led to prolonged labour disputes in 1890 and 1891 (see Strikes and Lock-Outs), which resulted in the defeat of the unions and a consequent diminution of their membership and influence. More recently the unions have revived. They are encouraged by the laws relating to arbitration and conciliation, which (inter alia) permit preference for employment to be awarded to members of trade unions in certain circumstances.

Authorities.—For statistics of recent progress of trade unions, see reports on trade unions published by the board of trade (from 1887 onwards). Much information respecting trade unions is contained in the reports of the royal commission on trade unions (1867) and of the royal commission on labour (1891-1894). See also report of royal commission on trade disputes and trade combinations (1903-1906). The reports of the chief registrar of friendly societies give information with regard to trade unions registered under the Trade Union Acts. On the history and constitution of trade unions the fullest information is given in Webb's History of Trade Unionism and Industrial Democracy, both of which contain valuable bibliographical appendices which may be consulted as regards other sources of information respecting British trade unions. On trade unions abroad (besides the reports on foreign countries and the colonies of the royal commission on labour), see Kulemann's Die Gewerkschaftsbewegung (Jena, 1900), dealing with trade unions in all countries, and the board of trade “Abstract of Foreign Labour Statistics” and Labour Gazette, both of which give numerous references to the foreign official sources of information on trade unions, together with a summary of the statistics which they contain.

III. Economic Effects of Trade Unionism

There is no general consensus of opinion as to the extent to which trade unions can attain success in achieving the objects which they set before themselves, or as to how far their action is beneficial or otherwise to the general community. One of the principal objects of trade unions being to maintain and increase the rates of wages paid to their members, the first question would be practically solved if statistical evidence were available to connect the course of wages with the action of combinations. Such evidence, however, is inconclusive. The period of growth of trade unionism in Great Britain has certainly been on the whole a period of rising wages. But many other causes tending to raise wages have been operative over the same period, and some of the facts might be explained as much by the tendency of rising wages to strengthen combinations as by that of combinations to raise wages.

Again, the observed fact that the rise has not been confined to industries in which organizations are strong might be explained either by the supposition that the rise brought about by trade unions has benefited a wider circle than their membership, or that the rise both within and outside the ranks of trade unions is due to causes other than their action. Perhaps the strongest statistical evidence of the power of trade unions to affect wages in particular districts is afforded by the local differences of wages in the same trade, which, it is contended, cannot be wholly explained by local differences of cost of living or industrial conditions, but which often correspond closely to differences of strength of trade union organization. This argument, however, does not touch the question of the effect of combination on the general level of wages.

Hardly more conclusive than the reasoning founded on statistics have been the attempts to solve the question by pure economic theory. During the prevalence of the old view of wages known as the “wage-fund” theory, combinations were usually held to be powerless to affect the general rate of wages, because they could not alter the proportion between capital and population, on which wages were thought to depend. The question however, was reopened by the change in theory which led economists to regard wages as depending primarily on the productivity of industry, and secondarily (and within comparatively narrow limits) on the relative power of bargaining as between the labourers or groups of labourers and the organizers of labour. According to this view, the effect of combinations on the rate of wages will ultimately depend, so far as the first and most important factor in the problem is concerned, on their effect on the general productiveness of industry. Prima facie, we might expect that trade unionism would, on the whole, restrict productiveness, and this