provided for domestic industries and small establishments where
only members of the same family are employed. The fact that
exception is made for such cases is due to a recognition of the great
difficulty of supervising the application of any regulations. So far,
international labour legislation has admitted exceptional treatment
for these classes of workers. It is generally considered, both in
national and international legislation, that certain persons, even in
factories where a minimum day is legally enforced, should be exempt
from its provisions because of their relations to the employer. Mana-
gers and persons holding posts of responsibility or of confidence are
generally thus exempt, and in some national legislation sons or other
close relatives of the employer are similarly excluded from the appli-
cation of the regulations. Again, in all countries which have adopted
legislation on hours of labour, women and young persons are excep-
tionally treated.
(2) As to the size of the industrial undertaking, different standards have been adopted. Whilst in Sweden concerns employing not more than four workers are exempt from the application of the Eight- hour Act of 1919 (save where such concerns are situated in towns with a population of over 1,500), in Japan 15 is the number of employees requisite to bring an undertaking within the scope of the Factory Act, and in India it was 20 until 1921, when the number was reduced to ten. Here again the great difficulty is that of the inspection and supervision of small isolated concerns, but a com- plicating factor lies in their frequent close connexion with agricul- ture, which results in their sharing to some degree in the seasonal character of the latter. This reason appears to have been influen- tial in deciding the attitude of the Swiss Government towards the International Convention on the 8-hour day and the 48-hour week.
(3) The third class of exceptions, it has been stated, are con- nected with the nature of the work. The case which appears to have presented most difficulty in national legislation is the continuous process. In many industries (e.g. iron and steel, paper, glass, gold- refining, etc.) processes are employed which take long periods for their completion, and which cannot be intermitted without damage to or total loss of the mftterial operated upon. In such cases work is organized in shifts, frequently 3 shifts of 8 hours each per day, but also frequently 2 shifts of 12 hours. Whilst the former plan achieves the 8-hour day, it does not of itself achieve the 48-hour week (for work is continued through 7 days per week). A certain elasticity is required to facilitate changes of shift, which frequently results in a week of more than 48 hours alternating with a week or possibly two weeks of less than 48. In other cases the process, whilst not being continuous in the strict sense of the word, is yet longer than the normal working day of 8 hours. The arrangement of shifts for such cases presents further difficulties for which excep- tions must be provided.
The International Convention on hours permits a 56-hour week in " those processes which are required by reason of the nature of the process to be carried on continuously by a succession of shifts."
The opposite case is where the work is of so intermittent a nature that it is felt that a longer day may be worked without injury to the worker. It is difficult to define exactly what is meant by this " inter- mittence." The work of a gatekeeper or watchman who has no other duties may be instanced, but there are border-line cases which are treated differently in different legislations. Is a railway porter's or a signalman's work intermittent? Obviously generalization is impossible. The Washington meeting of the International Labour Conference tried to meet such cases by permitting the legislative authorities to allow permanent exceptions where the work is " essen- tially intermittent," but insisting at the same time, first, that regu- lations, to be drawn up after consultation with the organizations of workers and employers concerned, should fix the maximum number of additional hours to be permitted, and, second, that the check of compulsory overtime pay at a rate of at least " time and a quarter " should be imposed to guard against any further overstepping of the bounds thus extended.
For national legislation the Netherlands Hours of Work and Dangerous Trades Act (Nov. I 1919) may be quoted: " Men who do no other work than that of watching may do such work during 10 hours a day and 60 hours a week. ..." Section 25 (2b).
The Swiss Hours of Work on Railways Act similarly provides, in section 3 (2), " In the case of certain employments, specified in the Supplementary Regulations, which consist mainly in being in attendance at a given place, the average hours of work may be extended to nine hours." The Czechoslovakian law (Eight-Hours Act of 1918) makes similar extensions for " persons engaged in irregu- lar service such as the supervision and watching of houses and under- takings, and looking after animals."
Seasonal industries form a further category under this heading. Both national and international legislation permit extension of the working day in industries engaged upon material susceptible of rapid deterioration, or material which is available at certain seasons only and which must be treated immediately. Similarly, industries dependent upon weather conditions are usually allowed consider- able elasticity in the daily or weekly total of working hours. The 1 Swedish Eight-hour Act (Oct. 17 1919) provides, e.g. that " if
k working hours are dependent in a material degree upon the seasons Dr the weather, or if they are of varying length by reason of these
or any other conditions, the Labour Council may, to such extent as may be found necessary, authorize a system of working hours differ- ing from that established in 4 (i.e. the 8 and 48 rule), provided that the aggregate working hours over a period not exceeding four weeks shall not in any case be more than the number of hours corresponding to 48 hours per week." This device of averag- ing the weekly hours over a period is fairly common, and has been adopted in international legislation. Article 5 of the Washington Draft Convention lays down that in exceptional cases where the ordinary rule cannot be applied, a Government may give the force of law to agreements between workers' and employers' organiza- tions which permit an extension of the daily limit, provided that "the average number of hours worked per week, over the number of weeks covered by any such agreement, shall not exceed 48."
In the regulation of hours of labour in commerce, similar excep- tions are frequently provided for hotels and restaurants at certain periods of the year. International legislation has so far not dealt with commerce, but with regard to seasonal industries similar pro- posals are made in the Washington Draft Convention to those out- lined above in the case of " intermittent " work.
Exceptions are usually provided in connexion with what is known as " preparatory and complementary " work. There is frequently the necessity of the earlier attendance in factories of a certain num- ber of the personnel whose work must be done before the general work can ommence; there are others, similarly, who must con- tinue after the conclusion of the general work. Cases in point are the engineers and other workers in the engine-room of a factory. In some national legislation, and in international legislation, excep- tional provision is made for such workers; limitations are, however, usually laid down, as in the case of the Netherlands Hours of Work and Dangerous Trades Act of Nov. I 1919, section 25 (2 a), which provides that " men and women who have to prepare workrooms, tools and appliances before the commencement of the day's work or who have to attend to them at the conclusion of the same may do such work . . . during not more than 10 hours a day, provided that women do not work more than 51 hours and men not more than 57 hours in a week. ..."
(4) The fourth class of exceptions arises in international legisla- tion, where it has been found necessary, in order to attempt a rough equation between countries dissimilarly situated with regard to climate, character of population or other industrial factor, to permit a longer working day in the one than in the other. Thus in the Wash- ington Convention, a 57-hour (60 hours in the raw silk industry) week is permitted for Japan, and a 6o-hour week for British India, and elasticity is provided in the application of the Convention to " colonies, protectorates and possessions not fully self-governing " for " such modifications as may be necessary to adapt its provisions to local conditions."
(5) The circumstances which, under national and international legislation, permit of the temporary suspension of the general appli- cation of the limitation of hours have already been treated. Some national legislations consider that the danger to an industry arising from the pressure of foreign competition is a sufficient warrant for the relaxation of rules in its particular case. Thus the Swiss Factory Act allows "a weekly duration of work of 52 hours if urgent reasons justify this measure, and so long as these urgent reasons hold good, particularly if ... an industry runs the risk of being unable to withstand competition on account of the duration of work time in other countries " (Section 41). And an Article in the Swedish Act seems to have in view the same (among other) circumstances: " If the application of this Act involves such difficulties in the case of any particular work or undertaking as to jeopardize the continu- ance of the same, the King may . . . authorize an exemption from the application of this Act such as the circumstances may require."
PRINCIPAL COUNTRIES
UNITED KINGDOM. The 8-hour day was established in the mining of coal, stratified ironstone, shale and fireclay by the Coal Mines Regulation Act of 1908, and the amending Act of 1919 further reduced the daily hours of underground workers, with certain exceptions, to seven. Article i of the Act provided for a future reduction in certain eventualities to six hours daily. Other legislative restrictions of hours are to be found in the Factory and Workshop Consolidation Act of 1901, the Shops Act of 1912, and the Employment and Closing Order Act of the same year. A bill was introduced in Aug. 1919 for the establishment of the 8- hour day in industry, and clauses were proposed to be added extending its scope to cover also maritime employment and agriculture, but it went no further in 1921.
In the United Kingdom legislation has played a comparatively unimportant part in the restriction of hours except in the cases of women and children. Before the war a large number of collective agreements had been made, and after the war these were widely extended. The spheres now (1921) covered by agreements re-
