Worker Voice Employee Representation in the Workplace in Australia, Canada, Germany, the UK and the US 1914–1939 STUDIES IN LABOUR HISTORY 5 Studies in Labour History ‘...a series which will undoubtedly become an important force in re-invigorating the study of Labour History.’ English Historical Review Studies in Labour History provides reassessments of broad themes along with more detailed studies arising from the latest research in the ield of labour and working-class history, both in Britain and throughout the world. Most books are single-authored but there are also volumes of essays focussed on key themes and issues, usually emerging from major conferences organized by the British Society for the Study of Labour History. he series includes studies of labour organizations, including international ones, where there is a need for new research or modern reassessment. It is also its objective to extend the breadth of labour history’s gaze beyond conven- tionally organized workers, sometimes to workplace experiences in general, sometimes to industrial relations, but also to working-class lives beyond the immediate realm of work in households and communities. Worker Voice Employee Representation in the Workplace in Australia, Canada, Germany, the UK and the US 1914–1939 Greg Patmore LIVERPOOL UNIVERSITY PRESS To Helen, Julieanne, Robert and James Worker Voice First published 2016 by Liverpool University Press 4 Cambridge Street Liverpool L69 7ZU Copyright © 2016 Greg Patmore he right of Greg Patmore to be identiied as the author of this book has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication data A British Library CIP record is available print ISBN 978-1-78138-268-4 cased epdf ISBN 978-1-78138-431-2 Typeset by Carnegie Book Production, Lancaster Printed and bound in Poland by BooksFactory.co.uk Table of Contents List of Tables vii List of Illustrations viii Acknowledgements ix Abbreviations xi 1. Introduction 1 2. he Context 11 Explanations of Historical Patterns of Employee Representation 11 he Economy 16 Industry Scale and Structure 26 he Division of Labour and Technology 32 Trade Unionism and Politics 38 Employers and Managing Labour 43 he Role of the State 49 Conclusion 58 3. he Concepts 60 Employee Representation Plans 60 Whitley Works Committees 68 he German Works Councils 74 Union-Management Cooperation 81 Conclusion 86 4. he US 89 ERP – he Extent 89 ERP – he Impact 95 Cooperative Management – he Extent 109 vi Worker Voice Cooperative Management – he Impact 112 he Demise of ERPs and Union-Management Cooperation during the 1930s 114 Conclusion 121 5. he UK 123 he Extent of Whitley Works Committees 123 he Impact of Whitley Works Committees 135 Looking beyond the UK 143 Conclusion 147 6. Germany 149 he Extent of German Works Councils 149 he Impact of German Works Councils 153 he Impact on Unions, Women and Employers 160 he Demise of German Works Councils 167 Conclusion 168 7. Canada 170 ERPs – he Extent and Impact 170 An ERP – he Experience at the Sydney Steelworks, Nova Scotia 176 Union-Management Cooperation 185 Conclusion 189 8. Australia 191 Inluences 191 he Impact 198 Electrolytic Zinc 201 Conclusion 207 9. Conclusion 208 Bibliography 214 Index 235 Tables AcknowIllustrations Table 2.1 Unemployment in Australia, Canada, Germany, the UK and the US, 1914–39 (%) 25 Table 2.2 Trade Union Membership in Australia, Canada, Germany, the UK and the US, 1914–39 (%) 39 Table 3.1 ERPs, Whitley Works Committees, German Works Councils and Union-Management Cooperation Committees 87 Table 4.1 Employee Representation in the US, 1919–32 92 Table 5.1 Orb Works Whitley Works Committee – Issues in Selected Years, 1919, 1924, 1929, 1934, 1938 139 Table 5.2 Cream Packing Departmental Council, Rowntree, York – Issues, 1924–27 141 Table 6.1 Works Councillors and Trade Union Membership – Siemens 1920–25 (%) 163 Table 6.2 Works Councillors and Trade Union Membership – Ruhr Coal Mining Wage Earners 1920–26 (%) 163 Table 8.1 EZ Works Committee – Issues 1936–38 204 Illustrations AcknowIllustrations B&O – Daniel Willard (Courtesy of B&O Museum Archives) 84 B&O – Mount Clare (Courtesy of B&O Museum Archives) 85 CF&I – Pueblo Steelworks (Courtesy of Steelworks Center of the West, Pueblo Colorado) 97 Siemens. Siemensstadt, Berlin, 1930 (Courtesy of Siemens) 151 Sydney Steelworks, Nova Scotia. Steelworks during the 1923 strike. Courtesy Beaton Institute. 181 CNR – Henry hornton (Courtesy of Library and Archives of Canada) 186 Australia – George Beeby (Courtesy of State Library of NSW) 193 Acknowledgements Acknowledgements I wish to acknowledge the support of many people and institutions that made possible the completion of this book, the research for which began with a visit to Pueblo, Colorado in 1997. he research was funded by a variety of sources including the Faculty of Economics and Business, now the School of Business, at the University of Sydney, two grants from the Australian Research Council, and the Rockefeller Archives Center. he Department of History at Georgetown University kindly provided me with the facilities to continue my research when I was in Washington in 2011. I would also like to thank the generous assistance of the stafs of the Archives of Labor and Urban Afairs at Wayne State University, Borthwick Institute for Archives in York, Beaton Institute at Cape Breton University, the Baltimore & Ohio Museum, the Canberra oice of the National Archives of Australia, the Colorado Historical Society, the Historisches Archiv Krupp, the Noel Butlin Archives Centre at the Australian National University, the Bessemer Historical Society/Steelworks Center of the West, the Modern Records Centre at Warwick University, the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung in Bonn, the Department of Labor Library in Washington, DC, the Archives of the International Labour Organisation in Geneva, the Manuscripts Division of the Library of Congress, the British Library, the Bundesarchiv in Berlin, the Siemens Archive, Provincial Archives of Nova Scotia at Halifax, the State Library of NSW, the Tasmanian Archive in Hobart, the Manuscripts Library of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania State University Libraries Labor Archives, the Labour Movement Archives and Library in Stockholm, the National Archives and Library of Canada, the Rockefeller Archives Center, the University of Colorado at Boulder Archives and the Public Records Oice at Kew. I would also like to thank especially the following people for their advice, support and encouragement: Greg Kealey, Neville Kirk, Leon Fink, Joe McCartin, Jonathan Rees, Ray Markey, George Strauss, David Brody, Nikola Balnave, Jim Kitay, x Worker Voice John Shields, Merrilyn Bryce, Melissa Kerr, Troy Sarina and Harry Knowles. I would like to thank particularly Yasmin Rittau, who was my research assistant when I was undertaking the research with an ARC Discovery Grant in 2011 and 2012, proofed the manuscript for me before submission for publication and constructed the table of abbreviations. hank you also to Liverpool University Press, particularly Alison Welsby, for giving me the opportunity to have the manuscript published, and Trevor Matthews for compiling the index. Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Helen Warner, my children Julieanne and Robert Patmore and son-in-law James Bunton, to all of whom this book is dedicated, for their tolerance, particularly of the travel that was involved. Abbreviations Abbreviations AACL All Canadian Congress of Labour AAISTW Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers ACTU Australasian Council of Trade Unions ADGB Allgemeiner Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund AEU Amalgamated Engineering Union AF American Federationist AfA Allgemeiner freier Angestelltenbund AFL American Federation of Labor AFULE Australian Federated Union of Locomotive Enginemen AJ he Amalgamated Journal AJICIRC Association of Joint Industrial Councils and Interim Reconstruction Committees ALP Australian Labor Party ASE Amalgamated Society of Engineers ASLEF Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen AWU Australian Workers’ Union BB Bundesarchiv, Berlin, Germany BESCO British Empire Steel Corporation BHAS, Port Pirie Broken Hill Associated Smelters BHSA Bessemer Historical Society Archives, Pueblo, Colorado BHP Broken Hill Proprietary Company BI Beaton Institute, Cape Breton University xii Worker Voice BMWE Brotherhood of Maintenance Way Employees B&O Baltimore & Ohio Railroad BP Beyer Papers, Library of Congress, Washington, DC BSCP Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters CBRE Canadian Brotherhood of Railway Employees CCF Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (Canada) CCL Canadian and Catholic Confederation of Labour CF&I Colorado Fuel & Iron CFIC, CHS Colorado Fuel and Iron Corporation Collection, Colorado Historical Society, Denver, Colorado CIO Committee of Industrial Organisation CMA Canadian Manufacturers Association CNR Canadian National Railroad C&O Chesapeake and Ohio Railway CP Harold T. Curtiss Papers Pennsylvania State University Libraries Labor Archives, State College CTP Co-operative Traic Program DISCO Dominion Iron and Steel Co. DLL United States Department of Labor Library, Washington DC DMV Metalworkers’ Union (Deutscher Metallarbeiter- Verband) DOSCO