Montana labor news., 1934-11-15

case that, when the majority of the employees OF
a plant vote for a certain agency to represent
them in collective bargaining negotiations with
employers, that agency should act for all of the
employees, brought a chorus of protests from
most Of the industrial autocrats in the United
States.
The principle of majority rule has been ac-
cepted in our political government from its in
ception. Nevertheless, extending the rule to the
field of industrial relations was at once inter-
preted by anti-labor "yellow-dog" contract ex-
e%cutives and managers of industry as destroying
the very fundamentals of their Fascist liberty"
1t is, therefore, interesting to note that this
principle is, in effect, recognized in the Province
of Quebec, Canada, in a recent Act of Parlia-
ment designed to make collective trade agree
ments enforceable as statute law.
The Act declares that when any organization
Of employees or employers has become party to a
trade agreement the Minister of Labor may be
petitioned to request the Lieutenant Governor in
Council to issue an order certifying that the
agreement is effective as law. Hearings for and
against the proposal are held by the Minister of
Labor, who makes his recommendation to the
Lieutenant Governor.
If the Minister of Labor makes an affirm
alive recommendation an order in council
is published which makes the rate of wages
and hours specified in the agreement legally
binding for all persons in the industry, en-
ployers and employees, including those who
were not parties to the agreement.
This collective agreement, legalized by the de-
cree Of the Lieutenant Governor in Council,
supersedes all individual contracts in the af-
fected areas, unless such contracts provide bet
ter wages and hours for the employees. But even
this exemption is not binding if the legal agree
ment outlaws individual contracts.
The State does not take over the enforcement
Of the collective agreements. That is left to the
parties directly concerned, who are required to
form a joint committee to assure the supervision
and enforcement of the pact. The Minister of
Labor is authorized to add to the joint commit
tee not more than two delegates recommended
by the employees or employers who are not
parties to the agreement.
The theory underlying the Act is that a trade
agreement represents the views Of the majority
Of employers and employees in the industry.
In carrying out this Act a recent order in
council gave juridical extension to the agreement
between the Organized Building Trades of Mon
treal and the Montreal Builders Exchange, Inc.
Under the order the wages and hours in the en-
tire building industry in Montreal became uni
formly those fixed by the agreement.
The significant thing is that this law is
not criticized by Canadian employers or
CARNATIONS as destroying their fundamental
rights in the determination of industrial re-
~lations. Nor is it denounced as establishing
a dictatorship of organized labor.
1t might not be a bad plan for the anti-labor re-
dictionaries who dominate the Chamber of Com
merce of the United States, the National Associ-
alton of Manufacturers, and the subsersive
barons who control the steel and automobile in
%dustries, to take a trip to the Province of Que
bee and see how the legalized majority rule in
collective bargaining works out in action.