The prohibition of strikes and lockouts was the most inclusive of the three. It applied not only to all “munitions work” as defined by the act,[104] but also to all work done “in or in connection with” munitions work, and to any other work to which the act should be applied by proclamation on the ground that stoppage of work would be “directly or indirectly prejudicial” to “the manufacture, transport or supply of munitions of war.”[105] Strikes or lockouts were forbidden unless a dispute had been referred to the Board of Trade, which for twenty-one days had taken no action toward settling it. Further provisions for a more prompt settlement of disputes were included in the second amending act, in August, 1917. The penalty for violations by either employer or employe was a fine which might be as high as £5 (about $24) per man per day. Disputes might be referred by the Board of Trade for settlement to any one of several subordinate bodies. Ordinarily the one used for men’s work was the “Committee on Production in Engineering and Shipbuilding.”[106] After the passage of the first amending act[107] in January, 1916, the “Special Arbitration Tribunal” authorized by it to advise regarding conditions of women’s work was the body generally chosen by the Minister of Munitions to settle disputes involving women.
The clause prohibiting strikes was adopted undoubtedly as the result of the strikes of “engineers” on the Clyde early in 1915, and other disturbances on war work, which followed after the “industrial truce” of the first few months of the war had once been broken. This in turn apparently occurred on account of the rising cost of living and the failure at the time to increase wages proportionately or to limit profits. The prohibition was roundly denounced by the labor and radical groups as having “given rise to more strikes than it has prevented,”[108] and strikes did, indeed, increase proportionately faster after the passage of the act. For several months beginning with May, 1917, the unrest was so serious that official committees of inquiry were appointed.
No figures are at hand to show the extent of the strikes in which women participated. Though comparatively infrequent among women workers, yet even there they occurred in defiance of the law. The Woman Worker recorded a case at a shell filling factory, where because a canteen attendant was, as they thought, unjustly dismissed, the girls refused to go back to work after the noon hour, and began to throw the china and food about in the canteen.[109]
There was some feeling among women as well as men war workers that following a strike government officials quickly adjusted grievances which had previously gone unremedied for months. Yet, even if the strike prohibition was not a complete success, officials believed that it operated to reduce the number of minor disputes.
“Leaving Certificates”
After the keen demand for labor arose in the industry, the “labor turnover” of experienced workers in munition factories reached abnormal proportions, causing loss of time and often of skill. The frequent changes and the resulting interruption to production became the subject of serious complaints from employers.
To diminish this “labor turnover” a system of “leaving certificates” or “clearance cards” was put into effect. No person leaving munitions work could be given work by another employer for six weeks unless he or she had a “leaving certificate.” The certificate was required to be granted by the employer on discharging the worker, and might be granted by a Munitions Tribunal if “unreasonably” withheld. This was the only condition inserted in the original act to prevent a certificate from being wrongfully withheld. The giving of employment contrary to these provisions, or the falsifying of a “leaving certificate,” were serious offenses under the act, punishable by a maximum fine of £50 (about $240). “Leaving certificates” might be required “in or in connection with munitions work” in any kind of establishments to which the regulations were applied by order of the Ministry of Munitions. In July, 1915, an order was issued requiring them in all engineering, shipbuilding, ammunition, arms and explosive establishments and establishments producing substances required for such production. In May, 1916, all “controlled establishments” not previously included, and certain places providing electric light or power for munitions work, were added to the list.
The leaving certificate requirements were said to be the only feature of the munitions acts approved by employers, but no part was more unpopular with the workers. It was charged that skilled workers were tied to unskilled jobs and thus rendered powerless to move to better wages and working conditions. The following quotation from The Woman Worker[110] illustrates the labor point of view:
The first Munitions Act came quietly—on tip-toe, like a thief in the night, and not one woman worker in a thousand knew of its coming.
Their shackles were riveted while they slept....