First. In my opinion chapter 174 of the Laws of 1913 does not repeal chapter 37 of the Laws of 1911, commonly known as the "eighthour law for women." It would seem, therefore, that the commission has no power to issue an obligatory order embodying a recommendation of a conference as to the number of hours per day or week, or the number of hours within any 24 hours, women may be employed, where such women are within the terms of the eighthour law. Second. From a careful reading of chapter 174, supra, it is my opinion that any order fixing a minimum wage for women must be general throughout the State as to the particular trade or industry affected. These questions, however, are by no means free from doubt, and if it is deemed advisable to enter orders in conflict with the conclusions above stated, I would suggest that such orders be entered, and the matter of the determination of their validity be left to the courts. Yours respectfully, W. V. TANNER, Hon. E. W. OLSON, OLYMPIA, WASH., January 13, 1914. Chairman Industrial Welfare Commission, Olympia, Wash. DEAR SIR: You have requested the opinion of this office upon the following question: Does the power reside in this commission, in pursuance of the duties imposed upon it in section 10 of chapter 174, Laws of 1913, to determine and define what shall constitute an occupation, trade or industry? Section 10, chapter 174, Laws of 1913, provides in part as follows: If, after investigation, the commission shall find that in any occupation, trade or industry, the wages paid to female employees are inadequate to supply them necessary cost of living and to maintain the workers in health, or that the conditions of labor are prejudicial to the health or morals of the workers, the commission is empowered to call a conference composed of an equal number of representatives of employers and employees in the occupation or industry in question, together with one or more disinterested persons representing the public; but the representatives of the public shall not exceed the number of representatives of either of the other parties; and a member of the commission shall be a member of such conference and chairman thereof. * * * No particular classification being directed by statute, it follows that the commission is authorized to exercise a reasonable discretion in making proper classifications for the purposes of investigations and conferences. You are advised that the commission has authority to make investigations and to determine and define, within reasonable bounds, what shall constitute an occupation, trade, or industry for the purpose of investigations and conferences. We must not be understood as advising that the commission is authorized to make, or is justified in making, arbitrary classifications or distinctions, so as to include within such classifications or definitions, occupations, trades, or industries having obviously no reasonable relation one to the other. Yours respectfully, SCOTT Z. HENDERSON, Hon. E. W. OLSON, OLYMPIA, WASH., January 13, 1914. Chairman Industrial Welfare Commission, Olympia, Wash. DEAR SIR: We are in receipt of your request, which is as follows: I desire to request from you whether or not under the provisions of section 13, chapter 174, Laws of 1913, it shall be necessary for this commission to submit to a conference for its recommendations the question of the adoption of rules to be followed in issuing through the secretary of the commission to a woman physically defective or crippled by age or otherwise, or to an apprentice in such class of employment or occupation as usually requires to be learned by apprentices, a special license authorizing the employment of such licensee for a wage less than the legal minimum wage. Section 13, chapter 174, Laws of 1913, provides: For any occupation in which a minimum rate has been established, the commission through its secretary may issue to a woman physically defective or crippled by age or otherwise, or to an apprentice in such class of employment or occupation as usually requires to be learned by apprentices, a special license authorizing the employment of such licensee for a wage less than the legal minimum wage; and the commission shall fix the minimum wage for said person, such special license to be issued only in such cases as the commission may decide the same is applied for in good faith and that such license for apprentices shall be in force for such length of time as the said commission shall decide and determine is proper. No reference is made in said section to a conference, and nowhere in the act is there provision made for submitting to the conference for its recommendation the question of the adoption of rules to be followed with reference to the provisions of section 13, supra. You are, therefore, advised that the matter of the license referred to in said section is within the discretion of the commission, subject to no condition with reference to recommendations of a conference, except that a minimum rate must have been established for such occupation. Yours, respectfully, SCOTT Z. HENDERSON, Regulations of Commission Governing Procedure of Conferences. The Industrial Welfare Commission for the State of Washington, duly appointed and qualified as provided by chapter 174 of the Session Laws of 1913 of the said State of Washington, having heretofore made investigation as provided by law concerning the employment of women and minors in the mercantile industry, the wages paid said women and minors, and the conditions surrounding their work and employment in said industry, and being fully advised in the premises, finds as follows: That in the said mercantile industry within the State of Washington the wages paid to female employees in said industry are inadequate to supply them necessary cost of living and to maintain the workers therein in health, and that the conditions of labor therein are prejudicial to the health and morals of the workers: Therefore, by virtue of the authority conferred upon this commission by law and in pursuance thereof, it is hereby ordered that a conference be called for the consideration of wages paid and conditions of labor in said mercantile industry, said conference to be composed of an equal number of representatives of employers and employees in said industry, together with an equal number of disinterested persons representing the public as hereinafter provided, the date of the first convention of said conference to be fixed by this commission after the representatives of said conference have been duly selected as hereinafter provided. The term "commission" shall mean the Industrial Welfare Commission of the State of Washington. It is hereby further ordered that the following rules and regulations be, and the same are hereby, adopted as the rules and regulations governing the selection of representatives and the mode of procedure of said conference. 1. A conference shall consist of nine persons and a member of the commission who shall be chairman of said conference, three to represent the employers, three to represent the employees, and three to represent the public. One of the members representing the public shall be appointed by the chairman as chief interrogator. A member of the commission shall act as chairman of the conference. 2. The method of selecting members of the conference shall be as follows: Each member of the commission shall nominate and send nine names to the secretary thereof. Three of these shall be employers in the industry for which the conference is being called; three shall be employees in said industry, and three shall be disinterested persons to represent the public. The secretary in turn shall then send a complete list to each member of the commission for his or her investigation, a period of at least one week being allowed for that purpose, after which the commission, sitting in regular session or any special session of the commission called for said purpose, shall select from among these names nine persons who shall constitute the conference, of whom at least one employer and one employee shall be from that portion of the State east of the summit of the Cascade Mountains. 3. After the selection of the members of the conference in each industry as provided in the foregoing section, the commission shall, from the names remaining, select nine alternates who shall have the same qualifications for membership on the conference as the regularly selected members; these alternates to fill any vacancies that may occur, according to a definite priority to be determined by the commission at the time of their selection. 4. A conference thus selected may, upon request by the commission, be called together at any time and place that the commission may designate, provided that each member of said conference shall be given at least 10 days' notice of such meeting and at the time of serving such notice shall be provided with a copy of the report of the findings of the commission in its investigation of the wages and conditions of labor of women and minors in the trade or industry for which the conference is called, and shall serve until discharged by the commission. 5. When the conference is called to order by the chairman, it shall deliberate under parliamentary law, and no question shall be discussed that is not germane to the conditions of labor or cost of living of working women or minors as applied to that particular trade or industry. Roberts's Rules of Order shall govern. 6. The commission may at its discretion fill any vacancies that may occur in its conferences. 7. The conference in its deliberations shall proceed on the principle established by the commission that a minimum wage or condition of labor of women and minors shall be general throughout the State as to the particular trade or industry affected wherever same shall be established. 8. The chair shall not permit the discussion of the question as a whole until after each item of the cost of living has been taken up in the order given in the estimate blanks prepared by the commission, unless otherwise directed by a majority vote of the conference. After proper deliberation and discussion of questions that have been presented to the conference by the commission, the conference shall then, upon request of the commission, proceed to make recommendations upon such questions as the commission may designate. 9. The members of the conference so selected shall be paid their actual traveling and hotel expenses while attending said conference (out of the regular appropriation set aside by the legislature), provided that evidence of such expense be filed with the commission and sworn to in the manner provided by law, and it is further provided that before being allowed said expenses are to be approved by the commission. 10. The secretary of the commission or a shorthand reporter shall be present at each conference and shall record the minutes of the meetings, and shall be ex officio secretary of said conference. 11. No member of the conference shall be entitled to speak more than twice on any subject, or more than five minutes at a time, except by unanimous consent of the conference. 12. The commission may amend, modify, or suspend, by a twothirds vote, any of the foregoing rules or regulations. Dated at Olympia, Wash., March 10, 1914. WISCONSIN. The Wisconsin act came into effect permissively July 1, 1913, and compulsorily July 1, 1914; that is, the law authorized the commission, upon its own initiative, to undertake investigations for the purpose of wage determinations after July 1, 1913, but directed that such investigations must be taken up upon complaint after July 1, 1914. Preliminary to the Wisconsin law becoming fully effective, the commission undertook an investigation of wages, cost of living, etc., for female and minor employees. The results of this investigation have not yet been published. A recent letter from the commission, in response to an inquiry, states that the whole question has been delayed because the commission is awaiting the action of the supreme court on the Oregon law. ATTITUDE OF THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR ON THE LEGAL MINIMUM WAGE.1 From the report we have given, it will be observed that the movement for a minimum wage for women and minors has gained considerable headway in our country, and that sentiment in favor of a living wage is rapidly crystallizing. That this growth of sentiment among the people is due to the activities of the organized wage earners there can be no doubt. The organized labor movement has insisted from the beginning upon the establishment of a living wage as a minimum, and it has through the force of organized effort, succeeded in establishing minimum wages and maximum hours of labor far superior to those prescribed by the wage boards of other countries. There is a marked difference, however, between the laws of other countries and the laws enacted or proposed in various States in our country. In England and in Australia authority is vested in wage boards to fix minimum wages for men workers as well as for women and minors; whereas in America these laws relate exclusively to women workers and to minors. If it were proposed in this country to vest authority in any tribunal to fix by law wages for men, labor would protest by every means in its power. Through organization the wages of men can and will be maintained at a higher minimum than they would be if fixed by legal enactment. But there is a far more significant ground for opposing the establishment by law of a minimum wage for men. The principle that organization is the most potent means for a shorter workday and for a higher standard of wages applies to women workers equally as to men. But the fact must be recognized that the organization of women workers constitutes a separate and more difficult problem. Women do not organize as readily or as stably as men. They are therefore more easily exploited. They certainly are in a greater measure than men entitled to the concern of society. A fair standard of wages, a living wage for all employed in an industry, should be the first consideration in production. None are more entitled to that standard than are the women and minors. An industry which denies to all its workers and particularly denies to its women and minors who are toilers a living wage is unfit and should not be permitted to exist. We recognize, of course, that in our time legislation of this character is experimental and that sufficient experience with it has not been had to enable us to secure comprehensive and accurate information as to its tendency and its effect upon wages and industrial conditions; therefore, we recommend that for the information of the labor movement the executive council be instructed to watch developments where such legislation is in force and to record carefully the activities, the decisions, and the trend of minimum-wage boards. We recommend that in all minimum-wage laws the organized workers should see to it that provision is made for the representation on minimum-wage boards of the organized wage earners, and that the laws are so changed or drawn and administered as to afford the largest measure of protection to women and minor workers-those they are designed to protect. 1 From Report of Executive Council in Report of Proceedings of the Thirty-third Annual Convention of the American Federation of Labor. Washington, 1913, pp. 63 and 64. |