Industrial Democracy is a book written by British socialist reformers Sidney Webb and Beatrice Webb

Beatrice Webb

Martha Beatrice Webb, Lady Passfield was an English sociologist, economist, socialist and social reformer. Although her husband became Baron Passfield in 1929, she refused to be known as Lady Passfield...

, concerning the organisation of trade union

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

s and collective bargaining

Collective bargaining

Collective bargaining is a process of negotiations between employers and the representatives of a unit of employees aimed at reaching agreements that regulate working conditions...

. The book introduced the term industrial democracy

Industrial democracy

Industrial democracy is an arrangement which involves workers making decisions, sharing responsibility and authority in the workplace. While in participative management organizational designs workers are listened to and take part in the decision-making process, in organizations employing industrial...

 to the social sciences, which has since gained a different meaning in modern industrial relations.

Industrial Democracy was published in 1897, three years after the Webbs published History of Trade Unionism

History of Trade Unionism

History of Trade Unionism is a book by Sidney and Beatrice Webb.First published in 1894, it is a detailed and influential accounting of the roots and development of the British trade union movement. The research materials collected by the Webbs form the Webb Collection at the London School of...

, an account of the roots and development of the British trade union movement.

Outline

Industrial Democracy is divided into three parts. The first part concerns the structure of trade unions and concludes that "Trade Unions are democracies; that is to say their internal constitutions are all based on the principle 'government of the people by the people for the people.'" Part II focuses on the function of trade unions and specifically the method of collective bargaining. The third part delves into the theory of trade unions.

The imbalance of behaviour between employers and employees was described by the Webbs as follows.

Contents

Part I Trade Union Structure

Chapter I Primitive Democracy

Democracy

Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...

Chapter II Representative Institutions

Chapter III The Unit of Government

Chapter IV Interunion Relations

Part II Trade Union Function

Chapter I Introduction and The Method of Mutual Insurance

Chapter II The Method of Collective Bargaining

Collective bargaining

Collective bargaining is a process of negotiations between employers and the representatives of a unit of employees aimed at reaching agreements that regulate working conditions...

Chapter III Arbitration

Arbitration

Arbitration, a form of alternative dispute resolution , is a legal technique for the resolution of disputes outside the courts, where the parties to a dispute refer it to one or more persons , by whose decision they agree to be bound...

Chapter IV The Method of Legal Enactment

Chapter V The Standard Rate

Chapter VI The Normal Day

Chapter VII Sanitation

Sanitation

Sanitation is the hygienic means of promoting health through prevention of human contact with the hazards of wastes. Hazards can be either physical, microbiological, biological or chemical agents of disease. Wastes that can cause health problems are human and animal feces, solid wastes, domestic...

 and Safety

Chapter VIII New Process and Machinery

Chapter IX Continuity of Employment

Chapter X The Entrance to a Trade

(a) Apprenticeship

Apprenticeship

Apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a skill. Apprentices or protégés build their careers from apprenticeships...

(b) The Limitation of Boy-Labor

(c) Progression Within the Trade

(d) The Exclusion of Women

Chapter XI The Right to a Trade

Chapter XII The Implications of Trade Unionism

Chapter XIII The Assumptions of Trade Unionism

Part III Trade Union Theory

Chapter I The Verdict of the Economists

Chapter II The Higgling of the Market

Chapter III The Economic Characteristics of Trade Unionism

(a) The Device of Restriction of Numbers

(b) The Device of the Common Rule

(c) The Effect of the Sectional Application of the Common Rule on the Distribution of Industry

(d) Parasitic Trades

(e) The National Minimum

(f) The Unemployable

(g) Summary of the Economic Characteristics of the Device of the Common Rule

(h) Trade Union Methods

Chapter IV Trade Unionism and Democracy

Democracy

Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...

Appendices

I The Legal Position

History of labour law in the United Kingdom

The history of labour law in the United Kingdom concerns the development of UK labour law, from its roots in Roman and medieval times in the British Isles up to the present. Before the Industrial Revolution and the introduction of mechanised manufacture, regulation of workplace relations was based...

of Collective Bargaining in England

II The Bearing of Industrial Parasitism and the Policy of a National Minimum on the Free Trade Controversy

III Some Statistics Bearing on the Relative Movements of the Marriage and Birth-Rates, Pauperism, Wages, and the Price of Wheat

IV A Supplement to the Bibliography of Trade Unionism

External links

• Industrial Democracy on archive.org