c o n t i n u i t y a n d c o n t r ac t 251 other things, the correct interpretation and application of a collective agreement. However, the act did not prescribe mandatory arbitration, but only furnished the parties with a semi-official body intended for solving conflicts.506 In the preparatory works to the act of 1920, it was noted that the proposal in 1916 of the National Board of Health andWelfare on mandatory arbitration had been stopped because it did not have the support of the population groups most closely concerned. Nevertheless, the ambition must be that as soon as a firm legal understanding had been established, it should be given protection in legislation.507 In the parliamentary debate, the question once again emerged as to the composition of the arbitration board. Social Democrats, William Linder, who himself was a judge on the Göta court of appeal, and trade union leader, Charles Lindley held that Swedish jurists in general were only acquainted with contracts and rules and lacked the knowledge about life’s realities that was necessary to be able to solve those conflicts that the act concerned.508 Hjalmar von Sydow, however, argued yet again that the decision be placed in the hands of a legally educated person.The current legislation was only one link in a long chain of attempts to legally regulate working conditions that stretched back to the beginning of the century. He also referred to the fact that Herman Lindqvist had supported the 1916 proposal, but had afterwards been repudiated by his comrades within the labour movement.509 von Sydow could allude here to the differences of opinion within social democracy that also clearly emerged during the debate in parliament. Östen Undén, this time in his capacity as government minister, said that he regretted the working class’ extreme timidity of legislation, which was certainly understandable in the light of the projects of 1910 and1911. Undén therefore 506 Prop. 1920:155; LU2 1920:27; RSkr 1920:213; SFS 1920:245, 246, 248. Schmidt, F 1950, p. 26; Sigeman 1984, p. 879; Sigeman 1989-90, pp. 193-206; Jansson, H1965. 507 LU2 1920:27, p. 2. 508 FK1920:41, pp. 69-71 (Linder); FK1920:41, pp. 77-78 (Lindley). 509 FK1920:41, p. 65.
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