customs ought to be generally established and accepted to reach efficiency and stability? The labour movement was split on the issue in many senses. Its representatives, at least officially, rejected the section 23 prerogatives on the basis that they did not reflect firmly established, let alone generally accepted customs. Nevertheless many leading profiles declared that the employer’s right to direct work was natural but had to be limited. Even if several leaders expressed a positive opinion on mandatory arbitration at a labour court, a recurring theme was that the Social Democrats distrusted professionally educated jurist to be entrusted with the decisive power in the court.There was a fear that this regulation would deprive the workers of the special “liberty of action” (Sw. rörelsefrihet) that followed from the right to down tools.A somewhat different line expressly promoted legislation as an instrument for facilitating “industrial democracy”, including a dialogue between the parties concerning terms of employment. The role of the state was to bridge these position, which for a long time was a failure. A series of labour law bills were introduced.They aimed at regulating individual contracts of employment and making the collective agreements binding.They also aimed at establishing a system of mandatory arbitration, administered by a labour court, which would include lay judges from SAF and LObut also with the decisive influence entrusted professional jurists. Contrary to what has often been claimed, the study’s analysis of the parliamentary debates and other public material shows that the worker’s duty of obedience and its connection with protection of employment was a central and controversial issue, which contributed to defeat the proposals in question. In1910-11the Conservative government proposed that the employer’s prerogatives according to “section23” by legislation should form an explicit and mandatory term of each individual employment as well as of each collective agreement. A small left-wing p a r t v, c h a p t e r 11 336
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