Factory Act

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Under the factory laws or the factory legislation (Factory Act) one understands the state legislation slowly beginning in England from 1833 and later also in other countries to protect the workers from the arbitrariness of the factory owners (entrepreneurs). These employed the workers who were completely at their mercy at the beginning of industrialization , usually 15 hours a day and longer. In the United Kingdom, women and children in particular were seen as national resources and therefore particularly worthy of protection. The Factory Act was replaced in Switzerland by the Labor Act in 1966 .

Development in the UK

Factory laws were initially very competitive. The contemporary economist Nassau William Senior warned against the limitation of working hours to 10 hours a day, since the reduction in working hours would lead to the collapse of the cotton spinning industry. In his study, he wanted to find out that the factories would only make a profit in the last (i.e. the twelfth) working hour. The Ten Hour Act was adopted after several attempts until 1847 by parliament.

The Factory Act ( Althorp's Act ), enacted by the British Parliament on August 29, 1833, restricted the working day for children for the first time, carefully graduating: between 9 and 13 years of age to eight hours, for children between 14 and 18 years of age to 12 hours, children under 9 Years should go to school.

Four factory inspectors were supposed to enforce the law across the UK.

Further steps were:

  • 1842: Prohibition of women and child labor in mines
  • 1844: The work of under 13-year-olds is restricted to 6.5 hours, women to 12 hours, night work is banned for women
  • 1847: General limitation of working hours to 63 hours per week by the Factory Act of 1847
  • 1867: Extension of the previously applicable laws for the textile industry to all companies with more than five workers
  • 1901: Minimum age for workers 12 years

Development in Switzerland

After individual cantons such as Glarus and Zurich had initially enacted factory laws to protect workers in Switzerland at the beginning of industrialization , the federal state took over the relevant legislative competence in 1877 to combat the worst abuses nationwide. For example, school-age children regularly worked in the factories before and after class until this was banned.

Early legislation in the canton of Glarus

In the area of ​​social legislation, the canton of Glarus played a pioneering role within Switzerland, which was possible due to the direct democracy in the form of the rural community . The laws of 1848 and 1856 provided for work safety and hygiene measures as well as modest maternity protection , and the Glarus Cadet Corps was founded in this environment in 1856. For the enforcement of the protective provisions passed by the Landsgemeinde, it was crucial that the inspection was carried out by a cantonal factory commission and not by the municipalities.

The individual development steps were as follows:

  • 1846: The cantonal government of Glarus bans the employment of children under the age of 12 in mechanical spinning mills. At the same time, however, night shifts of a maximum of 11 and day shifts of a maximum of 13 hours were allowed and an upper limit of 14 hours was set for the normal working day.
  • 1848: Confirmation of these rules by the Landsgemeinde von Glarus.
  • 1856: The work ban for children under the age of twelve is extended to all factories.
  • 1858: Sunday work is banned.
  • 1864: The normal working day is limited to 12 hours and night work is prohibited by the Landsgemeinde and against the will of the cantonal government of Glarus.
  • 1872: The Landsgemeinde von Glarus decides a normal working day of 11 hours.

Early legislation in the Canton of Zurich

Legislation in the economically important and liberal- ruled canton of Zurich began earlier than in the canton of Glarus. However, the development stopped and finally the canton of Zurich was overtaken by the canton of Glarus in terms of social legislation:

  • 1837: The Grand Council of Zurich issues an ordinance regulating child labor and prohibits school-age children from being employed in factories.
  • 1859: Enactment of an actual factory law to protect the health of workers, which sets the maximum permitted working time at 13 hours and which fundamentally prohibits night work by children.

Transition to a federal law

The first nationwide factory law was not enacted until 1877 and replaced the cantonal factory laws. This federal factory law was passed according to the model of the factory law issued by the canton of Glarus in 1872, and the responsible Federal Councilor Joachim Heer , FDP , who came from the canton of Glarus , was responsible for this . The great influence of the canton of Glarus on early Swiss social legislation is also shown by the fact that one of the first three Swiss factory inspectors, namely Fridolin Schuler , came from the canton of Glarus.

Among other things, the new law banned children under the age of 14 from entering factories, which is seen as a crucial step in preventing child labor . Not everyone wanted to adhere to it, however, and so the embroidery in St. Gallen was increasingly restructured to work from home, where the children could still be fully exploited.

However, the enforcement of the law in the epoch of high capitalism was in part still insufficient. In the canton of Solothurn, for example, a factory inspectorate was only set up in 1904 .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Nassau William Senior, Letters on the Factory Act, London 1837; online discussion at Karl Marx, Das Kapital .
  2. ^ Eduardo Nolla: Liberty, Equality, Democracy , New York Univ. Press, 1996, ISBN 978-0814757789 , p. 136.
  3. ^ Eddie Crooks: The Factory Inspectors: A Legacy of the Industrial Revolution. Tempus, 2005, ISBN 978-0752435695 , p. 16.
  4. ^ August Rohr: Glarus (Canton) - 4.2.2 Glarus as a socio-political pioneer. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  5. ↑ Article Wikipedia: History of the Canton of Glarus , social legislation
  6. ↑ Article Wikipedia: Kadettenanstalt , Switzerland .
  7. ^ August Rohr: Glarus (Canton) - 4.2.2 Glarus as a socio-political pioneer. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  8. ^ August Rohr: Glarus (Canton) - 4.2.2 Glarus as a socio-political pioneer. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  9. ^ Gordon A. Craig : Money and Spirit: Zurich in the Age of Liberalism 1830–1869 . CH Beck, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-406-33311-7 , p. 109.
  10. ^ Jean-François Bergier : The economic history of Switzerland. From the beginning to the present . Benziger, Zurich 1983, ISBN 3-545-34016-3 , p. 258.
  11. ^ August Rohr: Glarus (Canton) - 4.2.2 Glarus as a socio-political pioneer. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
  12. ↑ embroidery time; Art and culture in St. Gallen 1870–1930 . VGS Verlagsgesellschaft, St. Gallen 1989, ISBN 3-7291-1052-7 .
  13. ↑ Historical-Biographical Lexicon of Switzerland .