CONTENTS. PAGE 5 INTRODUCTORY, I. TEXT OF THE ACTS RELATIVE TO LABOR PASSED DURING THE LEGISLATIVE 8. Pension and Retirement Systems, 9. Savings Bank Insurance, 9 6. Wages (See also "Women and Children" and "Public Employment"), 16 22 25 31 31 40 47 47 47 59 62 63 65 66 10. Co-operative Associations, 12. Trade Unions, 13. Labor Disputes, 14. Licensed Occupations, 15. Public Employment, 16. Railroad Labor, 17. Prison Labor, 18. Housing, 19. Miscellaneous, II. INDEX TO BILLS AFFECTING LABOR INTRODUCED DURING THE LEGISLATIVE 1. Employment, II. INDEX TO BILLS AFFECTING LABOR INTRODUCED DURING THE LEGISLATIVE B. General Provisions, PAGE 70 70 4. Wages (See also "Women and Children" and "Public Employment"), III. OPINION OF THE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT ON PENDING LEGISLATION, 88 IV. RECOMMENDATIONS CONCERNING LABOR IN THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF V. TABLE SHOWING DISPOSITION OF STATUTES CITED HEREIN, Index, by topics, in detail, . LABOR LEGISLATION IN MASSACHUSETTS IN 1915. INTRODUCTORY. This Bulletin contains the text of those acts relating to labor, broadly defined, which were passed by the Legislature of Massachusetts during the session of 1915, and is intended to serve as a supplement to the Handbook of Labor Laws, recently published as Labor Bulletin No. 104, which contained the text of Labor Laws in effect at the close of the legislative session in 1914. This Bulletin also contains certain other matter, described below, having a direct bearing upon the labor legislation of the present year. In comparison with the labor legislation of recent years, that passed in 1915 was comparatively meagre. Very little distinctively new legislation was passed, the labor legislation of the year being principally amendatory in character, and, for the most part, the new measures established no new policy of special significance. In this Bulletin, as in the Handbook above referred to, the several enactments have been classified by subjects rather than by chapter numbers in order that the legislation on any particular subject may be immediately accessible. In the preparation of such classification, it has been necessary to rearrange the various acts, chapters, sections, and even parts of sections, by transferring or omitting certain words, phrases and clauses and by inserting certain matter in order to make the context clear. Each enactment in 1915, which is an amendment of an earlier enactment, has been given the same paragraph number which the earlier enactment had in the Handbook, and those specific words, phrases, etc., which are merely in the nature of amendments have been put in italics, so that the effect of the amendment may be readily observed. For purposes of conciseness certain phrases, which for present purposes are nonessential, have been omitted, such omissions being indicated by three points, thus: . . . ; wherever any insertion, for purposes of correlation or explanation, has been made, such insertion has been enclosed in brackets, thus: [ ]. Citations of sections printed in this compilation are given in italic type, enclosed in brackets, at the end of each paragraph, thus: [Gen. Acts, 1915, c. 4, §§ 1, 2 and 3], to indicate where may be found, in the official edition of the Revised Laws or of the Acts and Resolves, the complete text of the sections here presented. Such citations usually include only the last amendment to the section in addition to its original date of enactment, with the chapter number, wherever such original act has not been repealed. For the purpose of avoiding a considerable amount of repetition, those sections, the text of which permits of more than one classification, have generally been placed where it is deemed they are most pertinent. In a few instances, however, it was considered advisable to repeat a section under another caption. Certain acts passed during the legislative session of 1915 which did not specifically amend any part of the text of the law as published in the Handbook, bear, never [VII. 5] theless, closely upon the subject matter contained therein. In such cases the text of the law has been given the same paragraph number as that in the Handbook to which it most nearly corresponds, accompanied, however, by a capital letter, A, B, etc., indicating that such paragraph, while not amending the original paragraph in the Handbook, is supplementary thereto. In other words, these sections have been so designated as to correlate them with the corresponding section in the Handbook bearing most nearly on the subject matter of the new legislation. All sections stating that an act "shall take effect upon its passage" have been omitted, but those sections which state that the act shall take effect upon a definite date, other than that of its passage, have been included. Under "Administrative Provisions" have been printed certain provisions of the laws governing the different State boards and commissions which are more directly concerned with the subject of labor. Special legislation affecting a particular city or town has been generally omitted; certain acts, however, concerning the city of Boston, which were deemed of general interest, have been included. The second main division of this Bulletin consists of an index, in tabular form, to the numerous bills affecting labor which were introduced during the legislative session of 1915, and in this index information is given with reference to the more important stages through which these several bills passed, namely, the committee to which referred, the report of such committee, the final disposition of the bill, and, if enacted, the chapter number assigned thereto, in order that the reader may observe at a glance the principal action taken thereon by the Legislature. A key to the abbreviations used in this index appears at the head of the table. Approximately 540 bills directly and indirectly affecting labor, or about nineteen per cent of the 2,801 bills of all kinds introduced, were considered during the session, and, while many of these bills were proposed as amendments to laws already in effect, or were, in a measure, duplicated by other bills of the session, their mere number indicates the widespread interest which is being manifested in legislation affecting the interest and well-being of the wage-earners in this State. Although fewer measures affecting labor were actually passed in 1915 than in 1914, nevertheless 89 Acts (79 General and 10 Special) and 13 Resolves, which may properly be classified as labor measures, were passed during the session. The third division of this Bulletin contains an opinion of the Supreme Judicial Court on legislation pending during the session of 1915; and in the fourth division have been reprinted the recommendations concerning labor which appeared in the inaugural address of the Governor. A table showing the disposition of statutes cited in the text of the acts of 1915 is appended. By means of this table one may readily locate a specific act or section. The index appended hereto corresponds closely with the index published in the Handbook and should serve as a means of locating readily any act or section passed during the current year, regardless of its classification in this compilation. I. TEXT OF THE ACTS AFFECTING LABOR PASSED DURING THE LEGISLATIVE SESSION OF 1915. A. ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS. 1. CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION. (See also under Public Employment.) 10. Records and annual report. They [the commissioners] shall keep records of their proceedings and of examinations made by them or under their authority. Recommendations of applicants received by them or by any officer authorized to make appointments or to employ laborers or others, within the scope of such rules, and the examination papers of such applicants, shall be preserved for at least three years, after which time any or all application and examination papers of applicants, with accompanying recommendations, may, at the discretion of said commissioners, be destroyed. Such records and recommendations shall, under regulations approved by the governor and council, be open to public inspection. The commissioners shall from time to time suggest to the general court appropriate legislation for the administration and improvement of the civil service and shall annually before the tenth day of January make a report which shall contain any rules adopted under the provisions of this chapter. [R. L., c. 19, § 5, as am. by Acts, 1902, c. 308, and by Gen. Acts, 1915, c. 6.] 2. STATE BOARD OF LABOR AND INDUSTRIES. 20A. Resolve relative to a compilation of the labor laws. — Resolved, That the commissioner of labor is hereby relieved from making a compilation of the laws of the commonwealth relative to labor and from recommending amendments thereto, as directed by Res. 1914, c. 36, it appearing that the director of the bureau of statistics has made such a compilation, which is now in the hands of the printer, and that the state board of labor and industries has recommended such changes in the labor laws as meet the approval of the said commissioner. [Res., 1915, c. 15.] 25. Number and qualifications of inspectors. The total number of industrial health inspectors, industrial inspectors and assistant industrial inspectors shall not exceed twenty-four, of whom at least four shall be women. . . . Industrial health inspectors shall be persons admitted to practice medicine in this commonwealth, [or persons especially qualified by technical education in matters relating to health and sanitation]. Inspectors and assistant inspectors shall be not over forty-five years of age on the date of their first appointment, but this age limit shall not apply to any reappointment or to the first appointment of any person who filed his application for examination by the civil service commission for such position prior to January 1, 1915, and who was not then over forty-five years of age. . . [Acts, 1912, c. 726, § 8, ¶ 2, as am. by Acts, 1913, c. 813, § 8, and by Gen. Acts, 1915, c. 74.] ... |