Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 19.pdf/736

 INDUSTRIAL PEACE LEGISLATION IN CANADA to examine more closely the machinery by means of which the investigation is secured. The vital features of the Act are contained in section 5, namely: "Wherever any dispute exists between an employer and any of his employees, and the parties thereto are unable to adjust it, either of the parties to the dispute may make application to the Minister for the appoint ment of a Board of Conciliation and Inves tigation, to which Board the dispute may be referred under the provisions of this Act; Provided, however, that, in the case of a dispute between a railway company and its employees, such dispute may be referred, for the purpose of conciliation and investi gation, under the provisions concerning railway disputes in the Conciliation and Labour Act." and in section 56 (in part) : "It shall be unlawful for any employer to declare or cause a lockout, or for any employee to go on a strike, on account of any dispute prior to or during a reference of such dispute to a Board of Conciliation and Investigation under the provisions of this Act, or prior to or during a reference under the provisions concerning railway dis putes in the Conciliation and Labour Act: Provided, etc." With respect to a dispute between a rail way company and its employees referred to in section 5, supra, it should be explained, that the parties to such a dispute were for merly enabled to refer their differences for conciliation and arbitration under the Rail way Labour Disputes Act, 1903. A prefer ence for this measure instead of the new one having been expressed by some organizations of railway employees (although the reasons therefore were not regarded as satisfactory), section 5 of the present Act has, as will be seen, made it optional with the parties to a dispute affecting railway employees to have a reference under either Act; but, in either case, the reference must be made before a

695

lockout or a strike can be legally declared, the parties to such a dispute being expressly included in the provisions of section 56. Assuming, then, that a dispute has arisen in any coal mining or other industry con nected with a public utility, and that either of the parties desires to take advantage of the new Act, such party forwards to an official at Ottawa, known as the Registrar of Boards of Conciliation and Investigation, an application for the appointment of such a Board. The Registrar, who is appointed by order-in-council, and who, since the inception of the Act, has been the Deputy Minister of Labour, at once brings the appli cation to the attention of the Minister of Labour. The manner in which, and the persons by whom, an application for the appointment of a Board is to be made, are very fully set forth in the Act. Application forms are supplied by the Registrar, and the application, when forwarded to him, must be accompanied by a statement setting forth (1) the parties to the dispute; (2) the nature and cause of the dispute, including all claims or demands made by either party upon the other to which exception is taken; (3) an approximate estimate of the number of persons affected (because ten employees must be affected by the dispute in order to give the Board jurisdiction); and (4) the efforts made by the parties themselves to adjust the dispute. The application must also be accompanied by a statutory declara tion that, failing an adjustment of the dis pute, or a reference thereof by the Minister to a Board of Conciliation and Investigation under the Act, a lockout or a strike, as the case may be, will, to the best of the knowl edge and belief of the declarant, be declared, and that the necessary authority for that purpose has been obtained. In order that both parties to the dispute may be made acquainted with the proceedings taken under the Act at the earliest possible moment, and that all unnecessary delay may be prevented, the applicant for the appointment of a Board is required to send to the other party to the