supervise plans for INDUSTRIAL SAFETY, particularly in the production of munitions. It passed out of existence June 30, 1919.

Working Hours in Germany. A national EIGHT-HOUR DAY for all German industrial workers was ordered by the act of November 23, 1918, on the basis of the decree of the council of Volksbeauftragten (people's commissioners) and put into effect for salaried employees in the same way by the law of March 18, 1919. The maximum working day for agricultural workers was placed by the Temporary Rural Workers' Statutes of December 20, 1918, and January 23, 1919, in four months of the year at an average of eight hours daily, in another four months at ten, and in the remaining four months at eleven hours. At the same time in all these cases a regulation of the REST PERIODS in the working day was brought about. To the already existing regulations against NIGHT WORK there was added through the decree of the council of Volksbeauftragten of December 23, 1918, the important regulation against night work in all large bakeries and confectionary establishments. Especial limitations on the hours of labor, particularly for women and children, have been imposed in the case of certain hazardous industries.

Working Hours in Russia. Under the Soviet labor code, the normal working day for manual workers in Russia is eight hours for day work and seven hours for NIGHT WORK; while for employees in offices it is six hours. The normal working day for persons under eighteen years of age is six hours. In especially hard and DANGEROUS OCCUPATIONS the normal day for adult workers is six hours. No persons under eighteen years of age nor any women are permitted to work OVERTIME or on NIGHT WORK. All hours over the normal day are paid as overtime, and each shop is allowed to vote on the number of hours to be worked overtime. All wage earners are allowed a weekly uninterrupted rest of not less than forty-two hours. Every worker is entitled to a two weeks' vacation with pay every six months, regardless of whether he has worked in one or several employments. Women are excused from work eight weeks before and eight weeks after confinement, and receive full pay during this period. (See SUBBOTNIK.)

Working Papers or Working Permits. See EMPLOYMENT CERTIFICATES.

Working People's Non-Partisan League. A Minnesota organization, formed in July, 1919, "to unite members of organized and unorganized labor into a political league together with those in sym

pathy with the interests of the common people, in order that representatives may be elected to office who will enact, interpret, and enforce laws that will serve the general welfare in accordance with the platform and programme adopted by this organization." It works in close association with the national NON-PARTISAN LEAGUE.

Working Rules. The definite stipulations of a national or international trade union in regard to such matters as the hours of beginning and ending work, CLASSIFICATION of workers, MINIMUM WAGES, payment for OVERTIME, age and number of APPRENTICES to be taken, arrangements as to PIECE WORK, holidays to be allowed, notice to be given by employers or workmen terminating engagements, accommodations to be provided for meals and the safe custody of tools, allowances or extra payments, etc., etc. Such rules are often supplied to all members of the union in a printed "rule book," the provisions of which must be strictly observed. Also called "trade rules." (See BY-LAWS; BLACK MONEY; GRINDING MONEY; WalkING TIME; DINNER MONEY; COUNTRY MONEY.)

Working Stiff. See STIFF.

Workingmen's Clubs. In England, local societies for social intercourse, mutual helpfulness, mental and moral improvement, rational recreation, and other similar purposes. In 1915 there were about 1500 such clubs in Great Britain, with a total membership of about half a million. Most of them are federated in a WorkingMen's Club and Institute Union.

Workingmen's Party of America. See SOCIALIST LABOR PARTY OF NORTH AMERICA.

Workmen's Compensation. Under the common law of EMPLOYER'S LIABILITY, the rights of a worker in securing damages for an industrial accident are much more closely restricted than those of an outsider. The unjust and demoralizing workings of this system led to a gradual recognition, beginning in Germany about 1879, that "industrial accidents presented not so much a legal as an economic and social problem, that the wear and tear of the human machine, like the wear and tear of the inanimate machinery, should therefore be considered a necessary part of the cost of production, to be provided for out of the price, before profits may be computed" (Rubinow: "Social Insurance"). As a result, laws have been passed in nearly all European countries and by the Federal government and nearly all state governments of this country, which make the employer

automatically liable for at least a part of the economic loss caused by industrial accidents, regardless of initial fault or responsibility. In such laws the amount of compensation to an injured worker is generally determined within a maximum and minimum limit by specified schedules of compensation fixed in the law, and are graded on a basis of a certain percentage of the loss or impairment of the injured worker's average weekly wage. Jury trials are either largely or wholly eliminated, and the compensation to which the worker is entitled under the law is usually determined by a board, commission, or official either created or specified by the act. The principle of workmen's compensation (sometimes called "industrial accident insurance," and "employees' compensation") is now so generally accepted that at least fifty foreign countries and provinces, including practically all of any industrial importance, have laws of this character. Beginning with the year 1909, compensation legislation has been enacted in forty-two states of the American union, besides the District of Columbia (public employees only), the territories of Alaska and Hawaii, and Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands. The rapid growth of American compensation legislation, involving, as it has, the almost simultaneous enactment of laws in a number of states, has operated to prevent the adoption of any one form of law as a type, so that, although a single fundamental principle underlies the entire group of laws of this class, its expression and application present great diversity of details in the different states. No fixed form of analysis or summary presentation can give in complete detail the provisions of the laws under consideration. They relate not only to the compensation of accidents, but to accident reporting, safety provisions, the enforcement of safety laws, the establishment of insurance systems, premium rates, investments, the scaling of payments in cases of certain forms of negligence or their increase under certain conditions, procedure in arbitration, forms of appeal, and a great variety of subjects on which it would be impossible to generalize, and which can be discovered only by a reading of the individual statutes. Compensation laws may be classified first as compulsory or elective. A compulsory law is one which requires every employer within its scope to accept the act and pay the compensations specified. Usually but not always, the employee must also accept the provisions of the act. An elective act is one in which the employer has the option of either accepting or rejecting the act; but, in case he rejects, the customary common-law defenses under employer's liability are abrogated. In other words, the employer is subjected to a higher degree of liability if he does not elect. In most states the employee also

has the right to accept or reject the act. None of the compensation laws covers all employments. Usually AGRICULTURAL LABOR, DOMESTIC SERVICE, employments that are casual in nature or are not conducted for the purpose of the employer's business, and in some laws non-hazardous employments, are exempted from the provisions of the act. It may be provided, however, that such employments may come under the provisions of the law through the voluntary acceptance of the employer or the joint election of employer and employee in these exempted classes, but the employer loses no rights or defenses if he does not accept, and to this extent the compensation law is a voluntary one. Thus a law may be either compulsory or elective as to the employments covered, and voluntary as to other employments. Furthermore, an act may be elective as to private but compulsory as to public employments. Besides the distinction as to the compulsory or elective application of the law, it may require the employer coming under it, whether voluntarily or by compulsion, to insure his liability to make payments, or it may leave the matter of insurance to his own choice. Thus the state may make provision for the carrying of such insurance, and require all employers coming under the act to avail themselves of such provision; or the state fund may simply offer one of alternative methods. Again, the state may refrain entirely from such action, but require insurance in private companies, stock or mutual; and lastly, self-insurance may be permitted-i.e., the carrying of the risk by the individual, subject to such safeguards as the law may prescribe. Compensation for OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES contracted in the course of employment is now a generally recognized factor in workmen's compensation laws. (See United States EMPLOYEES' COMPENSATION ACT; CONTRACTING OUT; ACCIDENTREPORTING LAWS; VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION; WAITING PERIOD; BERUFSGENOSSENSCHAFTEN.)

Workmen's Insurance. See SOCIAL INSURANCE.

Works. The British equivalent of an American PLANT-that is, an entire factory or other industrial establishment in a given locality, including all units and operations known separately as

SHOPS.

Works Bonus. See COLLECTIVE BONUS SYSTEM.

Works Committee or Works Council. In the European sense, (1) a body representative of all the workers in a single industrial WORKS OF PLANT; or (2) a joint body representing both the workers and the management of a single industrial plant. In either case, the works committee is usually carefully differentiated in Europe from

the SHOP COMMITTEE, which is representative of the workers in only one department or unit of an establishment. In the United States, such a differentiation is rarely observed, and the terms "shop committee" and "works committee" or "works council" (where the latter terms are used at all, which is seldom) generally denote the same thing—a committee representative of all the workers of an entire establishment. In England, a works committee may be either (1) a body elected by all the workers of an establishment, each department or "shop" being treated as a separate constituency and often electing a number of members proportionate to its size; or (2) in a large works where SHOP STEWARDS are numerous, a body elected by the shop stewards; or (3) a body consisting of all the shop stewards of a single works. The main functions of a works committee are to adjust grievances and differences arising in the course of daily work, to consider wage changes and working conditions, and in general to contribute the collective experience and judgment of the entire personnel of the establishment toward greater harmony, efficiency, and welfare throughout the works.. Under the WHITLEY PLAN, the works committee is directly correlated with the DISTRICT INDUSTRIAL COUNCILS and the NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL COUNCIL in each large industry, all questions relating to the industry in general (such as wages, hours, work, etc.) being dealt with by the district and national bodies. It is an important essential of the Whitley plan and of other European works councils schemes that both the workers and their representatives shall be members of trade unions. other words, the RECOGNITION and cooperation of trade unions are fundamental to the works committee plan. In the United States, on the other hand, the shop or works committee system is most commonly adopted by employers who uncompromisingly oppose trade unionism; thus, whatever other merits it may have, the movement in this country is practically incapable of effecting any radical improvement in the economic status of the working class. Even in Europe a large section of the labor movement views the works committee plan as a sop or compromise, intended to delay or defeat true INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY. Works committees or councils are often known as "factory committees" or "factory councils." The designation, "plant committee" or "plant council," is not uncommon in the United States. (See GERMAN WORKS COUNCILS LAW; NorWEGIAN WORKS COUNCILS LAW; INDUSTRIAL COUNCIL SYSTEM IN BELGIUM; AUSTRIAN WORKS COUNCILS; WORKERS' CONTROL IN RUSSIA; ARBEITSGEMEINSCHAFTEN; COUNCILS OF EXPLOITATION; BOMBACCI PLAN; JOINT SHOP COMMITTEE; COMPANY COUNCIL.)