1. — Direction of Labour and Rights
   1. The employer has the right to direct and distribute the work, freely engage and dismiss workers and to employ workers whether Trade Union or not.
   2. There shall be no discrimination against Trade Union workers.
   3. Foremen may not belong to the Trade Union. (The foreman represents the employer, distributes the work, but does not usually do the work himself. He will have risen from being an ordinary worker.)
2. — Times of Work
   1. The normal working times, except for furnace men, both day and shift work for every workman is 8 hours daily, making up 48 hours in a normal working week.
   2. The furnace man’s normal working time where no special arrangement has been made is 10 hours per day, making 60 hours a normal week.
   3. The times of beginning and ending work, and of rest intervals, are decided in each works separately.
   4. Christmas, New Year, Easter, Whitsuntide and Midsummer Day are holidays.
3. — Overtime
   1. When the employer so demands, overtime shall be worked subject to the State’s laws and regulations, but the worker may excuse himself for a valid reason.
4. — Piecework Rates
   1. Piecework shall be worked wherever possible, and for all piecework which has not been priced, a price shall be fixed by negotiation between the employer and workman or workmen to whom the work is offered. Such agreements should be recorded in a special price list.
   2. Glass of a type in the price list, but of which the particular capacity, measurement, weight or shape is not listed, shall be paid the price for the listed article nearest to it.
   3. If new machines or other improvements are introduced which will affect the earn­ings as in agreed piecework rates, any prices so affected shall cease to operate after 14 days’ notice. Until new agreements are reached the work is to be paid on time rates. This time pay is :—
      1. For a glass blower working with pressing machines during the first 30 days the average earning during the last six months, thereafter 2.75 kroner per chair.
      2. For workmen with semi-automatic machines, similarly for the first 30 days and afterwards 2.25 kroner per chair.
      3. For glass cutters during the first 30 days, average earnings during the last six months and thereafter 1.08 kroner per hour for a skilled cutter. For other workmen the agreed time pay.
5. — Glass Blowers
   1. All piecework prices are reckoned for a full chair and per 100 pieces passed glass. Inspection is to take place immediately after annealing. Nearly all glass is inspected and counted before cracking off; lighting glass and thermos bulbs, as well as opaque articles, however, are inspected and counted after cracking off. Piecework prices are paid for glass of various colours which crack due to faulty composition.
      There is a special agreement for Limmarod.
   2. For agreed piecework rates the following percentages of the basic rate are paid:—

5. continued
   3. For rated work, as well as for samples, exhibition pieces, and a small number of pieces which cannot practically be made by piece work, time rates are paid.
      Provision is made for the minimum numbers the employer can demand as having priced for piecework.
   4. When the metal deteriorates the foreman should be informed by the workman. He then has to decide whether the work should go on or a change should be made. When the chair is told to continue with unsuitable metal the average earnings should be paid.
   5. If a member of the chair is absent and the usual numbers for piecework cannot therefore be reached, the other members of the chair are paid for the average of the last six months’ earnings. When the chair is complete again the normal method of payment is restored.
   6. The head of the chair has to be responsible during working time for seeing :—
      1. That the glass in the pots is looked after and is not spoiled through inefficiency or carelessness.
      2. That the glass when necessary is skimmed.
      3. When making big pieces, that stone and other faults are removed.
   7. Pot setting is done by the works. The glass blower, however, has to attend at the time decided on by the works, and his pay will be his average money in the chair. Other arrangements may be made at each works and piece rates may be paid.
6. — (Rates for Pressed Glass Chairs).
7. — (Rates for Semi-Automatic Machines).
8. — Glass Cutters, etc.
   1. All piece rates are reckoned on 100 pieces inspected and passed. In the case of breakages due to bad annealing, the cutter is paid for the work he has done.
   2. For new work for which no piece rates are agreed, the time rate mentioned above (1.08 kroner) is paid. For certain work, such as samples and a small number of pieces which cannot be priced for piecework, the average earnings for the last six months are paid. (It is worth pointing out that the 1.08 kroner wage is substantially lower than the average earnings and, therefore, if agreement on piecework for new articles cannot be reached, the cutter earns less until piecework rates are agreed on.)
   3. The works supply free carborundum, which the cutter must use to the best advan­tage and look after.
   4. All this also applies to cracking-off men, flatteners, painters, engravers, etchers, etc.
9. — Time Pay
   1. Labourers of 18 and over, furnace men (teasers) and mixers — 95 ore per hour. Inspectors, cracking-off men, melters and packers — 97 ore.
      Helpers (male):—

9. 2. Pay for pot makers, head teasers, lehrmen, mould makers, blacksmiths, engineers, electricians, carpenters, bricklayers, painters and chauffeurs agreed separately in each works.
10. — Pay for Disabled Men
    By agreement in each case between master and men.
11. — Transference of Workers
    If a man is transferred to a lower-paid work, his previous pay is to continue, but this does not exclude special agreements.

12. — Overtime and Extra Pay
    For overtime demanded by employer:—
    Weekdays .. .. .. .. .. .. + 37 per cent.
    Night, 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. .. + 75 per cent.
    Sundays and Holidays .. + 75 per cent.
    (See Para. III, Sec. 4.)
13. — Shift work on Sunday and holidays, etc., ordinary rates + 75 per cent.
14. — If the metal is not ready for the work in the glasshouse to start, or if there is a stoppage in glasshouse or cutting shop, due to a breakdown, and the employer require the workmen to remain, time rates are paid for lost time exceeding half an hour per day the time rate being the average earnings. During the waiting time the men may be compelled to do other suitable work.
15. — Payment
    Wages are made up per calendar month, but payment is made on the 10th and 20th as well as the last day, or if these fall on Sunday or holiday, the previous day. On the 20th of the month the previous month’s account is paid out; on the 10th and last days of the month advances are given in an even number of kroner, amounting to one-third of the expected month’s earnings. Other local agreements may be made.
16. — Doctors
    Workmen are obliged to belong to an approved sick fund. For a workman and his wife, the employer pays back what the workman can prove he has paid according to the rules of such approved sick funds.
17. — Holidays
    According to the law, holidays are taken from June to September, if repairs do not stop the works at another time in the year, when the employer has the right to arrange holidays to fit in with the stoppage. Pay during the holiday shall be counted for each workman on his average earnings with the same employer during the qualifying period. The average earnings are to be arrived at by dividing the workman’s earnings by the number of hours worked. Payment which is intended as special remuneration is not counted, neither is overtime earned or holiday pay. (See Statistics.)
    For each day of holiday, holiday pay is equal to the workman’s average income, multiplied by the average number of hours worked by him during the qualifying year, per day on ordinary time.
18. — Time Off
    At time of political and community elections, the worker who has a vote is given time off to attend elections. For church meetings and communal meetings the workmen can elect representatives who are to be allowed to attend for them, providing that the employer is told at the latest on the previous day about the numbers who will be absent. Workmen elected on the Council cannot be forbidden to leave work to fulfil their engagements on the Council.
19. — Regulations
    1. Each workman shall be honest, decent and courteous in behaviour, and shall show industry and do his work as well as possible, and shall willingly obey the employer’s orders. The employer shall in all his dealings with his workmen be courteous and humane.
       The agreed times of work shall be strictly followed and the workman may not leave his work or be absent without good cause. If a workman, due to sickness or other good cause, cannot attend he shall let the employer know as soon as possible, giving the reason.
    2. The employer’s possessions shall be well looked after and cared for.
    3. The workmen shall be sober at work and may not introduce or consume alcoholic drinks in their place of work.
    4. Loss of time caused by reading of papers or other literature is not allowed, nor may a workman do anything else besides his work, nor to disturb others in theirs.
    5. Notices prohibiting smoking must be obeyed implicitly.
    6. If these rules and regulations are broken, the result may be warning, suspension or immediate dismissal.
20. — Notice
    1. Fourteen days’ notice of dismissal or leaving must be given on either side.
    2. A worker who leaves an employer without permission before the agreed time limit loses any pay outstanding (but not more than 12 days’ pay).
    3. Paragraph 1 is not applicable when the general agreement for the industry runs out.

21. — Disputes
    See special agreements between employers’ and men’s Federations.
22. — The Agreement
    Coupled with this agreement are special piecework lists and price lists at the various works.
23. 
    This agreement is in force from 1st January, 1946, to 31st December, 1946, but may be cancelled by either side with three months’ notice. If notice is not given it goes on for another year. The notice of cancellation to be valid should be accompanied by a proposal for a new agreement, together with lists for piecework, special price lists, etc.

Signatures representing—

(a) Smaland Glass Manufacturers’ Association.
(b) Union.

Approved by Manufacturers’ Federation.

Other Points

When the last agreement started, January, 1946, the wages increase was 20.7 per cent. on the time paid for male adult workmen, i.e., on 1.63 kroner for Trelleborg and 1.48 kroner for all other places, and for adult females 0.81 kroner for Trelleborg and 0.74 kroner for all other places.

A general agreement is also made between the Federation of the Trade Unions and Manufacturers’ Association. There are three representatives elected for three years from each side (with three in reserve), who settle general questions and elect an independent chairman, who gives a casting vote if required. This body was constituted on 31st January, 1946, and has drawn up the main lines of collective agreements to be made by both sides and the procedure for negotiations. Any dispute or disagreement on the interpre­tation of the rules is referred to this general committee. No decision is valid unless all members are present. Each side has its own secretary and both sets of minutes are kept and approved.

No strikes are allowed until the question has been thrashed out in this committee. All cases must be brought before this body within four months of the dispute arising. Any questions of compensation for illegal strikes is also referred to it.

Negotiations should be carried out on the spot with the help of the local Association and should start not later than two weeks after the dispute arose; but if these break down either party can refer to the Central Committee, acting with the independent chairman, within two months. Negotiations by the Central Committee (and chairman) must start within three months.

No strikes or lock-outs are permitted until the matter has been investigated, and then not while negotiations are still going on. Before any action is taken three months’ notice must be given, and then may be taken only after consulting the Federation of Trade Unions and Manufacturers’ Association.

Our first contact with the Trade Union was with the representatives of the local branch at Kosta, but the main discussions were at the Headquarters in Stockholm of the Federa­tion of Trade Unions, covering 40 affiliated Unions. Within the Glass Union, which covers all types of glass production, are local branches at all the factories, and membership is 95 per cent. The Headquarters has a staff of 21 negotiators with their assistants and is well equipped with modern office machinery, such as calculating and filing machines. From it a weekly journal and other publications are sent out, correspondence courses are organised, and records kept of all meetings of local Unions and of all members past and present. Central funds are handled with records of all contributions, local accounts are audited, and accounts of earnings are kept. (The central funds are said to amount to 12,000,000 kroner.)

In any dispute in the industry, the resources of the whole Federation are available, though it does not actually pay strike benefit, but pays benefits during lock-outs. Pre­war, 98 per cent. of negotiations were carried out without open disputes occurring.

Normally the Federation makes unemployment payments, acting for the Unions affiliated to it, but in bad times the State will pay up to two-thirds of the amount of unemployment pay.

In the glass industry, the Union has been trying to bring up the wages of the lower groups. This has not so far resulted in a greater recruitment of boys. It has also worked for improved welfare facilities, while recognising that many manufacturers cannot afford to do all they would like to.

Wages negotiations in the glass industry are held annually and seem to have been fairly satisfactory, improvements having been allowed as the cost of living increased Wage rates are generally flat throughout the glass industry. Sweden is divided into cost of living areas between which wages vary, but most of the glass works fall within one small area.

Overtime is paid in the glass industry on the actual earnings. The rate starts at 37 per cent., but is 75 per cent. for night work, 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., and Sundays or public holidays. (Workers in bottle factories earn 100 per cent. extra for Sundays.) Normal hours are 48 per week, though furnace men work 60 hours or more and are paid accordingly. Until 1943, free houses were provided. Now a comparatively low rent is paid for them. Normally there are no pension schemes except in the bottle industry, where 400 kroner a year is given; and old men are dependent on the small State pension. In some places arrangements have been made for widows and orphans to be taken care of, though they automatically lose their houses if they are owned by the employer on the death of the wage earner, the houses being reserved for workers only. There does not, however, appear to be any strong feeling against this system of “tied houses.”

Twelve days’ holiday with pay is enforced by law for all gainfully employed workers, but there is no pay for public holidays. Holidays in Sweden are regarded as obligatory, no worker may take employment during a holiday in his own trade. It is unknown for a glass decorator to work at his trade at home after his paid employment.

In glass blowing everything possible is done on piece-rate; decorators may be paid either on time or piece-rates, but are mostly on time rates. If there is any dispute about a particular rate (details are not fixed in the main yearly negotiations) it is investigated by the Local Piece-rate Committee which, if the claim is supported, negotiates with the employer. The dispute may finally be referred back to the Union and the Employers’ Federation, and if no agreement can be reached time rates are fixed which both parties bind themselves to observe. It will be seen from the agreement (Annexe I) that the workers have a definite inducement to reach an agreement for a piece rate, but most production is in soda lime. Lead crystal is worked at a time rate which brings earnings up to what the men would have earned on soda-lime piece work.

A list of average glasshouse wages shows that manufacturers are paying 3.51 kroner basic rate for the chair (of six, excluding taker-in). The method of calculating actual wages in the glasshouse is shown in Annexe I.

A good cutter will earn about 500 kroner per month. The wages of an engraver vary with the type of design, e.g., for human figures, the wages are about 2 kroner per hour, for flowers about 1.75 kroner.

The decline in the industry in the last few years is attributed to change in taste and sensitivity to general trade changes.

Raw Materials — Sand, pre-war from Germany. Now Skone. This Swedish sand is nearly iron free when washed; unwashed only 0.08 per cent. A cutting stone was seen from Hogernes. Violet colour produced by MnO₂ (manganese dioxide).

Layout — Model furnaces only to be seen, not unlike Stourbridge type.

Methods — Model of mould, by which an attempt had been made to mould a carafe before catting.

Types

1. Thick glass which is fashionable now and for last few years — difficult to anneal, therefore expensive.
2. Layered Glass — one with red squares — triple cased wedding present for Miss Hald of Orrefors.
3. Frosted and cut with cutting polished.
4. Surface colours painted on facets and then burnt.
5. Graphite — drawing with graphite, bubbles caused by oxidising to CO2 then trapped between layers.
6. Light engraving as early as 1848.
7. Modern coloured glass a speciality of Kosta. Brown, green, prussian blue, two colours of green and amber.
8. Cloudy — Kungsholms Works — 1676-1815 at Stockholm.

Vaxjo Museum — It was interesting to note that there was, in the centre of the glass industry, at Vaxjo, a museum with a small but distinguished collection of glass ranging from the earliest known Swedish examples of about 1500 down to to-day.

There are some foreign examples, including Italian and English, but the collection is essentially a Swedish one and England is only represented by a few modern exhibits.

Though small and incomplete the exhibition is well selected and arranged and is a good example of the kind of “special” museum on which a more ambitious one might be modelled. Actually there is very little shown of an earlier date than 1740, when the glass industry was being firmly established in the area, chiefly because of the plentiful timber supplies available for fuel.

The excellence of the local hand-blown work is now, as it has always been, the chief asset of the Smaland glass industry, and the high level of the design and craftsmanship that has been maintained for some two centuries is made very clear by the series of exhibits that cover the period.

It was interesting to see several of the decorative motifs, which are commonly regarded as typical “Modern Swedish,” appearing on examples from the 18th century, and it was also noticed that even some of the most successful modern shapes have pedigrees of respectable antiquity.

There are exhibits, both ancient and modern, showing engraved and stained glass, and current examples of full colour, mostly red, blue and green, whilst sand-blast stencil work is exemplified by a large terrestrial globe. An interesting novelty is a glass decorated by a graphite inscription which results in unfinished pin-point bubbles along the lines of writing. Another is decorated ware that has been distended by subsequent further blowing and then coated with another gathering of clear glass.

There was practically no painted glass and very little cut glass in the sense in which it is commonly understood in England. Modern Swedish production covering the past 20 years or so is well represented and culminates in the clean-lined and quite plain or sparsely decorated goods, often of very heavy and faintly tinted metal, especially character­istic of the Orrefors and Stromberg factories.

This is an association of craft workers and not to be confused with the Arts and Crafts Association. It has its own permanent showrooms in Stockholm, where it was planning to hold an exhibition in September, 1946. In the interests of craft, this associa­tion promotes more luxurious and ornate designs than the Arts and Crafts Association, though without losing sight of usefulness and good lines. The trend of taste for everything going into the home in Sweden seems now to be away from the austere designs of the architectural artists to a design of a richer type giving more scope to the individual craftsman.

ANNEXE V

TO APPENDIX B

Statistics

I — Total Production of Table and Fancy Glass

II— Total Glass Industry, 1943

Crystal and Household Glass

Average Hours Worked per Year

Proportion of Piecework

Average Wages
Ordinary Wages Paid per Hour (kroner)

Index of Wages per Year

Value of Wages including Extras and Payment {kroner) per Hour

Index of Wages per Hour

Average Weekly Earnings (kroner)

Average Yearly Earnings (kroner)