著者

平沢 照雄

出版者

政治経済学・経済史学会

雑誌

歴史と経済 (ISSN:13479660)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.50, no.1, pp.1-14, 2007-10-30

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This paper analyzes the case of the Electric Lamp Glass Industry to discuss the development of Japan's economic control over medium and small companies, the industrial cooperation movement in the 1930s, and the relationship that existed between the two. I focus specifically on the official recognition accredited to the labor union, Kanto Electric Lamp Glass Industry Labor Union (KELGILU) by the trade association, Tokyo Electric Lamp Bulb Association (TELBA), and the labor agreement between them. I find that (1) TELBA acted negatively toward the official recognition of KELGILU when the union was initially established; and that (2) TELBA authorized KELGILU and entered into a labor agreement after handling the problem of the sales of surplus products to outside customers by Tokyo Electric Corporation and dealing with the labor dispute at Marusa Factory. I also find that the Industrial Cooperation Committee (ICC) was established as the management-labor consulting organization; and that the industrial cooperation movement developed after the signing of the labor agreement. Most importantly, I highlight the following: First, the mutual aid system, which consisted of sick pay, life insurance, and retirement allowance, was established through the activities of ICC. Second, standard wages common to all factories were established. Under this new system, factories that offered wages lower than the standard were obliged to raise wages, and attempts were made to improve working conditions on an industry-wide basis. Third, the sales-price control that TELBA attempted to implement at the time was not fully adhered to by the industry. ICC, therefore, pursued the application of price control via suspension of the supply of KELGILU workers to those factories that violated the control. Similarly, ICC systematically applied the labor supply suspension against factories that did not cooperate with the establishment of the above-mentioned mutual aid system and the adoption of the standard wages. I conclude that the economic control and industrial cooperation movement developed in complement as a way to bring about both stabilization of business administration and improvement of working conditions in the Electric Lamp Glass Industry.