Coll 28/9(2) ‘Persia; Internal affairs; including new Labour Law of 1946 and general labour conditions in Persia.’ [‎21r] (41/134)

1 HIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT
b}' tbe Council of Ministers on the 18th May, 1946. Although the law has not
yet been formally promulgated, I understand that it will take effect ten days
after publication of its text in the Official Gazette.
2. It will be observed that a 48-hour week is provided for, and that overtime
must not exceed four hours in any one day, with an annual maximum of 600 hours
for seasonal industries and 400 hours for other industries. Overtime pay is to
be 35 per cent, in excess of ordinary wages. In its draft form the Bill specified
that overtime pay should be 50 per cent, extra, but this was modified as a result
of representations made by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company.
3. The original Bill also provided that Friday should be a holiday, and that
a full day’s wages should be paid for this day. The law has, however, been slightly
modified and now provides that, if an employer does not pay his workmen wages
for Ft idays, he is bound to fix their weekly wages in such a manner that the wages
paid them for six days shall cover their requirements for a week.
4. One of the most important sections of the law is chapter 10, which
piovides for the settlement of disputes. This section is of great interest in view
of the labour difficulties at present experienced by the Anglo-Iranian Oil
Company. Article 27 provides for the establishment at each factory An East India Company trading post. of a council
to be known as the Factory An East India Company trading post. Council composed of one representative from the
workmen of the factory An East India Company trading post. , one representative from the employer, and a representa
tive of the Department-General of Labour. In its draft form the Bill stated
that, should the official representative not be available, he could nominate a
substitute from the employees of the factory An East India Company trading post. . This provision would have weighted
the scales against the employers, as the official representative could at any time
shelve his responsibility by going away and leaving the employers’ representative
in a minority.
5. In the case of individual disputes the decision of the Factory An East India Company trading post. Council
is to be final and binding. Disputes of a more general nature, involving a number
of workmen or a union of workers or of employers, if not settled by the Factory An East India Company trading post.
Council, are to be referred to an Arbitration Board, composed of one arbitrator
nominated by the employer and one nominated by the workmen. Should they
fail to agree, an umpire is to be appointed by mutual consent. If the Arbitration
Boa id fails to settle the dispute within twenty days, or the arbitrators refuse
to give an award, the question is to be referred for solution to the Board for
Settlement of Disputes, composed of the local Governor or his representative,
the senior legal representative or his representative, the local representative of
the Department-General of Labour, two representatives of the workmen, and
two representatives of the employer. The award of this board must be ’^iven
within twenty days and is to be final and binding.
6. Lock-outs and strikes are forbidden before the expiration of the periods
mentioned above. Persons inciting others by threats or force to go on strike,
or preventing them from striking, are liable to imprisonment from one to thre^
7. The new law marks an important step forward in social legislation in
this country, and its provisions are on the whole reasonable. There was an
urgent need to protect the interests of labour, to regulate the relations between
the workman and his employer, and it is to be hoped that the machinery provided
for settlement of industrial disputes will be of real value to the oil company,
who can now invoke the provisions of the law in their dealings with their
employees.
8. I am sending a copy of this despatch and its enclosures to the Govern
ment of India and to the Labour Counsellor at Cairo.
PERSIA.
E
June 6, 1946.
Section 2.
Copy No. 1 ^ (j
37*4 WITH reference to my telegram^No. 738 of the 25th May, 1946, I have the
honour to transmit to you a translation of the Labour Law wnich was approved
months.
I have, &c.
J. H. LE ROUGETEL.
[78—124]