Working to Rule: Railway Workshop Rules - A Study of Industrial Discipline

In this documentary account about railway workshop rule books, the author presents extremely rare rule-books and rule-sheets to analyze the development of industrial labor relations as the new railway industry grew. He shows how, over the course of 125 years, they have been modified by changing conditions and the growth of trade unions. He quotes generously from them to show how railway companies, among the largest employers of engineering workers, enforced discipline in an industry where many of the labourers were inexperienced. Those in charge were frequently autocratic in their methods and aided in their efforts to enforce the rules by the constant threat of unemployment. 115 pages.