Labor disputes on rights and on interests

Labor disputes are classifiable into disputes on rights based on laws or agreements, and disputes on conflicting economic interests. Disputes on rights are adjudicable, with suitable quasi-judicial adjustment machinery, provided such disputes may be settled without any need for strikes or lockouts. Disputes on interests, while non-adjudicable, may or may not be arbitrable. Under "functioning trade unionism" only vital disputes on interests need occasion strikes or lockouts. The industrial legislation in the Scandinavian countries, in the post -war German republic, and that regulating the United States railroad labor relations, offer outstanding instances of consistently differentiated adjustment machinery for disputes on rights and on interests. Present-day labor agreements in the United States in a few industries have similarly differentiated provisions for adjusting disputes. In many other agreements, however, the provisions for adjusting disputes on rights are imperfectly suited to the quasi-judicial nature of such disputes. A more widespread adoption of the "railroadtype" of adjustment machinery for industries operating under collective agreements would seem a large step toward the establishment of better industrial relations.