| Employers' combinations that acted “unjustly or abusively” to lower wages or hours of work were banned. Workers' combinations that challenged established wages or hours were outlawed. This law strengthened the Le Chapelier Law, but the government usually ignored workers' mutual aid societies in prosecuting workers' organizations. Workers were also required to carry a passbook (livret), which would be surrendered to an employer during the period of employment. The book had to be validated by employers in order for the worker to be able to find work elsewhere in France. Agricultural laborers and some unskilled workers were exempt, as were most women (with the exception of female silk workers in Lille after 1812). | 1 |
