In the 19th century, what would happen to a worker without his passbook?

The "livret d'ouvrier" presented by the Maison de la Métallurgie belonged to Bertrand Nicolas Joseph, who had obtained it from the Seraing municipal administration on June 24, 1840. Bertrand was 12 years old at the time, and was going to work at John Cockerill's ironworks.

Created and made compulsory by a law of 22 Germinal XII (April 12, 1803), the livret d'ouvrier is a small personal and official book in which each successive employer must record the date on which the worker entered his service and the date on which he left, certifying that he is indeed free of obligation when he takes up another job. Without it, the new employer cannot hire him.

Until 1840, the employer could even add negative comments, which would follow the worker throughout his career. Fortunately, this was not the case for our Bertrand.

His workbook shows that he had no fewer than 20 different employers between 1840 and 1874, the date of his last engagement. He worked in various collieries and then for numerous companies, including Ateliers de Charles Marcellis, Fabrique de Nickel du Val Benoit, Fonderie Royale des Canons, the Vieille-Montagne zinc furnaces in Saint-Léonard and Société Anonyme des Ateliers de Construction de la Meuse.

In those days, it was not uncommon for the boss to confiscate his workers' notebooks, to make sure they didn't leave before the end of their contract. It wasn't until 1854 that workers were given the right to keep them themselves.

While the workman's booklet was primarily an instrument of employer control, it also played the role of an official document of identification and police control. If caught without his booklet, the worker was considered a vagrant and could be arrested!

^{Cover and entry pages of Bertrand Nicolas's livret © MMIL}

The law of July 10, 1883 abolished the requirement to have a livret d'ouvrier. From then on, the booklet was only used to establish entitlement to a retirement pension, and disappeared for good in 1890.

As for child labor, it wasn't until 1889 that it was banned for children under the age of 12. For young workers aged 12 to 16, the law limited work to 12 hours a day and prohibited night work. For women, underground work was also prohibited, as was night work before the age of 21.

^{2 inside pages of Bertrand Nicolas's worker's book © MMIL}

The collections of the Maison de la Métallurgie et de l'Industrie de Liège (MMIL)