inflamed and misled by bad guides." He took an aggressive approach to lobbying through the press, lectures, meetings with politicians and bureaucrats, reports and testimony before parliamentary committees. In 1899 the Minister of Commerce, Alexandre Millerand, issued a decree that gave trade unions semi-official status, including the right to elect members to the Conseil supérieur du travail, where they would join government and employer representatives in discussions of proposed legislation. In 1900 another decree established regional Conseils du travail to report on labour conditions and the effects of protective legislation, help arrange collective contracts and mediate in disputes. Pinot organized opposition by employees to these decrees, which were strongly opposed by large industrialists who feared the growth of trade unions now they had a stronger voice. Pinot gained support for employer positions in the Senate and the Conseil d'Etat, but was less successful with the Chamber of Deputies, although he succeeded in having some bills changed. Comité des forges Pre-war Robert de Wendel, president of the Comité des Forges de France (CFF) and vice-president of the Union des industries et métiers de la métallurgie (UIMM), died in 1903 and Baron Robert de Nervo became vice-president of both the CFF and the UIMM. In January 1904, at the initiative of Robert de Nervo, the company presidents Edmond Duval, Albert Jouet-Pastré and Léon Lévy asked for a small committee to outline an agreement for close cooperation between the CFF, UIMM and the associations of railway equipment manufacturers, ship builders, war material manufacturers. The arrangement was completed in February 1904 with Robert Pinot as secretary general. Pinot now led the five main metallurgical associations, which met at the CFF headquarters. The Comité des Forges had become dormant, but Pinot soon brought it back to being the leading heavy industry organization. From 1906 to 1910 the Comité des forges was active in shaping the laws that gave workers a weekly day of rest, ensuring the regulations recognized that workers had to operate blast furnaces that ran around the clock seven days a week. Pinot played a role in all pre-war labor laws. He supplied deputies with information culled from the Committee's collection of company records. His committee used its publications, mailing lists and contacts throughout the country to influence reluctant deputies, and coordinated activities by the member steel firms such as petitions and meetings with politicians. During debates over tariffs in 1909–10 Pinot argued