The Year as. Labor Sees It
THE YEAR AS LABOR SEES IT TpHE change in the calendar invites a summary of -¦* what the past four seasons have meant for the American labor movement. Because the number of those who live by...
...There is, to begin with, the anthracite strike—still unsettled, though to all appearance, approaching settlement— wasteful to both parties concerned as well as to the public, and apparently a significant struggle for mastery...
...The general public has expressed unqualified approval of these measures, and has observed with more than a little satisfaction the battles which have been won against the forces of insurgent communism...
...More of them realize that they will be employees of some large concern all their life, that their fate is tied up with the success of industry, and that their chance of attaining a degree of independence hinges upon their ability to hew out a place for themselves in the concern in which they are working...
...On the other hand, labor leaders have been alert...
...Cooperative banks and union-managed insurance companies have appeared as a counterpart of the modern company system...
...During the last year the development of company unions which has been growing during a decade, has reached an impressive stage...
...Because the number of those who live by their wages is proportionately so large, the summary calls up hopes, attempts and achievements of a very popular character...
...The time has come," continues the press statement of the Conference, "when a workingman looks less and less to the independent ownership of a small business of his own...
...The situation in the coal fields is, indeed, not without its ominous meaning for the worker who slowly and sacrificially has joined in union with his fellows...
...Labor has decided that if it wishes independence in industry, it must look to cooperative action, and that this must extend beyond the traditional sphere of collective bargaining into sharing in management and—it is recognized sometimes—even into sharing in ownership...
...The indication is that the first steps have been taken towards a new and significant era in the conduct of industrial life...
...The social action department of the National Catholic Welfare Conference answers in the affirmative, but stresses a serious difficulty, which it formulates as "the increased power of finance and company unionism in its various forms...
...Therefore many workers are willing to accept the company organization, rather than the orthodox labor union, as the social group most advantageous to them...
...Power has not been taken out of the hands of a small moneyed group: "while many persons own certificates in the companies which possess industry and trade, the ownership and, to a still greater extent, the control is centered in a very small number of persons . . . their opposition to the independent labor union organization is weighty and hard to overcome...
...They have modified the goals and methods accepted during the pre-war era...
...On the other hand, following the lead suggested by President Green, cooperative endeavor and the sharing of management have been developed in many places...
...Therefore, is not labor better off...
...They have turned, continues the statement, "to the Baltimore and Ohio plan, through which they share in the management and offer the employers the increased efficiency that comes from using the ideas and zealous efforts of the men...
...These conclusions, arrived at by a group of students in touch with affairs and devoted to ethical principle, deserve close attention from all citizens—especially those whose work is placed within the limits of industrial activity and whose hopes include the improvement of American life through the establishment of social and economic peace...
Vol. 3 • January 1926 • No. 9
