Trade-Union Problems

...The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals said in refer- ence to the above letter that the fostering of the com- pany union was based upon running it for $75,ooo whereas it would cost $34o,ooo for the increase under the Brotherhood of Railway Clerks...

...It is evident from this that the present open-shop methods have not brought the satisfaction which the railroad officials thought they would...

...The reason why the management formed the company union was outlined by H. M. Lull, executive vice-president of the Southern Pacific Lines in Texas, in a letter to A. D. McDonald, the president...

...It has begun to be felt in several of the industries where the welfare program is in operation that it is not bringing the results it promised...

...The American Federation of Labor has contended year in and year out for the past twenty-five years that the presiding judges of federal district courts have exceeded the conmtutional limits of their power as provided by Congress when they have sat in equity to pass upon the problems affecting employers and employees...

...It will make for a better understanding of the atti- tude of the courts in issuing injunctions in labor dis- putes when it is realized that practically the first in- junction was issued about the year 1887 by the present presiding Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Mr...

...It is found that business as conducted in our American life, no matter insurance are based upon the age of the workers, and naturally, the younger the workers, the cheaper the premiums...

...The courts of our country, particularly the federal, by their rulings in equity cases brought against the American trade-unions, have contributed indirectly to the open-shop employer...

...eYUraraer Plower He cannot cool his beaded brow As his colter cools its earth-sunk nose While it lays each shinmg, graven mold Snug abed, in dovetailed rows...

...The hearings conducted before a committee of the United States Senate that is now considering a bill for the regulation of injunc- tions in industrial disputes, brought out a mass of testimony showing that the federal courts by their rulings have practically taken away the rights of working-men to a voluntary association...

...There is much said today about the attitude of big business, bankers and economists that higher wages must be paid to purchase our present mass production...

...It seems that the company unions are not effective when it comes to carrying out a wage policy...

...These two factors have had much to do with clouding the issues of what men are supposed to possess as their natural rights...

...from that point we find that iniunctions have steadily increased to where there have been as many as 3oo issued in one year...

...They are, first, the welfare program which has been adopted by the American employer as a substitute for trade- unionism, and second, the attitude of the courts to the right of voluntary association among the workers...

...They also admit that the shorter work week is necessary to provide leisure for the people as a part of the program to utilize what they produce...

...Recently the United States Circuit Court of Appeals, by a vote of two to one, outlawed this company union when it was brought before the Court...

...If we are successful in dealing with our own em-ployees through a company union, I am satisfied we can make settlement at a cost not to exceed $75,ooo annually...

...The recent effort of the so-called Progressive Con- ference held in New York was on the old theory that economic problems can be adjusted by political meas-ures...

...I think he hauls his wet horse 'round, He, near as Cain can get to king, And sets the well-worn point, and thinks Of one, far, cool, persistent spring...

...July Io, 1929 THE COMMONWEAL 269 TRADE-UNION PROBLEMS By WILLIAM COLLINS T HE rank and file of the membership of or- ganized labor in the United States is satisfied that the principles of the American trade-union fit into their American environ- ment...

...how coated with a welfare program, is, in the final analysis, to make profits...

...The American-plan or open-shop employer does not allow any union to exist in the plants that he oper- ates...

...The American Federation of Labor has had to meet this form of control from without its ranks since it was first organized in I88I...

...The trade-unions took the position that it was not a question of the open shop or closed shop, but of the union shop versus the non-union shop...

...These two problems of organized labor are being met by the American trade-unions with their basic policy that no correction can take place in our Ameri- can industrial life without a proper educating of pub- lic opinion...

...He realizes that the intricate mechanism that controls our American industrial life calls for methods that will substitute the conference for the strike (but without waiving that right) so that the American workman can sell his labor without intimidation, and work out his own individual industrial salvation...

...in the case of the Pennsylvania, they were granted $.o4 per hour increase...

...The revolution that has taken place in manufactur- ing methods in the United States is being met by the constructive policies of the American Federation of Labor...

...Collins has been identified for many years with the efforts made by the American Federation of Labor to lind a solutzon of economic diffi- culties which wall be neither ineffective nor hazardous to general well-being...

...It is all a part of the old Socialist Labor Party, the Industrial Workers of the World and the One Big Union, and when that movement fizzled in western Canada, along came the Communists...

...Though the [ollowing paper is general enough in scope to be considered a brae[ summary o[ current trade-umon attitudes and problems, st is primarily a comment upon an editorial which The Commonweal pubhshed in its issue of June I2, I9z9...

...Taft...

...Many liberal-minded citizens believed that the American plan, or open shop, was the best expedient for bringing about a more mutually benefi- cial condition within the industrial life of our country...

...The management of the Southern Pacific Lines in Texas and Louisiana set up a company union in order to avoid doing business with the Brotherhood of Rail- way Clerks...

...Events and conditions in industry today prove that they were cor- rect in this understanding...

...The judge imposed the punishment in spite of the explanation the two organizers had made to the meeting of the men that they could not be a party to it because of the injunc- tion of the federal court...

...Once public opinion is established upon an industrial problem it will ordinarily adjust itself to a proper course or will create a law that will be in accord with the best interests of the industry as a whole...

...That is why the unemployed today, when seeking employ- ment in the large units of industry, find that if they are over forty, their age has become a very serious handi- cap to their progress...

...Following the signing of the Armistice and during the years of readjustment from a war to a peace basis, the trade-union in its progress has had to meet the propaganda of the open shop or, as it was originally termed, the American plan of employment...

...Green, with his concept of our new industrial methods, has based his leadership upon an intelligent discussion in conference between em-ployers and officers of trade-unions...

...During the past few years the welfare programs in the open shop have been developing results that allow the worker to get a better understanding of their purposes...

...The premiums on group The economic problems affecting the American trade-unions are to be found in two very effective methods that have developed in American industry to prevent the growth of trade-unions...

...The public is beginning to realize that the group insurance is separating the older workers from their jobs and creating an unemployment condi- tion that is an anomaly in view of the humanitarian attitude of these open-shop employers...

...The recent arbitration award made to the shop crafts employed upon the New York Central Railroad and the Baltimore and Ohio, granting them an increase of $.o 5 per hour, was immediately fol- lowed by the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New Haven Railroad calling in their company union dele- gates...

...The older worker feels the effect of the welfare insurance because the possible danger of being supplanted by younger workers keeps them amenable to the welfare program as conducted in the plant...

...Today these plants carry on the payroll hundreds of welfare officials whose function it is to preserve in the worker a mental attitude that keeps him from exercising his individual rights as a worker...

...The late Samuel Gompers, writing in the Forum after the panic of t893, said: "The problem of American industry is not overproduction but under- consumption...

...The American Federation of Labor has been enunciating this policy since it was first or-ganized...

...Or does he like the prophet muse Of sword and share and hot-fought war, Or dream he turns some sky-deep field Where one may stumble on a star...

...Lull told President McDonald that the Brotherhood of 270 T H E C O M M O N W E A L July IO, 1929 Railway Clerks had secured a $.o5 an hour increase on the Southern Pacific's western line, through arbitra- tion...

...To apply that increase to our lines in Texas and Louisiana would cost $34o,ooo a year," he said...

...The American trade-union has always conducted its busi- ness upon the basis that the individual must work out, as far as possible, the processes that will bring to himself and his family the greatest freedom com-patible with safety and happiness...

...The past history of the labor movement em-phatically repudiates any and all political party action...

...There were only a few issued each year until about ten years ago...

...We are sure our readers will be glad to welcome the expression of his views on an ~mportant theme.--The Editors...

...H. JAMEs ROCKEL...

...The organizers were arrested and held in contempt of court, sentenced and served ninety days in jail, although the testimony before the Senate showed that a stool-pigeon in the pay of the local traction company was the one who made the motion for the men to strike...

...on the New Haven, they were granted the same increase, but some of the waiting time that used to be allowed when they re-ported for their daily work was taken away...

...One of the most flagrant of many instances of the abuse of injunctions was the case of the federal court in Indianapolis that resurrected an injunction issued twelve years before, restraining the street rail-way men employed by the local traction lines from forming a trade-union...

...To make the American plan appear more defen- sible to the public, there was added a welfare program which provides for a bonus or profit-sharing among the employees, group insurance, and various forms of recreation...

...The Pennsyl-vania Railroad has recently allowed trade-union offi- cials the right to canvass its workers for the purpose of forming trade-unions...

...And so, at each row's ragged end, When he wipes his forehead on his shirt, Does he enjoy a freshening thought In eyeing serried waves of dirt...

...It seems that the present-day student of our American industrial life fails to probe the real basis of American trade-unionism...