A.F. of L. Council Departs from Old Policy In Report Favorable to Jobless Insurance
A.F. of L. Council Departs from Old Policy In Report Favorable to Jobless Insurance THE report of the Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor to the annual convention at Cincinnati...
...such, for instance, as bills covering employes engaged in interstate commerce or employed in the District of Columbia or in Federal territories, or such as the bill recently introduced into Congress by Senator Wagner, allowing corporations substantial income-tax credit on their Federal income taxes for such payments as they have made under State laws toward the creation of unemployment reserves...
...It is essential that the protection of the rights of citizenship and of union membership be maintained in all acta...
...We suggest, however, that a flexible policy be pursued in all States and that unemployment insurance legislation be secured which will maintain the above standards as far as possible and yet which will accommodate Itself to the varying circumstances and conditions in each State...
...It would seem that the It The whole scheme should be so construed as to induce snd stimulste so far as possible the regularisaUoa and stabilization of employment...
...After a college education he became a newspaper man, and worked on papers in many parts of the country...
...Later on, after more accurate data are obtained, occupation or enterprise may be scaled according to the hazard of unemployment, but sufficient data are not now available to warrant such classifications at this time...
...It provides a broad and liberal basis for the inclusion of beneficiaries and for the protection of union standards...
...as, for instance, by baaing the amount of contributions payable upon some merit rating scheme or in States not adopting an exclusive State fund by the establishment of separate industry or separate plant funds...
...They relied mainly on self-help in the form of economic pressure by the trade-onions, seemingly forgetful >f the fact that in the condition >f powerful capitalist development ind concentration the economic itruggles between workers, and imployers had become a tragically ineven combat, This antiquated "liberal" social soncept lay at the bottom of most »f the Federation's philosophy and >olitics, its lack of clasi-conscioui-less and aggressiveness, its support of the political parties of apitalism It would be gross exaggeration to claim that the acceptance by the American Federation of Labor of the principle of stste unemployment insurance signifies the conversion of that body to the philosophy of Socialism...
...Heretofore the American Federation of Labor, alone of all great national trade-union bodies in the world, took an individualistic, not to say anarchistic, po-s i t i o n against government inter f erenee in behalf of labor...
...b) If the wages, hours and conditions offered are less favorable to the employe than those prevailing for similar work in the locality, or are such as tend to depress wages and working conditions...
...It is possible, nevertheless, to set forth certain general fundamental principles and standards to which such State legislation should conform...
...By Morris Hillquit AmericanLabor on the March Demand for Unemployment Insurance Marks New Epoch in History of A, F. of L •"THE Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor has recommended to the Cincinnati convention the approval of a system of compulsory unemployment insurance to be established by state legislation...
...To cover these costs the American Federation of Labor believes that the contribution rate should be not less than 3 per cent of the total payroll...
...c) If acceptance of such employment would sbridge or limit the right of the employe either (1) to refrain from joining a labor organisation or association of workmen, or (2) to retain membership in and observe the rules of any such organisation or association...
...The federation believes that this policy is wise and should in no case be abandoned...
...7. All funds should be invested in Federal securities or in the bonds of State or municipalities such as have never defaulted in the payment of principal or interest...
...Amount of Contribution The amount of such contribution must depend upon the local conditions in each State...
...In 1914 he wss made editor of the American Socialist, official national party Organ, and continued until the paper was suppressed upon the entry of the United States into the war...
...6. At this time the American Federation of Labor deems it Inadvisable to take an irrevocable stand as between the plant reserves system of unemployment insurance embodied in the Wisconsin law and an insurance system such as is under consideration In Ohio and in operation in many European countries...
...There are, however, certain classes of employment which It may be necessary to exclude from the general operation of the act, end these classes will vary according to local conditions...
...That it marks a departure from an old point of view and s welcome one at that is obvious...
...Picked at random from the avalanche of subs thst csme In dnrlnff the dosing days of the campslfin From s Connecticut booster, t new subs...
...A minimum contribution must be required sufficient to cover (a) the building up of adequate reserves, (b) the cost of the benefits to be paid under the act, and (c) the costs of administration...
...The revolutionists offer eve ything that Is clean, noble and alive...
...It goes on its placid way, prattling sweet ideals and dear moralities, and scrambling sordidly for material benefits...
...The report recommends "Recognition of the equities of workers in the industry in which they work, and at least protection equal to that given financial investments...
...Socialists should become as familiar with this text as with our own as the report means that unemployment insurance will be up for consideration in most of the states in the coming months...
...J. LOUIS ENGDAHL DIES IN MOSCOW Word comes from Moscow of the death from pneumonia in the Soviet capital of J. Louis Eng...
...It opposed all attempts to secure laws establishing s minimum wage or a maximum work-day for adult workers and decried all forms of social, insurance, which their fellow trade-unionists across the Atlantic considered as their most valuable and cherished achievements...
...The American Federation of Labor, therefore, advocates the passage of unemployment iimur-•nce legislation in each separate State, and the supplementing of such State legislation by Federal enactments...
...The Impending Revolution By Jack Londoa *1,HB capitalist class Is as blind * today to the menace of the revolution as it was blind in the past to its own God-given opportunity...
...As experience is accumulated it will be possible to determine the income necessary to provide the benefits decided upon in the law...
...For the past ten yesrs he hss been active hi various phsses of Communist work ss editor, organiser and lecturer...
...We are unalterably opposed to company-controlled unemployment reserves and believe that without State administration plant re* serves will prove but another "company union" device...
...It cannot see how precarious is its position, cannot comprehend the power and the portent of the revolution...
...This may be effected in various possible ways...
...The necessary funds should be raised as a charge on industry...
...dahl, leading American Communist...
...2. Unemployment insurance legislation in this country should be carefully devised to promote its two primary objectives: (a) the stimulation of more regular employment, insofar as possible, and .(b) the payment of unemployment compensation to those who are temporarily out of work through industry* failure to provide steady employment for its working forte: 3. The American Federation of Labor advocates a scheme of unemployment compensation made compulsory by law...
...Only by compulsory legislation can workers be adequately protected...
...This statement embodies within it certain standards and principles that we believe should be incorporated in unemployment insurance legislation...
...During the early party distentions, Engdahl opposed the Communist elements, but during 1920 and 1921 he took a more and more definite Communist position until he joined that party and became editor of its local weekly...
...The report follows...
...They argued that if the government were permitted to interfere in the industrial life of the country in behalf of labor, it would be difficult to Stop it from exercising its powers against labor...
...It calls for joint administration of the fund by representatives of the management and organised labor under strict state supervision...
...It should include clerical as well as manual workers...
...He became a Socialist in 1910 and In 1911 he joined the staff of the Milwaukee Leader...
...Ada Wright, mother of one of the Scottsboro Negro boys, under Communist auspices seeking to arouse sentiment in Europe for the unfortunate lads...
...It short, so blind is the capitalist class that it does nothing to lengthen its lease of life, while It does everything to shorten it...
...All Sorts of Unemployment 8. Insurance in general should cover temporary and Involuntary unemployment...
...An old German proverb proclaims that "He who says A must ssy B," and the Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor has already said B and is on the high road to C. Analysing the causes of unemployment, the Council concludes that "the reason for this situstion is to be found in the faulty distribution of the products of industry as against the achievements of American productive processes...
...It demands "national economic planning for the purpose of balancing production and distribution," and explains that the plans for economic balance roust not result in curtailing production and lowering standards, but "must grow out of a unified basic philosophy and co-ordinated procedure to advance human well-being...
...This step marks a profound revolution in the social concepts and political attitude of the organized labor movement in America...
...It would be desirable, were it< possible, to press for the enactment of one uniform measure for unemployment insurance applicable throughout the United States...
...Nothing in the unemployment compensation act should require an employs to accept employment, nor should any employe forfeit his right to benefits under the act by refusing to accept employment under any or all of the following conditions: (a) In a situation vacant directly in consequence of a stoppage of work due to a trade dispute...
...John Louis Engdahl was born of Swedish immigrant parents in Minneapolis November 11th, 1884...
...Truly, the American labor movement is at last beginning to move...
...But, due to the provisions and limitations of the United States Constitution "as interpreted by the courts, since the regulation of manufacture and industry lies primarily within the province of State rather than Federal activity, it is practically impossible to enact constitutional Federal legislation adequately providing «r unemployment insurance covering employes enfaged in work in the different tates...
...A State Matter Whatever plan is adopted, whether based on plant reserves or on a broader basis, we believe that it should be administered by the State and all reserve funds held and invested by the State...
...The capitalist class offers nothing that is clean, noble and alive...
...They offer service, unselfishness, sacrifice, martyrdom—the things that sting awaka the imagination of the people, touching their hearts with the fervor that arises out of the Impulse toward good...
...d) Works., who quit work without good cause or who are discharged for misconduct shall not thereby forfeit benefits beyond a reasonable period...
...Pending the adoption of compulsory State insurance, voluntary unemployment schemes should be subject to State regulation...
...But we are quite justified in asserting that it marks a first decided step in that direction...
...The absence of complete data should not, however, prevent the passage of a law, since the liability of the fund is limited to the amount of the income provided by law...
...It, therefore, follows that, as a ¦ matter of principle, no part of the contributions to support unemployment insurance should be paid out of the wages of labor, but the whole should be paid by management as part of, the cost of production...
...6. Sound public policy requires that no insurance company in this country be allowed to invade this new field of unemployment compensation...
...The concrete recommendations of the council as to the provisions to be embodied In the unemployment insurance laws are on the whole rather progressive, The council had before it a number of "model" bills ranging from the anaemic "American plan," sponsored by the American Association for Labor Legislation and substantially adopted in Wisconsin, to the full-blooded program, which the Socialist Tarty formulated in its* own model bill...
...I. " - , 4. Since unemployment 4* to S certain extent one of the inevitable Incidents el production and must, therefore, ha regarded as part of f»e Inescapable cost of Industry, •t...
...Voluntary schemes are unlikely to pervade industry generally and art frequently open to Other serious objections...
...of L. Council Departs from Old Policy In Report Favorable to Jobless Insurance THE report of the Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor to the annual convention at Cincinnati on unemployment * insurance is so important to the workers of the nation that we present the complete text below...
...The American Federation of Labor, after mature consideration and discussion, has formulated the following principles Which should guide in the framing of State unemployment insurance bills: 1. Every unemployment insurance act should contain specific provisions to protect anion members from being obliged to accept work contrary to the rules and regulations of their organisations or employment under conditions such as tend to depress wages or working conditions...
...It places the entire cost of insurance on industry, demanding a minimum contribution of 8% of the payroll without deductions from wsges...
...It has failed in its man-agemant, and its management la to be taken away from it 8even million men of the working class ssy that they are roing to get the rest of the working class to, join with them and take the management away...
...Hke other Costs of industry, •koald be paid by Industry Itself...
...The exact percentage, however, must vary in different States and will come to depend upon various actuarial data, which must be carefully collected as a basis for such determination from the experience gained both before and after the passage of the act...
...While the benefits ($ir> per week for 16 weeks in the year) are rather inadequate, they are much more substantial than the ridiculous . subsidies recommended by the liberal social reformers of all shades...
...We therefore believe it vital that suitable legislation be enacted to provide for State supervision of all such plans, including as a minimum the deposit of benefit funds in separate trust accounts, whether or not such funds include payments made from employes...
...Unemployment means the conditions caused by the inability of an employe who is capable of and available for employment to obtain work in his usual employment or in another for which he is reasonably fitted...
...The capitalist class has been indicted...
...It cHffets with the bill drafted by the Socialist Party in some important respects, but its significance lies in the acceptance of the principle...
...He is survived by a widow and a daughter...
...He wss tried and sentenced to SO years by Judge Lsndis, together with Victor I-Berger and three others, but the Supreme Court quashed the conviction because of proved prejudice by the trial judge...
...While the plan proposed by the Federation is not as broad and generous as that of the Socialist Party, it comes much closer to the latter than to the so-called American plan...
...9. The coverage should be as wide as possible...
...Engdahl was traveling in Europe with Mr...
...Local Conditions Vary It is evident that the local conditions of each State vary to such a marked degree that it would be unwise, even were it possible at the present time, to frame a single model bill to be enacted in every State...
...We are also of the opinion that, at least at the outset, it is advisable to have but a single unemployment insurance fund (with, if a plant reserves system is adopted, separate accounts for separata employers) and a flat rate of contributions by employers regardless of the industry in which they may be engaged...
...A year later he traveled with Emil Seidel, then Socialist candidate for Vice-President...
...No insurance company is allowed under present State laws to write this class of insurance...
Vol. 14 • November 1932 • No. 22
