Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 9.djvu/791

 NEW YORK BUILDING TRADES PARALYSIS OF JQOJ 761

members, who shall become members of the union, if competent. That after the date of the signing of this agreement no union shall become a party to this agreement without the consent of the executive committee. That the matter of supplying sufficient workmen shall be left to the Arbitra- tion Board of the individual trade to be governed by its trade con- ditions, but that in case of continued failure on the part of the unions to supply sufficient workmen, any member of the Building Trades Employers' Association may refer the matter to the General Arbitration Board for settle- ment. ( 16) The wages now paid in the skilled and unskilled trades shall not be reduced nor the hours increased for one year from the date of the general acceptance of this agreement. In any difficulty arising in the unskilled trades, they may, through the mechanics of that particular trade, have representation in the General Arbitration Board.

This plan was adopted at joint conferences between the Employers' Association and various labor unions, July 3 and 9. Although it provides against lockouts, except, presumably, where arbitration fails, the method of enforcing its adoption was virtu- ally a lockout. And at this point the Employers' Association comes in for a large share of blame for the slow progress the arbi- tration proposal has made and this quite regardless of the merits of the scheme itself. It was presented in an arbitrary, tactless manner, as an ultimatum to be forced on the men whether or no. The plan was originally made public by the employers several weeks before the July 3 conference, and in a form materially less favorable to the unions. It was announced in a circular letter to all the building-trades unions, including even the bricklayers, who were working peaceably under their arbitration agreement with the mason builders, and without a suggestion of trouble. Obvi- ously there was no fairness, tact, or reason in locking out these men, yet they were included in the general announcement that work would cease until the new general agreement was signed. And Mr. Charles L. Eidlitz, president of the Employers' Asso- ciation, declared in substance that the workingmen could accept this plan or starve.

Such a method of presentation naturally spread resentment among the unions ; the gratifying surprise is that so many of them rose above any narrow or personal view of the case and indorsed the agreement for the sake of the common good and the larger interests both of labor and of the public a course of