Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/461

* TRADE UNIONS. 403 TRADE UNIONS. labor, wage-earners are driven by the employers and led by the pace of the hardier workmen to impair the health both of them>elves and their oH'spring. It is true also that increased leisure, wisely spent, tends to elevate the standard of life, and that wages are in a measure determined by the stanclanl of life; that colleotive bargain- ing presupposes given rules based upon the aver- age efficieney and endurance, thus restraining in its operation the strongest workmen from doing their utmost; that in periods of temporary depression distributive justice sanctions a limitation of the work and income of each, in order that all may have some work and some income. No judgment upon this subject may, however, be rendered except in concrete cases. When the I'nited Mine Workers demand an eight-hour day in underground mines, the justice of the demand seems unanswerable: when the Window Glass Workers insist on a four montbs' stop each year, the demand is questionable ; but when the Cliicago plumbers limit, as they did in 1889, the amount of work in some branches to about half as much as could be performed by an able-bodied workman without undue strain, the demand ia prima facie inequitable. The point is even clearer in the limitation of wages as distinct from the limitation of hours. That the Detroit Stove Founders should limit piece earnings per day to .$4.50 may seem reason- able as a preventive of over-exertion; but that time-workers, like the stone-cutters, carpenters, and coopers, should oppose the payment of more than tile standard rate to exceptionally efficient workers, or that the machinists should oppose a elassifieation of their workmen by the War and Na'y Departments, thus forcing all workmen to the dead level of the idlest and most incom- petent, seems indefensible. Attitude Toward ilACiiixEEY. Historically, trade unions have opposed the introduction of labor-saving machinery, but, speaking generally, the unions have realized at last that it is im- possible effectively to oppose the introduction of labor-saving devices ; and among trade union leaders the number of those who fully realize that the machine in the long run is the friend and ally of the wage-earning classes is rapidly increasing. Trade union leaders may be said in general to have learned how to meet successfully the industrial problems caused by the introduc- tion of machinery. Thus, when the printers were confronted with a great decrease in the demand for labor as a result of the invention of the type- setting machine, the Typographical Union met the problem in a rational manner. It insisted that the operators of the machines should be selected from ordinary printers, and that they should be paid as much at least as the wages of the hand printers. For a short time large niuii- bers of printers were thrown out of employment, but in three years, according to the estimate of the president of the Typngrapliical Union, the increased demand for printers, consequent upon the decrease in the cost of printing, afforded work for more than the old sujiply of printers. The justice of trade imion regulation respecting the use of machinery must in each case be de- cided in accordance with its intent. Trade imions are justified in the attempt, if not clothed with the duty, of lessening the hardships occa- sioned by the extensive introduction of revolu- tionary inventions. It is the permanent an- tagonism to labor-saving machinery which is botli hopeless and economically fallacious. Trade Union Insikance. Mutual insurance — aid to the traveling journeyman in search of work, assistance in case of sickness, and a collec- tion to defray burial expenses — was per- haps the principal function of the tnule union of the eighteenth century, and still constitutes a principal function of trade unionism in foreign countries, particularly in England. In the ten years 18!12-ll)01, for instance, the 100 principal trade unions in England expended i;2!)y,;ilO in working and miscellaneous expenses. 1120.3.5.52 in dispute or strike pay, and £919,901 in friendly benefits. Among American unions, however, conditions are entirely ditTerent. Of the 96 national unions of which information is at hand, 22 make no pro- vision for any kind of benefits, 32 pay no strike benefits, 48 pay no death or funeral benefits, 74 pay no sick or accident benefits, and 91 pay no unemployment or out of work benefits. Oiily 2 pay a superannuation benefit, and one of these is a branch of a British union. While it is evident that the friendly benefit is not essential to the successful conduct of a trade union, it is also true that the leading American labor leaders .strongly advise the in- stitution of the benefit system, and in unions maintaining this system it has been of immense service in accunuilating large reserve funds, in forcing obedience from members, in preventing them from dropjiing out when their interest wanes, and in stimulating a more conservative policy in general. The powerful Cigar JIakers' International Union, for example, and the rail- road brotherhoods, furnish illustrations of the advantages of the insurance system as an auxili- ary to trade unionism. (See Railway Brother- hoods.) The insurance function, however, is strictly subordinate, except in one or two organi- zations. The insurance funds are unprotected, and may be expended in strikes, trade wars, or for any purposes which meet the approval of the constituted authorities. After having paid in- surance assessments for years, the individual member may be expelled for a trifling infraction of rules, or may see the insurance system abolished and all the funds dissipated in support- ing a sympathetic strike. Nevertheless the in- dividual members acquiesce in this condition of affairs, and vehemently oppose any attempt at regulative legislation. The widespread opposi- tion of trade unions to incorporation rests large- ly upon the belief that it would destroy this un- limited freedom in the use of insurance ftuids. Collective Bargaining, Arbitration, and Conciliation. Modern political economy recog- nizes in collective bargaining a legitimate and the most important function of trade unionism. This concerted action, by which employers are pre- vented from fixing wages at the rate acceptable to the neediest competitor, is the goal and aim of trade unionism. The walking delegate, or busi- ness agent, who represents a body of union work- men, advises them what rate of wages to de- mand, and conducts their negotiations for them, is thus not an ugly incident, but an essential necessity of trade unionism — the very heart of the institution.