Page:USBLS Bulletin 618; Handbook of American Trade-Unions (1936).djvu/38

22 Journeymen Plumbers and Steamfitters to effect a trade agreement covering the entire field of automatic-sprinkler installations and maintenance. Similarly, the national officers of the International Molders' Union negotiate with representatives of the Manufacturers' Protective and Development Association on general agreements covering one phase of foundry work, that of stove molding and the making of hot-water castings.

Another instance of national control of a single factor in an industry not otherwise regulated nationally is the hosiery branch of the textile industry, where an agreement covering all organized hosiery mills is concluded between representatives of the nationally organized manufacturers and the general officers of the American Federation of Hosiery Workers, which is a part of the United Textile Workers.

Another aspect of attempted national control is in effect the reverse of the practice, discussed under local systems, by which local unions must receive approval from the parent body of the terms they propose. In a few cases, notably elevator construction, paper and wall-paper making, and commercial airplane operation, the national officers of the union and representatives of the organized employers draw up general terms and conditions, which are then submitted to local negotiation for acceptance- This general agreement is in fact merely the basis for local bargaining, but it is significant of the effort to centralize the bargaining machinery.

One type of agreement is, with the exception of the Boot and Shoe Workers' Union, practically always negotiated by the national officers of the unions involved and is uniform but not detailed. This is the union-label or union-shop-card agreement. However, the employers' side of the bargaining machinery is more often than not purely local.

National agreements arrived at in conference between national representatives of the unions and the national associations of employers, and covering all organized workers in the respective industries, are the rule in the flint- and window-glass and glass-bottle industries, and in the general-ware division of the pottery industry. Bargaining machinery, however, differs slightly. The general executive board constitutes the bargaining agency for the Glass Bottle Blowers' Association, while in other branches of the glass industry wage-scale committees representing each manufacturing division are elected by the constituent departments and meet with employer representatives of their respective departments and processes. In pottery this division is geographic rather than technical, the agreement for the potteries east of Pittsburgh being negotiated by the eastern general-ware standing committee, while that covering the rest of the industry (the