important labor group in the United States, but there are several independent organizations outside the federation such as the Railroad Brotherhoods; the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, a strong industrial union; and the radical industrial union, the Industrial Workers of the World. PURPOSE OF UNIONS The purpose of labor unions, wherever found, is identical. Though the means taken to carry out this ideal may differ, all of them are one in the desire to improve the status of labor and in the belief that collective action is essential. They must acquire members and promote the spirit of brotherhood. The more workers they can persuade to join their organizations, the better. To secure and keep members, the strong union offers benefit features. Though the main object of a union is frankly the protection of its members and the maintenance of satisfactory working conditions, the benefit features attract many who might otherwise fail to join. The workers' dues are used primarily as a reserve fund to support them during a strike and secondarily to guard their members from the dangers incident to human existence—unemployment, disability, disease, old age, and death. Insurance against these hazards is desired by all workingmen. Their employment is often dangerous, and they can seldom afford to save for these contingencies themselves. The English unions in particular offer some or all of these benefits to their workers. The American unions are not so liberal, though practically all the large national or international unions maintain benefit funds of one kind or another. Some give benefits for unemployment, disability, or old age. Many pay a stipulated sum at death sufficient for burial and for supporting the family until it is able to make permanent arrangements. Others provide for a definite life insurance, usually limited to a few hundred dollars. The benefit system is growing in favor in the United States. It induces recalcitrant persons to join the union and gives the worker a sense of well-being and security. The benefit fund serves as an added reserve in case of industrial warfare and may be consumed in this way. This and the fact that a member expelled from the union loses his right to participate in its benefits, though he may have regularly contributed over a long period of time to its reserve fund, are the greatest drawbacks to the system. On the other hand, only those members who flagrantly disobey union regulations or prove themselves false to the union ADVANTAGES OF COLLECTIVE ACTION 253 are expelled from membership, and the very fact that a strike may eat up the insurance fund often deters belligerent action and makes for industrial peace. Insurance benefits are not the main reason why so many workingmen join the union. Were they looking for benefits alone, these could be found in insurance companies and friendly societies. Such organizations may charge more for their services, but they offer greater security. The workingman of to-day primarily joins the union to secure the greater advantages which are derived from collective action. The individual workman is at a great disadvantage when bargaining with the employer. Without a reserve fund, he must effect an immediate sale of his services. The transaction is a vital matter to him for on it depends his very existence and that of his family. The employer has surplus resources and can afford to wait if necessary. He buys his labor in quantities or at wholesale. The non-union worker bargains individually or at retail. Unlike the employer he is ignorant of market conditions and does not know the most advantageous spot in which to sell his labor. Even did he know where labor was in demand, family ties, lack of funds, and local connections, all render him immobile. By joining a union, he can do much to correct the weaknesses which as an individual place him at a disadvantage in dealing with his employer. Through the union, wages have been increased, hours shortened, minimum wage rates established, legislation beneficial to workers enacted. It is union agitation which has educated the public to the belief that every individual is entitled to earn wages which will enable him to maintain the American standard of living,2 to work under sanitary and safe conditions, and to be employed only a certain number of hours, preferably eight, that he may have freedom for recreation and community life. These ideals have been attained in varying degrees by some workers, but there is still a long way to go before they will be made possible for the great majority. 2 The American standard of living is necessarily a vague term, but it has come to have a rather definite meaning in the minds of most people. To the public, it stands for a wage sufficient to afford a living for a normal family, to give them a reasonable amount of comforts, and to enable them to make some provision for the vicissitudes of life. This is still vague and unsatisfactory, for families differ in size and wants. Nevertheless this is the ideal of labor which has become more or less definitely the standard by which the public labels the workers' demands legitimate or illegitimate. EMPLOYERS' ASSOCIATIONS The unions of workingmen are paralleled by certain employers' associations. These associations seek to secure mutual aid in the industrial field for employers, as the unions do for workers. The employing firms constitute their membership. An administrative council, elected by the members, carries on the work of the organization. The members' dues are used as a defense fund. If any member has trouble with his workers he is required by the rules of the organization to report the matter. The council makes an investigation should the situation prove serious and seeks to settle the difficulties in accordance with the policies of the association. In case of a strike these associations stand behind the affected member. They may provide him with financial aid. They may help him to secure a new set of workers. They may make some provision to have his orders filled in other shops. They may have a set of workmen always on hand to send to any member whose workers are out on strike. They may furnish workers from their own shops. They may seek to secure special patronage for the shop whose workers have struck. They strongly support the open shop (the shop which ostensibly hires both union and non-union men). They even go as far as expelling members who adopt the closed shop (the shop which has an agreement with the union to employ only union workers). They oppose other union practices such as apprenticeship rules, the use of the union label, restriction of output. They are against any coercion of the union to obtain members and have as one of their purposes the "protection of free labor." This idea is expressed by one organization in the statement that every man, woman, or child seeking to earn an honest livelihood should be protected therein by the whole force of the state or if necessary the nation. Like the unions, employers' organizations attempt to attain their ends through legislation. They are active in support of laws tending to curb the power of the unions. While they outwardly express their belief in the right of the workers to voluntarily combine, union labor is convinced from their actions that they are fighting organizations supported by the capitalist class and opposed to the aims of organized labor. This attitude is expressed in resolutions presented at the 1922 convention of the American Federation of Labor. These resolutions urge the necessity of closer bonds between the member unions to offset the employers who have solidly united 3 Groat, G. G., "An Introduction to the Study of Organized Labor in America," p. 67. PRACTICES HARMFUL TO SOCIETY 255 throughout the nation, "being bound together by a solidarity of interest and organization which leaves no room for divided action or desertions, and moreover, they are supported by the government, the courts and the press in any union-smashing undertaking they engage in." Both associations of employers and associations of workers have their good and their bad points. Associations of employers have as their ideal the advancement of the general welfare and prosperity of industry. If this ideal is carried out in the interests of the public, such associations can do much to promote better industrial methods, increase production, and satisfy the people's wants. If it is carried out for the selfish interests of the employers themselves and of invested capital, it does harm rather than good. Through his contact with the unions, the better type employer has come to recognize the justice of many of the workers' demands. While he may still fight the unions, fearful of their power, he makes very real efforts to improve conditions for his own men. The unions, by benefiting the working classes, have advanced the prosperity and strength of the nation. Even strikes, detrimental as they are to the general good, have been instrumental in revealing industrial abuses, awakening the public conscience, and bringing about better conditions. FAULTS OF UNIONISTS AND EMPLOYERS On the other hand both unions and employers often indulge in practices which are injurious to the public welfare. The trade unions resort to certain methods which they believe will advance the interests of their members and will aid them in their struggles against the employing group. Employers adopt somewhat similar methods to prevent infringement on "their" rights on the part of unions and to maintain or increase profits. SOME PRACTICES WHICH TEND TO HAVE AN INJURIOUS EFFECT ON SOCIETY Monopoly. Some of these practices are self-evident and need little explanation. The unions have been successful in securing practical monopolies through unionizing most of the workers in certain trades and establishing the closed shop. They have sometimes abused these monopolies by imposing restrictive rules which increase costs and decrease production. For instance in New York, the Journeymen Plumbers' Union, owing to the shortage of labor in 1922, was able to compel employers to accept a set of conditions which the employers claimed increased the cost of plumbing 30 to 40 per cent. They stated that the plumbers demanded two journeymen plumbers to one helper on a job and required pipe to be cut by hand instead of by machinery. While the federation, as a body, contents itself with local monopolies, the more radical workers within and without the federation aim at the idea of one big union. Such a union would have a monopoly of the labor supply and would be in a position to control industry and the government as well. Only a minority group favor this idea which actually would be the first step toward a change in the economic organization and a proletarian régime. Workers are not alone in their efforts to secure a monopoly and in this way to obtain a position of vantage. Employers are guilty of the same offense. If they are successful they have a stronger bargaining power with the concerns from which they buy supplies, with labor, and with the consumer. Their efforts are directed toward securing monopolies in certain industries and over certain products. They do not need a 100 per cent monopoly to control the field in which they are engaged. Their ambitions along this line have led to powerful combinations and trusts. Practically freed from competition, such organizations |