THE NEW UNIONISM.

Evening Star, Issue 11684, 17 February 1902, Page 2

THE NEW UNIONISM.

No. 13. x THE EMPLOYERS’ DEFENCE. LA BOR-SAVING MACHII'HSRY. SKILLED WORKERS. employers’ combinations. 1 !>er j is the greater reason why the trades .inio lists should set their house in order, in* j, much us employers of labor are not I.kciv u> he wholly content with appeals to ilieir halter nature or their common sense, m- with the uncertain effects of a movement to promote their higher education in labor questions. So far as the present stories of inquiries shows, employers are quite will* 1% to let these things hare a fair chance; blit, at the same time, they arc keenly on the look-out for adopting every possible labor-saving machine which will allow of their overcoming trade union restrictions by employing unskilled non-union labor, at the same" time that such machinery allows of an increased output at a decreased cost of production. This is the employers’ poliev of self-defence. This is the reply which, wherever they can, they are making to the enforcement; of unyielding, unreasonable, and oppressive trade union rules in complete disaccord with the necessities of our present industrial situation. In every direction one hears of employers who, with wits slarpened by difficulties, and determination made keener by opposition, are looking to improved machinery as the one thing likely to give greater freedom to themselves and greater prosperity to the trade in which they are concerned. In some instances there will certainly be a displacement of labor; in others there will be an increased demand for labor because of the expansion of business, but it will be, in the main, for such labor as will not coma under the domination of trade union officials. Various illustrations of what is being done in these directions have already been given; but, os a further example of the tendencies of the day, it may be mentioned that the most exquisite engravings for type-foundinnr and other purposes are now being produced by processes which, from the moment the artist has completed the original design, are purely mechanical, the actual workers being men formerly working as ostlers, omnibus drivers, or in other such capacities. So it is that improved machinery is regarded as one of the greatest factors in the industrial position of to-day. Yet even with the nse of such machinery it will be difficult enouvh, employers say, to fight, not only against the prejudices of workers, hut also against hostile tariffs and the "Mirplus” systems of the United .States ami (.it many. It is hoped, however, the v inkers themselves will see that, quite ivt: from any question of trade union re- : action*, it will be useless to fight against ihe adoption and also against the efficient working’of just such machinery as our fori ign competitors are using, if British industries are to hold their own. At the

I.me time, there will be* a greater chance id the employers winning the workers over In their side, and persuading them to get the best results out of the improved machinery, if they themselves do more in the m av of enabling the workers to share in the pecuniary advantages derived therefrom. Whether such additional incentive should be offered by means of an increased wage, by the profit-sharing system, by the American premium system, or by any other method would depend on circumstances; but the one thing to aim at would bo to let the men see that they were getting a direct benefit from the better economic results. There is, of course, the possibility that seme men might still be content with such wage as they had before, and not rise to the same standard of zeal and aspiration as the American workmen do; but the vast majority would probably avail themselves of the chance to improve their position if they were perfectly free so to do. To the warning already given to the more aggressive of the trade union leaders may be added another. The free-labor movement has lived through its initial stage of opprobrium; it has itself adopted a more cautious policy than at first, and during the last two years especially it has been qnictlv consolidating its position to an extent which will probably be fully recognised during the time of commercial depression now being foreshadowed. INDUSTRIAL TRAINING. However great and however widespread may be that resort to improved mechanical appliances to which reference has already been made, there will still be need for a certain proportion of skilled labor; and there is a keen conviction on the part of employers that some really efficient system of industrial training is needed to meet ihe breakdown of the apprenticeship system. Boys are said to start ill-equipped in the first instance, for the Board school svstem. of teaching as a prelude to factory life is spoken of slightingly, and the average London bov. especially is declared to be lacking in discipline, in respect to his superiors, and in willingness to apply himjelf to any settled work sufficiently long to .become master of it. There are some employers who look with almost longing eyes to Ike'training that follows from the Continental >v>-t em of conscription as a means, at least, of inculcating obedience to orders; and othere profess to get their best lads from those v im have been trained in such institutions as Dr Barnardo’s homes. But the difficulty in the moral, elevation of the working boy b one yet to be surmounted. In regard to his being fitted for skilled industries there is a feeling that this will best be met by employers taking the matter up themselves' and providing a practical training with the help of their foremen, managers, or other competent persons, rather than depending on the theoretical teaching given at ordinary science or technical classes. In this connection special interest attaches to the action already taken in the Birmingham gun trade, and to that proposed in regard to the Sheffield trades, as has been mentioned in previous articles. That the trades unions would oppose any such movement on the ground that it would “flood the labor market” is a matter of course. Coupled with the provision of better means of training for skilled labor, it is felt by employers that parents should forego the false pride that prompts them to keep their sons out of industries which offer lucrative positions in life, in order to put them into genteel clerkships, where they will get little more than a starvation wage. PREPARED TO FIGHT. Faffing other and more pacific methods of overcoming the restrictive tactics of the more aggressive among the trades unions, there will still be open to employers the policy of forming more powerful associii ions and federations amonc: themselves. Much might have been done in the past by a more general adoption of this policy: and it is possible that the glass trades and the lighter Sheffield trades, for instance, would not have been in their present un satisfactory condition if there Lad been more cohesion among the employers, leading them to make a united and determined stand against the conditions that hampered them so greatly. In many quarters the formation of powerful combinations among employers is advocated as the only effectual means of, holding in check the more overbearing of the trade union leaders. If. it is said, the great fight in the engineering trade had not taken place, the pretensions of those individuals would by this time have become so great that many a British in

duatry would have been completely crippled- “The engineering dispute/’ declared one large employer of labor, “was (he Waterloo of British capitalists. If the.e is ro be any more trouble, let us all join together and have a still bigger fight; anti then we shall settle the question once for all, by establishing the right of freedom of contract between master and man without the incessant interference and the incessant attempts at domination on the part of trade union officials.” Large combinations on the part of employers are often regarded as akin to trades unions among the men. In point of fact they must be looked at from a different standpoint. In most of the trades uniops the power is exercised by the officials, and the members have practically no voice in the management. In the employers’ association or federation the member* are supreme, their council i» a real governing * body, and the officials simply can y -mb the. instructions they receive. Thus «rc.

have the curious result that a capitsßsrf combination is a democracy, while s ttods union it on oligarchy, if not sometime# an autocracy. Then, agairi, a large federation of employers can be trusted to do right thing, because it represents employers or all classes and all shades of opinion. The small master inclined to small ideas roust work in harmony with large mastere of broader views. Such a hodjr will geaerally be disposed to do what is -just and fair towards the workers without the intervention of a trade union; and this is a further reason for suggesting that there is no longer the same necessity for trades unions of the more active type that there may have' been in former day*. In any case there is greater certainty of me workers getting fair treatment from a federated body than from a scattered gtoup of individual employers. The federated body can also do for the worker what the individual employer could hardly attempt. If, for instance, a pall shipowner should lose one or two ships he may be rained, and find it impossible to do anything for the families of his seamen; whereas if he were a member of a powerful combination relief would be given out of a general fund. In the same way there is much greater facility afforded for the establishment of benclic and’other funds on a comprehensive, generous, and really sound basis. And this* consideration leads to the further suggestion—that there should be a more general creation of such funds, with the view of bringing about a closer tie, a more cordial relationship, and a greater community of interest between master and man. More especially should employers assure to their foremen’ benefits in the way of sick allowance, superannuation, or life insurance fully equal to what they are likely to get from the trades unions, and so leave them no reason for remaining in the anomalous position they too often occupy. . TRADE UNION INJUSTICE. Legislation is certainly required to ensure that all trades unions, and especially those having provident funds, shall be registered, and that such provident funds shall not be used for strilce, purposes. The Legislature should also see that a working man who has paid into the provident funds of his uniou for a term of years, and is dappling on those funds for an old age pension," for sickness, or as a life insurance, is not to be deprived of fill those benefits by being arbitrarily expelled from his union simply because he has acted against the wishes of the Executive in regard to some purely industrial question. It is in this power of expulsion, with consequent loss of benefits for which a man may have been paying for ten, twenty, or thirty years, dial the great hold exercised by the more autocratic of the officials over the members of a trade union mainly consists. It deprives the men, too, of all freedom of action, however clearly they may see that it would be to their own advantage and to that of the trade they are in to agree to the improved methods and conditions desired by their employers. ’ Lad) of these reforms in regard to trade union funds would, no doubt, bo strenuously opposed by the labor leaders; but each* would be only an act of justice to the rank and file of the members. The whole position of trade union funds is, indeed, one that calls for serious inquiry, if not f or thorough-going reform. There is a 'certain trade union concerning whoee despotic action in expelling a member, and depriving him of all prospective superannuatlan and other benefits, the opinion of eminent counsel was taken. Counsel found that not only had the member in question, no legal redress, but, although the union had over £50,000 accumulated funds, it would le quite lawful, under the rales of this particular society, for the officials to call a meeting of the members, to expel from ;be society all those who did not attend, and to go on holding such meetings, with like procedure, until there were left in the union only a mere handful of individuals, wuo could then distribute the funds between them. It might therefore reasonably be suggested tliat, if the opportunity shotted present itself during the forthcoming session, Parliament should be invited to bestiw some attention on the subject of trades unions_and their provident funds, and tax® such action thereon as the necessities of tie position may suggest. (To be continued.) [The previous reprints from the London ‘ Times ’ were published in our issues of January 22, 24, 25, 28, and February 1, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15.]