Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-10-18
Majority Of Labor Disputes Settled.
Without Lockouts.
DIGEST OF INDUSTRIAL REPORT
Great Britain Far in Lead in
Arbitration.


As a supplement to the report on labor
organizations noted in The Star of last
| Monday, the industrial commission has
| issued general summary of the move
ments undertaken by labor unions, employ
ers' associations and governmental agen-
cies to adjust labor disputes by arbitration.
A brief of the laws and court decisions af-
fecting labor unions is subjoined to the re-
port on arbitration. and, with the essays
on labor organizations and strike mediation.
constitutes full brief of the volumes Of
the commission report on the general sub
| ject of labor organizations.
| 1t Is held by Messrs. Charles E. Edge--
ton and E. Dana Durand. authors of this
paper, as well as the preceding review Of
| labor organizations, that the great ma
| jority of labor disputes are settled without
| either appeal to formal arbitration or the
! war methods of strikes and lockouts; that
| the practice of concillating and arbitrating
| differences between employees and employers
| has been widely extended recently among
| several very important trades; that eff
| forts to this end In the United States are
Comparatively Insignificant" beside those
! in Great Britain; that foreign countries
! have not followed the example of the
| United States in establishing governmental
| boards of arbitration and Cancellation. In
! the review of laws and court decisions q
| Judgment Is cited from the supreme court
| of Virginia that law compelling trial by
/ jury for contempt is unconstitutional
The report reads In part, as follows:
1.-The great majority of differences be-
tween employers and employees, both those
relating to the general terms Of the labor
contract and those which arise as 20 minor
matters of Interpretation, are settled by
| the parties concerned themselves without
either appeal to formal arbitration or to
| the war measures of strikes. and lockouts.
| In most cases these peaceful negotiations
are carried on without any formal system
| of conferences or of boards of Cancellation
and arbitration.
| DisapprOve of LOckouts.
"a very large number of trade unions,
| both local and national, have in their con-
| situations declarations of a general charac-
| ter to the effect that strikes are in them
| selves undesirable. 1t is very common to
| find rules that strikes shall be resorted to
| only after the failure of all honorable at
| tempts at peaceful settlement Moreover,
! the rules of local and national trade
/ unions, almost without exception, provide
| for conciliatory negotiations with employ
| ers before a strike may be entered upon.
| If the union feels that it has a grievance
| 1t usually directs it's regular officers or
| its business agentNf 1t has one-Or spe-
| cial arbitration committee to present the
| matter to the employer. These representa-
! tives of the union do not perhaps usually
| have power to make binding settlements
/ upon other terms than. those. of the origi-
| nal demand. IL CneSe terms cannot De StcCT-
| ed the propositions OF the employer are re-
| ported back to the union, and frequently
| negotiations continued until a compro-
| mise Is reached. Before strike can aetu-
ally be begun the rules of most unions re-
quire that secret vote of all the members
shall be taken, and in general a majority
| of two-thirdS or three-fourthS is required
to authorize the cessation of employment.
| Informal negotiation of this sort be-
| tween employers and labor organizations Is
usually developed more highly and works
| more effectively In those trades in which
| the local unions are united into strong ma
| tional bodies. When national organization
pays benefits to the members of local
| unions on strike the national officers are
| naturally given very considerable degree
| of control over the inauguration Of strikes.
1.-The constitutions of well-established ia
| tional unions usually refuse to sanction any
4 strike unless all the following steps have
first been taken: First, thorough efforts
| at negotiation on the part of the local
| unions affected; second, determination by
| a two-thirds or three-fourths majority Of
| the local members, on secret ballot, to i'll
sist on the demands made: next approval
| by the national officers of the position the
| locals have taken; and finally, the most
| exhaustive efforts on the part of these Of
| fcers. in person or by deputy, to obtain Il
peaceful settlement of the dispute. Thes,
| national officers are In many cases men CT
| high intelligence and of long experience
! as to labor disputes. They are largely
\ free from the personal feeling and the mar
\ rOWneSS winch are apt TO characterize tie
| local unions in their conflicts with employ
| ers. BY their Intervention, accordingly,
| they are often able to prevent strikes or to
| secure satisfactory settlement of disputes
by conciliatory methods. Perhaps the most
noteworthy success in this direction has
| been attained by the conservative and in
telfigent officers of the Bricklayers and Ma
| sons International Union.
| THE formation of associations of en-
I ployers in this country has Jagged far be-
hind the development of associations among
| workingmen. Gradually. however doubt
less in part under the pressure of organ
lied labor, employers In not a few trades
| have come to realize the advantages Of
| systematic action in their dealings With
| employees, not only In giving additional
! strength, but also in securing more un,
| form cost of labor and consequently more
| equal competition. Where such associa-
lions of employers exist conciliatory meth
DDS. both formal and informal. are more
general than where employers deal as indi-
viduals with the unions.
Arbitration Widely Favored.
| 1.-The practice Of collective bargaining
Cancellation and arbitration has within COM
paratively recent years been introduced in
several very important trades on a much
| more wide-reaching scale than In the trades
hitherto considered. There Is distinctly
growing movement In favor Of such meth
DDS as between organizations of employ
| ers and employees covering an industry
throughout Tue country, OF throughout large
| sections, where the conditions of business
are generally similar. 1t is scarcely neces-
| sary to point out that the existence OF
| such wide-reaching systems of collective
| bargaining and arbitration implies rea-
| sonable degree Of organization on the PAL
of both employers and employees. Indeed
| the labor organizations concerned In these
systems are among the strongest in the
| country. The employers are usually less
| formally organized, but being relatively
much fewer in numbers. they are able "a
act together in harmony without so much
machinery of organization as is necessary
among the men.
BY far the largest number of persons
represented in a aingle system of collective
bargaining are the bituminous coal miners
OF the four great central competitive dis.
| tricts western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indi.
ana and Illinois. Various earlier and Less
successful attempts were made to ESTABLISH
such an interstate conference system, but
the present highly successful system dates
only from 1887. State and district confer.
ences and agreements of similar charac.
ter. but on a less extensive scale have aIss
been established In most of the coal pro.
ducing regions outside the central competi
tive field.
LOhxshOremen, Iron MOlders and
| Prfnters.