The weekly examiner., 1901-04-27
BUSINESS AGENTS.
CHICAGO UNIONS WILL NOT GIVE UP
 WALKING DELEGATES.

They Are . Valuable Adjunct and
 They Work Sixteen Hours . Day. and Please Neither Friend Nor Fee.
 After a year of warfare directed to great extent against the walking dele gate contractors and manufacturers be- lieve now that, Hike the poor" the de4- i egate will be with lthem always. When the unions began to withdraw from the Building Trades Council, many con tractors were led to believe that the walking delegate, or business agent, would disappear with the waning strength of the central body To their chagrin, however, investigation shows that not single union has dispensed with its delegate, while, on the other hand, some of them have put addition al agents in the field.
 A prominent contractor to whom the walking delegate is an object of abhor- renee said: "For over a year we directed fight against the methods used by the unions, and liberal DOT tion of our energy was used in an eff fort to remove the irritating influence of the walking delegate. We thought
 we had~Succeeded, but today we find
 him clinging to his position like Him.
 pet to a rock, and while occasionally
 we have succeeded in knocking one
 from his perch we wake in the morn ing only to find another fastened in his place.
 "To make matters worse, our efforts to remove him seem to make the unions more determined to retain him.. and we are much in the position of the l knights of old who cut off the heads of fabled giants only to find the number | of heads increased"
 Labor organizations" said a repre- sentative labor man today, fare con-
 vinced that the business agent is mora necessary now than at any other time | in the history of the labor movement.
 The stand taken against him by em- ployers has only increased their deter
 imitation not only to retain those in the l field, but to increase the number" | Careful investigation shows that 70
 business agents and secretaries who do | the work of business agents are en- ployed by the unions of Chicago today and that this number is increasing rap idly. They are of many different na- tionalities, and some of them are able to speak and write in several Ian guages. Woman walking delegates
 have not yet been introduced into the city, but as they have been found a success in other localities it is said the experiment will soon be tried in Chi | cago.
 Employers are disturbed over the prospect of such an innovation, and visions of visits from walking dele gates in the shape of comedy young women are said to disturb the slumber of several who have special aversion to walking delegates in any shape. The power of the business agents or walking delegates employed by the building trades unions has been cur tailed by the recent agreements enter ed into between the organizations and the contractors. The walking dele gates are no longer permittedto go on jobs and interfere with the workmen during working hours, but their infiu- ence is still felt. Much of the time of business agents employed by. organi- cations outside of the building indus try is devoted to clerical work. They do not seek admittance to factories or workshops, but transact their business in the office when called upon by their constituents to attend to any gr1ey- ance against employers. A portion of their time is also spent in organizing, and, contrary to popular opinion, they do not receive bankers salaries nor work short hours, but as a rule work 15 hours a day, for which the average salary paid is about $25 a week.
 The average life of the business agent is short. In the majority of cases they are elected for 9 term of six months and as a rule find them selves out of job at the end of two terms. A prominent agent seen today said: Many people believe the busi- ness agent has a snap; but, to tell the plain truth, the job is thankless one. We have to be in our offices at a. m-, and after finishing our office work and looking after other duties we must at tend the meeting of our organization in the evening. As rule we do not get home until nearly midnight, and then we have to start out the next day again and go through the same pro- gramme. Our work necessarily brings down upon us the wrath of employers, and when we get bounced by. the un- ion, a dose we all get sooner or later, we can't get job in the city and have to dig out to some other place where, if our record has not gone before us, we may find something to do" Nearly S1OO,OOO is spent annually in salaries for business agents in Chicago, and about $1O,OO0 more is paid for of- flee rent.
 Several of the national and interna- tional organizations have their head quarters in Chicago, and it is estimated that an annual outlay of $1S,00o is spent in sustaining them. About $24.- GOO annually is spent in publishing ofh- cial organs, while about $12,OOO is paid by the local organizations for printed