The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-08-02
FIGHTING UNJUST STRIKES,
SUCCESS or THE CHICAGO EN-
PIOYERS' ASSOCIATION.
All Branches Of Business Now Represented.
and the Eject Is Being Felt with
BENEFIT TO Employer and Employed
Secrcta airy job Describes the Methods

;,, with unusual interest the attempt in
chicago to fight unjust strikes systemati-
c,lly bv an organization OF employers.
I,rlike the employers association started
. few months ago in this city, the associa-
,on of Chicago employers includes all
branches Of business, from the banker
N the boss blacksmith. 1t ia for this
reoson that so much attention is being given
IN the movement in that city, and the sue
c,ss il has met with in the past year is
beriuninr to encourage employers else
where as they have not been encouraged
IN some time.
The Chicago association was about the
first of the kind to be organized since strikes
became so numerous. Its members have
bound themselves to fight unjust strikes,
and it has been doing this to the dismay.
lotnlv, of some labor organizations in
Chicago who have heretofore been in the
habit of seizing on the fimsiest pretext
to call n strike.
Some of the details Of the Chicago organi-
zation were told at the convention Of fur
nure makers in this city the other night
by Frederick W. Job, its secretary, and
the interest his remarks excited indicated
that the furniture makers will become
willing patrons of the scheme if it is ex-
tended Mr.. job is staying at the Waldorf
Astoria. and what he didn't have time to
tell the furniture makers he told to Sun
reporter the other night
The title of secretary does not convey
correct idea of Mr.. Jobs full duties in
connection with the employers movement
in Chicago. In union parlance he would
he termed Organizer" The -organizer"
in all the big unions is the man who starts
branches. Mr.. Job is an organizer in just
the sense the unions Use the term, but he
is an organizer of employers instead Of
employees. At the invitation of employers
in several of the smaller cities in Illinois,
Mr.. Job has helped to organize similar
associations, and the same success in break
ing up iniquitous boycotts and rejecting
unjust demands made by the unions has
followed the efforts of these smaller asso-
Citations as has attended the work Of the
one in Chicago.
Mr.. job is young lawyer with the build
Of fighter, and that is what some of the
unions have found him to be. Mr.. Job didn't
get Interested in the labor situation until
few years ago when a union asked him
to be one Of three arbitrators to pass on a
labor dispute. Mr.. Job accepted and the
strike was amicably settled. There was a
vacancy on the State Board of Arbitration
out in Illinois then, and the Governor asked
Mr.. Job he would take it. He did and
served year and half. In that time
the board settled ninety-eight strikes,
where previously II bad only succeeded
~, 0rfv w. ftxna
II was pretty geffefaf7y conceded that Mr.
Jobs untiring efforts and knowledge Of the
general labor situation were responsible
for this.
Mr.. Job got tired Of his work on the ar
bitration board because. as he said the other
night, the sides to him seemed to be too
unevenly arrayed. In every dispute that
came before the board, Mr.. Job said, labor
ing men presented a solid front, the re-
suit Of perfect organization. The en-
ployers didn't have any front at all. To
Mr. Job it seemed too much like a we'll
trained fighter going in the ring against
man not trained at all. Mr.. Job said there
was no fun in watching such fight, SO he
resigned.
Chicago became strike-ridden soon after
this. When the employers saw their citys
began for the first time to wonder il they
couldn't learn little from the unions as
to organization. The movement was
headed by John G. Shedd Of Marshall Field
Co. Mr.. Shedd got fifty well-known
the nucleus of an organization.
Then they looked around for man who
could Organize them. Mr.. Job took the
Job That was last August. To-day the
Chicago asso ciation represents larger part
OF the manufacturing interests OF Chicago,
and it has settled strikes Of machinists,
blacksmiths, trunk makers, leather belt
makers, brass founders, tanners, carriage
and wagon makers, coffin makers, hotel
workers, laundry workers., restaurant
workers, picture trainers and picture
moulders.
In speaking Of the work Of the association
70 SUN reporter, Mr.. Job said the other
night;
SIN all Of these strikes unjust demands
wera made for increased wages and for the
employment of only union labor, and all
these disputes the Manufacturers Asso-
citation fought with success and without
relinquishing one Of the principles upon
which it started out to do business. These
principles are briefly stated: No sympa-
thetic strikes, freedom Of employees, or
In other words, the open shop; no limita-
ton Of output, arbitration and the en-
forcement of the law.
we ar VI kdIilLr,' JuSu as Viz utOt
10 see that these principles are maintained.
Every trade has its branch association,
which itself is a member of the central asso-
citation A few big concerns like the Fair
banks company. engaged in several lines
of business, belong directly to the central
organization demand made upon a
manufacturer in any branch OF trade is
taken at once to the branch association Of
that trade II the demand is decided
10 be unjust, the members Of that branch
association bring it to the central ASSOC
citation There the question receives the
most careful investigation.
If il is a demand for increased wages
on the plea that the cost of living has in
creased that much, we look up the sta
tisics We have a special department on
the cost Of living II is at work all the
time getting statistics and 1t has care
fully figured out just how much the cost OF
living has increased. If the employer upon
whom the demand was originally made
has not increased his wages in proportion
TO the actual increase in the cost OF living,
We advise him to offer the union that in
crease because the demand Is just. But
W" don't propose to concede to the union
that living has increased in cost. say, 45 per
cent, where as an actual fact the increase
has not been over 10 per cent, and we pro-
pose to reject all other demands which
cannot be reconciled with the principles
OF our association. Then il the union
making the demand proposes to fight we are
ready to fight, too
The case OF the laundries is a typical