New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-02-03
EMPLOYEES GOVERN THIS STORE.

the concern has instituted. All the salespeople
in the store are hired at market wages Those
who sell beyond the minimum OF what is needed
to justify their salaries receive in their next pay
envelope 2 per cent of the surplus amount.
In assigning profits 70 profit sharers. every one
OF the forty-one departments OF the store has
its merchandise profit divided into one hundred
shares. and a certain number Of these shares
are assigned TO each position In accordance with
its Importance For instance. the buyer gets
more shares; the assistant buyer and the floor
superintendent less number OF shares in the
department in which they work. These men
hold their shares long they hold their
positions. There are also two hundred general
shares which divide profits from all the depart
ments These are based on the undistributed
department shares, and distributed in ac-
cordance with the Importance Of the general
worker to whom they go
At the end of the first year OF this cooperative
arrangement fifty persons divided about $4,000
The best sales men and women IN the store. who
receive percentage for excess sales. often find
their pay envelopes containing 81 and 81 extra
when Saturday night arrives.
Any question OF wages. advancement or scope
| or work brought UP by profit sharer IN this
! store IS submitted 10 profit sharers' arbitra-
| tion committee, composed OF a member Of the
| firm, an employe chosen by the employe who
! brings up the question, and a chairman agreed
right to call for the books and facts In the case
| and has the power to give final decision on
! the question.
The general conduct Of the store rests I'm tho
| hands OF the employees. 1t is not the owner but
| the employe his committee which decides
! whether salesgirIs and managers Will take
! half holiday in the country, whether the cash
| boy who has been called up ION the Garnet"
shall or shall not he fired" In fact, this re-
markabe innovation in sociology makes the
| eilpl"ye responsible TO himself and his
| workers, and even gives him the right through
| superiority of numbers Of turning down any
! decision regarding discipline issued from the
! owners sanctum.
AS Illustration Of this power. when July
! was 10 fall on q Saturday a number of New,
| York stores were to close that day and
| many of the FHene employees wished to have
| their store close also. None of the other stores
| In Boston intended to do so. The question was
| put before the association. The firm members
| refused to express an opinion, and after some
discussion the vote to close was carried thus
giving three days holiday to all. Immediately
circulars were sent to the other stores In Boston
announcing the decision. but none Of them
| would close. The result was that the 725 clerks
| foorwalkers and superintendent at FYlene's
were the only department store employees I'm
| Boston who had the three full days. 1t was
afterward declared by Edward F1lene that the
| day lost was more than made up by the increase
| in actual sales the following week
Mr. FiIene In discussing his cooperative ex-
pertinent says: No employer spending half
! his time and half the time of his managers in
| the negative work of adjusting quarrels and
complaints and maintaining discipline can com
| pete successfully with the employer who spends
| practically all his time in planning for the in
! crease OF his business and profits. In the pres
! ent conduct Of the welfare work In our store
| the rights and powers Of the empoye are ali
| made dependent upon his own decision and
| thus grounds for friction and discontentment
| are removed Since the Fiene Association wns
! formed we have been constantly increasing the
| business OF the concern. and believe that this
increase is in Il great degree due our original
| system of dealing with the employee Brought
| down to its concise terms success in business
| depends upon the relationship of the EMPLOYER
| to the employe. and I think we have hit IL
| right" -
| Once a year a meeting of the whole associatio
| is held. These meetings apart from the election
| Of officers and committees are occasions Of in
| terest not only to the members but to hum
| dreds or Bostonians who watching the result
/ OF the Fflene Cooperative Association experI-
| ment. A dinner is served, cash boys and firm
! heads meeting on the footing and such
| prominent Bostonians President Charles w
| Eliot of Harvard and Colonel Thomas Went
| worth Higginson have delivered addresses
| Afterward the election takes place The admin
| istrative body consists OF the officers of the as
| ISOLATION and one representative from every
/ fifty members of the Filene Co-operative Assoc
citation. Every rule passed by this body after
having been posted in the store goes into effect
after forty-eight hours unless n petition ia pre-
sented in the mean time against IT, In such
| case it comes up before the whole BODY the
! vote being taken by floors All the elections are
| by secret ballot Besides the election Of the
officers and the council. boards Of health recre-
alton. education, finance and arbitration are
| chosen, the chairman of each being appoint ed
! by the president of the association There nra
also clubhouse. entertainment. athletic music
| library, lecture publication and auditing com
| mittees. A magazine called THE Echo" Is pub
| Hshed monthly by the association editorial board.
| The association has complete charge of the
management Of the clubhouse which Is connect