The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1909-01-07
union MANAGEMENT.
incompetent Officials Frequent
Cause of Trouble.
FIRST DUTY OF MEMBERS,
erainiest Man In the Organization
Should Be Selected as Business
Asent-Eneourase Him With Good
Wages and Loyal Support.

A9ent-Eneoura9e Him With Good
Wages and Loyal Support.
The unsuccessful business agent 10
one who conceives 1t his duty 10 nick
up and magnify trivial matters. stir
ring up trouble instead of trying IN
keep the peace, says the Shoe Work
erS Journal. Under his administrator
grievances multiply and accumulate
on the desk Of the employer until h..
becomes sore on the business agent
who calls often and stays long, con.
suminE much time with useless words
He has no regard for the opportuue
time, but butts In" at any time in,
clustering i'll humor, talks loudly anal
extensively, and the employer hate,
the sight of him and gives him moth
ing without fighting. This bushes,
agent then reports to his board ,ha.
he talked Jones blind for two hours
and beat him, but he would not civ.
in" and by telling his board thar
Jones is bad. bad. bad, spurs them on
to avenGe his wrongs.
Some OF this type have been known
to claim that they could do better
JOB with the employer when they had
"a few beers under their belt"
Their lack of success causes them to
oNSo'AAS AAASAS o6tS anu LOEc radical.
and with badgering their members and
batting the employers they soon get
both sides fighting mad and then en-
sues one Of those costly labor wars in
which both sides get whipped.
Such a man Will always try to make
1t appear that some one else was re,
sponsible for all their failures.
There are some men who aspire to
leadership who have yet to learn that
any fool can get lot of people out ON
strike, but it takes q man of some abil-
ity to get them back with honor and q
man OF still greater ability to main
tain such relations as would prevent
any necessity for strike
The first duty OF the members is to
select their bcainiest and ablest man
as business agent and then to back him
up. If he Is the brainiest and ablest
he VIII be developed by the opportuni-
ties he will have of coming in contact
with the employers and others. Every
month he serves will broaden his field
of vision, add to his experience and
increase his usefulness. If his honesty
is unquestioned his advice should be
given most careful consideration.
Unjust criticism md senscless kick
ing have sometimes caused n good man
to retire from n position where long
hours and hard battles are paid for
with factory wages and abuse.
Those who clnmor loudest for the
place are often least fitted for it. but
usually pound the good man the hard.
est.
There is much routine work of the
union falling upon the business agent
and some members act as II they did
not care If he never sleeps. The result
is that he sometimes works fifteen or
sixteen hours day and has neither
time nor strength to carefully plan his
most important work, which is as ncd
ator between the employees and the
employer.
Members should see to 1t that such
routine work is not allowed to over
load Il man whom they hire because
they suppose he has brains until he is
too tired to use his brains for their best
advantage.
And don't hamper him in his work
by disparaging remarks. If he is faith
full to your cause, there will be those
| opposed to you who will seek to injure
your cause by slandering him.
If you want your union to be thought
well of, speak well of it yourself If
you want your business agent to be
successful, encourage him and speak
well of him to others.
If at the end of his term you are dis
| satisfied with his work, put a better
man in his place if you can find one.
out during his term of Office, for the
unions sake and for your own sake.
give him every possible encouragement
and support
Sharp practices, whether by business
agents, members or employers, can
only have the effect of disturbing the
peace
II business agent or employer con-
ceais Joker" in a price list knowing
mat 1t IS foreign to the spirit Of the
settlement and of the understanding Of
the other party, he must surely expect
1t to be found out some time. and when
that time comes one or the other will
| not be able to look the other squarer
i'll the eye.
a contract is 4 contract and. being
thoroughly understood on both sides.
when once made should be relgiously
lived up to by both parties
II the employer seeks to take unfair
advantage Of some technicality Of one
clause. his employees quite naturally
begin to doubt his reliability on his en-
tire contract or on any other contract
he might make, and if the employees
IN any way cheat the employer he be
gins to wonder whether he should
longer treat with their union.
Boo, ~