The wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-????, 1910-09-23
THE NONuNIONIST.
Principle Has No Part In the
Free Workers. Makeup.
MENACEs TRUE LIBERTY.

Only Freedom the Unorsanized Work.
er Enjoys Is That of Destroying the
Benefits Won by tho Union Toier.
The Contract Shop.
1--WE are perfectly willing that those
of our workers who so desire shall be-
long to the union," say seemingly gen
erous employers, "but we will not deal
with the union leaders nor discriminate
against workers who do not join the
union. We do not wish to be dictated
to by the union, and we sympathize
with the liberty loving employee who
has the same feeling. We will employ
workers without regard to their re-
ligious, economic or industrial affilia-
tions.''
This subtle appeal to the American
love of fair play and independence is
apt to make converts among those who
have not studied the practical working
out of the theory of the ''open shop"
! The worker who joins the trade
union does so in order that he or she
may not be absolutely dictated to"
about wages, hours of labor, sanitary
conditions, etc., but may be able to
arrange through proper representatives
fair business agreement, made Sc
cure by a signed contract legally bind
ing on both employer and employed.
The worker who does not join the
union, on the other hand, signifies his
willingness to be dictated to" by the
employers as to terms of labor-terms
subject to changes overnight, with no
legal redress for overtime, bad SAM
tary conditions, low wages and unfair
and rude treatment.
Is it not plain to the most casual
observer that in shop where the nom
union worker is willing to leave all
questions regarding terms of work to
the final authority of the firm. and the
union worker is unwilling to do SO, the
nonunion worker will be favored and
the unionist must either yield to non
union terms or else be supplanted by
another nonunion worker who will ac-
cept them? The much talked of lib
erty of the individual worker in the
open shop is thus shown to be the lib
erty to work under terms which are
decided upon by the employers alone
and dictated to- the employed.
The hero or heroine who is a nom
unionist on principle, fighting for the
right of the individual to sell his labor
in an 'open shop" is harder to find
than the proverbial needle in the hay
stack. The real nonunionist is the
ignorant, cowardly or desperate work
err who does not dare to join the ranks
of the social spirited workers who are
struggling to elevate the whole of So
ciety by abolishing child labor. sweat
shops. tuberculosis tenements and the
other fundamental evils of our present
so called civilization. The only free
dom the nonunion worker enjoys is the
freedom to break down the good con.
ditions which have been secured by
trade unionists through generations OF
self sacrificing effort The only RICH,
in which he is secure is the right tc
trust his own welfare and that of his
fellow workers absolutely to the mercy
of his employers.
The closed shop is the only shoI
where reasonable business terms car
be agreed upon by proper representa-
tfves of capital and labor. 1t has beer
happily named by Miss Jane Addams
''the contract shop" This issue o.
the closed or contract shop is The
issue which manufacturers refuse t
arbitrate. Surely public opinion mus
continue to support those workers who
are standing for the right of the work
erS to secure fair conditions through
a trade agreement in contract shop
Gertrude Barnum in New York Call