The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1912-07-05
UNIONS DEFENDED
What the WageWorker Owes to
Organized Labor.
FAIR EMPLOYERS PROTECTED

following TO say IN de1ense OF trace
unions:
want first to point out that in all
industries which are subject to keen
competition the trade unions by en-
forcing so far as possible a minimum
wage protect fair employers and en-
courage them to compete with each
other in quality rather than price. At
all events, where price does not enter
into the strife between rival employers
10 an industry carried on by well or
ganized workers, such cheapness as is
aimed at by the competitors concern
ed must be obtained by more econom-
zeal methods of production and not at
the expense of the workers wages.
1t is no uncommon thing to hear well
intentioned employers complain that
there is no effective organization of
workers such as they employ because,
while they would prefer to pay good
wages, they are quite unable to do SO
so long as they are in competition with
other employers who are able to under
sell them by paying lower wages. In
those industries where trade union or
ganization is effective all competitors
for business start from one mark, so
far as wages are concerned.
There is no doubt whatever that one
of the factors which has enabled the
cotton trade of Lancashire to defy
competition In the markets of the
world is the uniformity of its wages
list and the general conditions under
which alone the employers have been
at liberty to employ labor.
Unable to gain any advantage over
each other by paying lower wages
than their neighbors or spending less
on safety appliances and sanitation,
Lancashire employers have been con
tinuaIly on the lookout for better ma
chinery and more economical methods
of working, with the result that there
is no industry in the world more eff
Client for its purpose than the cotton
industry of Lancashire.
Is there a reader of this article who
would not agree that trade unionism
has acted in the public welfare in
of workers which was common on the
part of employers who found they
were forced into competition with
traders who were producing cheaply
by underpaying their workers.
And now let me refer to another
service which trade unionism has per
formed not only in the interest of its
- e. III,
welfare By means of its own sub.
scribed funds 1t has relieved its mem
bers In distress and made it possible
for them to avoid almost entirely the
best hated institution that this genera
ton has known-the workhouse.
Among the comfortable classes the
impression widely prevails that trade
unions are only used to promote
strikes. pay agitators and promote
candidatures for parliament. 1t would
surprise most of them to learn how
far this is from being true. Let me
mention few facts During the years
from 1899 to 1908. inclusive. S24. 600
600 has been spent by 100 Of the prin-
clpal trade unions in payment to IN
employed members for out OF work
benefits This amount represents 24.7
per cent of the total expenditure OF
the unions concerned On other bene
fits. principally sick and accident, su
perannuation and funeral benefits.
S41,50OOOo has been paid in ten years.
or 42.7 per cent Of the total expendl-
ture for all purposes. On dispute pay
SlO,50O.OOO has been expended, which
is but 10.s per cent Of the total pay
ments
1t is impossible to conceive the
amount of suffering which has been
prevented in working class families by
the distribution of the immense sums
here mentioned.
What Is equally important to notice
is that In Great Britain, the birthplace
OF trade unions, the unions are weaker
where the people are so hopelessly
and deerad.ngly poor that they are
moved by no ideal and crave for moth
ing but the satisfaction of their most
Immediately pressing material wants.
In a word, the trade unionists are on
the average the pick OF the working
class.
In nine cases out of ten wherever a /
man or a woman of the working class
gains the ear Of the public-or which
public, of course. the workers are a
huge majority-he or she is a trade
unionist and known as such. In re
llgion, In politics. on the cooperative
board and education committees, on
municipal and other local governing
bodies. the working class where it is
REPRESENTED at all. speaks and acts
through an acknowledged and declared
trade unionist Can it be possible that
all these and the 2.25OOOO for whom
they speak are making huge mistake
by associating themselves in trade 10
ions?< J do not think so.
/ do not think it possible for any IN
stitutipn, unaided by the patronage Of
the rich. without the assistance OF the
press, to- Withstand the opposition, the
criticism and, let me add, the misrep
resentatoD and persecution to which
trade unionism has been exposed at
one time and another during the last
seventy or eighty years. unless there
is In n a real and solid advantage and
not merely empty professions.
Larsaeboarg ANyiu - Cnt,.4