The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1913-10-31
VALUE OF ORGANIZATION.
Every Wage Garner Should Join the
Union of His Trade

Union of His Trade.
How many times have you heard the
question, "NNhy do you belong to a
trade union?" and the reply. in eight
cases out of ten. is Because of the
benefits derived from it"
Well, that may ut first seem selfish
motive, but is nevertheless one that
promotes the general welfare, writes
j. j. Cahill in American Fedora ZIONIST.
The union brings to its adherents bet
ter physical, social and moral condi-
tions, and must be given credit for
these, judging from the things that
have been accomplished by the various
labor organizations in the past
Trade unions have grown and pros
pered even in the face of opposition
and they have been attacked and
denounced as scarcely any other insti-
tuition ever was. There was a time
when every one employing labor was
opposed to a labor union and looked,
upon it as menace.
No wage Garner is doing his full duty
to his family-or even himself-unless
he Identifies his own interests with
those of his fellow workmen. and this
can be accomplished by joining a trade
union, the obvious way to make COM
mon cause with them. In this way he
will be able to strengthen organized
labor and influence it for the best
ends
There is no one who can conscien-
tiously dispute the fact that the trade
union is the principal means by which
the conditions of the working classes
can be benefited Trade unions are au-
thoriZed by the laws of the state and
country and should be supported in
their efforts to uplft the moral and So
cial welfare Of the wage Garner. Such
support is given by the enlightened
sentiment of right thinking men-and
the benefits both to their members
and the general public are seen and APP
preciated by those who are not preju-
diced against them Even those who
are preiudiced will sometimes give
them credit or some fraternal act they
may have witnessed. and fraternalism
is no small factor In the trade union
movement
1t would be ridiculous to presume
that any trade organization is infaIi-
BILE Mistakes have been made. and
you need not go very far back into the
history of practically every great move
ment to find duplicated nearly every
thing that is being denounced today
in the trade union. There was time
when the strength of an organization
was used only as the weapon of de-
fense. But this has been overcome by
the unions putting in effect an arbitra-
tion agreement whenever possible in
the settlement of wage scales.
Speaking Of wage scales, the errone-
Gus statement has been made by those
not in possession of the facts that
members Of labor unions are not al
lowed to receive more than the scale
of wages set by the union This is not
a fact, as the scale submitted to the
employer by the union is the minimum
scale. member is now allowed to
work for less than the scale Of wages
agreed upon by the union and employ
er, but this does not prohibit him from
receiving more than is provided for in
the scale. If he can obtain it, In the
making of scales by labor unions the
minimum scale is based on what is
called the average or what is consid-
cred fair rate of competency. 1t will
be seen. then. that the question of re-
ceivinG more than the scale lies entire.
ly between the employer and the en-
ployee. as it should be-
1t is the aim of all labor unions to
establish and maintain an equitable
scale of wages in an endeavor to pro-
tect their members from sudden and
unreasonable fluctuations in the rate
Of compensation and also to protect
just and honorable employers from un-
fair competition