The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1917-06-01
BY JOHN p. WHITE,
President United Mine Workers.

BY JOHN p. WHITE,
President United Mine Workers.
The United Mine Workers through
it's executive board has sent out
warning against any form of bonus
payments or profit sharing schemes.
This action was taken for the best of
reasons 1t has behind 1t all the wis
dom of the labor movement, acquired
by long years of experience with every
variety of profit sharing" scheme and
bonus system.
What are the facts about bonus pay
ing as stated by employers themselves?
Less than year ago the welfare com
mittee of the National Civic federation
completed an investigation of profit
sharing by American employers and
published its report The chairman Of
the committee was Louis a. l'oolidge,
treasurer Of the United Shoe Machin-
cry company and one OF the largest
employers of labor in New England.
Mr.. Coolidge found and SO reported
that profit sharing schemes are seldom
found in establishments where the men
belong to unions and work under union
wages and conditions and that two
thirds OF such schemes have proved
unsuccessful
He admitted that the facts justified
the claim of union men that payments
other than straight wages are confined
almost entirely to unorganized indus
tries, where the wages, plus the bonuses
or other excess payments, do not equal
the wages alone in union plants
The whole question for the coal miner
to decide is whether he wishes to re-
ceive all that is coming to him every
pay day in the form Of wages, to which
he is legally entitled. or whether he is
willing to accept part of it in the form
OF a thinly disguised charity Offering
that can be withdrawn whenever the
employer feels like 1t.
There is very interesting story be-
hind the present movement to substi
tute the bonus system for the fair wage
system. When the war boom began
more than year ago and the demand
for the men became greater than the
supply every large employer in the
country realized that wages would have
to be increased Many employers paid
the increase as mGtter of course.
Others, with an eye TO the future de.
cided to grant the increases in such
manner as would permit them to be
withdrawn as soon as the end of the
war or some other development offered
an excuse In spite of the permanent
increase In the cost of living they wish
ed to prevent any permanent increase
in the standard of wages. They knew
that any flat wage increase would have
to stand The day has long passed
when wages, as such, can be reduced.
But bonuses are n different matter.
So a group Of men in New York and
New England got together and launch
ed quiet but active and effective
movement among employers They call
ed a conference and marked the invita-
tions "c0ntidential' They even gave
anonymous interviews to newspapers
In which they pointed out that wages
once raised could not he reduced at the
will of the employers and that increases
granted at this time must not be given
in such a way as to let the men feel
that they were to be permanent or that
they were given in a form that would
make them legal right.
Therefore urged these employers any
increase given to the men should be
paid in the form of bonuses, with the
understanding that the extra payments
represented only the generosity Of the
employer and his eagerness to share
temporary prosperity. With this made
clear to the employee they explained,
it would be easy to reduce or cut off
the bonuses at any time, because the
employee would be made to look upon
the extra money as a free will offering
over and above fair wages.
It was an excellent scheme for de-
feating a permanently higher standard
of wages and converting the upward
movement into temporary handing
out of philanthropy "a philanthropy
which could not be claimed as a right
and which could not be discontinued
without provoking protests or strikes.
And the scheme has been successfully
carried out by many an anti-union en-
pIoyer-employers who dealt with help
less, unorganized men-men who had
to take what was given them and let
the future take care of itself.