Arizona republican., 1919-10-07
BUILDING TRADES COUNCIL OF PHOENIX AND VICINITY
 22S East Washington St

October ?. 1919. Mir. Dwight E. Heard. Chairman Special
 Committe.
 Phoenix. Arizona.
 Dear Sir:
 Complying with the request of your organization for further statement Of our position regarding the industrial controversy, we are pleased to submit | the following:
 We are convinced that the closed 1 shop" will promote a better under standing between the contractors and workmen, and will, by getting the workmen together on a common ground | | for an exchange of ideas, tend largely | l to promote efficiency.
 There is nothing new in the building | trades Universal Card method or or 1 ganization. The building trades depart ment of the American Federation of Labor having been chartered in No- vember. 1907 This department now has local councils in over one hundred and fifty cities in the United States. Pueblo. Colo, Spokane. Wash. and Tucson. Ariz.. are excellent samples Of the efficiency, cooperation. and mu- tual good will. that obtains under the universal card system. Contractors , who have given the closed shop fair trial ale always unwilling to go back 7 to open shop practices.
 Several of the local contractors who | now are opposing the closed shop were 7 in favor of it last March, when they { maintained it would give them stable 2 basis on which to figure work. Local contractors who now employ , union labor exclusively, are getting
 more work-getting it done sooner and
 better. And anyone has only to com pare open shop" and "closed shop"
 jobs to arrive at @ conclusion as to Q which is the better for all concerned. S As to the question of union men
 working beside non-union men. that is {, utterly impossible. As workers. we . have through contact with industry, :. arrived at the conclusion that our in- U terests can be best protected by de-
 termining the conditions under which z we will labor.
 T However. if the contractors who in 0 sist on working under the open shop T method. can get non union men of all II crafts to do their work, let them do so. e The public will then be given an oppor- r. tunity to judge between the efficiency l. of the two conditions. We are not the
 least afraid of the result of such com n parison.
 'e While we are extremely appreciative r. of the interest displayed by your civic " OTEdI1lZdLlOnS III lilt COnlTONtiSN Dt- m tween the local contractors and mem m bers of our council, and of the oppor- is tunities given to present our views, we d trust the above statement together with
 the previous conferences, will be suffi- ;d cient to make our position clear. ,e Very respectfully,
 " PHOENLX BUILDING TRADES m m.s COUNCIL.
 ,,ss (Signed) GEO. W. CARPENTER. .s President. ,S (Signed) SETH HUDGINs. V Business Agent . This statement, to be intelligent must define the general terms oper
 shop and closed shop which briefly art
 as follows:
 Open Shop
 By the open shop is meant the con
 duct of business and industry according to the accepted American standard under the competitive system and sub ject to the law of supply and demand | Under the open shop the employer ma, \ hire whom he chooses without discrim ination or preference, union men an non-union alike. Also, the employe uses such material and tools as h
 chooses, regardless of whether they ar \ produced by union or non union labor
 Standing for the open shop does nc involve opposition to the principles c trades unions. The two proposition
 are distinct and independent Unde the open shop system contractors ca continue their respective operationl and employ union men and union mad products without discrimination, br they have the right to also employ non | ,union men and non-union products
 otherwise satisfactory. They have th L. a.-4-a T- f-- - selves the selection of their employt