The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1920-03-11
WORKS COUNCILS
CLOSELY STUDIED
NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL CONFER
ENcE BOARD REPORTS WHAT
IT HAS LEARNED.
TOO SOON FOR CONCLUSIONS
Generally, u is Found, These Commit.
tees Have Good Effect on Labor
Conditions but Do Little to Increase
Productive Efficiency.
BY JAMES p. HoRNAoAY.

BY JAMES p. HoRNApAY.
Washington.-A recent study on
works councils In the United States
by the national industrial conference
board. furnishing another evidence Of
the widespread interest In plans for
representation Of employees In indus
try, covers 1T6 companies or corpora
tons having works councils in 225
different Industrial plants, affecting
approximately 100000 workers. In ad.
ditioD TO those plans created as re-
suit of awards of the national war
labor board. the shipbullding labor
adjustment board. and other govern
ment agencies. there are 1O5 which
were voluntarily put I'm operation by
employers. The term works council"
which has not been generally adopted
In this country. was determined upon,
The report states as being more def
mite and exact than that of "shop com
mittee" which has been commonly
used.
Owing TO the comparatively brief
experience of nearly all the existing
committees. no recommendation as to
the establishment of works councils
Is made IN the report, which gives a
brief account OF their development
from the comparatively recent date Of
1904. when the first known example Of
works committee was formed. The
report makes distinction between the
principle n collective dealing by EN-
ployees of individual establishments
with their employers and collective
bargaining. which Involves recognition
or labor unions as organizations, and
states that the institution of works
councils includes acceptance of the
former principle only.
How They Are Distributed.
A tabuation of works councils by
industries shows that IA were found
In the metal trades. while 81 were dis
tributed over other Industries. sand
that In the distribution by size Of es-
tablishment the majority were found
in plants having over 800 workers or
particular interest was the distrlbu-
ton according to the extent of trade
unionism. There were 81 plants from
which Information was received on
this subject and but two of these
were "closed nonunion shops" and one
other nominally so. Out of about SIX
~ firms reporting the percentage Of
union labor In their employ only
eight had no union members. while
the number of trade unionists In the
aiOrity of the establishments ranged
from 20 TO 90 per cent of the force.
The details Of organization. the
scope Of the plans. and the functions
and activities of the works councils
are dealt with in considerable detail.
but II is in the chapter on Experience
with works councils" that the main
interest lies. since heretofore, owing
10 their brief existence there has
been little information collected as To
the results attained by the commit.
tees. There are various factors which
affect the success of such attempts.
which must be taken into considera-
ton. the report states, such as "the
individual circumstances under which
they were formed. differences In type
of organization. the character Of rels-
lions between employer and en-
ployees. the personality of the man
agement, the type Of employees, the
size Of establishment. and Industrial
conditions prevailing at the time OF
their Introduction"
Effect Generally Beneficial.
II is stated that only a small minor
ity Of the councils have been entirely
given up or have failed to work sat
isfactorily. and In most of these cases
the committees were established by
governmental agencies to meet war
emergencies. In general. II Is said
that the committees have had bene-
fetal effect on labor conditions. al
though in few instances they seem
TO have aggravated labor troubles.
They evidently have been Of some ef-
feet In reducing labor turnover, but
there seems To be only a small amount
Of evidence of an Increase In produc-
tive efficiency through their influence
or of reduction of hardness or alb
senteeism. There was evidence in
most cases reporting that conserva-
tive type Of employee had been elect
ed 10 membership. although approval
OF the ones selected was by no means
unanimous. In general II was found
that the committees have been instru-
mental In improving the relations be-
tween management and employees
and % establishments reported that
labor difficulties have decreased or
been entirely eliminated through the
agency OF the committees.
Definite testimony OF the effect OF
the councils on the spread OF union
ism was given In II cases. seven Of
which reported an increase In union
membership. while among the remain
der II decreased. The report as
whole seems TO show such diversified
experience that II Is difficult TO gem
eralize as 10 the effect OF the cOun-
ellis.
Cold Storage Of Butter.
The federal bureau OF statistics
has been making further inquiries
with respect to the cold storage