Evening star., 1920-06-27
WORKS ORGANIZATION
AT ARSENAL A SUCCESS

Continued from First Page.)
mend such action as will secure to
apprentices the best possible inStruc-
ton in their chosen trades.
Statistics committee. to gather sta
t1stics for the information of memb bers
OF the central council and the man
agement on all points at issue.
May Recall Representatives..
Provision is made for the recall of
departmental representatives if de-
sired. Council members are eligible
for duty on only one standing COM
mittee unless otherwise agreed upon
by the joint conference committee. To
enable the joint conference committee
70 nave an expression of opinion of
the employees as a whole or of any de-
pdrtment on any subject, it has been
provided that a referendum may orig
mate either with the management or
with the central council or with the
constituencies.
when workman has a matter
wnicn ne wishes to discuss or com
pla1nt which he desires to submit he
Hfst takes 1T up with his foreman If
ne and the foreman cannot come to
an understanding or it is beyond the
jurisdiction of the foreman to give a
decision, he so informs the man who
then may discuss his case with one Of
the departmental representatives to
ne selected by him. If the departJ n
mental representative feels that it is
a matter that should be taken up he
discusses 1T with the foreman or the
ofhcer in charge, and if no action can
pc mad, 1t goes to the proper stand
ing committee for its action and rec
ommendation, the civilian or officer in
charge OF the department and the Sc
iected departmental representative
automatically becoming members of
the standing committee If eroups of
employees desire to have matters con-
sldered the same procedure is follow
ed If a standing COMMITTEES cannot
arrive at recommendation and comes
70 an impasse, the matter is referred
70 the Joint conference committee
conference Committee Meetings.
The joint conference committee
meets once in two weeks and frank
iuil discussion is had on all matters
brought before it for consideration
80 lar no matter has been forwarded
Tot tne action of higher authority
with one exception-the rate of fare
10 be charged on the street cars run
ntng 10 the arsenal-on which the
joint conference committee could not
arrive at decision satisfactory TO
both the management and the en-
ployes. This matter was referred to
the commanding officer and by him
to the chief of ordnance fof final de-
eision. The employees held that the
rate of fare should be lower in view
or the TACT that the car company used
certain facilities provided by the
arsenal. The decision rendered by the
chief of ordnance, however, was
against the employees.
The central council receives reports
from the members of the committees
at its weekly meetings. but delay and
useless discussion in the large body
is avoided by routine matters being
handled by the small committees
The Rock Island works organiZa-
ton. to quote Col. Jordan sis simply
plan to remedy a defect in plant
organization and my experience is
that it has proven itself to be what
was intended. 1t is not cure or a
panacea for industrial Ills. 1t is SIM
ply a means of obtaining teamwork
1t is a cooperative attempt to apply
common sense to industrial plant re-
lationship."
CamouHage Not Attempted.
No attempt is made to camouflage
the works organization or to make it
appear that the final authority and
veto power does not lie with the COM
manding officer of the arsenal. The
main features are similar to many
works organizations that have stood
the test of time in America and Eng
land. Bot greater simplicity and ef-
fectiveness have been gained by the
committees and method of pro-
cedure.
In all the older ordnance establish
ments, according to Col. Jordan, en-
ployes' committeees of one kind or
another had come into existence
before the present works organiZa-
tion was established at Rock Island.
but they rarely represented more than
one. single craft. They had grown
up in the older atmosphere when en-
ployes We're expected to confer with
the management only when grieV-
ances were to be aired. They offered
only intermittent contact between the
management and the employees and
that contact at a time when differ
ences of opinion already existed.
These committees and individuals fire.
uuently took matters under their con-
stitutional right of petition to higher
authority in Washington. All such
complaints eventually came back TO
the arsenal commander for his side
of the question and this method OF
handling matters in no way eXpe-
dited settlement. but on the contrary,
delayed it, simply creating additional
causes for friction.