The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1920-11-20

selves together for this oncomlngI
fight. There is no longer any secret
about it.. Day after day there are ar
ticles in the newspapers that tell of
the plans that are being laid.
To Fight Union Labor.
Manufacturers associations, en-
ployers' associations. chambers OF
commerce and other organizations are
banding themselves together for this
fight against labor unions. They all
consider the fight to be their own
fight. They propose to go about it as
If each employer were the only one inv
volved, thus giving to the plan the
trem endous strength of all of them.
Each of the labor-hating employ
ers proposes to put every ounce of his
energy into the fight. And when such
a. vast number of powerful employers
and organizations do this in an or
ganized and lnited manner it is easy
to see what it means to the labor
movement
Union Shop .vttaclz Looms.
The next two years will witness
the most intensive attack on the
union shop. Every possible effort will
be made to break down the union
shop and re-establish the open shop,
or the non-union ship, in every in
dustry in the country.
THE principle of collective bargain
ing has already been violently and vi
ciously attacked by the coal operators
of Alabama, who have flatly. bluntly
refused to have any dealings of any
character or kind with the United
Mine Workers OF America. Not only
that, but they have openly and fla
grantly defied the President of the
United States by refusing to obey the
order Of the bituminous coal commits
sion to meet with their employees.
This is the straw which shows the
way the wind already is blowing in
the fight against the union shop.
Fight of the Miners.
1.-THE Steel trust and adj Of the pow
erful interests which it represents or
controls are behind the Alabama coal
operators in this stand. They know
if they can break down the United
Mine Workers of America they can
easily break down any and all other
labor unions whenever they see fit to
do so.
The open shop campaign is In pro-
gress also in other industries. A ma
ton wide organization of all the ele-
ments and influences that are opposed
to trade unionism are lined up against
the union shop idea. They have COL
lected and are still collecting a slush
fund which is to be used to finance
the fight against the unions: Methods
will count for nothing, so long as they
can destroy unionism.
LAS the weeks and months go on
the American people will realize more
and more the magnitude of the fight
to re-establish the open shop. which,
of course, means the non-union shop.
To Reduce Wages.
"There will be great effort on
the part Of these interests to hammer
down the wages Of the workers within
the next year. Already this plan is be-
ing carried out. Reports from many
places say that employers have posted
notices that their plants will close in
definitely unless their employees accept
a reduction in wages. It is the in
tentiOn of those who are carrying out
this scheme to force this same issue
in other industries all over the coun-
try.
"Everything that can be done tc
: cripple labor unions is being done and
will continue to be done as a part o1
. this scheme to destroy them. wher-
ever it is possible to tie up the funds
Continued On Pq0e T,oo. 80
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