The toiler. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1919-1922, 1921-04-23

workers are rtquired, and where
there is not Insufficient number of
unorganized to fill the vacancies.
(Quite often the large automobile
companies adver tize: nhonest and in
dAstrious union men may apply, but
slackers and agitators are not
wanted.") HereJ besides some bos-
ses' committee lexist various trade
union branches But they are not
allowed to bother the company with
their grievance$
They have I'd bring their scruples
before the committee. Only if it ap-
proves them, the grievances go to
the "Joint Board, or Council,
where the COMPANY has an equal
number of votes to that of the shop
fcommittee. Since the company has a
couple of its men in the shop COM
mittee it always wins out in the
Joint Council. Of course the en-
ployprs are careful enough not to
| allow this fact to come out clearly
The usual policf is cheap compro-
mise which is Nailed as great vic
tory for the workers.
In spite Of that, there is a con-
tinuous friction between this shop
committee and the Joint Council sys-
tenn and the trade union branches.
The unions cannot get control over
the shop committee, because "every-
body" union men, non-union men
and others-take part in the cleo
tions, and the company is con-
tinuously assisting, the "others" by
means of firing and hiring. Through
such committees the company is car
rying on a continuous campaign
against unions. "Why are you pay
ing high dues to outsiders when you
have committee which protects
your interests free of charger" Pro-
paganda of this nature is often dis
tributed among the workers, and
since the union dues and assess
ments are pretty hight has
certain effect. The company does
everything to encourage the non
union men to- oppose the unions.
When hiring non-union man is
preferred, when laying off-the
union man is e''Pseh The better paid
piece work ed 1ta non-union men.
Foremanships assistant, foreman
ships and all stsadier and better paid
jobs go to non-union men. Natural
| ly, the union-men hate the non-union.
They display this hate at every OPP
portunity and by so doing often un-
consciously play a part of the COM
pany's game-to keep the workers
divided.
In short-here are two fractions
of workers who are cleverly melted
against each other. They are: N,
non-union men, led by company agi-
tators and better paid men, sup
porting the company plans of labor
representation, and (2), union men
fighting against the "Scab Commit
tee, trying to unionize their res
pective departments.
1t should be plain that in such
places we must line up with the
union men in order to secure a solid
footing to work from. We must
carry on agitation in favor of anal
gamation of all the trade union men
into One Big Union. This shop, Or
ganization must secure full control
of the votes before it calls a general
meeting Of all the workers. 1t must
pick out all candidates in advance
at its own closed meetings and vote
in the general meeting en- block.
Only then can real workmens'
shop committee be elected, which
will be able to carry on its work
openly and unflinchingly.
Workers Shop Committees.
These are the committees which
are elected by workers assembled in
meetings over which their employers
have no control and no representa-
tion in. Such committees may be
found in government arsenals, navy
yards, and in many railroad shops
and the clothing industry. These
places are either closed shops or
strongly organized. The nature of
the shop committees, therefore, de-
pends upon the character Of the
unions which organize them: the
more radical are the electors-the
more aggressive is the shop commit
.
tee.
However, in many places the
work of these committees does not
amount to anything worth while. This
is because they lack power, jurisdic-
tion and support. In many cases
these shop committees are delegated
bodies (for instance in Watcrtown
Arsenal, Mass, each trade union
elects a delegate or more.)
Before the committees can act on
anything, each delegate must get the
approval from Ills union. This causes
delay and parahzes the committees
t.nrt N,,.~.t .tnt, x.,.,t,,,,u 10 baI1