The Connecticut labor news., 1921-12-30
CAN'T CRUSH LABOR UNIONS, so CONKEY
 WOULD GET IN THEM
Illinois Employer Wants Organiza- ton of Bosses and Workers
 for Trade Protection.

This is the doleful take of manu- facturer and his antidote for present industrial ills It was told at the an nual meeting of the Illinois Manu- lecturers Association in Chicago last week by w. B. Conkey, president of the Conkey Printing and Book Manufacturing Co.,, to an assembly of the worst union labor baiters and open shop advocates in the country.
 Some years ago Conkey moved his
 printing and manufacturing plant from Chicago to Hammond, Ind, to "escape the unions," as he said, but the unions went along and organized his plant just the same, SO that to- day he is operating a union estab-
 lishment employing several thousand workers, though associated with an open shop crowd. Now he has reach ed the opinion that trade unions should comprise both employees and employers.
 MT. Conkey asserted that the Tabor ] unions at their gatherings conclude that they will reduce the hours of l work and increase their pay arbitrar- | fly, and by strike attempt to make the employer force his customers to pay | their demands" He said the labor | unions could not be crushed, there l fore it was up to the employers to
 adopt some new plan to cope with the industrial situation.
 "The workmen of your particular "conspire to make us the vehicle through which they will force the
 public to pay their demands, whether they are just or unjust. Do you get l what I mean? The labor unions are | making us manufacturers the goats
 in this proposition, if I may be per | mitted to use that term"
 Wants Labor to Share Opprobrium And MT. Conkey is tired of being l the "goat" all alone in his plant, and l wants to divide the opprobrium with his union employees. Having evolved
 a plan, he passed it on to other manu- i association. He seeks a condition that Twill prevent the manufactures I from being the bumper between the l labor unions and the public" Here is 1 his prescription:
 "Instead of labor union, let there | be trade union of each trade, and | this trade union should be composed 1 of the workmen and the employers | each having a committee that will dis 1 cuss together any conditions of the trade requiring attention, whether Ii ] be hours of labor, increase in wages l shop practices, the apprentice ques
 ton, or any conditions that enter into ! a trade to be settled, and which vii 1 be agreed upon by both parties be 1 fore it becomes operative.
 "All trades should have union fol ! the protection of both the workmer
 and the employer-the workmen tc
 maintain minimum wage, collectiv'
 bargaining, etc, and the employer:
 for protection against unprinciplec
 competitors, sweatshops, child labor i etc.
 Living Wage First Essential.
 The basic principle of this whole
 matter is that no trade should exis
 as a trade unless it will pay a living
 wage to it's workers. If 1t can no | Io 1,.o .+ c1o 1o ich
 With this trade union no manu
 facturer could carry on a successful
 business unless he and his employe!
 were members of the same trad'
 union. There should be nationa
 trade union that would provide sucl
 legislation as would prevent violation
 of the conditions of any given trade. ! Thus it can be gathered from MI Conkey's address that some of tn manufacturers are not satisfied witt
 their campaign for the open shop ant \ are looking for a way out. Some O l the ideas advanced are in harmon
 with tenets of the trade union move
 ment, particularly elimination o sweatshops and child labor, and tn theory that business that can no / pay decent wages to employees has n right to exist.
 l He recommended that a committe 5 be created to work out the details C the all-encompassingt trade union p1a and submit 1t to the manufacturer
 for approval.