Evening star., 1921-12-04
BY WARREN RYDER.
lin the New York Times,)


San Francisco has found q way to
handle an industrial controversy
which paralyzed Its building Industry
and threatened for a time all other
industrial activities. The city entered
that controversy as one OF the most
tightly closed union shop cities in
America. It emerged with the Ameri-
can plan firmly intrenched. But the
most important result has been that,
out OF this conflict came the Indus
trial Association OF San Francisco,
the only organization of its kind in
America.
Labor unions representing employees
exclusively and associations of en-
ployers have existed for many years
throughout the nation; but the Indus
trial Association of San Francisco,
created by the leading business and
professional men of the city from a
nucleus furnished by the industrial
committee of the chamber of COM
merce. is not body organized to rep
resent either labor or capital, but
permanently and militantly to repre-
sent and act for the whole public.
No Classes Recognised.
It recognizes no class: nor sponsors
any program that is not calculated to
promote the general welfare. It Is
not hostile to labor unions. Its doors
open as readily to a laborer. union or
non-union, either to register a griev-
ance or su"gHs' a remedy, as to q
leader of industry.
Although not a.4iI-union. the organl-
cation Is pro public, and has set itself
resoiutely against the return of con-
ditions which for a quarter of CEN
tury kept San Francisco in almost
constant industrial turmoil. 1t has
taken the position that domination of
a community by any one class or ele-
ment is wrong in principle and In
practice inimical to the progress and
prosperity of the community.
San Francisco for twenty-five years
has been the citadel Of trades union
ism. Every important industry has
operated under the closed shop, and @
non-union worker has been a rarity.
The unions have grown in numbers
and strength and not content to func-
tiOn merely in Industrial affairs have
reached out and utilized their power
in city and state politics.
Unions Strong in Politics.
Hardly a man in political life who
by word or deed offended union labor
has survived, and it has been common
knowledge that even governors and
other high state officials have been
forced to sit in frequent council with
the chiefs Of union labor's organiza-
tions. On two occasions the unions
succeeded in capturing the San Fran
cisco government and never have been
without representatives on the board
of supervisors and in other municipal
departments. More than any other
element in the community they have
dominated the political and govern
mental affairs of the city. Holding
such power, it was easy for them to
haS md a.
tions affecting industrial matters. and
with the passing of time these be-
came more arbitrary and oppressive,
until conditions were intolerable.
The most aggressive unions in this
respect were those Of the seventeen
workers. whose parent organization
was the Building Trades Council. OPP
pressive and restrictive rules imposed
by the council were designed to limit
output and increase the cost of build
ing. The glass workers union re-
fused to have a single apprentice in
San Francisco. 1t insisted upon what
was known as the county line rule"
For instance. a San Francisco shop
was awarded a contract in Berkeley,
which is in another county. This union
would not permit workmen to leave
the ferry at San Francisco before 8
o'clock in the morning, and required
tneUl TO De UdCk IneTe Dy o CLOCK
the evening. Although the workmen
employed to perform the contract
might live in Berkeley. directly ad-
joining the working premises, the
union would not permit them to begin
work until such time after 8 o'clock
as would be required to make the trip
from the San Francisco ferry to the
job in Berkeley, about an hour, and
insisted that they quit early enough
in the afternoon to permit reaching
the ferry in San Francisco by S
o'clock. These men got eight hours
pay for six hours work
Rules Made for LoannS.
The roofers' union would have no
apprentices. but when union men were
not available permitted laborers to do
roofers' work at roofers' wages. This
union also required that the man
heating the asphalt should be paid
o'clock am. In practice this rule so
operated that all other men on the
job loafed until such time as the as
phalt was heated.
The plasterers refused to work more
than five days a week, curtailing pro-
duction and increasing building cost
The varnishers and polishers' union
prohibited apprentices by insisting
upon a wage for them so excessive
that no contractor could afford to pay
it. The reinforced iron workers
union would permit neither appren-
tices nor helpers. and prevented the
bending of steel rods by machinery
because machine bends several rods
at time, whereas only one at a time
can be bent by hand. Numerous other
rules of like nature could be cited, but
these are typical and give an idea of
the abuses arising under the domina-
tion of the Building Trades Council.
Every union fixed the amount Of work
performed by its slowest worker as
the limit for all other members Of
that craft, SO as to curtail output, All
Of this, of course. operated to Increase
the cost of building. and this increas-
ed cost, together with higher wages.
was passed along by the contractors