The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1922-06-16
DISCOVERED: Sure
CURE FOR STRIKES

The workers are weary Of listen
ing to all the patent panaceas that
have been imposed upon them as
curealls for strikes. Everything
from company unions" to profit
sharing has been PANIED off by willy
employers in order to nail men to
their jobs and hog-tie them so that
they will have no possible means of
resisting exploitation. The clever U.
S. Steel Corporation and other big
business enterprises sell their stock
to employees on the installment plan,
with the understanding that they are
not to quit their jobs while buying
the stock OF course these workers
do not control the business; they
merely own one or two per cent of
the total stock. Indeed. they are
often given preferred stock with no
voting power at all.
But there is sure cure for strikes
which European workers are discov-
ering in increasing numbers. There
is but one justifiable reason for
strikes: to compel employers to grant
decent wages, hours, and conditions
of labor. Men do not strike and
subject their families to deprivation
without good cause. The strike is
the last resort. used only after all
negotiations have failed. 1t is neces-
sary because employers are obdurate,
selfish or stubborn.
Suppose you had an employer who
never kept a cent for himself, but
turned over to you the entire pro-
ceeds of the business? An employer
who let you fix your own hours and
conditions of labor, whose sole inter
est was to serve your intere. t? You
would never strike, would you?
Hundreds of thousands of workers
in Europe have found Just such en-
ployers-in their own cooperative
factories, printing plants, cotton and
linen mills, furniture factories and
machine shops are increasing with
amazing rapidity. The Belgian CO.
operators have Just voted a large
loan to aid the French miners in es-
tablishing their big cooperative coal
mine. The British, Dutch, and Ger
man cooperative building guilds,
owned and operated solely by the
building trades workers, have revolu-
tionized home building; and brought
down the cost of all other construc-
ton work. Even in America where
cooperation has not yet found fair
start, the glove workers, the cigar
makers, the printers. the building
craftsmen, and host of other work
ers have launched thriving coopera
tive enterprises.
There are no strikes in these CO.
operative industries because the
workers are their own employers.
Instead of being hired by capital,
they make capital work for them,
pay it the market wage "a to 81
per cent INTEREST," and they secure
efficient management and technical
direction without the payment Of
huge salaries.
Strikes can be cured once and for
all by productive cooperation. The
All American Cooperative Commits
sion of Cleveland is now aiding a
number of groups of workers to
found their own cooperative enter
prises. This commission, founded by
the organized farmers. workers and
cooperators, declares that unemploy-
ment is unnecessary THAT service,
not greed for profits should domi-
nate industry; and that true cooper
alton cannot fail because it is based
upon all that is best and most en-
during in human experience. For
productive cooperation is not con-
cerned with profit and loss alone.
It's main aim is to build up a So
ciety of fraternity minded men who
will work together unselfishly to-
build better society and just and
stable industrial order.