The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1922-04-01

Hoosick Falls All Stars
CHECK OFF" SYSTEM
IN SOFT COAL FIELDS
Origin Of Its Application in collee
ton Of Miners Union Dues
Unknown.

Origin Of Its Application in coIec.
tion Of Miners Union Dues
Unknown.
indianapolis, Ind, March 81 (By the
Associated Press) One of the pecu.
liar practices Of the soft coal industry
Is the check off" system. a collecting
agency for union dues To a large ex.
tent, II Is the financial backbone Of
the United Mine Workers of America
The operators also use il for collect
ing money due them from their work
men
In brief, the check off" results in
a part of a miners wages being with
held for a specified payment his
dues, In the case OF the union, and
various expend lures, made In his be-
half by his employer, in the case Of
the operator
The origin OF the check of Is un-
! known. Some operators have de-
clared that any settlement must pro
vide for its discard. and the union a
few months ago threatened nation
wide strike in its defense. However,
I II has been the recognized method Of
collecting union dues for 25 years, and
practiced longer than that time by the
( operators for Their own benefit.
The federal circuit court Of appeals
( at Chicago recently ruled that as far
as existing contracts disclose the
check off is the voluntary assignment
by tho employee OF so much OF his
wages a. may be necessary to meet
I hie union dues and his direction to his
employer to pay the amount TO the
treasurer Of his union. In that aspect
the contract provision is legal, and
quite evidently there are many lawful
purposes for which dues may be
used"
An attack on the CHECK off"-the
unions part Of it's made in an in
dictment, pending in the court here
charging operators and miners In the
Central Competitive Field with con
spiracy TO violate the Sherman anti
trust law Incidental to the ma n
charge that the operators and miners
combined to control production and
prices the indictment referred to the
) CHECK of" as indicating a close rela-
I tion between the two. and declaring
the purpose as well known and un-
derstood." was TO provide funds for
the unions alleged efforts to stop
coal production at non union mines.
Z Action in the case has been at stand
still for months. Opponents OF the
"check Off" also assert that 1t Is re-
fected in the price of coal.
! In defense of the Check on union
officials interpret 1t as a convenient
method, mutually agreed between EN-
ployer and employee, for collecting
dues President John l.. Lewis OF
the United Mine Workers OF America
adds that opponents set up the
| check off as straw man ior the pa'
sis of other propaganda.
HThe check off is not the creation
of ths union" says Mr.. Lewis. II
was founded years ago by the opera
tors and is still practiced by them
Comnany rent, supplies, tools and a
long. long list Of charges-some al
most unique-are found in tho opera,
tors check of, and down at the END
of the ust appears this monthly Item
United Mine Workers Of America
dues. rs cents
"The importance to the union OF the
check on Is convenience.
Where the CHECK on for the union
erst started is not known. The op
orators. il seems, pract ced IT tor
Themselves. and when they got to par
gaining with the union, tradition Is
that the miners said nov you nave
checked off everything else Just checK
off our dues
before this the tradition is that the
local unions had committees to stahu
a. the mouth Of the mine on the day
when dues were to be paid, ana II
miner refused payment, the comm L
Toe sent him home This practice Is
sa,d often interfered with mine oper
alton by reducing the needed labor
supplv. and increased the Willingness
of onerators 10 adopt the "check on
for the union - -,
The "check oil became a part ol
the interstate wage agreement maze
for the Central Competitive Field IN
1898. and not only has been renewed
by subsequent agreements, but alst
has been pushed into other fields unti
now two thirds of the halfmillior
union miners settle dues by the
"check of" However, the CHECK
off, is not universal throughout the
coal industry. It Is not used in the
partly unionized soft coal fields, ant
also is missing in the Pennsylvania
anthracite fields.