The Llano colonist. [volume] (Llano, Calif.) 191?-1937, 1922-06-10
DISCOVERED: A SURE
CURE FOR STRIKES

The workers are weary Of listening
to all The patent panaceas that have
been imposed upon them as curealIs
for strikes. Everything from company
unions TO profit-sharing has been
Panned off BY willy employers in order
70 nail men TO their jobs and hogtie
them 50 that they will have no posi-
bic means Of resisting exploitation.
ne clever U. S. Steel Corporation and
the other big business enterprises sell
their stock to employees on the install
ment 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 Der cent
Of the total stock. Indeed, thew are
often given preferred stock with no
voting power at all.
But there is sure cure for strikes
which European workers are discover
ing in increasing numbers. THERE
IS But ONE UNSUITABLE REASON
FOR STRIKES: TO COMPEL EN-
FLOWERS TO GRANT DECENT
WAGES, HOURS AND CONDITIONS
OF LABOR. Men do no strike and
subject their families to deprivation
without good cause. The strike is the
last resort, used only after all negotia-
tons have failed 1t is necessary be-
cause employers are obdurate, selfish.
or stubborn.
Suppose you had an employer who
never kept a cent for himself, but turn
ed over to you the entire proceeds Of
the business An employer who let you
fix your own hours and conditions OF
labor, whose sole interest was 10 serve
your INTEREST," You would never strike
would youp
Hundreds of thousands Of workers in
Europe have found just such employ
ers-ln their own cooperative factor
les. mines and mills. Cooperative shoe
factories, printing plants, cotton and
linen mills, furniture factories and CO.
operative coal mines. The British, Ger
man. and Dutch cooperative building
/ guilds, owned and operated solely by
1.-THE building trades workers, have re-
voluticnized home building and brought
down the cost of all other construction
work. Even in America where coop
Grafton has not yet found fair start,
| the glove workers, the cigar makers,
the printers, the building craftsmen,
and host of other workers have laun-
ched thriving cooperative enterprises
/ There are no strikes in these cooper
ative industries because the workers
are their own employers. Instead Of
beng hired by capital, they make cap
ital work for them. pay it the market
wage a to 6 percent) and they secure
efficient management and technical di-
Tectlon without the payment OF huge
salaries.
Strikes can be cured once and for 4
by productive cooperation. The All
American Cooperative Commission Of
Cleveland is now aiding number Of
groups of workers to found their own
cooperative enterprises. This Commits
sion, founded by the organized farm
ers, workers and co-operators, declares
that unemployment is unnecessary;
that service, not greed for profits,
should dominate industry. and that true
cooperation cannot fail because It is
based upon all that is best and most
enduring in human experience. For
productive cooperation is not concern
ed with profit and loss alone. Its main
aim is to build up a society Of frater-
nally-minded men who will work to-
gether unselfishIy to build better So
ciety and a just and stable industrial
order