The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-09-22
(continued from Page u

! dLLdCkS upon the LABOR movement, we
must be ever on the alert, strength
ening and perfecting our own policies
and organization.
Foremost in the minds of many del
egates to this convention is the prop
osition of establishing of home and
pension system for aged members.
This is an important issue, no be-
cause it is occupying the thoughts of
so many members, and because every
proposal for strengthening the union
nd lettering conditions finds justifca-
ton and support in the advocacy of a
home for aged members; it is also of
great Importance because the neces-
sity of such home brings wildly be-
fore the delegates the class nature of
the society in which we live, and the
bitterness of the struggle between the
working class and the capitalist class.
The desire of the membership to es-
tablish a pension and home fund is a
fine gesture of solidarity. But at the
same time we must be clear in our
own minds that it is not solution of
any fundamental problem. 1t brings
out the problem for us to see-that
the capitalist system of society, after
using the carpenters UP to the age of
60 or 20 years, throws us on the scrap
heap, leaving us to charity, our chill
dren, or our union to support. Pension
funds can not solve the problem, how
ever, for the problem can only be
solved on the basis of the class strug.
gle-by building up power, political
and economic, in the hands of the
workers.
Any assistance to our members can
only be as strong as our union. Are
we making our union more powerful
every day? Are we doing all that we
could to build powerful protection
for the workers against the encroach-
ments of the greedy bosses? One mo-
ment's reflection will convince each of
lis that we are lacking in this erspect.
Building Boom Almost over.
We have been depending almost en-
tirely upon the extraordinary power
placed in our hands by the building
boom. This boom is drawing to a
close. When building operations
slacken, as they are already doing and
as they will do much more in the fu-
ture; when unemployment begins to
show it's face among the building
tradesmen-what then? We have
been fortunate in the past, considering
the chaos that exists among the or
ganized workers of our industry, but
luck will not carry us thru the future.
Strong as the Brotherhood has be-
.eoRe, yet other trades ha~e-S6gde
greater wage advances than the vsf'
penters. In Chicago, for example, the
carpenters are the lowest paid me-
chanics in the industry, receiving only
$1.25 per hour, while others get from
$1.37h to $3.50. In spite of the car
penters' skill, the strength of the I'M
ion membership, the expense of keep
ing huge chest of tools, yet we find
only too often the carpenters at the
low end of the wage scale among
building trades mechanics.
The Disgraeeful Chicago Agreement.
The Chicago agreement, signed by
President Hutchinson, is a disgrace to
the Brotherhood of Carpenters, and is
an example of the kind of policies that
weaken the movement 1t is an open
shop" agreement. 1t was entered into
one day before the district election of
the union, without the membership
having word to say about its pro-
visions. This was done for purely
factional political reasons. The agree
ment provides for recognition of the
union under such conditions that make
the union part of the open shop
pers" strikebreaking machinery.
The Chicago agreement gives con-
tractors the right to use scab material
Except prison-made), which is be-
trayal of the inside carpenters, sur
rendering a hard won fruit of previ-
Gus strikes. 1t compels carpenters to
work with scabs of other trades, even
under protection of police or gunner,
threatening expulsion of members who
refuse, individually or as groups and
locals, to work under such conditions.
Such expelled members, it is provided,
cannot be reinstated without the unan-
imous consent of the Joint Arbitration
Board. The job steward ceases to be
an agent of the union, coming instead
under the jurisdiction of the arbitra-
ton board. Wages are set at $1.25
per hour as a maximum, a higher fig.
ure being prevented in any case be-
cause mere quitting Of a Job is con-
sidered breach OF contract.
This Chicago agreement, entered in
to by the contractors and President
Hutchinson, is a complete surrender
to the notorious Lands Award, de.
signed to break the building trades
unions, and which the carpenters had
previously fought so successfully.
Job Control.
Th6Nunion must have other control
over the lob besides a set wage scale