The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-10-01
Company Unions Us. Mining Youth.

the employ of the company
Let us summarize some of the OBJ
vious defects of the company union as
compared with a bona fde workers
union. In the first place the workers
in the company union have no con-
nection with the workers in other
unions and other companies thruout
the country. They are isolated, with
no backing from the workers in other
towns and industries. Thus they can
not appeal to other workers for relief
or strike funds. AS a matter of fact,
they are not expected ever to strike.
for the purpose of the company
bosses is to create "strike-proof"
organization.
The workers in a company union
are at powerful disadvantage when
it comes to dealing with the bosses.
They have no lawyers, statisticians
expert representatives, technicians of
any kind on the other hand, the
company has all Of these and uses
them effectively against its helpless
workers. The real workers union al
ways have representatives to speak
for them in negotiations with the
bosses, men who are beyond the reach
Of the blacklist. of discrimination and
the spy system. Under the company
union there can be no such thing as
equality Of bargaining power. The
mine owner has it all. The workers
khave nothing. They are as helpless
as if they had no .union" of any kind.
individual bargaining" is as worth
less and meaningless as company
union bargaining.
THE company union is also one Of
4 the most effective propaganda
agencies OF the mine workers. Thru
efficiency committees" etc, they
drill into the workers minds various
economic lies that tend to make the
worker lose faith in his own strength
and organized power. A worker who
serves the bosses in one of these COM
pany unions is also sure to have GER
tain special favors shown him if he
carries out the companies wishes.
This subtle bribing of the workers,
this schooling them in employers eco
Monies, is one of the most pernicious
aspects of the whole business. It
should also be noted that, on several
occasions, these helpless puppets Of
the ompany-members Of the COM
pany union committees-have been
taken to state and national legisla-
lures to lobby for legislation favor
able to the owners and inimical to
the workers interests. Thus in many
years the tools and succors of the
company are used to serve the pur-
pose of the owners against the work
ers
The company union has no appeal
to the workers who know anything
about how it has operated in other
fields. Particularly are the young
workers who have the fighting, ag-
gressive spirit of youth, opposed to
company union tricks. Some Of the
old workers, broken in health, tired
and with no more hope in life, may
possibly be confused and misled by
the company's tricks. They may be
afraid to buck the company and pos
sibly lose their jobs by so doing But
the red-blooded young worker knows
that his own strength lies in the
strength of all the miners banded to-
gether. not in a dummy union con
United Mine Workers of America
Fortunately, the company union has
not made much Roadway among coal
miners, because the coal miners have
always been. most independent and
self-reliant workers, relying on their
own organized strength and not on
i company favors and gifts. But as the
mines become more and more mechan-
Lied, and they become more and more
like factories, the mine owners will
try to introduce the "big family" idea
of "unionism." 1t is then that the
young workers must be most vigilant
for the real union that has won them
their conditions. the union in which
they have achieved what safeguards
and protection they have. They must
fight with corresponding vigor against
any Substitute" for real unionism
that may be suggested by the coal
mine owners.
ls-rFe 4srr
"THE councils of efficiency" the
| l. federated unions" the 'arbitra-
ton committee" are all names for the
company associations. They are all
part of the prodigeous open-shop anti
union campaign the mine owners will
launcn whenever, they see favor
able opportunity. These schemes
must be resisted manfully by all the
mine workers who have any strength
in their hearts and lime in their
lspines.
The young miners, especially, must
remember that the company union Is
the employers latest and most insid-
ious weapon in the battle to destroy
the real union. The company union