The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-12-20

quotations IN order to illustrate eX-
actly what the marlborough is seek
ing to accomplish.
Charge Unions With, Being Militant.
First of all there is the attempt to
show that the Amalgamated is dan
gerous organization advocating and
practicing strikes and violence:
g.. The defendant Amalgamated
Association has conducted a great
number of strikes on various rail
roads of this country; :. . many of
these strikes were without cause or
justification, or the causes were
trivial and unimportant; that during
the years from 1900 to 1926
there were at least eighty strikes in
which serious disorder occurred, all
conducted by the defendant Anal
gamated Association; that these
strikes occurred in sixty-seven diff
ferent cities and in thirty different
states; that there were upwards of
twenty-five strikes in which state or
federal troops were called in to pre-
serve order and protect life and
property :. and the various locals
composing said Association do not
and have not in the past observed
and performed the terms of con-
tract entered into between various
road companies and said Amalga-
mated Association. /. :"
There is offered in evidence, on the
contrary, the provisions of the Inter
borough Company constitution which
declare: Uninterrupted transit serv-
ice to the public, complete under
standing between employer and en-
ployee -. are the objects of this or
ganization. :" Further testimony is
offered that the Company Union has
so operated and has preserved that
peace and tranquility which the an
gelic Interborough so anxiously
Graves.
Federation Pictured AS Declining.
Secondly, the American Federation
of Labor itself is held up to be an In
efficient and declining organization
which moreover has entered during Ito
last period of decay into ''conspir-
acy" by which "the defendants Green,
l. AAyAC3 hdiloI, i 1lAScIdlu, 1oitTndli,
Shea, together with one Matthew
Woll, and other members of the Amer
lean Federation of Labor, willfully,
maliciously and unlawfully conferred,
confederated, combined, agreed and
conspired among themselves for the
purpose of eliminating and wholly de-
stroying, and determining upon effec-
tive methods and means of destroying.
all employee representation plans or
so-called company unions :"
Perhaps the most interesting section
of sworn testimony is the following:
&C.. The said American Fedora
ton of Labor is composed of affili-
ated organizations covering various
trades and occupations throughout
the several states of the union.
"(And that) =. the average paid
up and reported membership Of the
American Federation of Labor for
the year 1920 was 4,078,740; that
during the six year period immedi-
ately succeeding the year 1920, such
membership gradually and materi-
ally declined until, in the year 1926,
it had been reduced to 2,803,966
persons. -"
Here is a picture not without it's
lessons for organized labor. This is
not the place, however, to discuss that
phase of the problem.
Set off against this picture Of de-
clining strength we have:
Company Unions Spreading.
g.. During the same period, and
particularly during the years 1924.
1925 and 1926, there occurred
steady growth in the number and
membership of independent organi-
cations or employee representation
plans, providing methods of collect
i've bargaining between employers
and elected representatives of en-
ployees as to wages, working con-
ditions and other problems IL. and
that in the year 1926 approximately
1,347,000 employees, representing
431 companies, corporations or sep
arate industries, had adopted such
Independent organizations i. and
CuCSS WSIc IlOI III any way COHU6CJ-
ed or associated with the said Amer
lean Federation of Labor. :"
Here is the quotation from the resolu-
ton on company unions submitted and
passed at tn elast A. F. of l.. conven-
ton on the 18th of October, 1927:
"Your committee believes that "the
time is ripe for the American Labor
Movement to work progressively for
the substitution of union-management
cooperation for company unions. :.
To accomplish this will require con-
tinued effort over period of time and
out method of approach must be based
upon careful and scientific study. :"
Company Union Pictured AS Superior
But it is the essence of the Inter-
borough claim for the company union
that it has already secured this obiecty
of "union-management cooperationfI
which the Federation only now is ~
ginning to advocate;