The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-11-29
MisleaderS in
the American
Labor Unions
By WILLIAM z. FOSTER


trades federation which carried on
the big steel organization campaigp'|
But its leaders joined reluctantly'I
Tighe and Davis voted against every
forward move in the entire move
ment. The other unions affiliated
together in the campaign were the
driving force. The A. A. leaders bel
trayed the movement at every step1
At least one-third of the organizing
committees time was devoted tol
blocking their descriptive activities.
They wanted to get out of the fight
to retreat from the great Steel Trust,
and to go back to their parasitic ex-
istence on the outer edges of the in
dustry in the small, weak Mills
When the big 1919-20 strike was
over, they split from the other
unions, thus breaking up the COM
mittee that was to carry on the re-
organization of the workers. These
leaders rest today with a moribund
organization of less than 10000 in
a great industry of 100000 workers,
They make no efforts to organize the
masses of, steel workers. More, they
have no desire to do so. For general
incompetence to face and lead the
great struggles necessary in their
industry, Tighe and his confreres are
hardly to be equalled in the entire
labor movement. For the Steel Trust
they are invaluable aids. They are
strangling the steel workers union
Well-Paid Jobs.
The A. A., occupying a highly
strategic position in the labor move
ment, and one where good leader
ship is vitality necessary, has been
afflicted with an especially venal
set of leaders. With but few excep-
tions, the higher officials have used
their positions to pave the way for
their advance into well-paid berths
in the industrial or political service
of the enemy. In an article entitled
"Steel's Lost Labor Leaders," John
Fitch says:
Zone significant thing about
the history of the Amalgamated
Association is that all of its presi-
dents have retired while still in
full possession of bodily and men
tai vigor. All but one retired vol
UNFAIRLY for the purpose of en-
gaging in some sort of work out
side of the labor movement"
All the presidents since 1875, save
one, Schaffer, have stepped from
their official positions to high-paid
outside jobs of one kind or another,
Among these were Miles Hum
phreys, John Jarrett, William
Weihe, M. M. Garland, P. J. Nc.
Ardle and John Williams. Count
less smaller officials also went the
same route. These leaders advoca-
ted the high tariff, like the steel
magnates and republican politicians
Most of their promotions were to
big political jobs under republican
administrations. Jarrett, before
becoming U. S. consul in Birming-
ham, England, under President Har-
rison, served as secretary for the
American Tin Plate Co. He died
rich man. Williams, who quit the
presidency of the A. A. in 1918, be-
came secretary of a steel manufac.
turers' association on the Pacific
coast. The present officialdom OF
the A. A. is living up to the trad,
ton of the organization and is quite
prepared for such favors as the
-that-be in Pennsylvania may
bestow upon it in return for ser.
vices performed in preventing the
organization of the steel workers.
Such leaders as those of the A
A., with their eyes on future ricf
plums from the class enemies of the
workers, are not going to liquidatt
their own hopes by mobilizing the
masses and leading them in militant
struggle against the employers. His.
torically, the A. A. officialdom is
bribed leadership, and today the
masses of disorganized and exploit.
ed steel workers are harvesting the
dead sea fruit of it's poisonous re.
gime.
The other fragmentary meta
trades unions, the machinists, black
smiths, etc, are unable, under pres.
ent conditions, to defend the inter.
ests of the masses of workers in the
metal industries over which They
claim jurisdiction. Except for some
hold in the railroad shops, they
have been long since driven out Of
the great trustified industries, suci
as automobiles, agricultural nipple
ments, general machinery building
etc. Of at least 100000 meta
workers, less than 100000 are or
ganized. The unions vegetatt
among the weak, competitive sec
tions of the metal industry. This
unfitness to cope with modern in
dustry is due to the failure to de-
velop leadership and policies ad
justed to present-day conditions
The metal trades leadership is Of
the same colorless, venal, unimag
NATIVE type characteristic of the
trade unions generally. The officials
have their minds set, not upon build
ing a great union in the teeth OF
the opposition, but primarily upor
their own advancement. This thew
refuse to jeopardize by unseen,h
radicalism. AS usual, STEADY
CT 81