Montana labor news., 1939-08-24

represent a small but definite i'm
provement in the lives of Butte
miners.
We come now to the demand for
mine committees, what they are and
what their function would be. The
people of the United States are
aware that in recent years, a new
ideal, a new spirit has manifested
itself in the relation between en-
ployer and employee. We mean, of
course, the enlightened employer
and the employee who is organized.
You have frequently heard John l..
Lewis and other labor leaders refer
to this new relation as economic
democracy. In simplest terms, it
means a departure from the old idea
that the industrial worker was little
more than a wage slave, with no
voice about the conditions of his
work and subject to discharge or
discipline at the whim of an arbi-
trary employer. The average Butte
miners deeply resents being fired
from his job without just cause;
when he knows that he has done
his best and when he would have
done even more except for circum-
stances beyond his control. He re-
sents it and that is exactly the way
that a free mar ought to feel. A
man must have food and clothes
and a roof over his head but if he
would be happy, he must also pre-
serve a measure of human dignity.
1t is possible to believe that there
is more democracy in Butte than in
most mining camps, but there are
still many individual grievances that
could be settled if approached in
the right spirit. The miners pro-
pose to have permanent mine COM
mittees at the operating mines whose
function would be to investigate
legitimate grievances and try to
settle them directly with the mine
management. It has been suggested
that they would become mere fault
finding committees. We deny that.
Such tactics would do more harm
than good and would discredit the
committees with the miners them
selves. The whole objective is not
to protect the miner in his job, re
CARELESS of his merit or lack of merit,
but to see that he has a fair hearing
and that justice is done.
AS far as the CLIO locals are con-
cerned, not much progress has been
made in u negotiations to date.
These things naturally go rather
slowly, because there is some money
involved. The Company officials are
not displaying a hostile attitude,
although they have asked for changes
in the agreement that would be
serious, indeed, if the Company Off
Gals were themselves serious.
And now, my friends, what does
the future hold? I think I can sense
what is in your minds. You are
hoping the miners get what they
are asking for because you know
they are entitled to a bigger cut
and that it will be a good thing for
the community. But r you also
wondering, "Will there be trouble
here this Fall?" You know that it is
human to be uneasy and to resent
sudden changes in the even tenor
of our daily lives; we dislike emo
tional upheavals or physical vio-
lence. That is why habit and tradi-
ton are SO hard to break. In read
ing history, however, we find that
social progress has been made only
by meeting issues fearlessly and with
a resolve to make the world a better
place in which to live.
Experience of the last five years
ought to be sufficient proof that the
Miners Union is a responsible and
socially minded organization. We
like our home town and the people
in it. We would not enter lightly
on a course that would bring even
more hardship and suffering to
Butte, God knows the "Tories" in
Congress have done enough in that
direction.
We shall simply insist on a better
standard Of living and a bigger share
of the wealth we produce and strive
to gain u ends by the most prac-
tical methods,