ing to Trade Unions (1921). For Irish trade unionism see The
Irish Labour Movement by VV. P. Ryan (1920). By far the most important up-to-date source of information,
statistical and historical, for other countries is the Labour Inter- i national Handbook. See also G. D. H. Cole, The World of Labour. . For Germany see Trade Unionism in Germany by W. Stephen
Sanders (1916). For Russia see A. Losovsky, etc., Trade Unions
in Soviet Russia (1920). (M. I. C.)
UNITED STATES
From 1898 to 1904 craft unions in the United States grew in importance, and made substantial gains by aggressive action. In 1905 with a slackening of business prosperity came a loss of faith in trade unionism as the one sure solution of the problems of the working class. The American Federation of Labor had organized the skilled trades but the unskilled had been practically
i neglected. The crafts seemed unable to cope with the trusts and with an open-shop campaign which drew employers together. Attempts were made to capture the American labour movement
1 for a more radical class struggle. In 1905 the Industrial Workers of the World were organized. A movement to organize the building trades into an industrial union was resisted by the American Federation of Labor, but resulted in the establishment in 1908 of the Building Trades Department of the Federation. In 1909 the United Mine Workers announced their championship of the principle of collective ownership of the means of produc- tion. In 1911 the machinists followed. From 1903 we find increasing tendency toward concerted movements of the railway crafts. In 1908 the Railway Employees' Department was formed
- in the American Federation of Labor to include all the railway
- unions affiliated with the Federation. In 1916 the four railway
brotherhoods, not affiliated with the Federation, acted together
, to demand the eight-hour day. In 1912 the national convention of the Federation voted down the minority report of the Com- mittee on Education in favour of the principle of industrial unionism, 72 for and 264 against; voting strength, 5,929 f r and 10,983 against. The two miners' unions voted solidly in favour of the change. Others in favour were the bakers and confectioners, iron, steel and tin workers, printing pressmen, railway carmen and journeymen tailors. In 1912 labour was weak economically but strong politically, due to its support of
. the Democratic party, then coming into power. Public hearings before the United States Commission on Industrial Relations in 1914 brought industrial conditions into the light of public opin- ion; for the first time a commission representing the Govern-
i meat not only pronounced the trade union movement harmless to the best interests of the country, but gave its unqualified approval to labour organization as an institution indispensable in a democracy. The return of business prosperity in 1916, coincident with the sudden decrease of immigration, gave labour a new economic advantage. In 1917 the Government asked and won cooperation of organized labour in producing military supplies. Organized labour was given recognition on Government committees, and the policy of boards which represented the Government in its relations with its employees was to recognize trade union standards of working conditions. The leadership of the American Federation of Labor was strengthened by the attitude of the Government; possibly it was weakened by the fact that the War Labor Board dealt with groups of disaffected workers in the local unions rather than with the national officers, and so made for decentralized control in the unions. After the Armistice labour was again on the defensive, and the increasing number of the unemployed were more ready than they had been to listen to the philosophy of the radical, who can always promise a steady job and a pay envelope every week in the Utopian state. The membership in the relatively conservative American Federation of Labor increased nearly threefold be-
- ween 1910 and 1920. In 1910 there was a paid-up membership
)f 1,562,112; in 1915 1,946,347; and 1920 4,078,740. If we nclude also the membership of organizations suspended from
- he Federation, the total for 1920 was 4,509,213. Outside the
federation are the four brotherhoods of railway employees with i membership of over 400,000, the Amalgamated Clothing Workers, 200,000, the Amalgamated Textile Workers, 40,000;
753
and other smaller independent organizations. There are five industrial departments in the American Federation of Labor building trades, metal trades, railway employees, union label trades, and mining. The six largest of the affiliated unions are the United Mine Workers', the Carpenters' and Joiners', the Machinists', Electrical Workers', Railway Carmen, and the Ladies' Garment Workers.
The National Women's Trade Union League of America was founded in 1903 for the purpose of investigating and giving publicity to conditions of women in industry, and to undertake educational work for wage-earning women, to promote labour legislation and improved labour standards, and to aid trade unions in organizing women. The League stands also for the eight-hour day and the 44-hour week, for a living wage, and for equal pay for equal work regardless of sex. The League is indorsed by the American Federation of Labor and the Canadian Trades and Labour Congress and is represented at their conventions by fraternal delegates. It claims 600,000 trade union women, and has also a large membership of men. It publishes Life and Labor, and maintains a training school for organizers. Its headquarters are in Chicago.
The decade 1910-20 saw a movement deveiop to unionize the teachers as a trade group. The first teachers' union was organized in Chicago in 1902, following the failure of the Teachers' Fed- eration to gain consideration from the school board. As the board insisted that it had no money to pay a " living wage," the teachers investigated city finances, and found that many wealthy corporations had been evading taxes due to the city. In the struggle to force the payment of taxes the teachers received aid from organized labour. Then, at the invitation of the Chicago Federation of Labor, the teachers affiliated with that body. In 1916 the Board of Education dismissed those teachers who had been prominent in trade union activity. In order that these teachers might be reappointed, the union withdrew from the city Federation of Labor. In 1914 the teachers of Cleveland voted to affiliate with the American Federation of Labor, but were prevented by the Board of Education. In 1916 teachers' unions in a number of cities united to form the American Federation of Teachers and affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, but forbade recourse to strikes. The official publication is the American Teacher. The first trade union of librarians in the United States was formed in New York City, in 1917, to demand salary increases and a regular system of promotions. In 1918 the Boston Library Employees' Union was organized and affil- iated with the American Federation of Labor. Union organ- izers were active without success at the 1919 and 1020 conven- tions of the American Librarians' Association.
Trade Agreements. The economic strength of trade unions is crystallized in trade agreements. Such expression of a joint partner- ship of Capital and Labour to stabilize industry on the basis of an accepted law is typical of the American labour movement. The earliest national agreement in the United States was that of the iron puddlers in 1866. A national agreement of the stove moulders estab- lished in 1891, providing for peaceful adjustment of disputes which might arise, continues in force. In 1897 a general strike in the central competitive district of the bituminous coal-mining industry led to an agreement between the operators and the United Mine Workers' Union. In 1902 the president of the union refused to join in a sympathetic strike on behalf of the anthracite strikers because such action would be disloyal to the agreement. For more than 20 years the International Typographical Union had been arbitrating disputes with the publishers of newspapers. At the convention of the National Publishers' Association in 1900, three publishers were chosen as a committee to deal with labour, to represent, however, not the whole convention, but only those employers who had favoured the measure. Contracts between individual employers and the union had been made prior to this time. This committee effected an agreement with the Typographical Union, to be in force from May 1901 to May 1902, which provided for local boards of three persons, one to represent the publisher, one the union, and the third to be chosen by these two. The board was to decide all disputes in its territory, the status quo to prevail until an award should be made. If either party should be dissatisfied with the decision, appeal might be taken to a national board, composed of the publishers' labour committee and the president of the Typographical Union. If they failed to agree, an impartial person was called in. A majority decision was then binding on both parties. In 1902 the agreement was renewed for a five-year period, and again in 1907, revised to
