DEATH BENEFITS.
The most needed trade-union benefits are those against death and these
were the first to be established. At the present time about one half of
American national trade unions maintain death benefit systems. In 1904,
out of a total of one hundred and seventeen national unions affiliated
with the American Federation of Labor, fifty-three were paying death
benefits.[87] Of those unions not affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor, ten were also paying such benefits.
[Footnote 87: Proceedings of the Twenty-fourth Annual Convention of the
American Federation of Labor, 1904, p. 46.]
The development of death benefits in American trade unions resembles
closely the growth of the insurance systems described in the preceding
chapter. The first unions to adopt death benefits, for example, paid for
a time a sum fluctuating in amount. The benefit was in each case the sum
raised by per capita assessments, and the yield varied according to the
membership. Thus, the Iron Molders paid a fluctuating benefit from 1870
to 1879.[88] Upon the death of a member, an assessment of forty cents
and later of forty-five per capita was levied. At Detroit in 1873 the
Cigar Makers inaugurated an endowment plan which provided for the
payment of a death benefit, the amount of which was to be the sum raised
by an assessment of ten cents on each member. Similarly, the Glass
Bottle Blowers, introducing the benefit as late as 1891, made provision
for paying the amount secured by an assessment of twenty-five cents per
capita.[89]
[Footnote 88: Iron Molders' Journal, Vol. 25, June, 1889; Constitution,
1878 (Cincinnati, 1878), Art. 17.]
[Footnote 89: Proceedings of the Twenty-fifth Annual Convention,
Milwaukee, 1901; Report of Secretary Launer (Milwaukee, 1901).]
When the fluctuating benefits were inaugurated the unions were without
experience in the exercise of beneficiary functions. They could not
calculate with any exactness the amount of the assessment necessary to
provide benefits in fixed sum. They preferred, therefore, not to
guarantee the payment of any amount. The character of the first death
benefit in the Granite Cutters' Union illustrates the reluctance of the
Union in assuming the responsibility of guaranteeing fixed benefits. In
1877 they adopted a benefit of fifty dollars, but also provided for an
additional voluntary benefit to be raised by an assessment of fifty
cents. After a few years the entire system was replaced by provision for
the payment of a fixed funeral benefit.
The fluctuating benefit was very unsatisfactory, inasmuch as the insured
member could not be certain as to what amount he would receive, and this
uncertainty was aggravated by the voluntary character of the
association. Even where participation was compulsory the fluctuations in
the number of members were much greater than at present.
As soon as the unions became sufficiently strong, financially and
numerically, and had acquired experience in the management of the
benefit, they, with few exceptions, guaranteed to their members a
benefit of fixed amount. A fixed payment of one hundred dollars was
guaranteed by the Iron Molders in 1879 on the death of a member, and in
1882 the voluntary organization known as the Beneficial Association,
which had maintained the system of special assessments, was
disbanded.[90] The advantage of paying a benefit of fixed amount, as
demonstrated by the experience of Local Union No. 87 of Brooklyn, led to
the adoption of this system by the Cigar Makers' International Union, in
September, 1880.[91]
[Footnote 90: Constitution, 1878 (Cincinnati, 1878); Iron Molders'
Journal, Vol. 26, May, 1890, p. 2.]
[Footnote 91: Constitution, 1880 (New York, 1880), Art. 13.]
The majority of American trade unions have inaugurated their death
benefits since 1880,[92] and hence have escaped the experimental period
of benefits based upon the fluctuating principle. Learning from the
experience of the older unions, they have in most cases paid from the
beginning death benefits of fixed amount. The benefit is a definite sum
in all the unions except the Watch Case Engravers' Association and the
Saw Smiths' Union, which in their constitutions of 1901 and 1902
respectively provide for the payment of a benefit upon a fluctuating
basis.[93] This must be attributed to the fact that the unions are not
sufficiently strong to guarantee the payment of a definite amount.
[Footnote 92: See page 12.]
[Footnote 93: Constitution of the Watch Case Engravers' International
Association of America, 1901 (New York, n.d.), p. 21; Constitution of
the Saw Smiths' Union of North America, 1902 (Indianapolis, n.d.), p.
8.]
Under the fluctuating system the sum paid was often larger than the
amount at which the benefit was later fixed. When, in 1880, the Cigar
Makers adopted a death benefit of twenty-five dollars, their membership
had increased to 4400, making possible, by a per capita assessment of
ten cents, the payment of four hundred and forty-four dollars upon the
death of each member. The assessment of twenty-five cents levied by the
Glass Bottle Blowers for each death benefit upon a membership of 2423 in
1891 yielded a greater sum than the definite amount adopted one year
later. The amount paid under the fluctuating system in the Iron Molders
was also larger than the fixed amount later guaranteed by the
International Union.
In another respect the early death benefits and insurance systems were
alike. Participation in the more important and successful death systems
was voluntary. Membership in the Iron Molders' Beneficial Association,
created to pay death benefits, was, for example, entirely optional.[94]
The first constitution of the Granite Cutters provided for an additional
voluntary benefit.[95] In both of the above named unions the voluntary
idea was short-lived. In January, 1879, the Iron Molders provided for
the payment of a death benefit for all members of the craft.[96] By 1884
the Granite Cutters had abolished the voluntary death benefit and paid
it to all members.[97]
[Footnote 94: Iron Molders' Journal, March, 1871.]
[Footnote 95: Constitution, 1877 (Rockland, 1877), Arts. 1-2.]
[Footnote 96: Iron Molders' Journal, Vol. 26, May, 1890, p. 2.]
[Footnote 97: Constitution, 1884 (Quincy, n.d.), p. 11 ff.]
Thus, both the death benefit and the insurance systems in American trade
unions had their origin in the movement for mutual insurance which was
so widespread in the United States immediately after the Civil War. Only
in the railway brotherhoods did the plan result in any considerable
increase in membership. In the other unions the insurance systems were
replaced by the establishment of benefits, and these were usually
smaller in amount than the insurance systems had contemplated.[98]
[Footnote 98: The death benefits established by the Cigar Makers and
Iron Molders in 1870 and 1879 were for $40 and $100. The ordinary death
benefit in American trade unions is still a sum assumed to be sufficient
to inter decently the deceased.]
The tendency in those unions which have longest maintained the death
benefit has been to increase the amount of the benefit and to grade the
amount according to the length of membership. The policy of the unions
in these respects has, however, varied considerably. In some cases there
has been an increase in the minimum amount paid, together with provision
for the payment of larger sums to members who have been longer in good
standing. In other unions, such as the Iron Molders and the Pattern
Makers, the regular benefit remains as originally established, but a
larger sum is paid to older members. Only a few of the older
organizations retain the uniform benefit. The most notable of these are
the Typographical Union, the Glass Bottle Blowers, and the Hatters.
The grading of the death benefit serves two purposes. In the first
place, the funds are protected. If the benefit were uniform and large,
persons in bad health would be tempted to join the union in order to
secure protection for their families. The grading of the benefit is
accordingly a crude but fairly effective device against a danger which
presents itself as soon as the amount becomes large enough to be
attractive to "bad risks." A more important reason, perhaps, for the
grading of the benefit is the desire to make it a more effective agency
in attracting and holding members. If continuous membership carries with
it constantly increasing insurance, the lapses in membership lessen.
The maximum death benefits paid by the Cigar Makers and the Glass Bottle
Blowers are $550 and $500, respectively. The Iron Molders pay a maximum
benefit of $200; the Carpenters of $200; the Pattern Makers of $400; the
Germania Typographia of $200. In all these cases except that of the
Glass Bottle Blowers the benefit is graded according to the period of
membership. The maximum benefit is paid in the Cigar Makers and in the
Pattern Makers to members of fifteen years' standing.
Only a few unions have decreased the amount of the benefit from that
first established. Among these are the Brotherhood of Carpenters, the
Brotherhood of Leather Workers on Horse Goods, the Tailors' Union, and
the Metal Polishers' Union. In the case of the Carpenters the death
benefit which was originally established at $250 in 1882 was $100 in
1905. Changes of this kind have naturally followed the too liberal
policy of inexperienced unions.
The following table, giving the amount of the death benefit as
originally established and as paid at present in certain of the more
important unions which have adopted the graded death benefit,
illustrates the variety of forms which the systems take:
AMOUNT OF DEATH BENEFIT.
==========================================================================
| | Date of | |
|Date of |Introducing|Amount of Death |Amount of Death
Name of | Organi-| Death | Benefit Paid |Benefit Paid in
Union | zation | Benefits | Originally | 1905.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boot and | 1895 | 1898 | $50 for six months' |$50 for six months'
Shoe | | | membership. | membership.
Workers | | | $100 for two years' |$100 for two years'
| | | membership. | membership.
| | | |
Carpenters,| 1881 | 1882 | $250 for six months'|$100 for six
Brotherhood| | | membership. |months' membership.
of | | | |$200 for one year's
| | | |membership.
| | | |
Cigar | 1864 | 1867 | Yield of a 10 |$50 for two years'
Makers | | | cent per capita | membership.
| | | assessment. |$200 for five
| | | | years' membership.
| | | |$350 for ten years'
| | | | membership.
| | | |$550 for fifteen
| | | |years' membership.
| | | |
Granite | 1877 | 1877 | $50........... |$50.
Cutters | | | |$75 for six months'
| | | | membership.
| | | |$100 for one year's
| | | | membership.
| | | |$150 for five
| | | | years' membership.
| | | |$200 for ten years'
| | | | membership.
| | | |
Iron | 1859 | 1870 | Yield of a 40 |$100 for one year's
Molders | | | cent per capita | membership.
| | | assessment. $150 for five
| | | | years' membership.
| | | |$175 for ten years'
| | | | membership.
| | | |$200 for fifteen
| | | |years' membership.
| | | |
Leather | 1896 | 1896 | $40 for one |
Workers | | | year's |
on Horse | | | membership. |
| | | $60 for two |$40 for one
| | | years' |year's
| | | membership. |membership.
| | | $100 for four |$75 for three
| | | years' |years'
| | | membership. |membership.
| | | $200 for five |$100 for four
| | | years' | years'
| | | membership. |membership.
| | | $300 for eight |
| | | years' |
| | | membership. |
| | | |
Metal | 1890 | 1890 | $100 for six |$50 for one year's
Polishers | | | months' | membership.
| | | membership. |$100 for two years'
| | | | membership.
| | | |
Machinists | 1890 | 1890 | $50 for six |$50 for six months'
| | | months' | membership.
| | | membership. |$75 for one year's
| | | | membership.
| | | |$100 for two years'
| | | | membership.
| | | |$150 for three
| | | |years' membership.
| | | |$200 for four
| | | |years' membership.
| | | |
Painters | 1887 | 1887 | $100............... |$50 for one year's
| | | | membership
| | | |$100 for two years'
| | | | membership
| | | |$150 for three
| | | | years' membership
| | | |$200 for four years'
| | | | membership
| | | |
Pattern | 1887 | 1898 | $50 |$50 for one year's
Makers | | | | membership
| | | |$75 for two years'
| | | | membership
| | | |$100 for three
| | | | years' membership
| | | |$150 for five
| | | | years' membership
| | | |$200 for seven
| | | | years' membership
| | | |$250 for nine
| | | | years' membership
| | | |$300 for eleven
| | | | years' membership
| | | |$350 for thirteen
| | | | years' membership
| | | |$400 for fifteen
| | | | years' membership
| | | |
Piano and | 1898 | 1898 | $50 for six |$50 for one year's
Organ | | | months' | membership
Workers | | | membership |$100 for five
| | | | years' membership
| | | |$200 for ten years'
| | | | membership
| | | |
Tailors | 1884 | 1890 |$75 for three months'|$25 for six months'
| | | membership | membership
| | |$100 for one years' |$40 for one year's
| | | membership | membership
| | | |$50 for two years'
| | | | membership
| | | |$75 for three years'
| | | | membership
| | | |$100 for four years'
| | | | membership
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
A few of the unions require only that the deceased member shall have
been in good standing. These unions ordinarily pay a small benefit,
although the Glass Bottle Blowers pay five hundred dollars without
requiring a preliminary period of membership. The term of necessary
membership varies from thirty days in the case of the Barbers to two
years in the Cigar Makers. The usual requirement is that the member
shall have been in good standing for six months.
A few of the unions restrict the benefit to members under a certain age
at the time of admission. Where such an age limit is imposed it is
ordinarily fifty years, but in a few unions it is sixty years.
The following table shows the conditions imposed upon the payment of the
death benefit in the more important unions:
Preliminary Term of
Name of Organization. Age Limit. Good Standing Required
Bakers ........................... 50 years 3 months
Barbers .......................... 50 years 30 days
Boot and Shoe Workers ............ 6 months
Glass Bottle Blowers ............. None
Carpenters ....................... 50 years 6 months
Cigar Makers ..................... 50 years 2 years
Granite Cutters .................. 6 months
Iron Molders ..................... 12 months
Iron, Steel and Tin Workers ...... 3 months
Leather Workers on Horse Goods ... 1 year
Lithographers .................... 30 days
Machinists ....................... 6 months
Metal Polishers .................. 1 year
Metal Workers .................... 12 months
Painters ......................... 50 years 1 year
Pattern Makers ................... 50 years 52 weeks
Piano and Organ Workers .......... 1 year
Plumbers ......................... 6 months
Stone Cutters .................... 6 months
Tailors .......................... 6 months
Tobacco Workers .................. 60 years 1 year
Typographical Union .............. None
Weavers, Elastic Goring .......... 6 months
Wood Workers ..................... 60 years 6 months
Only a few unions make good physical condition a requisite for admission
to the death benefit. In a small number provision is made that if death
result from disease incurred prior to admission the union shall not pay
the benefit. In the majority of the unions every member admitted to the
union is covered by the death benefit. Some of the unions, such as the
Brotherhood of Carpenters, the Boot and Shoe Workers' Union, the
Brotherhood of Painters, and the Pattern Makers' League, provide a
smaller benefit for those not eligible at time of initiation. In the
Brotherhood of Carpenters any apprentice under twenty-one years of age,
or any candidate for membership over fifty years of age, in ill health
and not qualified for full benefit when admitted to the union, is
limited to a funeral allowance of fifty dollars.[99] The Boot and Shoe
Workers' Union provides that members of sixty years of age, or those
afflicted with chronic diseases at time of initiation, shall be eligible
to half benefit only.[100] In the Brotherhood of Painters members of
sound health and over fifty years of age when admitted are eligible to a
semi-beneficial benefit of fifty dollars and to a funeral benefit of
twenty-five dollars in case of death of wife.[101]
[Footnote 99: Constitution, 1903 (Indianapolis, n.d.), secs. 65 and 98.]
[Footnote 100: Constitution, 1904 (Boston, n.d.), sec. 68.]
[Footnote 101: Constitution, 1904 (La Fayette, n.d.), sec. 133.]
The requirement of a preliminary period of membership serves to protect
the union against the entrance of persons who wish to join because they
are in ill health and are anxious to secure insurance which they could
not otherwise get. None of the unions provide, however, for any
deliberate selection of risks, and the mortality is higher than it would
be if the applicants were examined.
The death benefit is thus regarded by the unions not as a pure matter of
business. It is paid partly on charitable grounds, and the small
increase in the cost of the benefit occasioned by the lack of strict
physical requirements is regarded as more than compensated by the
increase in the solidarity of the organization thus attained.
In several important unions the death benefit has been made the basis
for a disability benefit. Thus a member receiving the disability benefit
loses his right to the death benefit. So closely are the two benefits
associated in these organizations that they are practically a single
benefit. This combination of death and disability benefits is found
chiefly in those trades in which the workmen are exposed to great danger
of being disabled by accident.[102] The principal unions maintaining the
disability benefit are the Iron Molders, the Brotherhood of Carpenters
and Joiners, the Cigar Makers, the Painters, the Wood Workers, the Metal
Workers, the Glass Workers, and the Boot and Shoe Workers.[103]
[Footnote 102: Those unions that pay a death benefit and make no
provision for total or permanent disability are: Bakers' and
Confectioners' Union, Barbers' International Union, Cigar Makers,
Elastic Goring Weavers' Association, United Garment Workers, Glass
Bottle Blowers' Association, Granite Cutters' Association, United
Hatters, Hotel and Restaurant Employees, Iron, Steel and Tin Workers'
Association, Jewelry Workers' Union, Brotherhood of Leather Workers on
Horse Goods, Lithographers' Association, Metal Polishers' Union, Pattern
Makers' League, Piano and Organ Workers' Union, Plumbers' Association,
Printing Pressmen's Union, Retail Clerks' Association, Saw Smiths'
Union, Stone Cutters' Association, Stove Mounters' Union, Street Railway
Employees' Association, Tailors' Union, Tobacco Workers' Union,
Typographical Union, Deutsch-Amerikanischen Typographia, Watch Case
Engravers' Association, Wood, Wire and Metal Lathers' Union.]
[Footnote 103: Originally, the Granite Cutters paid a disability benefit
of five hundred dollars. By 1878 the amount of the disability benefit
had been made variable, being raised by an assessment of fifty cents on
each member of the Union. About 1884 the disability benefit was
abandoned.]
Nearly all the unions thus combining death and disability benefits grade
the disability benefit. They usually also differentiate the two benefits
either in the amount paid or in the period of membership required for
eligibility to the benefit. The Iron Molders, the Cigar Makers and the
Painters pay the same sums in case of disability as of death.[104] The
other unions, with one exception, provide for a greater maximum benefit
in case of disability. The period of good standing required to draw a
particular sum is usually greater in the case of the disability benefit
than in the case of the death benefit. The provisions of the Brotherhood
of Carpenters are fairly typical.[105] After six months' good standing
members become eligible to a death benefit of one hundred dollars, but
they are not eligible to a disability benefit until they have been in
membership twelve months. The maximum death benefit is two hundred
dollars, while the maximum disability benefit is four hundred dollars.
The maximum death benefit is paid on the death of members in good
standing for one year, while to be eligible to the maximum disability
benefit requires a membership of five years.[106]
[Footnote 104: The Cigar Makers retain fifty dollars until the death of
the member.]
[Footnote 105: The Carpenter, Vol. 2, No. 8, p. 5; Vol. 4, August,
1884.]
[Footnote 106: Constitution of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and
Joiners of America, 1888 (n.p., n.d.), p. 10; Constitution, 1905
(Milwaukee, n.d.), p. 18.]
The following table shows the amounts of the death and disability
benefits in the more important unions, as originally established and as
paid in 1905:
AMOUNT OF DEATH AND DISABILITY BENEFIT.
===========================================================================
|Amount Paid Originally. | Amount Paid in 1905.
Name of Union.|------------------------------------------------------------
|Death. |Disability. | Death. |Disability.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iron Molders. |Yield of a | Yield of a |$100 for 1 yr. |$100 for 1 yr.
|40c. per | 40c. per | 150 for 5 yrs.| 150 for 5 yrs.
|capita | capita | 175 for 10 yrs| 175 for 10 yrs.
|assessment. |assessment. | 200 for 15 yrs| 200 for 15 yrs.
| | | |
Carpenters, |$250 for 6 |$100 for 6 mo.|$100 for 6 mo. |$100 for 1 yr.
Brotherhood |mo. | mo. | 200 for 1 yr. | 200 for 2 yrs.
of. | | | | 300 for 3 yrs.
| | | | 400 for 5 yrs
| | | |
Painters |$50 for 6 mo.| $50 for 6 |$100 for 1 yr. |$100 for 1 yr.
|mo. | mo. | |
|100 for 1 yr.|$100 for 1 yr.| 150 for 2 yrs.| 150 for 2 yrs.
| | | |
Wood Workers. |$60 for 1 yr.|$100 for 1 |$ 50 for 6 mo. |$150 for 1 yr.
| |yr. | 75 for 18 mo.| 200 for 2 yrs.
| | | 100 for 3 yrs.| 250 for 3 yrs.
| | | |
Metal Workers.|$75 for 1 yr.|$500 for 5 |$75 for 1 yr. |$500 for 5 yrs.
| |yrs. | |
| | | |
Glass Workers.|$50 for 6 mo.|$150 for 1 yr.|$150 for 1 yr. |$ 75 for 1 yr.
|100 for 1 yr.| | 175 for 2 yrs.| 100 for 2 yrs.
| | | |
Boot and Shoe |$50 for 6 mo.| | $50 for 6 mo. |$100 for 2 yrs.
Workers. |100 for 2 yrs| | 100 for 2 yrs.|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The ratio of disability benefits paid to death benefits paid varies in
the different unions according to the definition of disability adopted.
The Iron Molders' Union, which took the initiative in adopting a
national disability benefit, undertook to pay benefits to all disabled
members, with two exceptions. First, the disability must not have been
caused by dissipation, and secondly, the member must not have been
disabled before joining the Association.[107] The Granite Cutters'
Union, however, when establishing their voluntary insurance association
in 1877, limited the benefit to members disabled for life by any real
accident suffered while following employment as a granite cutter.[108]
The two benefits were unlike in that the Iron Molders paid the benefit
no matter how the disability had been incurred, while the Granite
Cutters paid only when the disability resulted from a trade accident.
[Footnote 107: Constitution of the Iron Molders' Union of North America,
1878 (Cincinnati, 1878), p. 51.]
[Footnote 108: Constitution of the Granite Cutters' International
Association of America, 1877 (Rockland, 1877), p. 27.]
Some of the unions now paying the disability benefit, as for example the
Boot and Shoe Workers, have followed the policy of the Iron Molders in
paying the benefit in all cases of disability; while others, for example
the Brotherhood of Carpenters, pay only where the disability is incurred
"while working at the trade." Under this system, in the case of the Iron
Molders, the claims for disability were so numerous that in 1882 the
term "permanent disability" was defined to mean "total blindness, the
loss of an arm or leg, or both," and since 1890 also paralysis.[109]
Similarly in 1880 the Granite Cutters defined more exactly what
constituted total disability.[110]
[Footnote 109: Constitution, 1882 (Cincinnati, 1882), Art. 17; Iron
Molders' Journal, Vol. 16, June and August, 1880; Constitution, 1890
(Cincinnati, 1890); Constitution, 1902 (Cincinnati, 1902), p. 40.]
[Footnote 110: Constitution, 1880 (Maplewood, 1880), p. 18.]
The younger unions have usually adopted the later revised definition of
the term "permanent or total disability," with such modifications as are
made necessary by the peculiar nature of the trade. The system of the
Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, adopted in 1886, and still in
force, defines permanent disability as "total blindness, the loss of an
arm or leg, or both, the total disability of a limb, the loss of four
fingers on one hand, or being afflicted with any physical disability
resulting from sudden accident."[111] The Amalgamated Glass Workers as
late as 1900 had made no attempt to give definite limits to the term
"total disability," but in 1903 they adopted the definition of the
Carpenters and extended it to include disability resulting from
paralysis.[112] The Amalgamated Wood Workers, however, still provide
simply that to receive the benefit members shall be disabled from
following the trade.[113]
[Footnote 111: Constitution, 1886 (n.p., n.d.), p. 11; Constitution,
1905 (Milwaukee, n.d.), p. 19.]
[Footnote 112: Constitution, 1900 (Chicago, n.d.), p. 23; Constitution,
1903, p. 11.]
[Footnote 113: Constitution of the Amalgamated Wood-Workers'
International Union of America, 1905 (Chicago, n.d.), p. 42.]
The definitions adopted by the unions are intended as guides for and
restrictions upon the administrative officials, but in all cases the
latter are given considerable latitude. The cost of the benefit,
therefore, depends largely upon the strictness with which the officials
construe the rules. In those unions where the injuries entitling to a
benefit are not specifically defined, the officers have great
discretionary power. Indeed, even if they have the best intention, it is
in many trades often impossible to obtain positive evidence as to the
totality or permanency of the disability. For example, the Brotherhood
of Painters find it almost impossible to pass intelligently upon claims
for disability resulting from lead poisoning.
The table on page 63 shows the sums paid for death and disability claims
in certain unions for which statistics are procurable.
The addition of a disability benefit to the death benefit as appears
from the table does not add greatly to the cost of maintaining the
benefit. In general, the amount paid for disability ranges from five to
ten per cent. of the total paid for both benefits. The cost of the
benefits is somewhat increased also by the loss of dues from the time of
the disability to the death of the insured.
SUMS PAID FOR DEATH AND DISABILITY BENEFITS.
=====================================================================
| |Sum of Benefits Paid. |Percentage of Benefits
| | | Paid.
| |----------------------------------------------
Union. | Year. | Death. |Disability.| Death. |Disability
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Brotherhood | | | | |
of |1894-1896|$ 58,527.10|$10,500.00 | 85 | 15
Carpenters |1896-1898| 59,108.44| 11,100.00 | 85 | 15
|1900-1902| 159,249.98| 7,900.00 | 95.3 | 4.7
|1902-1904| 243,218.25| 16,700.00 | 93.6 | 6.4
|1904-1906| 306,295.44| 28,250.00 | 91.6 | 8.4
| | | | |
Painters |1889-1890| 2,894.00| 250.00 | 92.1 | 7.9
|1890-1892| 6,900.00| 750.00 | 90.2 | 9.8
|1892-1894| 10,548.00| 1,475.00 | 87.8 | 12.2
|1898-1899| 7,150.00| 600.00 | 92.2 | 7.8
|1902-1003| 30,307.00| 3,050.00 | 90.9 | 9.1
|1903-1904| 37,711.25| 1,850.00 | 95.4 | 4.6
|1904-1905| 43,855.50| 4,250.00 | 91.2 | 8.8
| | | | |
Wood |1900 | 2,850.00| 250.00 | 92 | 8
Workers. |1901 | 4,200.00| 250.00 | 94.4 | 5.6
|1903 | 5,775.00| 500.00 | 90.6 | 9.4
|1904 | 7,574.00| 750.00 | 91.1 | 8.9
| | | | |
Iron |1890-1895| 56,172.00| 2,400.00 | 96 | 4
Molders. |1895-1899| 36,899.00| 3,600.00 | 91.2 | 8.8
|1899-1902| 67,414.38| 2,600.00 | 96.3 | 3.7
|1902-1907| 259,554.86| 19,600.00 | 93 | 7
---------------------------------------------------------------------
An increasing number of unions pay a wife's death benefit as well as the
regular death benefit. This form is of comparatively recent adoption
and its success has not yet been thoroughly demonstrated. Nine American
unions were reported to be paying this benefit in September, 1903, and
eleven in September, 1904.[114] The following is a list of the unions
reported as paying the benefit in 1904: Bakers and Confectioners,
Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, Cigar Makers, Compressed Air
Workers, Lace Curtain Operatives, Freight Handlers, Painters, Paving
Cutters, Photo-Engravers, Cotton Mule Spinners, Tailors.
[Footnote 114: Proceedings of the Twenty-third Convention, American
Federation of Labor, 1903 (Washington, 1903), p. 41; Proceedings of the
Twenty-fourth Convention, American Federation of Labor, 1904
(Washington, 1904), p. 46.]
The Deutsch-Amerikanischen Typographia took the initiative in the
adoption of this benefit at the New York Convention in May, 1884,[115]
and was immediately followed in the same year by the Brotherhood of
Carpenters and Joiners[116] and in 1887 by the Painters[117] and the
Cigar Makers.[118] For the year ending September 30, 1904, the
Carpenters, the Painters, and the Cigar Makers paid more than 92 per
cent. of the whole sum expended by the eleven unions that have adopted
this benefit.
[Footnote 115: American Federationist, Vol. 2, No. 4, p. 61.]
[Footnote 116: The Carpenter, Vol. 4, August, 1884.]
[Footnote 117: The Painter, Vol. 1, April, 1887; Vol. 17, p. 529.]
[Footnote 118: Constitution of the Cigar Makers' International Union of
America, 1887 (Buffalo, 1888), Art. 10.]
The wife's death benefit is designed to defray the cost of burial. It
is, therefore, small in amount, not exceeding fifty dollars in any of
the unions in which it is important. The following table gives the
minimum amounts of the wife's funeral benefit paid under the original
and under the present rules in the five unions in which the benefit is
of importance. The term of membership required for participation in the
benefit is also shown.
MINIMUM AMOUNT OF WIFE'S DEATH BENEFIT.
=====================================================================
| Originally. | In 1905.
|------------------------------------------------------
Name of Union.|Amount.|Required Period of| Amount.|Required Period of
| | Membership. | | Membership.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Bakers........| $50 | 6 mo. | $50 | 6 mo.
Carpenters....| 50 | 6 mo. | 25 | 6 mo.
Cigar Makers..| 40 | 2 yr. | 40 | 2 yr.
Painters......| 25 | 6 mo. | 50 | 1 yr.
Typographia...| 25 | 1 yr. | 50 | none
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The wife's death benefit is not graded except in the case of the
Carpenters, where the minimum benefit is twenty-five dollars for six
months' and fifty dollars for one year's membership. The minimum given
in the above table is in all other cases also the maximum.
The success of the wife's death or funeral benefit is not beyond
controversy. The Tailors, who began to pay the benefit in 1889,
abandoned it in 1898. The benefit was at first seventy-five dollars
after three months' membership, but it was remodelled until in 1896 it
became a graded benefit ranging from twenty-five dollars to fifty
dollars according to the length of membership. The chief objection to
the benefit was that unmarried members were taxed to support the benefit
although they did not participate in the advantages. In 1898 Secretary
Lennon declared that the benefit "was based on real injustice, giving
one member more benefits for the same dues paid than to another."[119]
In other unions which maintain the benefit this objection has been met
to some extent, as in the Cigar Makers, by paying the benefit on the
death of the widowed mother of an unmarried member provided she was
solely dependent upon him for support. Provision is usually made that no
member shall receive the wife's funeral benefit more than once. This
rule is intended partly to prevent fraud but chiefly to meet the
complaint that the benefit confers unequal advantages.
[Footnote 119: The Tailor, Vol. 8, No. 1, p. 16.]
The unions which have adopted the benefit have all experienced
difficulty in safeguarding it against fraudulent claims. They usually
require, for eligibility to the benefit, that the wife be not in ill
health at the time the member is admitted to the union. In the unions
which have had the benefit longest in operation it has been found
possible materially to lessen the number of claims for the wife's
benefit after some experience in its operation.
The following table shows the percentage of claims paid by the Painters
for wife's and member's death benefits for a series of biennial periods:
====================================
| Percentage | Percentage
| of Wife's | of Member's
Year. | Death | Death
| Benefits. | Benefits.
------------------------------------
1889-1890 | 49.1 | 50.9
1890-1892 | 43.5 | 56.5
1892-1894 | 45 | 55
1894-1896 | 37.5 | 62.5
1896-1900 | 35.3 | 64.7
1900-1902 | 32.5 | 67.5
1902-1904 | 32.6 | 67.4
------------------------------------
It will be observed that the ratio of the number of wife's funeral
benefits to the number of member's funeral benefits has steadily fallen
for a considerable number of years. The experience of the Painters is
probably typical, although the number of claims of each kind is not
ascertainable in the other unions.
The combination of the wife's funeral benefit with the death benefit
causes a material addition in the cost of the death benefit. This
increase is greatest in those unions in which the wife's benefit is
relatively large in amount. The following table shows the sums paid for
member's and wife's death benefits in three of the more important
unions:
SUMS PAID FOR WIFE'S AND MEMBER'S DEATH BENEFITS.
======================================================================
| |Wife's Death Benefit.|Member's Death Benefit.
| |---------------------------------------------
| | |Percentage| |Percentage
Union. | Year. | |of Whole | |of Whole
| |Expended. |Sum | Expended. |Sum
| | |Expended | |Expended
| | |for Death | |for Death
| | |Benefits. | |Benefits.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Painters |1888-1889|$ 650.00| | |
|1889-1890| 1,075.00| 26.8 |$ 2,894.00| 73.2
|1890-1892| 2,075.00| 23.1 | 6,000.00| 76.9
|1892-1894| 3,912.00| 27.7 | 10,548.00| 72.3
|1894-1896| 550.00| 19.1 | 2,319.00| 80.9
|1896-1900| 2,025.00| 18.3 | 8,996.25| 81.7
|1902-1903| 6,050.00| 16.3 | 30,307.00| 83.7
|1903-1904| 9,700.00| 20.4 | 37,711.25| 79.6
|1904-1905| 10,025.00| 18.6 | 43,855.50| 81.4
Brotherhood | | | | |
of Carpenters |1890-1892| 23,650.00| 20.1 | 93,696.00| 79.9
|1892-1894| 17,750.00| 14.2 | 106,906.95| 85.8
|1894-1896| 13,525.00| 18.7 | 58,527.10| 81.3
|1896-1898| 6,725.00| 10.2 | 59,108.44| 89.8
|1900-1902| 29,545.00| 15.6 | 159,249.98| 84.4
|1902-1904| 46,892.60| 16.1 | 243,218.25| 83.9
|1904-1906| 45,525.00| 12.9 | 306,294.44| 87.1
| | | | |
Tailors |1890-1893| 17,075.00| 32.2 | 35,880.00| 67.8
| 1894 | 3,600.00| 29.5 | 8,591.00| 70.5
| 1895 | 2,435.00| 23.6 | 7,853.50| 76.4
| 1896 | 1,674.70| 25.9 | 4,774.95| 74.1
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From this table it appears that the expenditures on account of the
wife's funeral benefit in these unions range from twelve to twenty-five
per cent. of the total sum spent for death benefits. In the Cigar
Makers' Union and the Typographia it is probably still less.
The cost of the wife's funeral benefit to each member cannot be
determined for all the organizations. In some, even of the older unions,
as the Typographia and the Cigar Makers, separate reports of the cost of
the wife's funeral benefit are not made, and the reports only of the
Carpenters and the Tailors are capable of analysis.
TOTAL AND PER CAPITA COST OF THE WIFE'S FUNERAL BENEFIT.
================================================================
| | | Total | Annual Cost
| |Member-| Expenditure | per Member
Union. | Year. |ship | for Wife's | of Wife's
| | | Funeral | Funeral
| | | Benefit. | Benefit.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Brotherhood |1894-1896 | 29,500| $13,525.00| $ .23
of Carpenters |1896-1898 | 30,600| 6,725.00| .11
|1898-1900 | 50,000| |
|1900-1902 |106,800| 29,540.00| .13
|1902-1904 |141,800| 46,892.60| .16
|1904-1906 |165,700| 45,525.00| .13
| | | |
|Jan. 1-July 1,| | |
Tailors | 1890-1891 | 3,760| 4,925.00| .86-2/3
|July 1-Jan. 1,| | |
| 1891-1894 | 7,560| 12,150.00| .64
| 1894 | 8,200| 3,600.00| .44
| 1895 | 8,600| 2,435.00| .28
| 1896 | 9,600| 1,674.70| .17
|To July 1, | | |
| 1897 | 10,500| 499.00| .10
----------------------------------------------------------------
In both unions the per capita cost of the benefit was relatively high at
the outset, chiefly on account of the larger size of the benefit, but
partly on account of the laxity of the rules governing its
administration. In the Carpenters the wife's funeral benefit of
twenty-five dollars and fifty dollars to members in good standing for
six months and one year, respectively, costs each member about fifteen
cents annually. The cost of the seventy-five dollar wife's funeral
benefit in the Tailors' Union ran in the first year as high as
eighty-six and two thirds cents. At the time the benefit was abolished
the amount paid was practically the same as that now paid by the
Carpenters and the per capita cost had fallen to about seventeen cents
in 1896. It may fairly be concluded that a wife's funeral benefit of
twenty-five dollars will cost each member of the union about fifteen
cents annually.
The consideration of the cost of the death benefit has been deferred
until an examination of the cost of the disability benefit and of the
wife's funeral benefit had been made, since the member's death benefit,
the disability benefit and the wife's funeral benefit are regarded in
the unions with the most highly developed systems as parts of a single
benefit. In only a few unions are the payments for these several
purposes separated. The unions thus differ so widely in the character of
the death benefit paid that it is impossible to institute any comparison
as to the relative expense of maintaining the benefit. Some of the
systems combine death and disability benefits, some group the death and
disability benefits, some pay a wife's funeral benefit while others do
not. It will be possible to describe certain typical systems and to
indicate the cost of the benefit in the particular system and certain
general differences.
The death benefit of the International Typographical Union may be
regarded as the simplest type. The greater number of the death benefit
systems found in American trade unions are of this general character.
The union pays a benefit on the death of any member in good standing. It
pays no wife's funeral benefit nor any disability benefit. The benefit,
when established in 1892, was fixed at sixty dollars, and has since been
raised to seventy dollars in 1906. The annual per capita cost of the
benefit has never exceeded eighty-four and has averaged less than eighty
cents. This extremely low rate has been due to the large number of
lapses. The beneficiary system of the union has not been highly
developed and members of the union quitting the trade drop their
membership. There is no sort of provision whereby members may retain
their beneficiary rights on the payment of less than full dues. Only a
small part of the dues are devoted to beneficiary purposes. The net
result in such systems is that the members of the union get insurance at
a low rate at the expense of those leaving the trade.
A second type is that of the Brotherhood of Carpenters. In their system,
death and disability benefits are combined and a benefit is paid on the
death of a member's wife. The benefits are graded but the maximum
amounts are not large. The following table shows the system as a whole:
BENEFICIARY SYSTEM OF THE BROTHERHOOD OF CARPENTERS.
=====================================================
Member's Death | Wife's Death |Disability
Benefit. | Benefit. |Benefit.
-----------------------------------------------------
$100 on 6 months'| $25 on 6 months'| $100 on 1 year's
membership. | membership. | membership.
| |
$200 on 1 year's | $50 on 1 year's | $200 on 2 years'
membership. | membership. | membership.
| |
| | $300 on 3 years'
| | membership.
| |
| | $400 on 4 years'
| | membership.
-----------------------------------------------------
The per capita cost of maintaining this system, adopted in 1882, has
varied greatly from year to year. In 1895 it was as high as $2.46, while
in 1900 it was as low as eighty-one cents. The explanation of this
variation lies in the changes in the number of members and consequent
changes in the age grouping. When the membership was at its lowest point
in 1895 those who retained their connection with the organization were
to a considerable extent the older members who were desirous of keeping
their insurance. The number of claims (death, wife's death and
disability) in 1895 was sixteen per one thousand of membership. In 1900
when the membership had doubled the number of claims per one thousand of
membership was thirteen and in 1906 it was nine. The average amount of a
claim in 1895 was $133, while in 1900 it was $105. In 1906 the average
amount of a claim was $125.
Two deductions may be made from these statistics. The Carpenters have
heretofore been unable to retain their membership in dull times. The
result has been that the death rate has been lower and the average
amount of the claims less than it otherwise would have been. The
increase in membership in prosperous times results also in decreasing
the average amount of the claims, since in such periods the mass of the
members have not been long enough in membership to entitle them to more
than the minimum benefits. The benefits furnished by the Carpenters and
other unions with similar systems of benefits are provided at less than
the cost would be in organizations with stable membership. The per
capita cost of $1.23 in 1906 is far below the actuarial cost.
The Typographia and the Cigar Makers are typical unions of the third and
final class. In these organizations there are highly developed
beneficiary systems. The members receive not only death benefits but
out-of-work and sick benefits. In both unions the membership is stable.
In the Typographia periods of depression and prosperity do not affect
the number of members. In the Cigar Makers the increase in members is
checked in hard times but no decrease is suffered. In such unions the
per capita cost of the death benefit is not lowered by lapses to any
appreciable extent.
The death benefit in the Typographia includes a member's death benefit
graded from sixty-five dollars to two hundred dollars, a wife's funeral
benefit of fifty dollars and a disability benefit varying according to
the age of the member. This combination of benefits costs to maintain on
the average about three dollars. The cost varies considerably from year
to year on account of the small number of members, and the consequent
lack of regularity in the death rate, but taking five-year periods, the
cost is stable.
In the Cigar Makers the cost of the death benefit is increasing. The
full effect of the grading of the benefit has not as yet shown itself in
the cost, since the influx of members recently has caused the rate to be
somewhat lower than it would have been. If the Cigar Makers hold their
membership and the increase slackens, it may be expected that by 1912
the cost of the benefit will be much higher than at present. In 1905, a
normal year, the death benefit, including a member's death benefit
graded from $200 to $550 (two to fifteen years), a wife's funeral
benefit of forty dollars and a disability benefit equal to the death
benefit cost the union the per capita rate of $3.56 to maintain. The
following table shows the per capita cost of the death benefit system in
several of the more important and typical systems:
PER CAPITA COST OF THE DEATH BENEFIT.
=========================================================================
Year.|Cigar |Typogra-|Carpen-| Typo- |Iron |Leather |Granite |Glass
|Makers.| phia. |ters. |graphical|Mold-|Workers |Cutters.|Bottle
| | | | Union. |ers. |on Horse| |Blowers.
| | | | | |Goods | |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
1882 | $0.15 | | | | | | |
1883 | .20 | | | | | | |
1884 | .33 | | | | | | |
1885 | .35 | $2.11 | | | | | |
1886 | .20 | 1.05 |$0.69 | | | | |
1887 | .43 | 1.94 | .66 | | | | |
1888 | 1.23 | 2.58 | .66 | | | | |
1889 | 1.06 | 1.85 | .90 | | | | |
1890 | 1.03 | 1.94 | .90 | | | | |
1891 | 1.51 | 2.23 | .99 | | | | $0.92 |
1892 | 1.60 | 1.60 | 1.38 | | | | 1.02 |
1893 | 1.74 | 2.20 | 1.38 |$0.73 | | | 1.37 |
1894 | 2.12 | 4.36 | 1.62 | .81 | | | 1.28 |
1895 | 2.27 | 3.51 | 2.46 | .78 |$0.44| | |
1896 | 2.69 | 2.36 | 1.62 | .78 | .44| | |
1897 | 2.44 | 4.23 | 1.77 | .84 | .44| | |
1898 | 3.30 | 2.63 | 1.80 | .80 | .44| | |$4.66
1899 | 3.13 | 1.27 | .99 | .83 | | $0.31 | |
1900 | 2.64 | 3.13 | .81 | .78 | .42| .11 | |
1901 | 3.67 | 4.09 | .90 | .72 | .54| .28 | 1.18 |
1902 | 3.11 | 3.58 | 1.10 | .80 | .57| .39 | 1.21 |
1903 | 3.14 | 3.25 | .92 | .72 | .60| .34 | 1.16 |
1904 | 3.24 | 2.26 | 1.18 | .84 | .64| .55 | 1.11 |
1905 | 3.56 | 4.09 | 1.30 | .84 | .72| .38 | 1.53 | 5.93
1906 | 4.08 | 2.71 | 1.23 | .79 | | | |
------------------------------------------------------------------------