One of the troublesome questions which was considered by the arbitrators
was the one in relation to apprentices. On this question there was no
agreement by the joint committee, but Judge Tuley made the following
statement and recommendations, all of which met the approval of both
organizations:
A limitation upon the number of apprentices in a craft has always
existed either by legislative action or by custom of the craft, and
the number that should be taken must be affected to a large extent
by the general principles of the demand and supply of labor.
In France, in the seventeenth century, masters were limited to one
apprentice. In England, in the beginning of the eighteenth century,
apprentices became so numerous, and because of their numbers--when
they became workmen--were so unskilled, that some crafts were for a
time utterly ruined. Laws were passed from time to time limiting
the number of apprentices in the trades and crafts; some to two
apprentices, some to sons of master workmen and employes, and some
to the sons of persons who had a L3 annual rental.
It is a law of self-preservation to the craft, and also of equal
interest to the responsible Master Mason, that there should be some
limitation on the number of apprentices. If the number is
unlimited, unscrupulous contractors may secure a large number of
apprentices, and, with the help of a few journeymen, underbid all
contractors who employ journeymen skilled in their craft, and also
necessarily throw upon the journeymen large additions of unskilled
workmen, thereby making the supply of labor largely in excess of
the demand, and destroying the standard of the craft for good work.
It is not a question whether everybody shall have the right to
learn a trade, but whether the craft will teach every boy a trade,
to its own destruction.
It is a matter, however, that neither the journeymen nor the Master
Masons' organizations should arbitrarily undertake to decide. It is
a matter of joint interest, and should be decided from time to time
by the joint arbitration committee in such a manner that the number
of apprentices shall be sufficient to furnish the requisite number
of journeymen to supply the demand, and also so as to prevent an
abuse of the apprentice system and an injury to both employer and
employe by a too large number of apprentices being secured to do
work that should be done by the skilled journeymen.
Three years, by common consent, is the period fixed for
apprenticeship in these trades, and the Master Masons should be
allowed, and if necessary required, to take one new apprentice each
year.
The number of apprentices can be increased from time to time as the
interests of the crafts and their obligations to the youth of the
country should demand.
The apprentice should be allowed to join any organization of his
craft, but in all respects be subject to the laws of the state and
the contracts made in pursuance thereof.
The joint committee also agreed upon working rules, which were
established by being adopted by both organizations interested. They are
as follows:
SECTION 1. The minimum rate of wages shall be 40 cents per hour.
SEC. 2. Eight hours shall constitute a day's work throughout the
year, work to begin at 8 A. M. and end at 5 P. M., but the noon
hour may be curtailed by special agreement between the foreman and
the majority of the workmen, but not in such a way as to permit
more than eight hours' work between the hours named.
No member will be allowed to work overtime except in case of actual
necessity. For such overtime time and one-half shall be allowed.
SEC. 3. Eight hours shall constitute a night's work. Night work
shall not commence until 7 P. M., and shall be paid for at time and
a half. Sunday work shall be paid for at double time.
SEC 4. Any member of this Union working for a Mason Contractor
shall be paid every two weeks on Tuesday before 5 P. M.
_Resolved_, That all members of the United Order of American
Bricklayers and Stonemasons who have, from actual necessity, taken
up their work during the present strike, or lockout, and have
thereby violated any rule of said organization, shall be reinstated
within two weeks of the execution of the award of this arbitration
committee, and shall not be fined or suffer any penalty for said
violation of rules; and further
_Resolved_, That all members of the Chicago Master Masons' and
Builders' association who have, from actual necessity, started to
work with union men, and in opposition to a resolution of such
organization, shall not be fined or suffer any penalty for
infraction of the rules, and shall be considered in good standing.
The working rules were signed by the joint committee and the umpire.
The following amendments to the constitution of the two organizations
were adopted, fixing a permanent board of arbitration:
SECTION 1. This organization shall elect, at its annual meeting in
January, a standing committee of arbitration, consisting of five
members, to serve one year. The present standing committee shall
continue in office until the election of its successor, in January,
1888.
SEC. 2. The president shall be, ex-officio, one of said five
members. He shall be chairman of committee, and in his absence the
committee may designate one of its members to act in his place.
SEC. 3. Within one week after the election the president of the
United Order of American Bricklayers and Stonemasons shall certify
to the Chicago Master Masons' and Builders' association, and the
president of the Chicago Master Masons' and Builders' association
shall certify to the United Order of American Bricklayers and
Stonemasons, the fact that said committee has been regularly
elected, and give the names of members thereof.
SEC. 4. When notice of the selection of a committee of arbitration
by the other association shall be received, or as soon thereafter
as practicable, and within the month of January, the two committees
shall meet and proceed to organize themselves in a joint committee
of arbitration by electing an umpire, who is neither a working
mechanic nor an employer of mechanics. The umpire, when present,
shall preside at meetings of the joint committee, and have the
casting vote on all questions.
SEC. 5. Seven members, exclusive of the umpire, shall constitute a
quorum of the joint arbitration committee, and in case of the
absence of any member, the chairman of his committee shall cast the
vote for such absent members.
A majority vote shall decide all questions.
SEC. 6. The joint committee of arbitration shall have all evidence
in complaints and grievances of a member or members of one body
against a member or members of the other, or of one organization
against the other, referred to it by the president of either
association, and shall finally decide all questions submitted, and
shall certify by the umpire such decisions to the respective
organizations.
Work shall go on continuously, and all parties interested shall be
governed by award made, or decisions rendered, provided, however,
that work may be stopped by the joint order of the presidents of
the respective associations until the decision of the joint
committee is had.
SEC. 7. The joint committee shall have exclusive power to determine
and fix definitely from year to year all working rules. It shall
also have all exclusive authority to discuss and determine all
other subjects in which both organizations, or members of both
organizations, may be jointly interested and concerned, which may
be brought before the committee by either organization or the
president thereof.
SEC. 8. Working rules are rules governing employers and workmen at
work, such as the establishment of a minimum rate of wages to be
paid practical bricklayers and stonemasons per hour, and of a
uniform pay-day, to determine the number of hours to be worked per
day, the time of starting and quitting work, the remuneration to be
paid for work done overtime and Sundays, and other questions of
like nature.
SEC. 9. The subject of apprentices being a matter of joint
interest, and concern to both the union and the Master Masons' and
Builders' association, the joint committee shall have power to
decide from time to time the number of apprentices which master
masons may take in service. Until further action by said committee
all master masons shall be allowed a new apprentice each year, and
the term of apprenticeship shall be three years, but any minor
taken as apprentice shall be under 19 years of age. All apprentices
shall be allowed to join any organization of their craft, but to be
subject to the laws of this state and the contract of
apprenticeship made in pursuance of such laws.
SEC 10. This article having been agreed upon by the union of the
United Order of American Bricklayers and Stonemasons, and the
Master Masons' and Builders' association shall not be repealed or
amended by either organization except upon six months' previous
notice given to the other organization, and such notice shall not
be given until after all honest efforts to settle the grievance or
difficulty shall have been made.
In addition to the provisions for changing the constitutions of the two
organizations it was necessary for the Bricklayers' union to make a
number of changes in its constitution in relation to the walking
delegate, stewards, foremen, etc., but these could not be made at once,
as there was a provision in the constitution of the union by which it
could not be amended, except after two weeks' notice. This notice was
given, and the amendments were made at the proper time. In the meantime
the proposed changes were recognized and put into practice.
The Bricklayers' union and the Master Masons' association met and
ratified the action of the joint arbitration committee by unanimously
indorsing the award and all accompanying recommendations. This ended the
great strike and lockout.
In the settlement which was made the greatest accomplishment was the
securing of a standing committee on arbitration to adjust all grievances
before the employes are permitted to strike, or be locked out by the
employers. This is a hard blow to the agitators, whose thrift largely
depended upon their ability to create strife and contention between
capital and labor. The establishment of a joint council of employers and
workmen secures and protects free labor. Instead of the pernicious
strike, it was agreed that arbitration should be recognized as the first
move in the settlement of differences, and that it was the only true
solution of all misunderstandings. As nations never take up arms against
each other until they have exhausted the experiments of diplomacy, so
the workmen, or their leaders, were made to understand that arbitration
was the true course in the adjustment of differences between employer
and employe. Associations of employers, as well as associations of
employes, may well profit by the experience of the building trades in
Chicago. It was a hot struggle, which, after all, was brought to an end
by arbitration--an experiment which, however unsatisfactory to the
hot-heads, might as easily have been resorted to at the beginning.
The employer, and not the Walking Delegate of the union, was given
control over the employment of his own workmen. The declaration made at
the first meeting of the Master Masons' association, that "the Walking
Delegate must go," was put into force and effect by the award made. He
has walked his last walk, and his finger has snapped its last snap in
calling men off a job in Chicago. The tyrant's power was taken away. The
foreman was made the servant of the contractor, who pays his wages, and
is no longer the servant of the union, to which he pays taxes. The
rights of the employer were recognized and harmony was secured.