III The Prevention and Adjustment of Industrial Disputes
1. Observance of laws, rides and regulations.
There shall be on the part of the company and its employees, a strict observance of the Federal and State laws respecting mining and labor and of the company’s rules and regulations supplementing the same.
2. Posting of wages and rules.
The scale of wages and the rules in regard to working conditions shall be posted in a conspicuous place at or near every mine.
3. No discrimination on account of membership or non-membership in labor or other organizations.
There shall be no discrimination by the company or by any of its employees on account of membership or non-membership in any society, fraternity or union.
4. The right to hire and discharge, and the management of the properties.
The right to hire and discharge, the management of the properties, and the direction of the working forces, shall be vested exclusively in the company, and, except as expressly restricted, this right shall not be abridged by anything contained herein.
5. Employees’ right to caution or suspension before discharge.
There shall be posted at each property a list of offenses for commission of which by an employee dismissal may result without notice. For other offenses, employees shall not be discharged without first having been notified that a repetition of the offense will be cause for dismissal. A copy of this notification shall, at the time of its being given to an employee, be sent also to the president’s industrial representative and retained by him for purposes of future reference. Nothing herein shall abridge the right of the company to relieve employees from duty because of lack of work. Where relief from duty through lack of work becomes necessary, men with families shall, all things being equal, be given preference.
6. Employees’ right to hold meetings.
Employees shall have the right to hold meetings at appropriate places on company property or elsewhere as they may desire outside of working hours or on idle days.
7. Employees’ right to purchase where they please.
Employees shall not be obliged to trade at the company stores, but shall be at perfect liberty to purchase goods wherever they may choose to do so.
8. Employees’ right to employ checkweighmen.
As provided by statute, miners have the right to employ checkweighmen, and the company shall grant the said checkweighmen every facility to enable them to render a correct account of all coal weighed.
9. Employees’ right of appeal to president of company against unfair conditions or treatment.
Subject to the provisions hereinafter mentioned, every employee shall have the right of ultimate appeal to the president of the company concerning any condition or treatment to which he may be subjected and which he may deem unfair.
10. Duty of president’s industrial representative.
It shall be the duty of the president’s industrial representative to respond promptly to any request from employees’ representatives for his presence at any of the camps and to visit all of them as often as possible, but not less frequently than once every three months, to confer with the employees or their representatives and the superintendents respecting working and living conditions, the observance of Federal and State laws, the carrying out of company regulations, and to report the result of such conferences to the president.
11. Complaints and grievances to be taken up first with foremen and superintendents.
Before presenting any grievance to the president, the president’s industrial representative, or other of the higher officers of the company, employees shall first seek to have differences or the conditions complained about adjusted by conference, in person or through their representatives, with the mine superintendent.
12. Investigation of grievances by president’s industrial representative.
Employees believing themselves to be subjected to unfair conditions or treatment and having failed to secure satisfactory adjustment of the same through the mine superintendent may present their grievances to the president’s industrial representative, either in person or through their regularly elected representatives, and it shall be the duty of the president’s industrial representative to look into the same immediately and seek to adjust the grievance.
13. The right of appeal to the superior officers of the company against unfair treatment, conditions, suspensions or dismissals.
Should the president’s industrial representative fail to satisfactorily conciliate any difference, with respect to any grievance, suspension or dismissal, the aggrieved employee, either himself or through his representative—and in either case in person or by letter—may appeal for the consideration and adjustment of his grievance to the division superintendent, assistant manager or manager, general manager or the president of the company, in consecutive order. To entitle an employee to the consideration of his appeal by any of the higher officers herein mentioned, the right to appeal must be exercised within a period of two weeks after the same has been referred to the president’s industrial representative without satisfactory redress.
14. Reference of differences in certain cases to Joint Committees on Industrial Coöperation and Conciliation.
Where the president’s industrial representative or one of the higher officials of the company fails to adjust a difference satisfactorily, upon request to the president by the employees’ representatives or upon the initiative of the president himself, the difference shall be referred to the Joint Committee on Industrial Coöperation and Conciliation of the district and the decision of the majority of such joint committee shall be binding upon all parties.
15. Representation on joint committees to be equal when considering adjustment of differences.
Whenever a Joint Committee on Industrial Coöperation and Conciliation is called upon to act with reference to any difference, except by the consent of all present the joint committee shall not proceed with any important part of its duties unless both sides are equally represented. Where agreeable, equal representation may be effected by the withdrawal of one or more members from the side of the joint committee having the majority.
16. Umpire to act with joint committees in certain cases.
Should the Joint Committee on Industrial Coöperation and Conciliation to which a difference may have been referred fail to reach a majority decision in respect thereto, if a majority of its members so agree, the joint committee may select as umpire a third person who shall sit in conference with the committee and whose decision shall be binding upon all parties.
17. Arbitration or investigation in certain cases.
In the event of the Joint Committee on Industrial Coöperation and Conciliation failing satisfactorily to adjust a difference by a majority decision or by agreement on the selection of an umpire, as aforementioned, within ten days of a report to the president of the failure of the joint committee to adjust the difference, if the parties so agree, the matter shall be referred to arbitration, otherwise it shall be made the subject of investigation by the State of Colorado Industrial Commission, in accordance with the provisions of the statute regulating the powers of the commission in this particular. Where a difference is referred to arbitration, one person shall be selected as arbitrator if the parties can agree upon his selection. Otherwise there shall be a board of three arbitrators, one to be selected by the employees’ representatives on the Joint Committee of Industrial Coöperation and Conciliation in the district in which the dispute arises, one by the company’s representatives on this committee, and a third by the two arbitrators thus selected.
By consent of the members of the Joint Committee on Industrial Coöperation and Conciliation to which a difference has been referred, the Industrial Commission of the State of Colorado may be asked to appoint all of the arbitrators or itself arbitrate the difference. The decision of the sole arbitrator or of the majority of the Board of Arbitration or of the members of the State of Colorado Industrial Commission when acting as arbitrators, as the case may be, shall be final and shall be binding upon the parties.
18. Protection of employees’ representatives against discrimination.
To protect against the possibility of unjust treatment because of any action taken or to be taken by them on behalf of one or more of the company’s employees, any employees’ representative believing himself to be discriminated against for such a cause shall have the same right of appeal to the officers of the company or to the Joint Committee on Industrial Coöperation and Conciliation in his district as is accorded every other employee of the company. Having exercised this right in the consecutive order indicated without obtaining satisfaction, for thirty days thereafter he shall have the further right of appeal to the Industrial Commission of the State of Colorado, which body shall determine whether or not discrimination has been shown, and as respects any representative deemed by the Commission to have been unfairly dealt with, the company shall make such reparation as the State of Colorado Industrial Commission may deem just.