The out-of-work benefit, of prime importance among English trade unions, has made little headway in America either as a national or even as a local trade-union benefit. In 1905 the amount expended for out-of-work benefits could not well have exceeded eighty thousand dollars, and of this sum a considerable part was spent by the Amalgamated Carpenters, a British trade union with branches in the United States. Certainly less than one half of one per cent. of the expenditures of American national unions, and less than one per cent. of their expenditures for beneficiary purposes, is for out-of-work relief. In the one hundred principal English trade unions twenty-one per cent. of the total expenditure in the ten years from 1892 to 1901 was for out-of-work benefits. Of the sum spent by the same unions for benefits of all kinds (not including strike pay) about one third was for out-of-work benefits.[[155]]
Relief to the unemployed member has assumed in American unions three forms: (a) an out-of-work benefit of a fixed amount per week in money, (b) exemption of unemployed members from weekly or monthly dues, and (c) a loan or benefit sufficient to transport the unemployed member in search of employment. The first and second of these are ordinarily known as out-of-work benefits, while the third is known as a travelling benefit.
The unions that pay a money benefit are the Cigar Makers, the Typographia, the Coal Hoisting Engineers, and the Jewelry Workers.[[156]] The Cigar Makers' Union is still the only American trade union of considerable membership which maintains a system of out-of-work benefits under which unemployed members receive a weekly money benefit. On October 11, 1875, the New York branch of the Cigar Makers' Union formed an out-of-work benefit and became from that time the steady advocate of a national system. As early as 1876 the New York Union proposed a plan to the International Convention, modelled upon the system in operation in the local union, under which a member was entitled to receive aid for a term of three weeks, beginning with the second week of unemployment.[[157]] This proposal failed of adoption; but the International Convention agreed that sick members should have their cards receipted by the out-of-work seal. Proposals for the establishment of a money out-of-work benefit were made in 1877 and in 1879 at conventions of the Union. Although International President Hurst endorsed the idea in 1876 and recommended that it be placed before the local unions for consideration, the International Convention voted adversely. A substitute, proposed by Mr. Gompers, was adopted in 1879. This provided that every subordinate union should establish a labor bureau for the purpose of securing work for unemployed members.[[158]] The compromise was by no means satisfactory, and suggestions continued to be made for the establishment of a national out-of-work benefit.[[159]]
The Cigar Makers' present national system of out-of-work relief was adopted at the eighteenth session, held in New York City in September, 1889, and became operative in January, 1890. The measure as finally adopted by the International Convention was framed by Mr. Gompers. It provided that the unemployed members should receive three dollars per week and fifty cents for each additional day, that after receiving six weeks' aid the member should not be entitled to further assistance for seven weeks, and that no member should be granted more than seventy-two dollars during any one year. The original system has remained practically unchanged with the exception that in 1896 the annual allowance per member was reduced.
From the outset—the first benefit was paid on January 22, 1890[[160]] —this system has been successful in operation. The report of the international president to the nineteenth session, September, 1891, showed that 2286 members out of 24,624, or less than ten per cent. of the total membership, drew out-of-work benefits during the first year, to the amount of $22,760.50; while during the first six months of 1891, the second year of its operation, 1074 out of 24,221, or less than five per cent., received assistance to the amount of $13,214.50.[[161]] During 1892 the per capita cost of the benefit was 65-1/2 cents, as compared with 92 cents and 87 cents in 1890 and 1891, respectively. These years were immediately preceding the great industrial and financial depression of 1893-1897, and in consequence during the following years the per capita amount paid showed considerable increase. In 1894 the unemployed cost the Union $174,517.25, or $6.27 per capita of membership, and in 1896, $175,767.25, or $6.43 per capita.[[162]] Since 1897 the yearly amount paid has gradually decreased with the exception of 1901 and 1904. During sixteen years of operation, ending January 1, 1906, $1,045,866.11 has been paid to unemployed members.[[163]]
Even before the Cigar Makers, the Deutsch-Amerikanischen Typographia, the small union of the German American printers, had established an out-of-work benefit. The Typographia began to pay an out-of-work benefit in 1884, eleven years after the organization of the national union. The new preamble adopted at the first national convention in Philadelphia, 1873, declared one of the purposes of the union to be the support of members "when unable to obtain work."[[164]] In 1884, when the union nationalized its system of benefits, the out-of-work benefit was fixed at five dollars per week. In 1888, owing to the prosperous financial condition of the Union, it was increased to six dollars per week, but in July, 1894, because of the strain upon the funds of the organization caused by the introduction of typesetting machines and the general business depression, it was reduced to the original sum.[[165]]
The system in operation at present provides that members in good standing who have been on the unemployed list for eighteen days shall be entitled to six dollars per week. After drawing twenty-four dollars, no further benefit is granted until the member is on the unemployed list again for eighteen days, and no member is entitled to more than ninety-six dollars in any one fiscal year. Since 1888, with the exception of the fiscal years ending June 30, 1890, and June 30, 1891, the amount paid for out-of-work assistance has been the largest single item in the budget of the Union. During the year ending June 30, 1894, $17,262.50, or $14.33 per capita, an equivalent of forty-eight per cent. of the total disbursements for all benevolent purposes, was paid in out-of-work claims. The total amount paid up to June 30, 1906, was $145,826.91, and the average yearly per capita cost had been $5.99.[[166]]
Only two other American unions paid out-of-work benefits in 1906. Both of these are small unions and recently organized. The National Brotherhood of Coal Hoisting Engineers pay five dollars per week to members out of employment, after the first thirty days, until work is secured, or until the expiration of twelve weeks.[[167]] The Jewelry Workers provide for the payment of seven dollars per week to married men and five dollars to unmarried men.[[168]] Certain other unions, notably the Pattern Makers,[[169]] pay a "victimized" benefit to members who are unable to secure employment because they are members of the union. Such benefits are directly connected with collective bargaining, and any discussion thereof lies without the scope of this monograph.
The introduction of a national out-of-work benefit has been, however, much discussed in several important unions. These have been the International Typographical Union, the Brotherhood of Carpenters and the Boot and Shoe Workers' Union. The unemployment caused by the depression of 1892-1897 was responsible for much of the consideration given the matter.
In none of these unions has the subject been more fully debated than in the Typographical Union. In October, 1895, the New York local union adopted an out-of-work benefit, which provided for its unemployed members an allowance of four dollars per week for a period of eight weeks in each year.[[170]] Such activity on the part of the largest local union added considerable force to the movement for an International benefit. President Prescott in his report to the forty-second session of the International Union in 1894 recommended the establishment of an out-of-work benefit, in preference to a sick benefit. He showed that during 1894 several of the largest local unions had found it necessary to levy special assessments for the support of unemployed members. The amount of unemployment, especially in large cities, had increased rapidly. A large per cent. of the unemployed consisted of old men who were unable to compete with younger men in the operation of the linotype. The neglect of this class of men President Prescott characterized as criminal.[[171]] All agitation for the establishment of an out-of-work benefit has, however, up to the present time failed.[[172]]