The Closed Shop and the Open Shop.—The most hotly-debated question in the whole range of labor problems today concerns the policy of the open versus the closed shop. Shall all shops and factories be closed to those who are not members of the union? Shall non-union men be virtually required to join the union or be refused employment unless they do? Or shall shops and factories be open to all competent workers no matter whether they belong to the union or not? A closed shop, so-called, is a factory or other industrial plant in which none but members of a labor union are employed.[[183]] An open shop is one in which the employer makes no distinction between those who are members of the union and those who are not. The unions insist upon the closed shop as the only way of maintaining the effectiveness of their organizations and of upholding the principles of collective bargaining. They believe it to be impracticable to have union men and non-union men working efficiently, side by side, in the same establishment. Many employers, on the other hand, maintain the open shop because they believe it is essential to proper discipline and gives every workman an equal opportunity. They believe that it is the inalienable right of every American to work for whom he pleases, on such terms as he pleases, without the necessity of joining any organization. Hence they have adopted the habit of calling the open shop system the “American plan” of industrial organization. In those trades where practically all the workers have become unionized the controversy over the open or closed shop does not usually arise; it is chiefly in those trades where a substantial proportion of the workers are not organized.
The amicable settlement of labor disputes.
Conciliation and Arbitration.—The frequency of strikes and lockouts has been diminished in recent years by an increasing resort to the settlement of industrial disputes by conciliation and arbitration. By conciliation is meant the action of some public authority, usually a state board, in tendering its assistance to smooth out the difficulty and effect a settlement. This assistance both sides often accept, although they are under no obligation to do so. By arbitration is meant an agreement to submit the dispute to some one man or group of men, and to abide by whatever decision may be rendered. An arbitration board is commonly made up of three members, one chosen by the employers, one by the workers, and a third mutually agreed upon as neutral. Some states maintain official boards of arbitration to which industrial disputes may be referred at any time by consent of the disputants. Even in cases where they are not called upon to arbitrate disputes these boards usually have the right to investigate the questions at issue and to make known their findings for the information of the public.
Industrial courts.
Compulsory Arbitration—The Kansas Plan.—Although the compulsory arbitration of industrial disputes has existed for some years in a few other countries[[184]] it has not been looked upon with favor by labor leaders in the United States. These leaders feel that compulsory arbitration would take from the worker his most effective weapon—the right to strike at an opportune time. In 1919, however, the legislature of Kansas passed a law establishing in that state an Industrial Court, with judges appointed by the governor.[[185]] This court is empowered to fix rules, regulations, and practices for the operation of essential industries.[[186]] All industrial disputes, of whatever sort in these essential industries, must be submitted to it, and its decisions are binding upon employers and employees alike. If either side declines to accept the award, the state government is empowered to take over the industry and operate it until the controversy is settled. The Kansas law substitutes adjudication before a state tribunal for the usual method of redress by strikes and lockouts. It is based upon the doctrine that neither capital nor labor has the right to carry on industrial warfare at the expense of the public and that essential industries must be kept in operation because the whole community depends on them. The law has been held to be constitutional, but it is still bitterly opposed by the leaders of organized labor.
Are the laws unfriendly to labor?
Labor and the Law.—It is often alleged that the laws of the land are largely on the side of the employer. This may have been true of the common law which grew up in the days of hand-industry, but the statutes passed by Congress and by the state legislatures during recent years have done a great deal to ensure the just and humane treatment of the American worker. These laws have been concerned with such matters as the prevention of industrial accidents and the establishment of workmen’s compensation, the limitation of the hours of labor for women, the prohibition of child labor, and the establishment of minimum wages in certain industries. In addition the laws have made provision for proper sanitary conditions in shops and factories, and have eliminated many of the abuses which grew up in the earlier days of the factory system. The general tendency of American legislation during the past twenty-five years has been in the direction of protecting the workman in all cases where he cannot be counted upon to protect himself.
The old plan of dealing with injured workmen.
Industrial Accidents and Employers’ Liability.—The use of high-powered and complicated machinery in modern times has greatly increased the danger of accident to the workers. By the terms of the common law an employer was obliged to grant compensation to any workman who met with an accident because of defects in the machinery or because of any other negligence on the employer’s part. But he was not obliged to grant compensation when the accident was due to the employee’s own negligence or to the negligence of a fellow-employee. In any event the only way in which an injured workman could get compensation, in case the employer declined to give it, was by bringing a suit in the courts, an expensive and uncertain method. This meant that large numbers of the workers who were disabled every year by accidents were left without any means of support for themselves and their families. It availed very little to say that they were themselves to blame for their plight, or that some fellow-employee was to blame. Placing the blame did not save the worker or his family from starvation. A great amount of hardship and suffering was caused in past generations by putting so much of the burden upon the hapless employee.
Why we have changed it.