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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (June 14, 1917)
i mi il in II n t iiiw imiiii inminiiwiwinimiiiMii mwmmi THE BEE: OMAHA, 'THURSDAY, JUNE 14. 1917. P" or "CLOSED SHOP"? Which Shall It. Be? OPEN SHO The real issue in Omaha's present labor strike is: . Shall Omaha remain an "open shop" town Or shall it become in every trade a "closed shop" town? What is the "closed shop?" As defined by the official organ of the Bridge and Structural Iron Workers' Union: '" 'Closed shop' is the term for a shop, factory, store or other industrial place where workmen cannot obtain employment without being members, in good standing, of the labor union of their trade." What is the "open shop?" The open shop is the term for a shop, factory, store or other industrial place where work men are free to secure employment, regardless of member ship or non-membership in a labor union, with character and efficiency as the sole tests. TREND OF TIMES AGAINST "CLOSED SHOP" The tendency of American cities today is for the "open shop." Many cities have made or are making the fight for freedom from "closed shop" rule Boston, Buf falo, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit, Duluth, Min neapolis, Des Moines and others. Only a few of the larger cities are still under the control of "closed shop" union ism and these are restive under the yoke. - I Omaha is not a "closed shop" city. The unions are trying. to make it sofThe question is Shall the "open shop" stay? Effects of "Closed Shop" The cities which are standing firm for the "open shop" are doing so because they have found that the "closed shop" is bad for the city, bad for employers and employes alike, bad for all the citizens. The "closed shop" brings lower standards of work manship and reduced efficiency. It gives poor workmen the pay of good workmen and denies to good men the premium of their efficiency. The "closed shop" denies to young men the oppor tunity to learn a trade by restricting the number of ap prentices. In San Francisco some unions forbid appren tices except sons of journeymen in that trade. Unions Quarrel Public Pays "Closed shop" conditions in a city produces' the sympathetic strike, because union leaders, arrogant withN the power of being able to completely tie up a city through calling out a combined strength of their unions, use their power to enforce extravagant demands of in dividual unions. "Closed shop" leaders in New York City last year threatened to "pull out" every union workman in the city in sympathy with striking street car men. The "closed shop" unions, with a strength that fears neither employers nor public, quarrel among themselves and engage in "jurisdictional strikes" disputes entirely among themselves as to what work each shall do, the burdens Of which the employer and the pubnfmust bear. The "closed shop" gives such power to a few lead ers "walking delegates" and "business agents" that its misuse for graft and extot-tion is easy and frequent. Cities Lag Under Burden Pittsburgh is a "closed shop" city, a "good union town.Tt is likewise a hotbed of "jurisdictional strike." The unions, having conquered the employers, fight among themselves for power and control, each union seeking to extend its jurisdiction over as much work as possible. One such fight last year, between the Plasterers' Union and the Lathers' Union, over which union should have the doing of certain work became so bitter that union plas terers refused to work at all with union lathers and work was tied up by the strikes of these unions for three months. In Pittsburgh 1 last year the Hoisting Engineers' Union and the -Electrical Workers' Union fought and struck over which craft should run electric motor generators. The Carpenters' Union and the Sheet Metal Workers' Union foughf" and struck as to who should set "metal trim." The Sheet Metal Workers' Union and the Steam Fitters' Union fought and struck over who should install fans and air washers. The Carpenters' Union and the Structural IronWorkers' Union fought and struck over the putting up' of steel sashes and doors. While these crafts fought and struck, other crafts were forced out of work by the paralysis of the building industry and the employers' hands were tied. Work could not be done. Not because the wages were not high enough not because the employers were not treating their men satisfactorily, but because the unions could not agree among themselves. And, having the "closed shop," the unions had the power to make employers and public wait while they struck and fought it out. Frisco- Seeks Freedom San Francisco has been known for years as "the greatest closed shop town" in America. Limitations of out put and apprenticeships went the limit there. Industry was crippled. Factories could not compete with those of other cities not because wages were much higher, but because the "closed shop" restrictions kept workmen from doing a day's work for a day's pay. So seriously did these restrictions stiffle industry that in five years the number of factories dropped from 2,250 to 1,796; the number of wage earners slumped. 26 Vi per cent. The climax came last year. The Longsh.oresmen's Union struck in violation of a solemn contract made six months before, which had been approved and signed by a representative of "The United States Department of' Labor. The Secretary of Labor in President Wilson's cabinet, himself a strong union labor man, sent a strong appeal in favor of "keeping faith" on that contract. The union refused and its members quit work. "Permit" for Uncle Sam There followed six weeks of assaults and other vio lence. The United States Treasury had to get a permit from the union to haul government property through the public streets. This was typical of what San Francisco had experi enced for years. The limit had come and San Francisco . rebelled against "closed shop" lordism. A Law and Order League was formed and today the fight is on for the "open shop." This is not merely a fight of v employers. A great mass meeting of 6,000 citizens indorsed the "open shop," The people of the whole city are back of it. So thoroughly are they aroused against "closed shop" inef ficiency, intimidation and violence that an ordinance for bidding picketing which had produced so much vio lence in San Francisco was approved by the people at a referendum vote. Chicago Graft Cases Chicago is one of the most notable "closed shop" cities in the country. And in the last year Chicago courts, have been busy with cases wherein labor leaders have been tried and convicted for extortion and conspiracy in the misuse of the power given them by "closed shop" conditions. One such case last year resulted in the conviction of fourteen uVion leaders on charges of conspiracy to , destroy property and extort bribe money. The conviction resulted from testimony telling of the smashing of big plate glass windows by these men or their aids. Then, be fore the windows could be reset the building owner had to pay tribute to the union labor leaders. In the famous "switch-board" case, where defend ants were convicted in a federal court this spring, it was alleged that the labor union leaders involved, in eight years, extorted $300,000 from contractors, building own ers and manufacturers. A certified copy of the conviction in this case of one of the labor leaders since imported to Omaha and still here is on file in the Douglas county district court. y In still another case, now under investigation, war between two rival ujiions of motion picture machine operators has, according to the Chicago papers, endan gered the lives of thousands of citizens as a means to ex tort more 4han a half million dollars. In this war theaters and apartment buildings have been dynamited, theater 1 audiences imperiled by gas bombs,Nand, according to a statement by the state's attorney's office, three victims of this labor extortion gang are dead murdered by agents of the blackmailers to silence their tongues, be cause they refused subsequent blackmail demands. Detroit and Los Angeles Contrast with these conditions the development of Detroit, the industrial marvel of the day. It has been ac complished under "open shop" conditions," which exist" in every trade and craft Industries have flocked to De troit to prosper under the advantage of its freedom. Workmen are glad of a chance to work in the free and open shops of that city. Contrast, too, Los Angeles, where the "open shop" has been maintained by a hard fight and which has pass ed San Francisco as an industrial city. Up to the Citizens off Omaha This issue of "closed shop", against "open shop" is the real issue in Omaha today. The Dezettel campaign, continued now by others, is to .make Omaha a "closed union town." That meant a town of sympathetic strikes, a town of "jurisdictional strikes," where "the public pays while the unions quar rel among themselves," a town where the opportunity of young men to learn a trade is restricted, a town where a premium is put upon "slackers" and there is no reward for efficiency. "MUST GO TO THE UNION" That is the issue in Omaha today. Mr. T. P. Rey nolds, president of the Omaha Central Labor Union, is quoted in the World-Herald Tuesday: "The employers, must learn that when they want a man in the building trades they must GO TO THE UNION TO GET HIM." That is the issue, direct and plain. Under the "open shop" a man's own character and ability are the qual ifications that land him a job. Under the "closed shop," such as Mr. Reynolds proposes, his standing in the union is what gets him work. Do you, citizens of Omaha, with the welfare of yourself and your city at heart, want the employers of Omaha to surrender to an aggressive demand for the "closed shop?" . V Business Men's Association of Omaha c
