MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 43 



certain miinber of square feet of llooriug may be laid in an liour 

 and not more than twenty doors may be hung in a day. The many 

 tasks in carpentry are well recognized and the time for the per- 

 formance of each well understood. If the journeymen do more than 

 customary they are brauded as speeders or rushers and if they do 

 less the employers discharge them. To strike a happy medium be- 

 tween these two extremes is often ditlicult. A journeyman com- 

 plained at being discharged who had been working on concrete 

 forms, on the ground that he was inefficient. The trouble was found 

 to be due to a conflict in his ordei*s from the foreman and the blue 

 prints, ^^'hatever the cause he lost his job because lie would not 

 work faster after he found the mistake in order to counteract the 

 time lost. 



The second sub-division of the definition of principles is methods. 

 Unions are variously characterized as revolutionary, predatory, up- 

 lift, and business types, as their methods are radical, vicious, altru- 

 istic, or selfish. The selfish end of the business types are gained 

 through the development of contracts, hence those types are called 

 business unions. That the carpenters' union is a business union is 

 evidenced by their conservative methods of collective bargaining, 

 arbitration, and the union shop. The administration of these meth- 

 ods are carefully provided for in the joint agreement with the em- 

 ployers. Thus when controversies arise between employee and em- 

 jdoyer they can be settled or adjusted through discussion and in- 

 terpretation of the agreement, which in the language of business is 

 a contract. 



The first of the methods which characterize unions as business 



* 



unions is that of collective bargaining. It is through collective 

 bargaining that the highly organized associations of the employers 

 meet and treat with the equally highly organized unions of the 

 employees. Each side employ able men to represent them in the 

 negotiations. Under such conditions the joint agreement is drawn 

 up and decided upon. Each organization is managed by experts 

 just as a business is managed by men specially trained to fill the 

 respective positions. Essentially, therefore, collective bargaining is 

 bargaining by a few officials who represent the masses. These offi- 

 cials are "hired-men" and hold their jobs by getting good bargains 

 with the employers. The net result obtained by this method in the 

 building trades is the elimination of general bargaining and the 

 establishment of a perpetual armed truce. The carpenters feel that 

 they have a splendid agreement at present and the employers are 

 well satisfied but each realize that at the end of the joint agree- 

 ment each side will try to out bargain the other in drafting a new 



