58 SEVENTEENTH REPORT. 



Collective bargaining is strongly supported by the entire union. 

 It removes the necessity of individual "higgling,"' whicli would occur 

 so frequently without the collective bargaining. To them it is a 

 panacea lor almost all trade ills. In fact collective bargaining 

 between two such strong organizations as the carpenter's union 

 and the carpenters contractor's association results in little or no 

 bargaining. Each side recognizes the strength of the other. Only 

 questions of broad significance are brought up and then but once 

 in three years. Even these questions are considered by only a 

 few men. Thus in this trade, collective bargaining not only does 

 away with individual bargaining but destroys all bargaining. 



The third method is the union shop. The purpose of the union 

 shop, unlike that of collective bargaining, is negative. The union 

 shop is an adjunct to collective bargaining. Through it the per- 

 sonnel of the trade is controlled, and onl}- union men can be em- 

 ployed on any job. Without this control the imion could not en- 

 force any of its contracts and therefore could not be able to get, 

 employers to enter into contracts with 'them. The union shop is 

 therefore not only profitable for the union members, but establishes 

 stable relations with the employers. To maintain this control, the 

 members must cari"y union cards. ^'This is the only way the rules 

 maintaining a closed shop can be enforced. Were it not for this, 

 non-union men could work on the job." (*104, lOG.) The need 

 for the union shop and the union control is also evident in case of 

 picketing. If the union strikes, it must be able to keep the men 

 off the job or the right to strike is useless. (*74, 144.) The power 

 to strike and the power to keep all men off the jobs, which is neces 

 sary for a successful strike, has made it unnecessai*;y' to strike in tne 

 carpenters' trade of Chicago. Thus preparation for industrial war 

 maintains industrial peace. It is this control over the men through 

 the union shop that makes organized labor a conservative and 

 steadying force in the building industry. It is through this con- 

 trol that the union is able to command the respect of the employers, 

 the men and the public. 



The fourth method is the strike. When all other methods fail, 

 the strike is used. The carpenters have had very few general strikes 

 in Chicago. The '^Carpenter," Vol. 32, No. 5, p. 4, says, "to the 

 labor hater and the unthinkable . . . public strikes come under but 

 one categoi'y. They are all bad." (*632.) Again in (Vol. 31, No. 

 3, p. 16.) ''strikes are the manifestations of brute force against a 

 still greater brute force that denies men the right to live." (*6(JZ.) 

 It is unquestionably true that the carpenters dislike the use of the 

 strike and fully recognize its undesirable efifects. 



