26 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



February 10, 1921 



Industrial Council Functions Usefully 



In tlie light of the aniiounceiiient that Samuel Gompers, president 

 of the American Federation of Labor, has inaugurated a campaign 

 for general participation of labor in the management of the pro- 

 duction units of industry, through shop councils, as recommended 

 by the Hoover committee, trial which the Worcester Lumber Com- 

 pany, Ltd., of Chassell, Mich, is making of the industrial council 

 in its mills takes on added interest. 



Hardwood Kecoed recently made inquiries to ascertain what 

 the experience of the Worcester company has been with the coun- 

 cil, which has been in operation since September, 1919. A reply 

 was received from Edw. A. Hamar, secretary and manager, stating 

 that "the majority of our men are apparently welt satisfied," and 

 "the council will in all likelihood be continued." 



The council proved a boon to the Worcester company during the 

 widespread strike of timber workers in the northern districts, pro- 

 tecting it, undoubtedly, from a walkout. Mr. Hamar writes that 

 "during the recent strike an organizer visited this village 

 (Chassell) twice, both times attempting to get our men interested 

 in joining the union, but without success. 



"Through the workings of the council the wages had been set for a 

 period of three months, just previous to the walkout. These wages were 

 not as high as the mills were paying -south ot us. This fact became known 

 to our men soon after the strike started, but inasmuch as they had set 

 their own wages through the workings of the council, they could say 

 nothing and seemed to take it for granted that the logical thing for them 

 to do was to carry out the agreement. It so happened that about the 

 time the strike ended and the other mills started to work that our agree- 

 ment expired. The council then set a new scale ot wages, which was 

 about in line with the wages that had lieon prevalent in other districts." 



Council Promotes Understanding 



The AVorcester company has found the council a useful- medium 

 for the promotion of mutually sympathetic understanding between 

 themselves and their mill workers. "The members of the council 

 are composed of three or four different nationalities," Mr. Hamar 

 states, "and we find that the meetings have given us a good oppor- 

 tunity to get closer to them and to present the manufacturer's side 

 of the case, as it could be presented in no other manner." 



The council has not operated entirely without friction, but in 

 the main has served the purpose of maintaining harmony between 

 the management and employees of the mills. "There have been 

 one or two propositions brought up to the council which had to be 

 turned down and which cause some little dissatisfaction," Mr. 

 Hamar says. ' ' One of them was for the company to purchase a 

 carload of groceries to be sold to the men at cost. Some of the men 

 could not see why this was not feasible, even after it had been 

 jCxplained to them that it would work a great hardship on the mer- 

 chants in our little village and be an entering wedge to kill business 

 in the town. As all commodities are now on the down swing, we 

 do not believe that we will hear anything more on the subject." 



The Worcester council, called "Industrial Council," is organ- 

 ized according to a plan insuring absolute fairness to the men and 

 at the same time safeguarding the legitimate interests of the com- 

 panj'. Each division of labor in the mills is represented in the 

 council and all employee representatives are chosen by secret ballot. 

 The management is represented by a number equal to the repre- 

 sentatives of the workers. The manager of the company, or some 

 one designated by him, acts as chairman of the council. In case 

 of a tie vote on a question being considered by the council, the 

 matter shall be referred to the president of the company, at the 

 request of either employee or management representatives. Within 

 ten days after the matter has been referred to him the president 

 shall either propose a settlement or refer the matter directly to a 

 general council to be formed, as follows: The president will issue 

 a notice designating the several works which he deems jointly 

 interested. Thereupon the employee representatives in the works' 



council at each of the works designated shall select two or more of 

 their own number to act as members of the general council. The 

 management representatives in the general council shall be 

 appointed by the president and shall not exceed the number of the 

 employee representatives. The president or some person desig- 

 nated by him shall act as chairman of the general council without 

 vote. The general council is required to meet within ten days after 

 the president's notice calling such council together. 



Ample Appeals Provided For 



In the event (it the failure of tlie general council to adjust the 

 matter under controversy there is still another means of effectuat- 

 ing an amicable agreement. The president and a majority of the 

 employee representatives in the general council, or the works 

 council, may mutually decide to have the matter arbitrated and 

 proceed to select an impartial arbitrator. If they cannot agree 

 upon an arbitrator, then the employee representatives shall choose 

 one such arbitrator and the president another. If these two agree 

 the decision shall be final, but if they do not agree they shall select 

 a third arbitrator, and a decision of a majority of these three shall 

 be final. 



Guaranty of independence of action is given every representa- 

 tive serving on any works or general council. The plan promises 

 that no representative shall be discriminated against because of 

 action taken by him in good faith in his representative capacity. 



The works council is authorized to consider and make recom- 

 mendations on all questions relating to working conditions, protec- 

 tion of health, safety, wages, hours of labor, recreation, education 

 and other similar matter of mutual interest to the employees or 

 management. 



The plan was adopted on the vote of a majority of the employees 

 of the Worcester works, recorded at a special election. 



During 1939 costs and sales reports from a representative group 

 of mills in one big lumber producing center of the country show a 

 return for the year of 3.8 per cent on the capital invested. These 

 returns increased during the first four months of 1920 to a level 

 which if it had been maintained throughout the year would have 

 yielded 21 per cent on the invested cajjital. The "auction market" 

 of the first months of 1920 carried the prices of some items of lum- 

 ber to the highest levels reached in the history of the lumber 

 industry. But by July, 1920, the rate of annual return on invest- 

 ment has dropped from 21 per cent to 8 per cent. Today the profits 

 of the first months of 1920 have been, in the great lumber producing 

 sections, converted into a loss to a large proportion of the mills. 



During the past six months the prices at the mills of ordinary 

 construction lumber have come down approximately as much as they 

 went up during the preceding year. Mill prices are today but little 

 higher than they were during the period following the armistice, 

 preceding the great building boom. 



The builders generally are suspending construction for sub- 

 stantially lower prices. These facts about lumber should be appro- 

 priate for their consideration. Lumber, in any event, plays but a 

 relatively small part in the construction even of a frame house. 

 The cost of lumber and millwork, which includes all interior finish, 

 in a frame dwelling is rarely more than one-third of the total cost, 

 the rest being chargeable to foundation materials, masonry, plas- 

 tering, plumbing and labor. 



Fighting the high price of print paper by controlling forest insects 

 is one of the tasks before the New York State College of Forestry 

 at Syracuse, which is having specialists study bugs which damage 

 trees with a view to controlling their damage to growing timber. 



