CHAPTER V 

 The Benefit System 



Any extension of the traditional functions of a trade 

 union meets with determined opposition on the part of the 

 members. Many influential trade unionists advocate con- 

 fining the activities of the union to the maintenance of a 

 minimum rate and to securing shorter hours of labor and 

 better working conditions. They argue that the inclusion of 

 mutual benefit features means diffusion of energy and loss 

 of effectiveness.^ Also, they maintain that a system of 

 benefits militates against the prime requisite of trade union- 

 ism — extensive organization — in that the expense of main- 

 taining benefits means higher memlbership dues, with the 

 result that persons who might otherwise join the union are 

 prevented from doing so.^ The concrete proposition upon 

 which issue was joined in the Amalgamated was the estab- 

 lishment of insurance against sickness, accident, and death. 

 Unemployment insurance and old age pensions have never 

 been seriously considered.* 



At the second annual session of the Sons of Vulcan, held 

 at Wheeling in 1863, a general constitution was adopted in 

 which one of the specified objects of the organization was 

 declared to be " to aid sick and distressed members." Shortly 

 after the close of the Civil War the rapid growth of mutual 

 insurance companies attracted the attention of trade union- 

 ists everywhere. The local union at Wheeling, through its 



1 A. J. Portenar, Problems of Organized Labor, p. 55. 



2 J. B. Kennedy, Beneficiary Features of American Trade Unions, 

 p. 10. 



3 Instead of paying unemployment benefits, the union has provided 

 that in case members were tlirown out of work " through over- 

 production or other causes," such as a double-turn mill going on 

 single turn, the work should be equally divided (Proceedings, 1886, 

 p. 1850; Constitution, 1916, art. 17, sec. 6). 



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