267] APPRENTICESHIP AND THE HELPER SYSTEM 1 35 



or a pudcller is obliged to have help,-^ the terms which a 

 helper is likely to make with his contractor will then be 

 determined by supply and demand. With so many employ- 

 ers, competition is sure to produce non-uniformity in the 

 wages of helpers. This breach of union regulation can not 

 easily be detected, since the wage agreement is known only 

 to the journeyman and the helper. When the helper is paid 

 by the firm, it is difficult to evade the law. The rate of pay 

 for helpers is printed in the wage scale, and it can be vio- 

 lated only by rebate to the head of the crew or by extra 

 wages paid to the helper. 



While the poHcy of the union has been to favor the pay- 

 ment of helpers by the firm, it has never favored the hiring 

 of the helpers by the firm. In 1899 the convention adopted 

 the following provision, which has since been inserted in the 

 constitution : " All men are to have the privilege of hiring 

 their own helpers without dictation from the manage- 

 ment."^^ The union justifies its position on the ground 

 that each journeyman is closely associated with his helpers, 

 and is held responsible for the work turned out by his crew ; 

 consequently, it is advisable that the head of the crew have 

 the privilege of selecting his own assistants. Again, since 

 the output of the journeyman, and accordingly his earnings, 

 depend upon the efficiency of the help employed, the hiring 

 of the help by the journeyman shifts the responsibility from 

 the employer to the " captain " of the crew. 



The chief concern of the Amalgamated Association in 

 connection with the employment and payment of helpers, 

 however, has been not who shall hire and pay them, but 

 how much shall be paid them. The Puddlers, as early as 

 1870, considered the subject of uniform wage rates for 

 helpers, and a petition was submitted to limit the amount 



'^^In 1904 it was provided that "all rollers, doublers, and heaters," 

 in tin and hiack plate mills, wore " required to employ helpers at all 

 times," under penalty of line, suspension or expulsion (Proceedings, 

 1904, p. 7104). 



-2 Proceedings, 1899, p. 5684; 1907, p. 8060; Constitution, 1916, art. 

 17, sec. 21. 



