2753 COLLECTIVE BARGAINING 143 



The scales in no case applied to unskilled laborers, not 

 members of the union. Uniform annual agreements cover- 

 ing a majority of plants obtained in most branches of the 

 trade in 1900; for example, prices were set for bar iron, 

 various special forms of iron, sheet steel, and tin plate. On 

 the other hand, conditions in steel-rail mills and in other 

 classes of mills differed so greatly that uniform scales 

 proved impracticable. In such establishments separate agree- 

 ments were adopted from time to time. These were in the 

 nature of local agreements and were not settled by the gen- 

 eral conferences. 



For some years after the formation of the United States 

 Steel Corporation in 1901, two general conferences were 

 annually held, the one known as the bar, and the other the 

 sheet and tin conference. At the former the RepubHc Iron 

 and Steel Company, the largest manufacturer of bar iron, 

 dealt with the union. At the latter the American Sheet 

 and Tin Plate Company, which was organized in 1903 by 

 the merger of the American Sheet Steel Company and the 

 American Tin Plate Company, represented the employers. 

 In 1906 the independent manufacturers of bar iron, who 

 had previously signed the scale agreed upon in conference 

 with the Republic, organized the Western Bar Iron Asso- 

 ciation. This association is composed of twelve independ- 

 ent companies, organized because of the mutual interests 

 involved in the competition with steel. One of the essential 

 functions of the new employers' association is " to act as an 

 organization with the Amalgamated Association and en- 

 deavor as far as practical to get a uniform rate and prac- 

 tice."^® Since that time, the scales arranged with the 

 Western Bar Iron Association and the Republic Iron and 

 Steel Company have been identical. 



In 1909 the American Sheet and Tin Plate Company 

 severed conference relations with the union; and the sheet 

 and tin conference has since been held with the Western, 

 sometimes known as the Independent, Sheet and Tin Plate 



" Proceedings, 1906, p. 7550. 



