152 ASSOCIATION OF IRON, STEEL AND TIN WORKERS ^284 



1894, after a spirited discussion, the conference committee 

 was given plenary power.^- President Garland maintained 

 this authority during his term of office. 



President Shaffer was not so successful as his predecessor 

 in preser\-ing the prerogatives of the conference commit- 

 tee. Consequently, in 1900, when full authority was with- 

 held, the failure to reach an agreement in conference with 

 employers meant the submission of the point at issue to a 

 plebiscite of the local membership.^^ President Shaffer, in 

 his report to the following convention, deprecated this re- 

 striction of the power of the committee,^'' but his eloquence 

 was of no avail. The convention sent to the conferences 

 of 1 901 committees bound by instructions to demand that 

 the scale be signed for all mills or none. The steel strike 

 of 1901 was the outcome of this policy. Since 1901 the 

 instructions of the convention have been advisory, not man- 

 datory, and the conference committee has been granted 

 plenary power to bargain. 



In the case of rail mills and other classes of steel mills 

 not covered by the general agreements above described, 

 scales were adopted by conferences between the local union 

 or unions affected and the individual employers. Accord- 

 ing to the constitution, the local lodges must formally vote 

 upon proposed changes in scales. The holding of meetings 

 by members of the organization outside the lodge room, for 

 the purpose of " agitating " class legislation, was prohibited. 

 A two-thirds majority was required to propose changes in 

 the scales. In each plant there was a mill committee, or 

 two or more committees, representing different classes of 

 work. These committees presented the proposed changes 



'2 Proceedings, 1894, pp. 4697-4698. 



"3 It required two-thirds of the voting membership to insist upon 

 the demands which gave rise to the disagreement. If the local 

 lodges insisted upon disagreement, all the members working in plants 

 affected by the scale must cease work. As a matter of fact, there 

 have been few general stoppages caused by failure to reacii a settle- 

 ment, although negotiations liave been, in some instances, greatly 

 prolonged. 



3* Proceedings, 1901, pp. 6033, 6049-6050. 



