the matter.

But final decision rests with the Joint Board after such consultation (or with the Local if there is no Joint Board). In the Clothing Workers and the Ladies' Garment Workers, on the other hand, final authority to call strikes rests, not in the hands of the Joint Board, but with the General Executive Board. These unions are keenly desirous of avoiding strikes, however, and in many cases have entered into contracts with employers, with whom they have jointly set up elaborate machinery for settling difficulties peaceably, with arbitration as the last resort. Severe and costly strikes have prepared the way for some other method of industrial warfare than crude force. In entering into contracts with employers these unions take issue with both the W. I. I. U. and the I. W. W., who insist that there can be no peace in industry so long as the capitalistic system endures. Against this policy it can be said that if an industry is sometime to be the heritage of workers it must be preserved intact and kept prosperous and progressive.

From the Toronto agreement of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers such clauses as the following, which state the purposes of the agreement:

(c) To submit to arbitration in the case of disputes;

(a) For promoting the best interests of the clothing industry; (e) For the creation and maintenance of friendly and harmonious relations, co-operation, and good-will, between employers and employes; etc.

are quoted by the W.I.I.U. only to be condemned as "capitalist

Typical contracts of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers and of the Ladies' Garment Workers are an interesting subject for study. The Amalgamated Textile Workers may be dismissed because they are too new an organization to have well worked out contracts.

The labor agreement between the Amalgamated Clothing Workers and Hart, Schaffner & Marx sets up an Arbitration Board and a Trade Board, together with deputies, shop representatives, and other officials, to take charge of its administration. The Board of Arbitration, which has full and final 2 jurisdiction over all matters arising under the agreement, consists of three members, one chosen by the union, one by the company, and a chairman who is the mutual choice of both parties. The Trade Board, which is the primary board for adjusting grievances, consists of eleven members, five chosen by the company, five by the union, and a chairman who represents the mutual interests of both parties. In practice, both the Trade Board and Board of Arbitration reduce down to the

impartial chairman. the union investigate disputes and act as lawyers to represent their respective principals before the Boards. On each side there is one known as Chief Deputy. In each shop there is a shop representative of the union, the shop chairman,

Deputies for the firm and deputies for

1. Editorial in Industrial Union News November 29, 1919. 2. The Hart, Schaffner & Marx Labor Agreement, by J. E. Williams, Sidney Hillman, and Earl Dean Howard,

3.

authorized by the Joint Board; he corresponds to the shop superintendent of the company. Responsibility for making

piece rates is lodged primarily in the Trade Board, but for expediency this responsibility is delegated by the Trade Board to a Rate Committee, composed of three members, one representing the company, one the union, and the chairman of the Trade Board. Such, in brief, is the administrative machinery set up by the Hart, Schaffner and Marx labor

agreement.

1

When a grievance arises on the floor of a shop, the complainant reports it to the shop representative. The shop representative endeavors to adjust the matter with the shop superintendent. If he is not satisfied with the action of the superintendent, he reports the matter promptly to his deputy. In order that a uniform policy may be maintained, should exception be taken to informal oral adjustments made by shop officials, they are subject to revision by the Trade Board, and are not binding on their principals unless rat2 ified by the chief deputies.

When shop officers report a disputed complaint to their respective deputies, the deputies investigate and try to reach a settlement satisfactory to all parties in dis

pute.

If they fail, the matter comes up for trial before the Trade Board. The deputies agree, if possible, on a written statement of facts. Unless otherwise directed by