1903-08 August Electrical Worker.pdf - International Brotherhood of ...

16 THE ELECTRICAL WORKER
different rules for its own br8lDch, both to
cover those just !;tarting in the business and
those wbo wish to transfer their cards from
one branch to the other.
We also have not agreed upon a union
label for electrical supplies.
I see· in the June Worker a letter by the
press t;ecretary of No. 91, in which he seeks
to defend the examination fee and the difference
in initiation fees by asking for protection
for the strong local. He says: .. The
great benefit to America has always been
claimed to have been protection." Yes,
protection· has built up trusts, and trusts
have benefitted the· workingman of this
country. The coal trust, the beef, oil, tobacco,
iron and steel trust-they have all
been a great help to the laboring class, have
they not? The coal trust sooner than pay
the men stingy, living wages, would freeze
to death all men, women and children in
the country, and they have protection. The
beef trust will compel you to pay any price
. they choose to ask, or else go without meat,
as they did about a year ago, and yet they
have protectIon.
Mr. John D. Rockefeller will give $1,000,-
000 for some charitable purpose, and in two
month's time will collect more than ten
times that amount from the poor workmen
who have to burn oil,- by increasing the
price of oit"one cent or two cents a gallon,
(this case is not two years old), and yet he
has protection. .
Some few years ago the western part of
Pennsylvania and Ohio were torn to pieces
by strikes, and what was the cause of it?
Why the protected iron and steel trust,
which taking advantage of the protection
given them by the voters (workingmen) of
this country increased the price of their
product one hundred per cent, and positively
refused to increase the wages of those
who made their product or helped them to
secure protection.
So give the strong locals protection, and
.they will crush the life out of the weaker
ones.
Two persons wish to cross a .river ; they go
in separate boats; one is a strong, healthy,
robust man, the other a weak, sickly woman.
Both boats are upset; rescuers set out; they
can only help one at a time. Which, in
your opinion. dear reader, should receive
protection (aid) first,. the strong !lnd healthy
r the weak and sickly?
Again, he says: "What is $25 for an examination
fee?" A man (brother) enters a
city looking for work; he bas not much
money in his pocket; he cali not go to work
until he has paid bis examination fee: He
may have to wait two or three weeks before
he is examined.
His presence in that city
is not welcomed by JJ.is brother unionists,
who are working there. While waiting for
an examination he has to pay for his living,
which will amount to $10 or $15, and his
discontented brothers will not help him. .
Again, nearly all electrical work is contract,
and all contractors carryall the steady
help they need. A big contract is given
out; the contractor employs extfa men to
finish the work; his visiting brother goes to
work; he is then called upon to take the
examination and pay the $25; after three or
four weeks the job is done; the extra help
is laid off; he has no work; he leaves for
another city where there is a big contract.
Again he pays the $25, and so on. Why a
man who has to travel that way would starve
to death, or:give up his business and use the
piCk and shovel.
Every sane· man knows that no union man
who enters a city will work longer hours or
for less inoney than the local in that city
has already secured, and the brothers of that
local, if they are good, first-clas!! workmen,
known to the employers, need not be afraid
of a ·stranger whose abilities are not known,
or is not known by the contractor, for they
will always give preference to the one they
do know, where they gain nothing from the
stranger.
It looks to me·, dear reader, like this: The
men who want to keep a brother from working
in their city are not good, first-class
workmen, and are afraid to allow a good
man to work alongside of tbem, for fear
his work would expose their weakness, and
poor workmanship, for a good, first-class
man can alw~ys secure employment, where
merit and ability alone count.
Furthermore, he says that the I: B. E. W.
in general will gain nothing by trying to
make a card good in all locals. If this ·be
true, then I say what good is a card anyhowof
what use is national or international organization
?