Wages.-Local organizations usually fix minimum wages. In New York the minimum wages are $20 a week. But such rules do not prevent members from getting larger wages. Twenty-five dolla's a week is said to be frequently paid in New York. By a two-thirds vote of the local union a member of advanced age or inferior ability may be permitted to work for less than the established rate. Such permission, however, is very seldom asked for.

Piece, team, and task work-Bonuses.-Any member working team or task work, or accepting percentage or bonus, is to be reported at once to the local union officers, and they are to "take action as to the best interest" of the association. Team work is defined as "the employing of boys or girls not regularly apprenticed at any branch of the business to do one part of the work only; the employing of a man to do a part of his branch of the business continuously."

The secretary reports that the task-work system has been done away with, and that neither task work nor piecework in any form is allowed.

Union label.-The Lithographers adopted a union label in 1897, but the nature of their work is not such as to make their label of great value to them. The secretary-treasurer says: Most manufacturers employ only union men and might use the label, but on many classes of work the label can not be used without spoiling the appearance of the work or dissatisfying customers. Labels are more used in the West than in the East. Forty or 50 per cent of the manufacturers use it where possible."

INTERNATIONAL STEEL AND COPPER PLATE PRINTERS' UNION OF NORTH AMERICA.

History. This union was organized September 2, 1893. The local unions which composed it had been affiliated with the Knights of Labor. It embraces printers of bank notes and pictures, as well as of cards and commercial work. It has only 5 local unions and about 800 members, but these are said to comprise 95 per cent of all the plate printers in the country. The membership in successive years is given by the secretary-treasurer as follows: 1893, 350; 1894, 400; 1895, 300; 1896,550; 1897, 600; 1898, 675; 1899, 725: 1900, 800.

Convention. The convention meets annually in June. Each local is entitled to 2 delegates, and the expenses of the delegates are paid by the loca's. The delegate holds office for a year, and represents his local in case of a special convention during his term. A local must have paid its per capita tax and all indebtedness to the national union in order to be represented. Each delegate must have been a resident member of the union he represents for at least 6 months, if the union has been organized so long.

The constitution is amended by vote of the convention.

Officers. The officers are a president, a vice-president, a secretary-treasurer, and an organizer. They are elected by the convention by ballot. A majority is necessary to a choice. No one except a delegate is eligible for any national office but that of secretary treasurer.

The president has power to suspend any officer whom he believes to be derelict in his duty or guilty of any dishonest act. He must, however, furnish the officer with a detailed statement of his reasons, and also send the vice-president a similar statement. The vice-president is then to appoint a committee of 3 from the executive council to try the suspended officer.

The secretary-treasurer is directed to deposit all money, except $150 for current expenses, in the name of the trustees. The current-expense account is to be drawn upon only by the secretary treasurer in conjunction with the president. The salary of the secretary-treasurer is $150 a year.

The organizer is directed to correspond with each town or place in his territory where there are plate printers at work, to encourage them to embrace unionism. He is entitled to the regular rate of wages of his union for any time lost in attending to union business, together with necessary traveling expenses. The amount paid him may not exceed $100 a year, except on the indorsement of the executive council.

The executive council consists of one delegate from each local union. It has power to impeach any officer. If an officer is found guilty and removed from office. the remaining delegate from the same local union is to be appointed by the president as his successor. Each local secretary is required to furnish the secretary treasurer quarterly with a statement of all rejections, expulsions, suspensions, and reinstatements, and the reasons therefor, and also with a statement of

the condition of the trade. Local secretaries must also furnish annually statistics of the number of apprentices within the jurisdiction of their unions.

Membership. The constitution requires an apprenticeship of 4 years, beginning between the ages of 17 and 18, as a qualification for admission. The qualification of apprenticeship may be waived only by consent of the national union. An applicant for membership or reinstatement who has been rejected can not apply again to any union within 6 months. A member who secures a place as foreman may retain his membership if he wishes.

The name of every applicant for membership must be sent at once by the local secretary to the national secretary-treasurer, and by him to all the local unions. No person may be received into membership until 15 days after the publication of his name as an applicant; but this is not to be enforced during a strike.

Apprenticeship.-The constitution enjoins upon each local union to limit the number of apprentices in some definite proportion to the number of journeymen employed in each office. An apprenticeship of 4 years is prescribed as the necessary qualification for a plate printer, and it must have been begun between the ages of 17 and 18. The local unions are recommended to admit apprentices to a conditional membership in the last year of their apprenticeship, without payment of dues and without the privilege of voting, in order that they may become acquainted with the workings of the union.

Transfer cards.-Cards, in the form of certificates of membership, prepared by the national office, are issued to members, good for 30 days from date, and transfers from one union to another are made by the use of these certificates. A person who comes from a place where a union exists without such certificate can not be admitted unless by special permission of that union, under penalty of a fine of $25 upon the union which makes the irregular admission.

Appeals.-Appeals from the decisions of a local union lie to the executive council and from it to the convention. All parties to an appeal, in which documents are to be submitted to the general offices of the union, must make affidavit to the truth of their statements before a notary public. The decision of the local union must be complied with pending the appeal.

Financeз-The national union derives its revenue from a charter fee of $5, from the sale of supplies to local unions, and from a per capita tax of 15 cents a quarter. The executive council has power to levy assessinents when necessary. Locals are required by the constitution to pay the per capita tax on all members 1 year or less in arrears. Local dues are from 25 cents a month up.

Strikes. In case of a dispute with an employer the local union is required to notify the organizer. The organizer is to go to the place and try to adjust the difficulty. If he fails, he is to notify the president. The president submits the case to the executive council. If the x cutive council votes to authorize a strike, the question is then submitted to a special meeting of the local union. No member may vote on the question unless he is in good standing and has belonged to the local union at least 6 months. A three-fourths vote is necessary to authorize a strike. Strike pay is $7 a week for married men and $5 for single men. No member who receives work as much as 4 days in the week is entitled to benefit, and any member who refuses work is debarred. Strike pay ceases after 8 weeks unless both the local union and the executive council think it necessary to continue it. Weekly reports are required from the executive board of the local union to the national secretary-treasurer showing the amounts of money paid in benefits, the number of beneficiaries, union or nonunion, and all other facts that may be required.

It is especially provided that in case of a general strike in a town where several offices are involved no union force of men shall refuse to work for a proprietor who agrees to pay the scale, provided they have the consent of the local union. Sharing of work. The secretary-treasurer reports that it is the general rule that all shall have an equal share of work in all union shops.

Hours of labor.-Forty-eight hours is the usual length of a week's work. Piece work. The piece-work system is approved by the plate printers for their own trade, and is the system under which they are usually paid.

Machinery. The plate printers have always opposed the introduction of steam presses, and have maintained that the work done on a hand-roller press is far better. They have succeeded in excluding the steam press from the United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the largest plate-printing office in the country.

CHAPTER VI.

LABOR ORGANIZATIONS IN THE BUILDING TRADES.

BRICKLAYERS AND MASONS' INTERNATIONAL UNION OF

AMERICA.

History. The Bricklayers and Masons' International Union of America was organized in 1865. It includes bricklayers, stone layers, and plasterers. The secretary asserts that the union has never countenanced or encouraged the admission of plasterers where the Plasterers' International Association has had a local. It refuses to grant charters to locals composed of plasterers exclusively, holding that such locals belong to the Plasterers' International Association. In small places which can not support separate locals of bricklayers and of plasterers, it takes the position that the plasterers should join with the bricklayers and masons. Nearly one-third of the locals of the Bricklayers are mixed unions which contain plasterers, and some of them are over 30 years old. Plasterers have been members of the Bricklayers' Union since 1865. The convention of the bricklayers in 1898 passed a resolution directing the executive board to consult the Plasterers' International Association with a view to the amalgamation of the two bodies, and to report to the brick ayers' convention of 1900. The Plasterers did not consider the proposition favorably.

Four hundred and twenty-two locals were reported in the summer of 1900 and 371 in 1899. On December 31, 1900, the number was 452. The secretary estimated the membership June 30, 1901, at 39,000. For December 31 of certain previous years the membership is given as follows:

President Gompers said in his report to the American Federation of Labor convention of 1899 that the Bricklayers and Masons' Union had decided by a referendum vote in favor of affiliating with the Federation of Labor, but that their general officers found themselves without authority to carry out the decision, and had concluded to refer the matter to the next convention, which was to be held in January, 1900.2 The question was again submitted to the local unions in 1900, and was defeated by a vote of 299 unions against 123. The vote is counted by unions, and not by members.

The officers in their reports expressed regret at this outcome. The secretary said that the union constantly received great assistance from the organizers of the Federation. He called attention to the isolated condition of the Bricklayers, and said that the question would soon be, not whether they should affiliate with other organizations, but whether they should affiliate with the American Federation of Labor or with the National Building Trades Council.

General attitude. The preamble of the Bricklayers' Union recites the phrases of the Declaration of Independence - that God has endowed all men with certain inalienable rights, and that all men are created free and equal. It continues: The trend of employers, assisted by combined capital, is to debase labor and deny it its lawful and just share of what it produces.

Convention. The convention meets annually on the second Monday in January. Each local is entitled to 3 representatives for the first 250 members or less, and to 1 additional representative for each additional 150 members. Representation is based on the membership shown by the July report. When a vote by unions is taken in the convention each local is entitled to at least 3 votes, whether or not it has 3 delegates present. A local in arrears for dues is not entitled to representation. The expenses of delegates are paid by their locals. The general body pays

1 Plasterers' International Association Convention Proceedings, 1900, pp. 26, 27.
2 A. F. of L. Convention Proceedings, 1899, p. 8.

the expenses of its officers in attending the convention, and pays them the regular rate of wages in the locals to which they belong with $1 a day additional. Salaried officers do not receive the per diem allowance.

The secretary, in his report of December 1, 1900, called attention to the small attendance at recent conventions, and recommended that the expenses of delegates be paid from the general treasury instead of by their locals. He also suggested cutting down the representation of each union to 1 delegate and giving each delegate a number of votes proportional to the number of members he might represent. Officers. The union has an executive board composed of the president, first vicepresident, and secretary, and a separate judiciary board composed of the president and the first and the second vice-president. The executive board has control of all executive business, including all disputes with employers, and complete control of all strikes. The judiciary board has control of all matters of appeal relating to the laws or usages of the international union, or of subordinate unions, and to charges or disputes of one member or one local union against another. The officers are elected by ballot in convention, and a majority of all votes polled is necessary to election.

The secretary devotes all his time to the organization. The president is an active officer and has to give the union a great deal of his time: but he is paid by the day, only for time lost, at his accustomed rate of wages. During the 11 months ending November 30, 1900, his compensation was $660, made up of wages for 130 days lost time, at $4.40 a day, and 16 days of attendance at sessions of the executive board, at $5.50 a day. The convention of January, 1901, voted testimonials of $300, $200, and $100, respectively, to the retiring president, first vice-president, and second vice-president.

Local unions. In April, 1900. Mr. O'Dea, who had for many years been secretary of the organization, resigned that position and was appointed general organizer, under an agreement that he was to be paid $75 for every new local organized, and was to pay all the expenses of organization. In connection with his offer to take the position on these terms, he submitted a table of the work of the previous year, showing 24 unions obtained by the organizers at a cost of $2,450, or about $102 a union. In the period of 7 months from May 1 to December 1, 1900, under his contract, Mr. O'Dea organized 45 unions, which entitled him to a payment of $3,375; out of which, however, all expenses of organizing, as well as cost of seals and some other supplies for the new locals, had to be paid. The new secretary, in his report of December 1, 1900, expressed the greatest gratification with the results of the contract. The convention of January, 1901, however, discontinued the arrangement. A testimonial of $250 was voted to Mr. O'Dea, but was declined.

Each local union, when it is organized, may be installed as a bricklayers', bricklayers' and masons, bricklayers' and plasterers, bricklayers, masons, and plasterers', or stone masons' union, provided there is no objection from any other union in its city or neighborhood.

All communications from a local must bear the seal of the union and the signatures of the president and the recording secretary. Any union which fails to answer such official communication within a reasonable time, not more than 10 days, shall, on report of the union or person making the complaint, be fined the suin of $5, which shall be paid into the treasury of the international union."

Membership. Every candidate for membership “must be a practical bricklayer, mason, or plasterer, and competent to command the existing scale of prices for work; and shall (if complaint is made as to his ability) be compelled to pass a satis actory examination by a committee of the union in whose jurisdiction he is working." The candidate must be vouched for as being a citizen of the country, or having declared his intention to become one.

After providing for the reception of plasterers by the local unions, the constitution adds, This shall not apply to localities where there are exclusive plasterers' unions of a local or national character. But the admission of plasterers to a local union shall be left optional where no exclusive plasterers' union exists."

Every person initiated takes a pledge on his honor as a man that he will not reveal any private business or proceedings of the union or any individual action of its members; that he will abide by the constitution, by-laws, and scales of prices of work adopted by it; that he will acquiesce in the will of the majority, and that he will, by every honorable means within his power, procure employment for members of the union.

Apprentices. The constitution gives the locals power to regulate their own apprentice laws; but it forbids any contract of indenture for less than three years. It provides for compelling indentured apprentices to complete their time, and for finding places for apprentices whose employers may have gone out of business.

It also presents a form of contract for indenture which it recommends to the locals. The secretary reports that indentures are much used. Where they are not in use apprentices are often registered by the union, and the same control over them is maintained.

Traveling cards. Any member who is clear of indebtedness to his local, and against whom no charge is pending, is entitled to a traveling card, good for 30 days from date of issue. It may be once renewed for 30 days, but can not be renewed again. Before the renewal expires the holder must deposit it in some local, or forfeit his membership. On depositing it, and paying dues from date of issue of the card, he is entitled to all the privileges of a member. Contrary to the practice of many unions, the bricklayers do not collect dues in advance on issuing a traveling card. Indeed, collection in advance under such circumstances is forbidden, under penalty of a fine of $3 on the offending local.

One who joins the union as a stone mason must draw his card as a stone mason, and one who joins as a bricklayer must draw his card as a bricklayer. Violation of this rule is punishable by forfeiture of membership, and a special initiation fee of $25 if reinstatement is applied for.

No union may charge money for receiving a traveling card, under penalty of a payment of $5 more than it charged.

The corresponding secretary of the union in which a card is deposited must immediately forward a certificate of the receipt of it to the corresponding secretary of the union which issued it, under penalty of a fine of $5 The constitution adds: This law is imperative, so as to enforce discipline and to be enabled to keep track of all traveling members." Any bricklayer or mason who refuses to join the union where he is, but goes to another place, joins a union with a smaller initiation fee, and returns within 30 days, is to be required to pay the difference between the initiation fees.

Discipline. The Bricklayers and Masons' Union has a code of crimes and penalties, according to which treasury defaulters are to be fined not less than $10 or more than $50, besides the return of the amount embezzled; 'union wreckers," $25 to $100; inveterate or notorious scabs, for third offense or over, $50; common scabs, for first or second offense, not less than $5 or more than 25. A union wrecker is defined substantially as one who goes into the jurisdiction of a union on strike and accepts employment and persists in retaining it, or who leaves a union to defeat a legal strike. Scab is de ned as “an employer or employee who has violated the laws of this or of subordinate unions, whom the members of the international union are debarred from working for or with until he or they have complied with the laws of said union."

Those who as nonunion men have worked against the interests of the Bricklayers' Union and refused to join it may be punished with a special initiation fee of not more than $25, in addition to the regular initiation fee, when they apply for membership.

It is forbidden to place a fine on any employer who is not a union member; but this does not apply to special initiation fees.

Charges against any member must be brought in writing and tried in open meeting, after due notice to the accused. Guilt or innocence is determined by a majority vote, and the penalty is fixed in the same way. If an accused member fails to appear for trial he is deemed in contempt and fined such sum as the union may think proper, and suspended until the fine is paid. An appeal lies to the judiciary board, and, finally, to the convention. Before making an appeal the accused must pay any fine which may have been imposed upon him, in order to restore himself to good standing. If the appeal is sustained the fine is returned. Finances. The charter fee is $20. Twenty-five cents is collected by the general body for each new member, including charter members, and credited to the strike fund. The per capita tax is fixed each year by the convention. In 1900 it was 7 cents a month. The local initiation fee may not be less than $10 nor more than $25. New locals may admit members at a lower rate for the first 30 days after they are established; and the executive board has power to grant any local permission to do so for a limited time.

A member 5 months in arrears for dues is to be suspended, and when 6 months in arrears is to be dropped from the roll and may not be reinstated unless upon payment of an initiatory fee." A subordinate union 6 months in arrears for dues to the national union is to be dropped from the roll and is not to be restored until it pays double the amount of its per capita tax for the time it has been in arrears. The names of delinquent members are sent by the secretary of the international union to each local, and each local secretary is required to post the list in a conspicuous place in the meeting rooms on pain of fine of $5. No union may receive