government in 1911 to show the gains made by the workers since they organized eleven years ago:

AVERAGE WEEKLY EARNINGS, 1911 and 1920.

Of course, the value of a dollar in 1911, measured in the amount of food and other necessities which it could purchase, was much greater than in 1920. Nevertheless, making all allowances for changes in prices it is clear that the gain in wages achieved largely through organization of the workers has been a substantial one. The wage of the clothing worker is no longer barely enough to keep body and soul together as it was when the union came into being. To-day, the clothing worker does not have to depend upon charity during the slack season as did many in the years before 1911. The organized Chicago clothing worker has won much for himself, his family and his fellows.

Remarkable as has been the progress of the clothing worker since he has organized, it has not been progress of the worker at the expense of the industry. The percentage of labor cost in the garment to-day is not greater than it was in 1915. In fact, much of the advance in wages has resulted from the greater efficiency of the market. The Chicago clothing industry to-day is as far ahead of the industry in 1910-1911 as are the wages of the worker to-day ahead of the wages of the unorganized worker of 1910. The good will and efficiency of the workers have contributed in full measure to this progress.

CHAPTER VIII

THE GREAT WAGE ARBITRATIONS

In recent years, as the impartial machinery has become more firmly established and has been extended to include the entire Chicago clothing market, almost all of the changes in general market wage levels have been made by decision of the Board of Arbitration. The settlement of the problems of market wage levels by arbitration decision has not done away with the process of direct negotiation between the union representatives and the representatives of the manufacturers. In the arbitration of wages in the Chicago market there has always been adequate interchange of views between the two parties concerned before, during, and after the public hearing.

Wage arbitrations and particularly the public hearings held as a part of the proceedings have played a very prominent part in the history of wages in the Chicago clothing market. The method of determining wage levels for the market after hearing, discussion and by arbitration decision has been an important factor in building up the collective bargaining process and securing stability in wage levels. Under this plan wage levels have been adjusted not for the workers in a single section or even for an individual shop but for the market as a whole and with some regard for the interrelation of markets.

Wage arbitration has also tended to lessen change in levels arising from shifting of the bargaining power of the parties during a manufacturing season. In a seasonal industry such considerations are peculiarly important. The procedure of wage arbitrations developed in Chicago has placed emphasis on the permanent factors rather than seasonal influences affecting the wage problem and has thus placed a firmer foundation under the wage structure of the market. In this

way the great wage arbitrations have helped to give the stability sought for by the union.

From another standpoint wage arbitrations in the Chicago market are important. The Board of Arbitration has derived its authority to fix wages from the so-called " emergency clause" of the agreement. This clause reads as follows:

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"If there shall be a general change in wages or hours in the clothing industry, which shall be sufficiently permanent to warrant the belief that the change is not temporary, then the Board shall have power to determine whether such change is of so extraordinary a nature as to justify a consideration of the question of making a change in the present agreement, and, if so, then the Board shall have power to make such changes in wages or hours as in its judgment shall be proper."

Wages having been usually fixed by direct negotiation when the agreements are entered into, the Board may be said to be called upon, in a sense, to determine what changes are proper." In the absence of a generally agreed upon standard of "proper" wages, the several proceedings in Chicago illustrate the limitations which the Chairman of the Board of Arbitration have themselves placed upon their own authority to fix wages.

The Board of Arbitration, set up under the agreement between the union and the manufacturers in Chicago, functions continuously during the life of the agreement. Moreover, although the Hart, Schaffner and Marx Company has a separate agreement and separately constituted impartial arbitration machinery, the personnel of the Board of Arbitration of the Hart, Schaffner and Marx agreement and of the general market is the same. In the wage arbitrations beginning with December, 1919, all manufacturers have been represented and a single proceeding has been held for the whole market. The permanent character of the Board of Arbitration has permitted the appointment of special commissions to report on questions raised in wage arbitrations which require detailed study for later decision by the Board without delaying an immediate decision on other issues. Commissions have also been appointed to work out the de

tailed application of wage awards, when that procedure has been necessary to carry out the full intent of the Board's decisions. These commissions are usually composed of representatives of the employers and of the union and an impartial chairman. They have contributed much to the success of wage arbitration in the market.

These public discussions of wages, moreover, have had an important educational value. Workers have learned much about their industry and about industrial conditions generally. They have become aware of the individual workingman's position in the market, and of the relation of the Chicago market to the whole clothing industry of the country. Manufacturers, likewise, have seen the plane of wage controversies raised to new levels, where facts counted more than fancy. And the public has been granted an insight into the operations of a typical industry, which has proved invaluable as a basis for forming sound judgments on the character of industrial conflicts.

Strictly speaking, the arbitration method was resorted to in the determination of wages in 1911 when the first agreement was signed in the Chicago market, and again in 1913 in settling certain questions involving major working conditions. But it was not until 1917 that a request for a general increase in wages was submitted to the regularly established Board of Arbitration, and it has only been since the general agreement, including all manufacturers of men's clothing in the Chicago market, was signed in May, 1919, that wage arbitration has been the regular practice in the market.

In the arbitration of wages in 1917 the only workers affected directly were those of Hart, Schaffner and Marx, which alone at that time recognized and dealt with the Amalgamated. It will be recalled that in May, 1916, the union secured an increase when the agreement with the Hart, Schaffner and Marx Company for a three-year period ending April 30, 1919, became effective. Because of the continued rise in the cost of living the union raised the question of a general wage increase shortly after the beginning of the fall manufacturing season of 1917. The union asked for a gen

eral advance in the wage level to make up for the loss resulting from higher prices for the necessaries of life. Higher wages were also asked because there had already occurred wage increases in the clothing industry and in other industries.

The company, while admitting that the cost of living had risen since the wage adjustment made by the 1916 agreement, contended that the average earnings of the workers, particularly of piece workers, had in fact increased from 30 to 35 per cent. The company pointed out that as a result of the greater volume of employment earnings had risen though wage levels had remained constant. It held, also, that to grant a wage increase after the prices of the fall season had been fixed and sales had been made on the basis of these prices would be unfair. The company would lose the entire amount of the increase granted the workers as sales had already been made, and it would have no opportunity to pass the increased burden of higher wages on to the consumers. Properly the company maintained increased wages should be added to the cost of the goods and should not come out of the company's margin between the cost of production and selling price.

The Board of Arbitration ruled that the workers had already suffered heavily in the diminished purchasing power of their wages. While admitting, in principle, the employers' claims, it held that the emergency was such that an immediate increase in wages was warranted. The Board of Arbitration awarded to the workers a general advance in wages. The wages of all workers, except cutters, were increased by 10 per cent. The wages of the cutters were increased a fixed amount $2.35 per week-which was approximately 10 per cent. of the average weekly earnings of the cutters at that time.

The Board further ruled that any request for wage adjustments during the term of the agreement must be made in advance of sales for the season affected. Thus the Board recognized the contention of the employer that he should have the opportunity to pass wage adjustments on to the