CHAPTER XII PROTECTION OF WORKING CONDITIONS THE record given in the foregoing pages of the growth of constitutional checks upon the employer's discharge power means, from the worker's point of view, the achievement of a presumptive right to the job. This right is of prime importance and serves as a foundation for other rights that have been built upon it. The conditions that make the job a thing worth defending have themselves to be defended. In the present chapter it is intended to trace the development of the worker's right to the maintenance of the conditions and standards of his work. Those working conditions and standards are particularly exposed to a nibbling process whenever a change is ordered in the worker's assignment or method of operation within the factory. Accordingly, it is at such points that the union has struggled and succeeded in establishing the principle of protection for the worker's tenure of his job and for the customary conditions of his job against deterioration. THE TRANSFER OF WORKERS Among the administrative functions expressly reserved to the employer by the agreement is that of transferring workers within the establishment. The transfer may be made from one operation or section to another, from one method of work to another at a given operation, or under certain conditions from one form of compensation to another. The exercise by the employer of his power of transfer is, however, limited by consideration of the worker's rights and interests under the agreement. It is limited and controlled very much as are other administrative powers of management affecting workers, such as the power of discipline, of lay-off, etc. While the use of the right of transfer within these constitutional limits does not require justification by the employer, at least the implicit assumption in every case is that it serves the ends of efficiency. In the language of the agreement, "The company has the right to transfer employes for purposes of administration or discipline, subject to review by the Trade Board. If the Board finds that any transfer is being made to lower wages, or for any discrimination or improper purpose, or if injustice is being done the worker by the transfer, the Board may adjust the complaint." The right to transfer workers for purposes of discipline is occasionally invoked by employers in preference to the harsher penalty of suspension. In view of the safeguards against abuse erected in the clause of the agreement just cited, it confers on the management no perilous power over the worker's conditions of employment. Even when transfer takes the form of a shift from week-work to piece-work, it must not have the effect of reducing the worker's earnings. The natural tendency of such a change is to stimulate him to greater effort in his work and to increase production. But so long as it does not unduly "speed up" the worker in the attempt to make his customary wage, it is often the most appropriate remedy against slacking. In an early case involving this use of the power of transfer and decided on appeal by Mr. Williams, the issue presented itself in this form: "Has the company a right to transfer a worker for disciplinary purposes, especially to check soldiering,' from week-work to piece-work?" And the conclusion was that "in the opinion of the chairman the company has the right, subject to review by the Trade Board. The facts in any such case may be investigated by the Board, and if it is found that the transfer is being made to lower wages, or for any discriminatory or improper purpose, or if injustice is being done the worker by such transfer, the Board may take such action as in its judgment is necessary to give justice to the worker, whether by adjusting his earnings in the new position or by reinstating him in his old position." When workers are transferred for administrative reasons from the shop to a corresponding operation in another shop of the same firm, they are obliged to accept the conditions and specifications of work obtaining in the section to which they are assigned. The only limitation imposed on the employer in this connection is that the workers' wages shall not be lowered in consequence of the transfer, and their interests generally shall not be injured. In a case before the Trade Board92 the union asked for reinstatement with back pay of five second basters discharged for refusing to baste coats according to the method used in the shop to which they had been transferred. The company claimed it was simply seeking to secure conformity to the practice in this shop and was following a recognized usage which requires the person who is transferred to adopt the practice of the shop to which he is transferred. While directing the reinstatement of the men, the Trade Board denied the request of the union for back pay, on the ground that it could not treat the claim other than in similar cases in the past when a dispute had arisen about a specification and the usage in a shop. "In this instance the standard usage, as well as the language of the specifications, so far as it is definite, supports the company's position." The transfer of a worker from one shop to another involving no material change in work or pay is clearly within the sphere of executive action by management. If the worker thus transferred believes himself disadvantaged in any respect, he may, of course, bring complaint through the regular channels. The case is somewhat different when the transfer is made from one section to another, thus entailing a change of work and earnings for the worker. If the new work is unfamiliar, the problem presented is analogous to that where a major change of work is introduced in the section that necessitates a period of learning or re-adaptation to the new process. The worker is entitled to have his customary earnings maintained. That is to say, if necessary, he may demand to be paid temporarily on an hour basis. Whether the employer is obliged to grant this demand or has the option of paying the transferred worker at the existing piece rate pending an adjustment by the price committee, seems to depend on the circumstances in the particular case, and has not been finally decided as a principle. 93 One such case93 came up on appeal early in 1916, when a collar edge baster was suspended on the alleged ground of insubordination. She had been asked to do work in another section and declined to do it unless she was assured of hourwork pay. The manager held that the rule of the house did not require him to assure her hour work but that she should accept the transfer either on hour or piece work, subject to later adjudication. Upon her refusal to accept the transfer on this basis, she was suspended, and the union then complained that the suspension was unjust and asked for back pay. In the absence of the other members of the Board of Arbitration, the chairman refrained from passing on the general issue of the right of a worker to refuse to accept the order of the foreman if it seems to him to be contrary to the provisions of the agreement. On the concrete issue of the claim of the company to transfer a worker from a slack section to a congested section at its option at the piece-work price of the latter, the chairman merely expressed doubt as to the soundness of the company's position. Later decisions have tended to establish the workers' right to refuse a transfer on terms that would entail a reduction of his customary earnings. Only, if the worker voluntarily accepts the transfer on the understanding that he is to be paid at the piecework rate of the new operation, he has no grievance if his earnings should fall below his customary standard at his former operation. Insofar as the transfer is made by executive action, the governing principle is that earnings shall be maintained. In the case of temporary transfer, at any rate, of piece workers to operations other than their own, their right to demand hour work has been definitely recognized. The considerations limiting the employer in his exercise of the right of transfer of workers for administrative purposes may be illustrated in a special situation" where such transfers were made on an extensive scale. The situation was that of many firms which during the war undertook large orders for manufacturing army uniforms. This required |