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Author: 
 
 Leiserson, William M. 
 
 Title: 
 
 Employment 
 management, employee 
 
 Place: 
 
 Washington, D.C. 
 
 Date 
 
 1919 
 
qu^<^iQqq^M 
 
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 U*S« Working oonditions servioe* 
 
 Eiaploynent znanagonentf employee representation 
 and industrial demooraoyi address delivered be- 
 fore the National association of en^loyment 
 managers, Cleveland, May 23, 1919* Washington, 
 Govt, print, off., l919« 
 
 15 p« 25^m« 
 
 At head of titlet U.S. Department of labor. 
 By W«M. Leiserson. 
 
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U. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 
 
 WORKING CONDITIONS SERVICE 
 
 GRANT HAMILTON. Dimrtor General 
 
 EMPLOYMENT MANAGEMENT 
 EMPLOYEE REPRESENTATION 
 and INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY 
 
 Address delivered before the 
 
 National Association of Employment Managers 
 Cleveland, May 23, 1919 
 
 SCHOOL OF EUSm 
 
 WASHINGTON 
 
 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 
 
 1919 
 
Columbia Winitavaity 
 
 in tfie Cttp of j0etD f^orfc 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 School of Business 
 
 
 \ 
 
SCHOOL OF BUSINESS 
 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 
 
 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 
 
 WORKING CONDITIONS SERVICE 
 
 GRANT HAMILTON. Director General 
 
 / 
 
 EMPLOYMENT MANAGEMENT 
 EMPLOYEE REPRESENTATION 
 and INDUSTRLVL DEMOCRACY 
 
 Address delivered before the 
 
 National Association of Employment Managers 
 
 Cleveland, May 23, 1919 
 
 WASHINGTON 
 
 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 
 
 1919 
 
no 
 
 J) 
 
 
 I 
 
 \J( n 3 ^ 
 
 PREFATORY. 
 
 To get at the heart of things is the underlying motive for all 
 the activities of the Working Conditions Service. It is not 
 diflicult to wTite the pleasant and agreeable, but no constructive 
 work can be accomplished without analyzing all the elements 
 which enter into or hifluence a given problem and thus scientifi- 
 cally reaching an interpretation which will contribute to its 
 
 solution. 
 
 Information as to shop committees, employee-representation 
 schemes, and all similar devices coming from all quarters of 
 industry, indicates a hick of precision m analysis which the 
 importance of the subject demands. 
 
 The adthess delivered by Dr. Leiserson reviews and analyzes 
 the relationships which arc being attempted and draws definite 
 conclusions based upon experience and knowledge of human 
 
 predik'Ctions. 
 
 Every year, every day, and every hour brings its change in 
 industry, but over and above all, the same fundamental truths 
 of life and relationships are clearly and definitely marked. 
 
 The function of the Working Conditions Service is the collec- 
 tion, analysis, and dissemination of facts, together with their 
 natural and accurate interpretation. This approach and 
 process makes available to industry that knowledge so essential 
 in comprehensively dealing with both the human and material 
 sides of industrial life and activity. 
 
 ^^.j^^^X^^i^^^^v 
 
 Director General. 
 
 121873"'— 19 
 
I X 
 
 EMPLOYMENT MANAGEMENT, EMPLOYEE REPRESENTA- 
 TION, AND INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY. 
 
 Bv W M. LEISERSON, Chief, Division of labor Administration, Working Condi- 
 ' ■ ■ tions Service. 
 
 Germany says to the Allies, '^f you don't give us the knid of 
 peace that*^we want we will turn our country over to the Bolsheviks.' 
 An American can't help wondering what good that will do Germany 
 Is Bolshevism less dangerous than the peace treaty ? The board of 
 directors of the Employment Managers' Association writes to me, 
 '^You arc too dangerous a man to speak on 'Organized Labor/ 
 the subject we assigned to you at first. Will you please talk on 
 * Organizing the Working Force' instead?" I can't help wondering 
 why the latter subject is less dangerous for me to discuss than the 
 first But then, everything is in the point of view. A sailor finds 
 living on land too dangerous and does not feel himself safe untd he 
 is on a vessel deck in mid-ocean. 
 
 (Let me digress for a moment to say tliat the organic act creating 
 the Department of Labor provides that 'the purpose of the Depart- 
 ment of Labor shaU be to foster, promote, and develop the welfare 
 of the wage earners of the United States, to improve their working 
 conditions^' etc. This broad and basic law includes within its 
 scope all those employed in gainful occupations, union and non- 
 union ahke.) . j • * 
 
 Industrial democracy means representation of organized mter- 
 ests.-Whether we call it ''Organized Labor" or "An Organized 
 Working Force," the subject we are to discuss is democracy in 
 industry; and, as Prof. Commons says in his recently pubhshed 
 book on 'industrial Goodwill"— 
 
 Roprescntutive democracv in industn^ is representation of organized interests. 
 Individuals whr) are not organized can not dKK)se representatives. They must bo 
 content with their tacit proxies given to the organized. When once organized they 
 can be consulted in advance of action. Tlie procedure of autocracy is to act first 
 
 and consult aften^ards * * * , . . rr * i 
 
 But democracy can not ((uickly consult all individuals whose interests are affected. 
 It comes BH near as p,>8sible to doing tliis when it consults those who have been freely 
 chosen for the purpose without interference from other classes, so that they really 
 represent the interests of the class affected.' 
 
 AU emp oyees' organizations not examples of democracy.— The 
 mistake wc are Ukely to make in dealing with this problem is to 
 
 iTTu. Commons: "Industrial CioodwUl," McGraw-Hill Book Co., p. 40. 
 
Ill 
 
 6 MANACiEMENT, REPRESENTATION, AND INDUSTRIAL nEMOrRA(.Y. 
 
 assume that bo.m.so i„,|„.st.inl .lemorrncy ..orossarily inv..lvos an 
 
 orga,n.o.l la ,or ion-o capablo of acting as a unit throu.^I. i, ...rc- 
 
 on .U.vos, ih,..of..,o ovory organization of working ,,..o,.l.. , us 
 
 tnal plants ,s an cxampJe of industrial dcmocTacy; C„„Li o^ 1^ 
 
 uutust,,,, of ,I„s ,ou„try an<l omployniont managers as „oll ,u, 
 employers are assummg that aU these organisations.;,, n,atler whl^ 
 then forn, or purpose, are providing industrial .lemocraey , ei 
 
 As a matter of fa.t, however, a st.uly of the emplovees' orgnni.-i- 
 
 ons now m existence will .show that thev classify tlu-msoles n o 
 
 tW general groups, and the element of democracy is .7 >re " 
 
 m one of them, nor ,s it present in each of the other Vwo to tl!c lal^o 
 
 Welfare or shop committees. -The fii^st group of emolovce ■ 
 organization plans^may he called welfare commit tes or T^^Z 
 mitees proper These are merely advisory organization of X 
 working force selected by either the management or the e npl ,v«^ 
 for the purpose of conferring with the foreman, with safety di'r,: 
 «^ personnel and service managers regarding problems rela el t^ 
 work.ng coiuhtions in the plants. The matte's with whicrihe e 
 committees are concerned arc primarily safety an.l wel are rk 
 witii a small number trying to extend their activitie , Lc , ^ 
 giievances. A though these committees arc cc^stl t^y a 
 examples of mdustrial .lemocracy,. they involve no clement ".L" 
 Uve bargaining or joint control over terms and condit ons Z, "n 
 ployment. Complete authority is centered in the managemen tl 
 committees merely giving advice and suggestions mTZ' 
 may not be a.-cepted by the management.'^^Tl e "we" uSon" 
 an,l methods of operation of these committees idSy-'t .em ^ h 
 the service work of the plants rather than with problems of ba -I 
 mg, of wages, hours, aiul shop disciphnc, which as I luT 
 presently arc the subjects that must 'be handi:!! '« 1 „",;:;;; 
 
 cri:f::^Su:;r'"'"^"'"" '"" "'""'"'^ " '--"^ "™--^ 
 
 Employers' unions.-Thc second group of organizations mav bo 
 calle.1 -employers' unions." I„ this group arc inchuM a Thot 
 
 Co. plan, n, recognize the right of wage earnci^ to bargain coUec 
 lively will their cmployei^ * * *;- or which by Clic " m 
 recognize tlu- principle of coUcctive bargaining between fhe emn " 2 
 and , her employei., a. do the plan.s of tire Bethleh 1 g ^^7 
 . c International Har^x-stcr Co., an<l the Colorado Fuel & on S' 
 he cmployci.' organizations in this group represent a long J cp in' 
 the cUiection of industrial democracy, for they involve geftit' ,^ 
 
 MAITAGEMENT, KKPRESENTATION, AND INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY. 7 
 
 consent of the employees who arc the governed in industry, in the 
 making of industrial laws. You remomhor that our Declaration of 
 Independence says that government derives its just powers from 
 the consent of the governed. As political democracy provides for 
 the consent of the governed in the State, so industrial democracy 
 will provide for the consent of the governed in industry. The differ- 
 ence between these ''employers' unions'' and the onhnary unions 
 knowTi as "organized labor" is that the former are initiated by the 
 employers; they are confined to one company rather than connected 
 with a national organization of employees, and the management is 
 not excluded from the meetings. 
 
 Trade-unions.— The third group of organized workers are the 
 ordinary labor unions, and they usually involve wi-itten or under- 
 stood agreements between national unions of the employees and 
 individual firms or associations of employers. The a^'reements 
 invariably cover wages and hours and usually working conditions 
 as well. 
 
 Danger of misconceptions of employees* representation.— However 
 much the employer whose workers are included in the third group 
 may object to the principle of collective ])argahiing, he understands 
 thoroughly that his agreement with the union involves that principle. 
 In the second group, however, in the plans we have called "employers' 
 unions," there is not always this clear understanding on the part of 
 the employer of what his employees' organization involves. Where 
 the principle of collective bargaining is present only by implication, 
 as is true in practically all the plans except that of the Midvale 
 Steel Co., it quite often happens that the employer does not realize 
 that his plan involves this principle. The employees, however 
 usually assume it does not mean anything unless it gives them the 
 opportunity to bargain collectively with their employers. It is 
 hardly necessary for me to point out to a group of emplo3Tnent 
 managers that any misunderstanding like this of the purposes of a 
 plan of employee representation is hkely to cause trouble between 
 employer and employee, making the employees feel that they have 
 been deluded, while the employers are likely to think that the workers 
 are ungrateful for all the things the management has been trying 
 to do for them. 
 
 Collective bargaining basis of industrial democracy.— In spite of 
 the danger in misunderstandings of this kind a deluge of shop com- 
 mittees and employee-representation plans is flooding the country. 
 Employers, feeling unrest and distrust among their employees, are 
 seizing on these plans as a soTt of panacea for all their labor troubles 
 without clearly anal3'zing their troubles and the nature of the reme- 
 dies. Employment managers— and labor experts also, I am sorry 
 to say— are zealously advocating representative committees as if the 
 
8 MANA<JEMENT, REPRESENTATION, AND INDUSTRIAL. DEMOCBACT. 
 
 mere organization of tlw^e would of itself solve any labor problem. 
 A greAt many of our labor difTiculties are caused by ptwr labor man- 
 agement. Democratic organizations of employees will not removt! 
 these. Only good management will help in such cases. Employees' 
 organizations are needed to deal with labor troid>les that arise under 
 the l>est management, tliat grow out of the democratic movement 
 in industry. 
 
 Diagnosing the labor problem. — Bt^fore attempting to deal with 
 organizations of his employees the employer ought to have a thorough 
 understanding of the labor (juestion. He must analj^ze the relations 
 between his own management and his working force, and he must 
 have complete knowledge of the labor administration machiTiery al- 
 ready existing in his plant, which labor relations this machinery is 
 designed to handle and which it is not equipjHMl to handle. This is 
 the diagnosis part of the job and, unfortunately, diagnosing the indus- 
 trial ills in a plant is usually neglected by both emi)loyers and lalwr 
 experts. Remedies are applied because of their supposed general 
 healing powers, and just now sho]) committ^^es seem to be the most 
 popular of these patent medicines. You may have heard of the 
 country doctor who, when he did not know how to diagnose a case, 
 gave his patients a concoction to throw them into fits. And he liad 
 a good remedy for fits. We nmst avoid thinking that all labor 
 troubles arc just fits that can be cured by one remedy like com- 
 mittees. 
 
 Two kinds of labor relations. — Let us, therefore, try to analyze 
 the relations between employers and employees, and sec if we can 
 find out the nature of various kinds of industrial ills and which of 
 these can be removed by organizing the working force. In any plan 
 or policy of labor management for industrial enterprises two sets of 
 labor relations must be clearly distinguished. First, the personal re- 
 lations which present the personnel management problems; and, 
 secondly , the economic collective relations which cover the problems 
 of bargaining and democracy. The names I have given to these are 
 not very apt, but the dilTerent kinds of relations exist and must bo 
 dealt with in different ways. Perhaps wo can get the distinction 
 more clearly if we describe in more detail the two sets of labor rela- 
 tions. 
 
 Personal relations. — What I have called the personal relations 
 presents the problem of managing human beings in industry. It 
 means handling the human element that goes into production with 
 the same understanding of the feelings, instincts, prejudices, and 
 characteristics of the workers as the management has of the materials 
 and mechanical forces which it uses. The personal relations in in- 
 dustry cover such questions as hiring, selection, placement, training, 
 promotion, treatment by foremen, health, safety, recreation, lunches, 
 
 MANAGEMENT, BEPKESENTATION, AND INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY. 9 
 
 rest periods, etc. These questions, as we shall see presently are not 
 essentially controversial in nature; they do not involve conflicting 
 interests and they have to be settled by good management and 
 scientific experts ratlM>r than by democratic decisions of majorities. 
 
 Economic relations. — The second set of labor relations, those which 
 I have called the (>conomic or collective relations, presents quite a 
 different problem. It has to do with the division of iho ])roduct of 
 industry, with the government or control of industry, with bargaining, 
 wages, hours, unionism, and shop discipline. The return that work- 
 ers should get for their labor, the numl>er of hours they shall work 
 for what they get, the authority they sh*ll have in fixing terms and 
 conditions of employment, the voice they shall have in making dis- 
 •iplinarv ndes and punishing infractions of such rules — tliese are 
 questions that present controversial issues which can not be settled 
 by aiiy technical ex}>ert. They are matters which require demo- 
 cratic decisions and aliout which a wide diversity of opinion will be 
 permitted in any democratic system of industry. 
 
 £mplo3rment problems one phase of personal relations. — The 
 personal illations in industry divide themselves further into two sets 
 of probhMiis, First, the employment problems; secondly, the service 
 problems. The employment problems require an administrative or- 
 ganization — commonly called a centraliijed employment depart- 
 ment — for properly recruiting the work force, selecting and placing 
 the workers, intelligently training them and educating them in their 
 work, and {)roviding an adequate system of promotion and transfer 
 t«t,give advancement to the ambitious and the capable, to make re- 
 adjustments for those unsuited to certain work or to certain foreman, 
 and to provide steady employment when the amount of work in dif- 
 ferent departments of the plant fluctuates. 
 
 Service problems another phase of personal relations. — The service 
 problems arc somwhat different from these. They arise from the 
 mere fact that a large number of human beings are congregated under 
 one roof and the management must provide a service organization to 
 meet the human neoxh that develop under such circumstances. 
 Health problems arise, sanitation and medical care is needed. Safety 
 must be looked after and comixjnsation for accidents provided. Then 
 there is the education and pix)tection of the foreigner, the illiterate, 
 and* the juvenile employees; providing eating, rest, and recreation 
 facilities, insurance and pensions, maintaining and building up morale. 
 While the service and employment problems differ somewhat in 
 nature, they are alike in that they do not present essentially contro- 
 versial questions. They are two phases of the personal relations in 
 industry; both are personnel management problems rather than eco- 
 nomic problems of democracy or government. 
 
10 MANAGEMENT, REPRESENTATION, AND INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY, 
 
 Personnel management required under any system of industry.- 
 Wiether we have a system of privately owned industry or Govern- 
 ment ownership, or socialism or bolshevism, these problems remain 
 the same. How to manage the working force with due regard to the 
 fact that It IS made up of human beings and not some abstract thing 
 called labor, ' how to provide for their human needs and how to 
 use their characteristics, feelings, instincts, ideals, and ambitions to 
 get the greatest amount of production-these are problems that 
 confront not only the private industrial manager— Mr. Burleson is 
 up agamst them too, and so is Lenin, the Bolshevist, and Tchaikowsky 
 the moderate Sociahst. Democracy is not the problem here-the 
 problem is scientific, efficient management. In these matters of 
 purely personal relations final authority may be safely lodged in the 
 hands of experts and scientists. 
 
 Safety and sanitation technical problems.-We have made somo 
 progress in this direction in the matters of safety and sanitation 
 ±.mployers and workers are generally agreed that every place of 
 employment should be as safe and sanitary as it is possible to make 
 It. What constitutes a safe and healthful place of employment is a 
 subject for the safety expert, the sanitary engineer, and the medical 
 man to decide after research and investigation rather than for a 
 decision by a democratic majority. It is easy to see that safety 
 and health problems are technical and not essentially controversial 
 and that the same holds for the other welfare or purely service prob- 
 lems wiU also be admitted. But it is not so obvious that the other 
 phase of the personal relations, the employment problems, are also 
 technical and need to be handled by experts and scientific men 
 
 Personnel management also a technical problem.— We have a 
 notion that everything in the world is natural except human beings 
 Ihe materials and the mechanical forces used in industry work 
 according to their natural characteristics and the laws of their beinff 
 but humans, we think, act any old way, and if they are employees 
 they ought to do anything the employer expects of them. A manac^or 
 would never expect wood or concrete to stand strains and do work that 
 only steel can do. He wiU employ a trained man who understands 
 these materials to decide the different uses to which they are put 
 But while the manager will say that there are lots of workmen with 
 wooden heads, he seldom thinks of employing a trained man who 
 knows the difference between wooden-headed men and other different 
 kinds of men to decide the different uses to which they shaU be put 
 Quahties, characteristics, and capacities of human beings are subjects 
 of scientific study just as are the quahties and characteristics of 
 materials or steam or electrical power. As we expect an engineer 
 to know something about the boilers or turbines he handles, so we 
 ought to expect the men who want to manage the human engines to 
 
 MANAGEMENT, REPRESENTATION, AND INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY. 11 
 
 know something about the emotions, the intellects, the capacities 
 and the resistance power of human beings. Slowly we are beginning 
 to realize this and the movement for expert employment managers 
 is the best evidence of this. 
 
 Democracy in industry not technical problem. — But the employ- 
 ment manager or human engineer is a technical man like the safety 
 expert, the medical man, or the sanitary engineer. He is not a 
 statesman or a politician and it is not his function to deal with 
 questions of democratic control or government of industry. More- 
 over, the better expert he is at his employment work the less qualified 
 he is likely to be at the controversial questions that comprise the 
 second set of labor relations, which we have called the economic col- 
 lective relations in industry. He is fikely to try to decide these by 
 absolute scientific laws when they are very much a matter of 
 opinion and bargaining power. . . 
 
 Welfare committees v. Representative organizations.- Committees 
 of employees maybe used by the technical men who handle the personal 
 relations in industry, but they are not the same kind of organizations 
 of employees that are needed to deal with the economic or govern- 
 mental relations. The first can be permitted to offer to the manage- 
 ment only advice and suggestions. The second must liave a veto 
 power on the acts of the management and will sooner or later demand 
 an equal voice in determining wages and hours and controlling dis- 
 cipline. . What we have earlier in this paper called shop committees 
 proper are nothing more than advisory committees on employment 
 and service problems. W^elfare committees might be a better name 
 for them. They deal with personal problems only, with personal 
 management questions; yet either in ignorance or as a subterfuge 
 they are ^^ommonly offered to employees as industrial democracy. 
 
 Shop committees not necessary for good personnel management. ■ 
 
 Thin is,i>laying with fire, or with d3namite, if you prefer that. Any 
 employer who is not ready for collective bargaining, who is not look- 
 ing toward turning over to his employees 50 per cent of his control 
 over terms and conditions of emplojanent had better beware of shop 
 committees. If he desires merely to improve the personal relations 
 between his management and liis men, if he wants only to be brought 
 into closer contact with his employees for the purpose of insuring a 
 squai;e deal to them as he sees it, if he wants to sec that justice is done 
 to every emi)loyee as he sees justice, then all he needs is a good employ- 
 ment and, service organization. Wliat he wants to accomplish can 
 best be done by expert employment and service managers. Shop 
 committees are not at all necessary and they are likely to confuse 
 the managers with issues of democratic control of industry while the 
 employees may be misled into thinking they are going to have a real 
 voice in the management and become resentful and rebellious when 
 
12 MANAGEMENT, REPRESENTATION, AND INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY. 
 
 thoy find out the truth. If these advisory shop committees are used 
 in personnel management work it is very important that most careful 
 exphmations be made to the employees so that they will not misunder- 
 stand. 
 
 Committees necessary only when employer gives up exclusive 
 control. — It is always dangerous for an emj)loyer who wishes to 
 maintain personal control of his business to use representative com- 
 mittees, which are a device of industrial democracy. The adminis- 
 trative machinery of such committees is designed primarily for the 
 collective action required in dealing with the economic or govern- 
 mental relations in industry. Only when he is ready to administer 
 justice to his employees as they understand justice, only when he is 
 ready to give them a veto power on his acts and to insure them a 
 trial by their peei-s, a jury of fellow employees, should an employer 
 inaugurate an employee-representation plan. For once he begins to 
 deal with governmental relations in industry he must create wage- 
 iixing committees of employees, arbitration boards, and impartial 
 umpires. In a word, he must be prepared to give up his exclusive 
 control over wages, hours, and shop discipline. 
 
 Committees and unionism. — Perhaps you still doubt my statement 
 that representative committees are essentially devices of unionism 
 and collective bargaining. Perhaps you think I am not justified in 
 caUing the employee-representation plans ''Employers' Unions." Let 
 me,' therefore, support my statements with citations from the expe- 
 rience of England and America with works committees. 
 
 Works committees grew out of trade-union practices. — The United 
 States Shipping Board has published a report of an investigation of 
 ''Works Committees and Joint Industrial Councils" and finds tliat— 
 
 Worlcs comrnittecs have ovolvpd out of certain shop practices and onjanizations' of 
 union labor. * * * It is evident that the institution of shop or works commiUees 
 V ill be easiest where both employers and workmen are already accustomed to (Collec- 
 tive action throutih trade-union oreanization. This fact explains the coniparatively 
 large number of committees in Enj^lish establishments and their paucity in American 
 indiistrv'. * * * Jn England the movement has developed <}uite naturally upon 
 the basis of the craft or shop stewards so that the backbone of the committee system 
 there may be said to be an already existent trade organization.^ 
 
 Whitley committee supports unionism. — The Whitley connnittee, 
 appointed in England to report on industrial reconstruction problems, 
 which has done more to popularize shop committees than tuiy other 
 single cause, insists throughout its reports that works committees 
 should be based wherever possible on union organization. It says; 
 
 Our proposals as a vhole assume the existence of organizations of both employer 
 and employed and a frank and full recognition of such organizations. Works commit- 
 tees established otherwise than in accordance with these principles could not be 
 
 » Works Committees and Joint Industrial Councils. A report by A. B. Wolfe, U. S. Shipping Board, 
 Emergency Fleet Corporation, Industrial Relations. 
 
 MANAGEMENT, REPRESENTATION, AND INDUSTRIAL DEMO(^RACY. IS 
 
 fefrarded as a part, of the scheme we have recommended, and miji:ht, indeeds be a 
 hindrance to the development of new relations in industry to which we look forward. 
 We think the aim sho\ild be the complete and coherent orfranization of the trade on 
 both sides, and Works CommitteeB will be of value in so far as they contribute to sucK 
 a result.^ 
 
 Position of the American Federation of Labor. — The American 
 Federation of Labor understands it that way, too, for it has ofTicially 
 gone on record for an arrangement whereby — 
 
 First, a committee of the workers would regularly meet with the shop management 
 to confer over matters of production; and whereby, 
 
 Second, such committee could carry, beyond the foreman and the superintendent, 
 to (he general manager or to the president, any imi)ortant grievance which the workers 
 may have with reference to wages, hours, and conditions.'' 
 
 War Labor Board couples committees with collective bargaining.— 
 And the National War Labor Board which made collective bargaining 
 a basic principle of its work coupled this principle with shop com- 
 mittees in most of its decisions. Again and again it used the follow- 
 ing: words in its awards: 
 
 As the right of workers to bargain collectively through committees has been 
 recognized by the l>oanl, the company shall recognize and deal with such committees 
 after they have l)een constituted by the employees under the supervision of an exam- 
 inet of the National War Labor Board and by a method of election prrscribed by the 
 board. 
 
 An employer's experience. — Finally, we have the opinion of the 
 vice president of the American Rolling Mill Co.-, summarizing years of 
 experience : 
 
 Where the men arc organized I think this plan can be operated very successfully, 
 but wh( re fhe men do not belong to our organization and are not rcv«ponsible to an 
 or^nization made up of their fellow workmen, I doubt the success of the committee 
 plan ^.a regular policy.' 
 
 fenipioyers* unions v. Organized labor. — Assuming that employers 
 an?co^vjin(,*ed that organizing representative committees in their plants 
 means collective bargaining and unionism, should they try to keep 
 the employees they organize into works committees away from the 
 the regular labor unions ? Will employers' unions be perpetuated as 
 substitutes for organized labor or will these employers' unions 
 develop into bona fide labor organizations^ 
 
 Warning of the Whitley committee. — On this point let mc quote 
 tho'Wiiitley committee again: 
 
 We think it important to state that the success of the works committee s would be 
 verv seriouslv int^Tfercd with if the idea existed that such committees were used, 
 or likely to be us-^d, by employers in opposition to trade-unionism. It is strongly 
 felt that the aetting up of works committees without the cooperation of the ti-ade- 
 
 » Report of an inquiry as to Works Oortimfttprs. Reprinted by U. S. Shipping Board, 1919, p. 16. 
 ^Thirtj-oiRhth Annual Rpport of the Ameriran Federation of Labor, 1918, p. 85. 
 •United Stales Shipping Board Report, p. 159. 
 
14 MANAGEMENT, REPRESENTATION, AND INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY. 
 
 unions and the eirployers' afsociaticns in the trade or l.ranch of trade concerned 
 would stand in the way of the improved industrial relationships which in these reporta 
 we are endeavoring to further. 
 
 In an industry whtro the work people are unor?j:anizcd, or only very partially 
 organized, there is a danger that works committee,? may be us:d, or thought to be used, 
 in opposition to trade-unionism. It is important that such fears should be guardeei 
 against in the initiation of any se-hcme. We look upon successful works committees 
 as the bre>ad base of the industrial stnicture which we have recommended, and aa 
 the means of enlisting the interest oi the workers in the suceess both of the industry 
 to which they are attached and of the workshop or factory where so mu<h of their 
 life is spent. Thes.' committees should not, in constitution or methcds of working 
 discourage trade organizations. > ' 
 
 Works committees not substitute for unions.— Please note the 
 insistence that the essential purpose of any attempt to organize tho 
 working force— namely, the improvement of relations between 
 employer and employee— will be defeated if works committees or 
 representation plans are to be used as a substitute for organized 
 labor or as a means of destroying it. This is the point I wish to 
 emphasize, in conclusion, also. And you will note in all the intelli- 
 gently prepared employee-representation plans a clause to the effect 
 that these plans shall not abridge or conflict with the right of employe© 
 to belong to labor unions. 
 
 The labor organizations that make coUective agreements with 
 employers covering wages, hours, and discipline are here to stay. 
 It is their practices that gave rise to shop committees and they will 
 grow in power and prestige with the extension of the committee 
 and employee representation plans. There can not be complete 
 industrial democracy until bargaining power is equalized between 
 the management that owns a thousand jobs and the man who wants 
 to hold one of these. To bargain on equal terms the thousand men 
 must act as one in dealing with the management. And there can bo 
 no such unity until the employees are organized independently of 
 the emplen'cr. 
 
 Summary and conclusion. — Let not this statement, however, 
 mislead you into thinking that I am advocating trade-unionism to 
 3^ou or to any employer. I am advocating only that the employer 
 should know what he is about when he begins to form oi^ganizations 
 of his employees. I point out the democratic trend in industry to 
 show you what you are headed for once you get away from the purely 
 personnel management questions and pass over into the domain of 
 collective and democratic relations between employer and -employee. 
 It has been my purpose in this paper to point out that pei-sonnel 
 management, the handling of the emplo^Tnent and service problems 
 in a plant, however scientifically and efficiently this may be done, 
 can not meet the demands of democracy in industrial relations. 
 
 'Report of an Inquiry on Works Committees, p. 127. 
 
 MANAGEMENT, REPRESENTATION, AND INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY. 15 
 
 Mere welfare committees attached to such management is not democ- 
 racy and when an employer thinks or pretends that it is he is preparing 
 trouble for himself. If he is not ready to give up personal control 
 of justice let him })eware 6f any employees' organization. Once 
 he starts with committees he is on the road to unionism, and he can't 
 stop or go back. Welfare committees in England, the Yvliitlcy 
 report shows, have pre{)arcd the way for works committees and a 
 strengthened unionism. In this country the employer wiU find that 
 our shop committees tend to become employers' unions, and these 
 will develop into labor organizations, independent of the employer, 
 to complete the tiend toward industrial democracy. 
 
 » 
 
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 NEH 
 
 i£P2 81994 
 
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 WORKING CONDITIONS SERVICE. 
 
 A FEDERAL agency created to deal with problems of todustrial 
 A hygkne, acddent prevention, and admimstration of the labor 
 forces in industry. 
 
 l-UKNISHES valuable aid to industrjr by collecting and andyzing 
 F data on all general elements that are interwoven mto mdustna. 
 operations. 
 
 A /lAINTAINS a consultant service whereby managers of industrial 
 M enltprises may secure expert advice on special problems 
 arising m particular plants. 
 
 TAEVELOPS methods of labor administration designed to decrease 
 D cost of production and bring about better mdustnal relations 
 and coiisequentiy greater efficiency. 
 
END OF 
 TITLE