Collective Bargaining as a Basis for Labor Co-operation

Published date01 November 1942
AuthorRobert J. Watt
DOI10.1177/000271624222400114
Date01 November 1942
Subject MatterArticles
84
Collective
Bargaining
as
a
Basis
for
Labor
Co-operation
By
ROBERT
J.
WATT
SINCE
1932
we
have
been
in
the
process
of
a
constructive
revolu-
tion.
This
has
been
signalized
by
the
enfranchisement
of
the
masses
of
work-
ers,
their
enfranchisement
in
the
selec-
tion of
representatives
to
determine
the
conditions
of
their
employment
through
the
processes
of
collective
bargaining.
It
has
transformed
our
industrial
rela-
tions
and
the
institutions
of
manage-
ment
and
business
in
a
way
which
may
prove
as
far-reaching
in
consequence
as
the
Revolution
of
1775.
Because
it
was
only
occasionally
a
battle
of
violence
and
bloodshed,
but
rather
fought
and
won
in
the
fields
of
legislation
and
litigation,
the
issue
has
not
been
dramatic
or
clearly
recognized.
In
truth
it
is
still
continuing.
It
is
be-
ing
continued
in
the
struggle
for
organi-
zation,
in
contested
elections
before
the
National
Labor
Relations
Board,
in
the
seesaw
tug
of
war
between
the
shrinking
forces
of
reaction
and
of
progress
in
the
determination
of
legislative
and
ad-
ministrative
policy,
and
even
in
the
formulation
of
public
opinion
through
propaganda.
Enough
progress
has
been
made
so
that
we
may
safely
say
that
the
declared
public
policy
of
the
American
people
has
established
economic
democracy
as
the
American
way
of
life,
unless
a
startling
reversal
occurs.
However,
the
question
which
still
faces
our
Nation
is
whether
we
are
to
lay
so
constructive
and
en-
during
a
foundation
that
it
can
and
will
meet
the
tests
of
time
and
changing
needs
of
the
masses.
It
is
like
the
situa-
tion
which
the
members
of
the
Constitu-
tional
Convention
faced
when
they
had
to
decide
whether
to
build
a
strong
na-
tion
or
a
weak
federation
of
sovereign
states.
The
pressure
of
the
war
pro-
gram,
in
my
opinion,
will
either
hasten
and
strengthen
the
foundation
or
wreck
the
small
start
which
has
been
made.
UNIONS
MUST
PROVE
THEIR
VALUE
In
the
process
the
importance
of
col-
lective
bargaining
cannot
be
easily
ex-
aggerated.
Whether
economic
democ-
racy
is
to
be
built
in
a
straight
line
with-
out
setback
or
fumbling
will
depend
to
a
large
degree
on
the
extent
to
which
collective
bargaining
proves
itself
to
the
workers
whom
it
represents
and
whom
it
must
satisfy
if it
is
to
hold
its
place
and
gather
support
for
economic
democracy.
Unions
must
prove
their
value
to
their
economic
constituency
at
a
time
when
their
normal
functions
in
the
improvement
of
wages,
hours,
and
conditions
of
work
are
seriously
cur-
tailed
by
the
necessity
of
avoiding
inter-
ference
with
the
processes
of
production
for
the
war
effort.
This
would
not
be
so
difficult
if
there
were
not
so
many
unsolved
grievances,
so
much
resistance
by
so
many
employers,
so
much
agita-
tion
by
fascist-minded
labor
baiters,
and
so
much
misrepresentation
of labor’s
ob-
jectives
by
the
press
and
radio.
It
would
be
easier
if
we
had
fewer
irre-
sponsible
officials
among
labor
organiza-
tions.
One
of
our
greatest
difficulties
is
that
we
have
some
men
who
have
in
the
bit-
ter
past
learned
one
way,
and
one
way
only,
to
protect
their
positions
against
the
unscrupulous
opposition
of
em-
ployers
and
their
stooges.
They
have
adopted
the ruthlessness
of
the
opposi-
tion
and
sought
to
outdo
it.
It
is
my
opinion
that
the
character
of
employer
opposition
usually
determines
the
char-
acter
of
the
leadership
which
labor
unions
adopt
to
meet
it.
If
the
em-
ployer
uses
force,
the
union
usually
finds
some
men
who
are
tough
enough
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