4. So far as practicable, the apprentices in the trimming room shall begin on their work on the lower grades of the trade and shall be advanced gradually to the more difficult ones. 5. Apprentices shall not be permanently transferred to work requiring the use of any electric machines until they have been employed for one year or more. 6. The wages of experienced men employed shall be determined in the same manner as in the cutting room. 7. The jack boys and canvas pickers are to be under the jurisdiction of the union, with this express provision: that these two sections are not to be under the agreed scale for trimmers, but are to be subject to a special scale of wages, which scale is to be subject to the decision of the board of arbitration. Williston, Sections 1654-1656 AGREEMENT BETWEEN MANHATTAN SILK Co., College Point, L. I. and AMALGAMATED TEXTILE WORKERS OF AMERICA By New York Silk Ribbon Local Union Queens Silk Ribbon Local Union Brooklyn Silk Ribbon Local Union Board of Greater N. Y. Silk Ribbon Local Unions This collective bargaining agreement is entered into with the intention of providing a method for adjusting all differences that may arise in regard to wage and working conditions of the weavers working on ribbon looms in Greater New York in the employ of the manufacturers signing this agreement. On the part of the employers, it is the expectation that this compact of peace will result in the establishment and maintenance of a high order of efficiency and discipline by the willing co-operation of the weavers. On the part of the union, it is the expectation that this compact will insure that the organization of the weavers will be strong enough to discipline its own members in accordance with the terms of this agreement. The parties to this pact realize that the interests sought to be reconciled herein ordinarily tend to pull apart, but they enter into this agreement in the faith that by the exercise of a cooperative and constructive spirit it will be possible to bring and keep them together. This will involve as an indispensable prerequisite the suppression of the militant spirit by both parties and the development of reason instead of force as the rule of action. It will require also mutual consideration and concession and a willingness on the part of each party to regard and serve the interests of the other for the common good. With this attitude assured it is believed no differences can arise which this machinery cannot mediate and resolve in the interest of co-operation and harmony. Public interest requires increasing production as a prime factor in reducing commodity prices. Wages, hours and working conditions should be regulated by this requirement. Weavers should not intentionally restrict individual output to create an artificial scarcity of labor as a means of increasing wages or of equalizing the productivity and wages of weavers having different degrees of skill and ability; employers should not intentionally restrict production to create an artificial 1 Sub-divisions of Sections have been lettered for convenience. scarcity of the product in order to increase prices, nor should employers invoke methods that prove hurtful to the health, future productivity or welfare of the weavers. Any action by a weaver or a union official directed against the prestige and welfare of an employer, and any action by an employer directed towards undermining the union shall be a distinct violation of this agreement. Section 1. Parties to the Agreement. This agreement is entered into between the manufacturing concerns, whose names are subscribed hereto, known as the employers, and Amalgamated Textile Workers of America, known as the union. This agreement shall be considered ratified and in existence only upon the execution of same in the following manner: Each and every employer, through a duly authorized member of the firm or officer of the corporation, must sign this agreement; on the part of the union, the official or accredited representative of the New York, Brooklyn and Queens Silk Ribbon local unions of the Amalgamated Textile Workers of America and of the national organization of the Amalgamated Textile Workers of America, shall sign this agreement upon an authority received from a two-thirds vote of the members of each of the local unions, which vote shall be by secret ballot and a certified copy of such votes shall be submitted to the employers. In addition thereto, the weavers in the particular shops of each of the employers signing this agreement shall similarly denote their acceptance of this agreement by authorizing three representative weavers from each shop to sign this agreement on behalf of the weavers they represent. This agreement shall be effective as to the wages and conditions of employment of weavers employed by the employers immediately upon their return to work. Section 2. Return to Work. The weavers in all shops agree to return to work immediately after the signing of this agreement on the same conditions as existed on March 8, 1920, with the exceptions that there shall be an advance of seven and onehalf per cent. (72%) on the piece work rates, and the minimum ratings in the individual shops, in existence on March 8, 1920, of 70 cents per hour and 75 cents per hour are to be 80 cents per hour; the minimum rating of 80 cents per hour is to be 85 cents per hour, and the minimum rating of 85 cents per hour is to be 90 cents per hour. Section 3. Additional Parties. After this agreement has been signed as herein provided, additional employers and weavers may come under the terms of this agreement, provided such employers, and the local union affected and the weavers of such employers similarly designate their intention in writing to accept the provisions of this agreement. No additional employer shall become a party hereto until approved by the employers then parties to this agreement, and the employers shall have full power of expulsion of any employer. Such additional employers shall be subject to assessments and dues as provided by the employers who have signed theretofore, and in the event that such proposed assessments or dues are a true deterrent operating against the signing of this agreement by such additional employers, the Impartial Chairman shall have full powers to vary such assessments or dues. Section 4. Expenses. All expenses in connection with the operation of the machinery of adjustment herein established shall be divided equally between the union and the employers, it being understood that the employers may apportion their share of the expense between the individual employers on such a basis as they may see fit, and that the union may likewise apportion its half of the expense among its members as it sees fit. The Impartial Chairman shall be empowered to assess and collect the necessary funds in accordance with the proposed budgets previously submitted by him and approved by the Trade Council. The custody and disbursements of all funds necessary for the operation of this agreement shall reside with the Impartial Chairman. Immediately upon the taking of office of the Impartial Chairman there shall be paid into the general fund the sum of Twenty-five hundred dollars ($2,500) by the employers, and Twenty-five hundred dollars ($2,500) by the Amalgamated Textile Workers of America, it being further understood that the total expense of conducting this machinery may approximate the sum of Fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) per annum. Section 5. Impartial Chairman. There shall be selected by the signers to this agreement as soon after the signing of the agreement as possible, a person agreed upon to serve as Impartial Chairman, who shall devote his full time and attention to the duties of this office. All complaints, disputes or grievances arising between the parties hereto in relation to wages and working conditions of weavers shall be submitted to the Impartial Chairman either on appeal as hereinafter provided or for determination in the first instance. The Impartial Chairman may lay down rules and regulations as to the manner and method in which matters may be brought before him and in such rules may provide that all complaints, disputes and grievances shall be submitted in writing, but in no event shall the Impartial Chairman make a ruling in relation to any matter before him until ample opportunity has been given for the introduction and rebuttal of evidence by all parties affected. All testimony taken before the Impartial Chairman shall be open to both sides and shall be properly recorded. In case of death, resignation or inability to act on the part of the Impartial Chairman, the Trade Council as hereinafter created, shall fill the vacancy. All pending matters shall be held in abeyance until the vacancy is filled. Full performance of all rules, regulations and orders laid down by the Impartial Chairman shall be obligatory on all parties to the agreement. The Impartial Chairman, in order to enforce fulfillment of the rules, regulations and orders laid down by him, is hereby empowered to impose fines for wilful disregard or disobedience to any of his rules, regulations or orders. Any fine so imposed on the union or weavers shall be paid into the general fund, but shall be credited on the account of the amounts to be paid to the general fund by the employers, and likewise any fines imposed and collected from one or more employers shall be paid into the general fund and credited to the amount to be collected from the union or the weavers. In the event that a weaver fails to pay the fine so imposed upon him, the local union and the national organization shall be liable for the payment of such fines, but no such fine imposed upon a weaver shall be less than $2.00 or more than $10.00 for each offense; in the case of a fine on the union or a union official as such the fine shall not be less than $10.00 or more than $50.00 for each offense; and in no event shall any fine imposed upon any employer be less than |