When the Federation itself fails as a peacemaker, it cannot be
expected that locals will escape these controversies. There are
many examples, often ludicrous, of petty jealousies and trade
rivalries. The man who tried to build a brick house, employing
union bricklayers to lay the brick and union painters to paint
the brick walls, found to his loss that such painting was
considered a bricklayer's job by the bricklayers' union, who
charged a higher wage than the painters would have done. It would
have relieved him to have the two unions amalgamate. And this in
general has become a real way out of the difficulty. For
instance, a dispute between the Steam and Hot Water Fitters and
the Plumbers was settled by an amalgamation called the United
Association of Journeymen Plumbers, Gas Fitters, Steam Fitters,
and Steam Fitters' Helpers, which is now affiliated with the
Federation. But the International Association of Steam, Hot
Water, and Power Pipe Fitters and Helpers is not affiliated, and
interunion war results. The older unions, however, have a
stabilizing influence upon the newer, and a genuine conservatism
such as characterizes the British unions is becoming more
apparent as age solidifies custom and lends respect to by-laws
and constitutions. But even time cannot obviate the seismic
effects of new inventions, and shifts in jurisdictional matters
are always imminent. The dominant policy of the trade union is to
keep its feet on the earth, no matter where its head may be; to
take one step at a time, and not to trouble about the future of
society.
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