In 1900 the American Newspaper Publishers Association
and the International Typographical Union, after many years of
stubborn fighting merged their numerous differences in a trade
contract to be in effect for one year. This experiment proved so
successful that the agreement has since then been renewed for
five year periods. In 1915 a bitter strike of the garment makers
in New York City was ended by a "protocol." The principle of
collective agreement has become so prevalent that the
Massachusetts Bureau of Labor believes that it "is being accepted
with increasing favor by both employers and employees," and John
Mitchell, speaking from wide experience and an intimate knowledge
of conditions, says that "the hope of future peace in the
industrial world lies in the trade agreement." These agreements
are growing in complexity, and today they embrace not only
questions of wages and hours but also methods for adjusting all
the differences which may arise between the parties to the
bargain.
The very success of collective bargaining hinges upon the
solidarity and integrity of the union which makes the bargain. A
union capable of enforcing an agreement is a necessary antecedent
condition to such a contract. With this fact in mind, one can
believe that John Mitchell was not unduly sanguine in stating
that "the tendency is toward the growth of compulsory membership
...and the time will doubtless come when this compulsion will be
as general and will be considered as little of a grievance as
the compulsory attendance of children at school.
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