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Readings in Modern European History, Vol. 2
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Historical SummaryThe following statement of the principles of trade unionism is made by George Howell, who was for many years a prominent leader in the labor movement in Great Britain.
HOWELL, The Conflicts of Capital and Labor (London, 1878), pp. 147 sqq. World History 392. The Principles of Trade Unionism
In their essence trade unions are voluntary associations of workmen for mutual assistance in securing generally the most favorable conditions of labor. This is their primary and fundamental object and includes all efforts to raise wages or resist a reduction in wages; to diminish the hours of labor or resist attempts to increase the working hours; and to regulate all matters relating to methods of employment or discharge and mode of working. They have other aims also, some of them not less important than those embraced in the foregoing definition, and the sphere of their action extends to almost every detail connected with the labor of workmen and the well-being of their everyday lives....
It must be conceded that every man has a perfect right for himself to fix the price at which he will give his labor, or to refuse to work if the terms offered him do not suit him. So equally has another man the right to accept or refuse either the work or the terms without molestation from his fellow-workmen or from his employer; and that which one has the right to do singly, two or more have the right to do in agreement so long as they both individually and in combination do not interfere by unlawful means with the free action of a third party to refuse or accept the proffered terms. An employer has an equal right to say to the workman, "I will give only a certain price, or employ you on specified conditions; if you don’t like it you can go elsewhere." A good deal depends in all cases upon the manner in which these things are said and done; the right, however, remains in theory and in fact.
The needy workingman not in a position of equality with his employer
An individual workman has but little chance of obtaining what he deems a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work, or other equitable conditions of labor. His necessities often compel him to accept terms which he feels to be inadequate and even unjust, but the question with him is how to enforce higher wages or better terms. It is true that he wants work; it is equally true that the employer wants his labor, but the latter can afford to wait until another man more needy than the first applies for employment, when perhaps he will be able to obtain the services of the last comer on his own (the employer’s) terms. In any case he can but wait and see, and if he cannot procure workmen on the terms he has fixed, there is no great harm done; he can only then agree to give the higher price and secure their labor. With the journeyman it is different; he cannot wait, his means are exhausted and hunger compels him to accept any terms that may be offered.
Unions equalize conditions of bargaining
But if the workmen who are thus seeking employment have mutually agreed not to accept work below a stated price, or only upon specified conditions, and they have with others provided a fund which will enable them to withhold their labor until a better price is offered, they are justified in so doing, and they have by this arrangement placed themselves upon something like an equality with the employer, because they have the means of waiting and bidding for better terms.
Contents:
Chicago: George Howell, "The Principles of Trade Unionism," Readings in Modern European History, Vol. 2 in Readings in Modern European History: A Collection of Extracts from the Sources Chosen With the Purpose of Illustrating Some of the Chief Phases of the Development of Europe During the Last Two Hundred Years, ed. James Harvey Robinson (1863-1936) and Charles A. Beard (Boston: Ginn and Company, 1908), 485–487. Original Sources, accessed December 26, 2024, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=UTA7YHUT8HXDC8Z.
MLA: Howell, George. "The Principles of Trade Unionism." Readings in Modern European History, Vol. 2, in Readings in Modern European History: A Collection of Extracts from the Sources Chosen With the Purpose of Illustrating Some of the Chief Phases of the Development of Europe During the Last Two Hundred Years, edited by James Harvey Robinson (1863-1936) and Charles A. Beard, Vol. 2, Boston, Ginn and Company, 1908, pp. 485–487. Original Sources. 26 Dec. 2024. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=UTA7YHUT8HXDC8Z.
Harvard: Howell, G, 'The Principles of Trade Unionism' in Readings in Modern European History, Vol. 2. cited in 1908, Readings in Modern European History: A Collection of Extracts from the Sources Chosen With the Purpose of Illustrating Some of the Chief Phases of the Development of Europe During the Last Two Hundred Years, ed. , Ginn and Company, Boston, pp.485–487. Original Sources, retrieved 26 December 2024, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=UTA7YHUT8HXDC8Z.
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