The concern that has most recently adopted a plan designed to afford employees a share in management is the Bethlehem Steel Corpora tion, and the idea is to be put in operation in all of the subsidiary companies, including sev eral of the large shipbuilding corporations of this country. The principles of representation adopted by the company will, it is hoped, give all employees a voice in regard to the condi tions under which they labor and provide an orderly and expeditious procedure for the pre vention and adjustment of any future differ ences, as well as to anticipate the problem of continuous employment.
The plan provides that employee's represen tation shall be on the following basis: Plants employing under 1,500 persons, one representa tive for each 100 employees; where 1,500 to 10,000 persons are employed, one representative for each 200 employees; when plants employ more than 10,000 persons, one representative to each 300 employees. Representatives are elected for a term of one year and shall he deemed to have vacated office upon severing connections with the company. Any employee who has been on the payroll for not less than six months, who has reached his majority and is either an American citizen or has secured first papers is entitled for election as represen tative, while employment by the company for 60 days gives an operative the right to vote on questions of representation. The company ap points a management's representative whose duty it is to keep the management in touch with the representatives.
As in the Standard Oil plan, most of the detailed work of the organization is performed through various committees, which include: Rules; Ways and Means; Safety and Accident Prevention; Practice, Methods and Economy; Employees' Transportation; Wages, Piece Work, Bonus and Tonnage Schedules; Em ployment and Working Conditions; Health and Works Sanitation; Education and Publica tions; Pensions and Relief ; Athletics and Rec reation, and Continuous Employment and Con dition of Industry.
The company by agreement guarantees that a representative shall be free to discharge his duties in an independent manner, without fear that his standing with the management will be affected by any action taken by him in his official capacity, and, to assure such independ ence of action, he is given permission to take a question of alleged discrimination against him on this account to any superior officer, to the president of the company, and, failing re lief, to the State Department of Labor or to the secretary of labor of the United States.
Grievances which may occur in the future are to be handled by means of the machinery provided for this purpose. For example, where an employee is unable to adjust any matter with the foreman of the works where he is em ployed, it may be taken, either by the employee himself or, if he prefers, by his representa five: (1) to the superintendent of the depart ment; (2) with the management's representa tive, and (3) with one of the superior officers of the company, who will endeavor to effect a settlement, or who may, with the approval of all parties concerned, refer the question to the proper joint committee, consisting of the committee of employees' representatives with the addition of the same number of company's representatives, named by the management. If
this method fails to effect adjustment within a reasonable time, the matter may be referred to the general joint committee on appeals, and if this settlement proves unsatisfactory, the president of the company shall be notified, and the question in dispute may thus be referred to an arbitrator, or arbitrators, to be deter mined by the nature of the controversy.
Another experiment in industrial peace through democracy in management was started in the Middle West in June 1914, and, as re ported by the United States Department of Labor, the plan has proved so effective that all such questions as wage bargaining, hours of labor, discipline, discharges and adjustment of all grievances have now been put upon a col lective basis.
Under this plan, all phases of management in which the employees are directly interested are handled through three separate bodies, known respectively as the senate, the cabinet and the house of representatives. The senate and cabinet represent the interests of the firm, while the members of the house of representa tives are elected from among those employees of the company who have been in continuous service for at least six months, the election being by popular vote, in the ratio of one repre sentative for every 15 employees, with the ex ception that a department having less than 15 operatives is given a representative.
Both the senate and the house of represen tatives have the power to initiate a proposition that is of interest to the employees, and may discuss and act upon all matters affecting their welfare. In case of disagreement in the ac tions of these two bodies, the matter is referred to a joint conference committee composed of an equal number of members from each body, and the results of their deliberations are finally submitted to the cabinet — composed of mem bers of the executive board of the firm— for approval.
Much of the detailed business of the indus trial congress is transacted by joint standing committees, including the betterment committee, which hears all complaints and adjusts griev ances, the welfare committee, which deals with questions affecting the health and comfort of the workers, and the wage committee, the func tions of which are: (1) To recommend and pass upon general changes in wages; (2) to suggest and pass upon minimum and maximum rates to be paid for the various operations ac cording to skill involved, length of service and steadiness in attendance; (3) to sit with the planning board of the company for the pur pose of passing upbn individual increases in wages, and (4) to receive complaints of indi viduals to whom increases were denied. See ARBITRATION, INDUSTRIAL; PROFIT SHARING.