TUE STRIKE. Trade union regulations specting strikes (see STRIKES AND LOCKOUTS) are so diverse that it is impossible to describe them in a few sentences. Generally speaking, the local union is the active agent in the strike; the national organizations in which a bieal may be forced to strike against its will number prob ably less than a dozen, and in only three or four may a local be expelled for striking against the decision of the national officers. The con trol of the locals is through the purse. Many of the unions maintain protective funds, or war chests, Nvhich in the well-managed organizations frequently assume very respectable proportions. If the local desires strike pay and other financial support it must refrain from striking except in accordance with the established regulations of the union. In the better organized unions a pro cedure of the following nature is imposed upon locals: Before the strike may be considered a local grievance committee, or the local president or business agent, must attempt to settle the griev ance amicably with the employer in question. If these negotiations fail, the local may then vote upon the question of striking, and in this vote the ballot is usually secret, while in most unions a two-thirds vote is required to authorize the strike. if the local indorses the strike, the decision must be ratified by the national presi dent or executive board, and at this point, again, most unions require the national president to proceed to the scene immediately and make every effort to adjust the grievance by peaceable negotiation with the employer. Only after the
failure of this attempt may the national sanc tion be conferred upon the strike.
The effect of such regulations can be easily ap preciated. The strike of the past was sporadic, passionate, and directed against some abuse which the workers believed intolerable. The strike of the present day is deliberately and systematically conducted; it marks the rising market and pe riods of prosperity; with many trade unions it has become a settled policy. It is not intended to suggest that trade unions encourage strikes; the general opinion of economic writers is to the contrary. What is meant is that the strike as conducted by the trade union is gov erned by interest and not by passion; and that "while the most intelligent and conservative labor leaders freely recognize the expensiveness of strikes and desire to supplant them as far as possible with peaceable methods of negotia tion, they almost uniformly maintain that work ingmen gain in the long run far more than they lose by the general policy of striking." For the statistics of strikes, see STRIKES AND LOCKOUTS.