Question

Collective Bargaining: Compare the 3 guiding principles of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) to those of the One Big Union (OBU). Which variant of unionism was associated with each organization? Then discuss what the formation of the OBU signified for the labor movement at the time and what lesson(s) it can teach us about the struggles facing unions today. Justify your answer. (500 words)

Answer 1

ANSWER-

American Federation of Labor
Declaration of Principles
“Whereas a struggle is going on in the nations of the civilized world, between the
oppressors and oppressed of all countries, a struggle between capital and labor which
must grow in intensity from year to year and work disastrous results to the toiling
millions of all nations, if not combined for mutual protection and benefits. The history of
the wage workers of all countries is but the history of constant struggle and misery,
engendered by ignorance and disunion, whereas the history of the non-producers of all
countries proves that a minority thoroughly organized may work wonders for good or
evil. It behooves the representatives of the workers of North America in congress
assembled, to adopt such measures and disseminate such principles among the people of
our country as will unite them for all time to come, to secure the recognition of the rights
to which they are justly entitled. The various trades have been affected by the
introduction of machinery, the subdivision of labor, the use of women's and children's
labor and the lack of an apprentice system, so that the skilled trades are rapidly sinking to
the level of pauper labor. To protect the skilled labor of America from being reduced to
beggary and to sustain the standard of American workmanship and skill, the trades unions
of America have been established.”

One Big Union (OBU)

Principles

1.Exclusive jurisdiction- In civil procedure, exclusive jurisdiction exists where one court has the power to adjudicate a case to the exclusion of all other courts. It is the opposite situation from concurrent jurisdiction (or non exclusive jurisdiction), in which more than one court may take jurisdiction over the case.

2.Efficient Unionism-

The principles underlying these policies are those of solidarity and democracy within the union. Another aspect of the same two principles is effectiveness and efficiency. Our effectiveness is achieved by our united strength; it is measured solely by what we can do. Our efficiency is measured by the relation of our gains to the cost of those gains, whether in time, money, trouble, or the other sacrifices that labor must often make. To smash a fly with a sledge hammer is no doubt effective, but it is hardly efficient. We want maximum gains at minimum cost.

That the I.W.W. is efficient is well attested to by the fact that despite its relatively small numbers it has made disproportionate gains for labor. Its efficiency is achieved by its democracy, its rank-and-file control. There is a myth that democracy makes for inefficiency. Union experience disproves that myth.

In the first place, to get the results we want, we have to aim at those results. To let the direction of the union be in other hands than those of the members would be like trying to chop wood with someone else holding the axe handle.

In the second place, the more members have to say about union matters, and the more directly we attend to union business ourselves, the greater is the union's source of strength. We do not win our fights just by paying dues into a union treasury. Money can only pay for the facilities of the union. What makes the union go is the effort and enthusiasm of its members--something that cannot be bought.

It is this direct participation in the union business, and the system of managing that business by elected union delegates on the job and job committees rather than by full-time officials or business agents, that develops the abilities of the members. It makes the I.W.W. a force with which we can organize our own future. And thirdly, it is the organized self-reliance or autonomy of the component parts of the I.W.W. that goes with this control, that enables us to handle problems in the most convenient and least costly way. This union is built like the hand, each joint of which can move separately, but all parts of which can be brought instantly into an effective clenched fist.

3. The OBU is not out to compel men and women to join its organization. We stand solidly against discrimination or compulsion in any form and on this principle we shall continue the battle which we think should be determinedly waged, not only in the interests of a few, but for the benefit of the working class as a whole.

formation of the OBU -

The One Big Union (OBU) was a radical labour union formed in Western Canada in 1919. It aimed to empower workers through mass organization along industrial lines. The OBU met fierce opposition from other parts of the labour movement, the federal government, employers and the press. Nevertheless, it helped transform the role of unions in Canada.

Background

As with many countries in the industrialized world, labour unions began in Canada in the 1800s. The first to form them were skilled labourers. Workers organized within specific trades, such as typesetting or bricklaying. Their unions tended to focus on issues specific to those trades, including certification and working conditions (see Craft Unionism).

In the early 1900s, syndicalism, a more radical form of labour organizing, became more popular worldwide. It argued that, as capitalist enterprise and state governments grew in power, the only way for workers to ensure their rights was to organize on a mass scale. A notable syndicalist union was the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). It was based in the United States and had chapters in the Canadian West. In 1911, the IWW outlined its philosophy in a pamphlet titled One Big Union. That phrase also became the IWW’s slogan.

Syndicalist ideas struggled to catch on in Eastern Canada. The eastern labour unions, allied with the American Federation of Labor, enforced the status quo. They sometimes expelled members who sought to organize across professional lines. Syndicalism proved more popular in Western Canada. The West had a larger proportion of unskilled labourers, a large immigrant population and closer ties to radical American union organizers. However, labour unions nationwide kept their traditional structures until 1919.

Formation

Divisions between labour movements on either side of the country gradually grew. During the First World War, they came to a head. The Eastern-dominated Trades and Labour Congress of Canada (TLC) called for the United States to join the war and supported conscription. These acts outraged Western labour leaders, who condemned Canada’s involvement in the war. In 1918, as part of the War Measures Act, the Conservative government of Sir Robert Borden outlawed many radical political and labour groups. The ban included the IWW and groups representing German, Ukrainian and Polish speakers, many of whom participated in Western labour unions. Over the next several months, many labour leaders were arrested for participating in protests and outlawed unions.

On 13 March 1919, nearly 240 delegates of labour unions from Victoria to Winnipeg met in Calgary. They voted to leave their existing unions and the TLC and form a new union. This new union would organize along industrial lines and across professions. That June, the delegates met again to officially create the National Industrial Union of the Dominion of Canada, which became known as the One Big Union (OBU).

Winnipeg General Strike

Between the vote to secede and the creation of the One Big Union, the Winnipeg General Strike began. It was the largest strike in Canadian history. Though the OBU itself was not officially involved, many of those who helped found it also helped organize the strike — and were arrested for participating in it. The tactics of a mass general strike fit with the OBU’s overall philosophy.

Decline and Legacy

The One Big Union expanded its membership throughout 1919. By early 1920, it peaked at more than 40,000 members. However, it faced fierce opposition in the backlash against radical labour following the Winnipeg General Strike. Its opponents included the more conservative Trades and Labour Congress. In July 1919, the federal government passed Section 98. This addition to the Criminal Code extended the wartime ban of labour and political groups to peacetime. Newspapers accused the OBU of trying to lead a Bolshevik revolution in Canada. Some employers refused to negotiate with OBU members. This led to workers abandoning the OBU for other unions.

Facing these pressures and internal disagreements around organizing and tactics, OBU membership dwindled to as few as 5,000 members in 1922–23. The loss of membership gradually reduced the OBU’s radical idealism. In 1927, it joined with other labour groups to form the All-Canadian Congress of Labour, and later the Canadian Federation of Labour. The OBU began to focus more on the conditions of its members and less on mass organization. Membership gradually grew back to as many as 24,000 workers in the 1940s, almost entirely within the city of Winnipeg. The OBU was formally dissolved and absorbed into the Canadian Labour Congress in 1956.

Though the OBU’s period of influence was brief, many of its organizers went on to play prominent roles. They took part in labour, socialist and communist movements in Canada through the 1920s and ’30s (see also Communist Party of Canada). The OBU’s radical ideas also influenced a more progressive and politically active style of labour unionism in Canada.

Key Terms: One Big Union

Bolshevik

Originally, a radical member of the Russian socialist party that took power in the Russian Revolution of 1917. However, Bolshevik came to mean any revolutionary socialist.

Capitalism

An economic system in which private owners (rather than the state) control industries and collect profits.

General strike

A protest in which workers in all or most industries walk off the job.

Labour

Generally, labour means work. But in this article, it stands for workers (especially manual labourers) as a class or political power.

Labour union

A group of workers that forms to protect its members’ rights and to seek better pay, benefits and conditions. The term is often shortened to union. (See Labour Organization.)

Syndicalism

An international attempt to organize all workers into unions and workers’ councils. The goal of syndicalism was to bring down capitalism and give workers the means of production (see Marxism). To achieve this, it supported actions such as general strikes. The movement was active in the first half of the 20th century. (See Revolutionary Industrial Unionism.)