The helper and American trade unions

Front matter

Csl 00 CO o

BY

JOHN H. ASHWORTH

Chapter I. The Uses of the Helper 26

Chapter 11. The Hiring and Compensation of the

Helper 67

Chapter HI. The Organization of the Helper .... 78 Chapter IV. The Helper and Trade-Union Policy 115

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Preface

This monograph is the outgrowth of investigations carried on by the author while a member of the economic seminary of the Johns Hopkins University. The chief documentary sources of information have been the trade-union publications in the Johns Hopkins library. Documentary information, however, has been supplemented by personal observation and by interviews with leading trade unionists in Baltimore and with the secretaries of a number of national unions.

The author wishes to express appreciation for the invaluable assistance received from Professor Jacob H. Hollander and Professor George E. Barnett.

J. H. A.

vii

A " helper," as the term is used in this study, is a person employed to help the skilled journeyman or journeymen under whose supervision he works. The essential marks of a helper as here defined are two: first, he is employed to promote the work of another; second, he is supervised in his work to some extent by the mechanic whom he assists. The kind of assistance rendered and the extent of the supervision exercised vary considerably in different classes of helpers. A helper's assistance to a journeyman may be as remote as that of supplying material to another, or as immediate as that of working hand to hand with another at all times. The supervision exercised by a journeyman over a helper may extend no farther than the giving of directions as to the placing of material, or it may be so close that the helper does no work for which he is not responsible to the mechanic who is directing him.

Distinguished with respect to the nature of the work done and the relation borne to journeymen in the performance of work, helpers may be roughly divided into three classes: (i) "remote helpers," (2) "helpers proper," and (3) "advanced helpers." All or none of these classes may be found in a single trade.

(i) By a remote helper is meant an assistant who does not come into intimate contact with journeymen in the performance of work. He is, as a rule, unskilled, and is ordinarily known as a laborer. He does preparatory and subordinate work which is necessary, but which is usually not claimed by journeymen as part of the trade. In other lO THE HELPER AND AMERICAN TRADE UNIONS

words, his work begins and ends with the Hnes marking the jurisdiction of a trade. Such a helper, on account of a close connection with journeymen while at work, must ordinarilycome under the supervision of a journeyman. The hod-carrier, for example, is a helper of this class. He is a laborer who neither does nor helps to do any of the work claimed as bricklayers' work. However, the hod-carrier's work — the carrying of brick and mortar — is necessary in order that the bricklayers may proceed with their duties. As a rule, the hod-carrier is under the general supervision of a foreman, but he also receives orders from the journeymen whom he assists.

The characteristics of remote helpers differ greatly in the different trades and industries. In the building and the metal trades, where strength and endurance are required, this class of helpers is composed largely of mature men. In many industries — as the textile mills, garment factories, glass-bottle estabhshments, and printing offices — they are for the most part boys, often spoken of as " small help." Not infrequently it happens that these helpers are former journeymen who, on account of intemperance, an injury, or other causes, fail to secure positions requiring skill or carrying much responsibility.

(2) A helper proper is one whose work is so closely connected with that of a journeyman that it is necessary, or at least desirable, that he be under the direct supervision of a journeyman much or all of the time. This group of helpers may be subdivided into (a) helpers who assist mechanics at work some of which cannot be done by one man, and (b) helpers whose employment is wholly on account of the advantages of a division of labor and not on account of the absolute necessity of having two or more men cooperate in the performance of a single task.

(a) In many trades there is work which one man cannot do but which cannot be subdivided so that part can be done by one person and part by one or more other persons, each being independent in the performance of his particular duties. The process is a unit and must be executed as such. Each steam fitter, for instance, must have an assistant because he cannot by himself do the physical labor of lifting and adjusting the heavy fixtures used in steam fitting. The journeyman and his helper work hand to hand, the helper acting under the orders of the steam fitter at all times. In many cases there is no clear-cut assignment of work to the helper, what he does being left to the exigency of the case and to the discretion of the journeyman whom he assists.

In other cases there is a well-defined line between the work of the helper and that of the journeyman. For example, on a quadruple printing press it is necessary to have about six men ; one of them has charge of the work, while all of the others are assistants, commonly known as press assistants. Each assistant has specific work to do, but the press must be in charge of one man. Another example of this type, which is different in some respects from that of the pressman's assistant, is the helper to the elevator constructor. This helper is a kind of specialist who knows a specific part of a complex trade. He may be able in some measure to do the work of a machinist, an electrical worker, or the operator of a hydrauHc press. As in the case of the printing press, it is necessary that one person have general supervision of the entire work. This person is the journeyman elevator constructor, who is master of all parts of the trade.

(b) The second group of helpers proper has arisen as a result of the advantages of a division of labor. In tile setting, for instance, the ordinary duties of the helpers are to mix the cement mortar and carry it to the tile setter, to soak the tiles when such a process is necessary, to " grout the tile work after it is finished, to clean the work oft', and sometimes to cut tile when pieces are required to fit a certain space. Obviously, all this work could be done by the tile setter himself, for there is no part of it which one man is

1 That is, fill the joints.

physically incapable of performing. In this case the helper assists a journeyman by relieving him of particular parts of a trade.

Helpers proper who are employed primarily to assist mechanics at heavy or complex work may do work which does not physically require the cooperation of two or more persons. When this occurs, the above classification to some extent breaks down. For instance, a boiler maker's helper was originally employed to assist a boiler maker in heavy lifting and in putting together the parts of a boiler. Gradually this helper has come to perform the simpler parts of boiler making. The extent to which this has taken place is indicated in an agreement between the Davenport Locomotive Company and the boiler makers of that shop. This agreement stipulates that " helpers' work shall be operating of shears, punches, drill presses, threading staybolts, attending tool room, heating on flange fires, tapping out holes for staybolts and running in staybolts, firing and testing boilers and all work helping boiler makers and boiler makers' apprentices in their various duties."^

(3) By advanced helper, as the term is used in this study, is meant one who does a journeyman's work but under the supervision of a journeyman. He is ordinarily a helper proper in transition to the status of a full mechanic. A helper proper assists a mechanic by relieving him of certain parts of the work of the trade or by helping him perform work which one man cannot do, while an advanced helper assists a journeyman on a particular job, often doing work exactly similar to that done by the journeyman himself. An " improver " in tile setting, for instance, is a helper proper who has been given an assistant of his own and is doing the work of a journeyman, but is usually under the supervision of a competent tile setter. In short, he is a journeyman on probation. The "junior" or improver in the plumbing and marble trades and the advanced or " helper-apprentice " in

2 Journal of the Brotherhood of Boiler Makers and Iron Ship Builders, October, 1908, p. 726.

the blacksmiths' trade are similar to the improver in tile setting.

Some advanced helpers are of a slightly different type from that described above. The improver in the carpenters' trade, the "handy laborer" in bricklaying, and the " handyman " in machine and boiler shops, although doing journeyman's work and using journeyman's tools, are usually confined to certain kinds of work. The chief difference between an advanced helper of this type and a helper proper whose existence is due to the advantages of a division of labor is that the former works at a higher grade of work and less directly under the supervision of journeymen than does the latter. Improvers, handy-men, and handy-laborers do not always work under the supervision of mechanics, but since they more often do, it seems proper to include them within the scope of the term " helper."

The body of helpers as here defined obviously includes all auxiliary workmen or assistants connected with a trade or industry. Inasmuch as this use of the term is not in harmony with existing practice in many trades, it is necessary to indicate the terms employed in various industries.

In certain trades the auxiliary workmen are divided into two, sometimes three, classes. For example, in a machine-shop a " laborer " sweeps the floors, carts material about the shop, removes the finished product, and performs other general work of like character. Another group of workmen called helpers are men of some skill, or at least men of some experience in a machine shop. These helpers work in closer contact with the machinists than do the laborers. They get tools for the journeymen, oil and help to operate machines, and do other work which brings them under the direct supervision of the mechanic whom they assist. Still another group of auxiliary workmen known as " handy-men " or " specialists " are employed in machine shops. " Handyman " originally meant, as the name signifies, one who could make himself useful about a shop. Sometimes he would directly assist a mechanic, at other times he would be engaged in work requiring a comparatively low degree of skill, in which case he frequently worked almost independently of any mechanic. As the work in a machine-shop became more and more diversified, the work of the handy-man became more and more speciahzed, until both with respect to the work which he does and the meaning attached to the term, the " handy-man " has changed to a " specialist." These three classes of auxiliary workmen — laborers, helpers, and handy-men — correspond respectively to remote helpers, helpers proper, and advanced helpers in our classification, but the first and the last of these are not included within the term helper as the machinists use it.

In boiler making, besides laborers, helpers, and handymen, similar to workmen of the same names in the machine shops, there is another class of helpers known as " holderson." A holder-on is a speciaHst who holds bolts while a boiler maker fastens them. In printing press-rooms there are three distinct classes of helpers proper, namely, " feeders," " feeders' helpers," and " press assistants." The feeder, as the name signifies, feeds the press; the feeder's helper assists the feeder in operating the automatic feeder ; and the assistant pressman helps the pressman to care for and operate the press.

An illustration or two will serve to show that the term helper as the trade unions use it is vague, indefinite, and subject to frequent change in meaning. In 1910, when the United Brotherhood of Teamsters extended its jurisdiction and changed its name to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Stablemen and Helpers, it was proposed that all garage laborers should be known as helpers, but after some discussion it was decided that they should be included in the term " stablemen."^ In the convention of Boiler Makers in 1901 an effort was made to have the term " handy-man " substituted in the constitution for "helper." The only reason assigned for this proposed change was that the term helper caused dissatisfaction among the journeymen.*

Unions as a rule do not consider any workman a helper unless the work of that person falls within the jurisdiction of the trade. From the union standpoint, trade lines separate the work of laborers from that of helpers, but as these lines are more or less arbitrarily drawn and are subject to frequent change, any attempt to follow out this distinction would prove unsatisfactory. The International Union of Bricklayers and Masons, for example, does not extend its jurisdiction to the carrying of brick and mortar, and consequently does not consider the hod-carriers as helpers. In Porto Rico, however, where the bricklayers are organized under the jurisdiction of the American Federation of Labor, the trade lines are extended and the hod-carrier is considered the bricklayers' helper.

A union often defines a helper on the basis of skill and the time of service in the trade rather than with regard to thej nature of the work done. In an agreement between the Electrical Workers and their employers in New York, a helper is defined as " a man who has worked at the electrical construction business more than two years, and has passed the examination provided for herein and has been admitted to the union."^

In accordance with such definitions, helpers are often thought of less as assistants than as those who are organized by the union under the name helper ; not so much as those who do a certain kind of work, but as those whom the union permits to perform it. In other words, a helper is one who is registered by a union as a helper, regardless of the work he may do. This was impressed upon the writer when he was shown through a large locomotive shop by a machinist who pointed out a number of persons as helpers, though apparently they were assisting no one. On asking for an explanation, it was learned that these men were doing the work of

5 Annual Report, New York Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1908, Part I, p. 250.

l6 THE HELPER AND AMERICAN TRADE UNIONS

machinists, but my guide considered them helpers because that was the grade under which the union classified them. In reading labor journals one is impressed with the frequency with which this signification is given to the term. The following from the report of Organizer Cummings of the Steam Fitters is typical : " I would have liked to tell him (Mr. Miller) just what kind of a shop he runs — one or two steam fitters and all the helpers he sees fit to put on his jobs."® The writer meant by this that Mr. Miller was having journeyman's work performed by men regarded by the union as helpers.

The helper must be differentiated from two other classes of workmen with whom he is frequently confused. These are (i) apprentices and (2) other subordinate workmen.

( I ) With the decay of the apprentice system and the development of a helper system as a means of learning a trade, the lines of cleavage between a helper and an apprentice have become obscure in many trades.

To show the intricate relation between helpers and apprentices, let us first trace the development of the helper system of learning the plumbers' trade, which is typical of the development of the system in many other trades. In years past the greater part of a plumber's work was done in his shop, where the material was brought into shape. For the performance of the shop work, such as making lead traps, considerable skill was required, and instruction and practice in this work were necessary for one who aspired to be an efficient plumber. As the trade was remunerative, boys willingly apprenticed themselves to the master plumbers and worked for little pay apart from the instruction received. These boys were primarily learners and incidentally they assisted in the shops where they worked.

Gradually a change took place. As plumbers' work increased in volume, the amount of shop work to be done decreased relatively to the entire work. Large manufacturing establishments began to make, ready for use, every article

6 The Steam Fitter, May, 1908, p. 5.

needed in the plumbing trade. Since these articles were made in uniform sizes, plumbing became largely a matter of putting them together properly. Previous to the falling off of the shop work the boys and men hired to carry the tools and the material needed on a job and to render such assistance as the plumbers might require, had little opportunity to become practical plumbers and were clearly distinguished from the apprentices. When the shop work largely disappeared, it became the chief duty of the apprentice, as it was of the helper, to assist plumbers on construction work. Thus, the boy employed as a helper and the one under contract to be taught the trade were placed at identically the same kind of work and received about the same amount of instruction. Not only did the apprentice become a helper, but also the helper became a learner of the trade. This was due to the fact that a helper could not render the assistance required of him unless he received some instruction in his work. Besides, he had the same opportunities as the apprentice to observe the work of the skilled journeymen. On account of the change in the character of the work in the plumbing trade the helper and the apprentice came to have two qualities in common, namely, both were assistants and both were learners of the trade.

When it became possible for boys to learn the plumbing trade while serving as helpers, they naturally preferred not to enter into an apprentice contract. Since it was customary for each plumber to demand a helper,'^ the boys who wished to learn the trade felt fairly sure of an opportunity to do so without being subject to the restrictions and the low wages imposed by the customary apprentice contract. In the course of time a majority of those learning to be plumbers were in fact, if not in name, helpers and not apprentices.

As long as the helpers could not learn the trade the journeymen made no objections to their employment. In fact, journeymen often refused to work without helpers because

7 Plumbers, Gas and Steam Fitters' Official Journal, December, 1908, p. 10. 2 l8 THE HELPER AND AMERICAN TRADE UNIONS

they wished to be relieved of rough, unskilled work. It was not long, however, before the plumbers became convinced that the helper system unless restricted would produce an^ excessive number of plumbers. The United Association of Plumbers became aroused, and undertook to check the use of helpers. At first it was their policy to distinguish clearly the apprentice from the helper, to limit the number and the promotion of the apprentices, and to do away with the helpers.^ When this policy failed to accomplish the end desired, it was abandoned, and a plan was adopted which involved a complete reversal of former tactics. This new policy undertook to bring the helper within the scope of the apprentice regulations.^ The helper was declared to be an apprentice, and if the number of apprentices and helpers employed by any firm exceeded the number of apprentices allowed the firm by the union, it was considered a violation of the apprentice regulations.

Sometimes the Plumbers, instead of using the terms helper and apprentice synonymously, include the helper within the term apprentice. John S. Kelly, president of the Plumbers, Gas, Steam and Hot Water Fitters, when asked for how long a term of service an apprentice must be taken, replied : " Four years as a helper and two years working under instructions."^^ One clause in an agreement between the master plumbers and the journeymen plumbers of Chicago in 1908 states that the term of apprenticeship shall be five years, three years as helper and two years with tools.

Confusion in the use of the terms helper and apprentice is characteristic of practically all the skilled trades in which helpers have opportunities to become craftsmen and in which the unions seek to maintain apprentice regulations. The results have, however, not been the same in all trades. With the Electrical Workers and the Elevator Constructors the attempt to distinguish between the two has resulted in a peculiar use of the terms. The constitution of the Electrical

10 Report of tj. S. Industrial Commission, vol. vii, p. 966.

Workers, Local Union Number 28 of Baltimore, provides that the period of apprenticeship shall be two years and that an apprentice shall become a helper at the end of the second year.^^ An agreement between the Electrical Workers, Local Union Number 3, and their employers describes a helper as a man who has passed an examination for work specified by the union and has worked at the trade two years, while an apprentice is defined as a boy registered by the union, who is employed to do errands, carry material to or on the job, attend lockers, or assist journeymen in testing. This agreement further states that apprentices must not encroach on the work of the helper or work with tools.^^

In some localities the Blacksmiths and the Boiler Makers have sought to remedy the confusion growing out of the terms helper and apprentice by adopting a new term, " helper-apprentice." This term is applied to those helpers who are recognized as learners by being promoted to advanced work. This serves to distinguish them, on the one hand, from the helpers who have not been promoted, and, on the other hand, from the regularly indentured apprentices. It is stipulated in an agreement between the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway Company and the boiler makers of that road that there shall be two classes of apprentices — regular apprentices and helper-apprentices. The former are to be between sixteen and twenty-one and the latter between twenty-one and twenty-six years of age. It is further agreed that helper-apprentices must have previously served the company for two years as helpers and shall serve in the capacity of helper-apprentices for three years, while regular apprentices shall serve for four years before being promoted to journeymanship.^^

11 Constitution, 1910, p. 12.

12 Annual Report, New York Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1908, Part I, p. 249. This distinction between helpers and apprentices is not observed by electrical workers in all localities. In some places the two terms are regarded as synonymous. Thus in an agreement at Binghamton, New York, it is provided that an apprentice or helper shall serve three years at the electrical business before he shall be allowed to become a journeyman.

13 Journal of the Brotherhood of Boiler Makers and Iron Ship Builders, March, 1910, p. 167.

A similar agreement between the Blacksmiths and the Texas and Pacific Railway Company provides that helpers are to be advanced to the position of helper-apprentices, and that one helper-apprentice shall be allowed in each shop and one additional for every five blacksmiths employed.^* In other localities the workmen corresponding to the helper-apprentices are known as advanced helpers. For example, an agreement between the blacksmiths and the Canadian Pacific Railway Company provides that a helper shall be allowed to take a fire after two years' service and shall be called an advanced helper.^^

The tile layers sometimes use the term helper-apprentice to designate one who has passed through the lower stages as a helper and is advancing to the ranks of the mechanics. An apprentice system outlined for tile layers in Milwaukee declares that the apprentice is to be known as the helper-apprentice. His duties are to be the same as those of an ordinary helper, except that he is to be allowed to do certain mechanical work and, where the trade demands it, journeyman's work at journeyman's wages.^^

The failure on the part of labor unions to distinguish the helper from the apprentice, and especially the tendency of unions to class as apprentices all learners of a trade, have led investigators to overlook the real distinction between the two classes of workmen. For instance. Dr. J. M. Motley, in his monograph, " Apprenticeship in American Trade Unions," quotes from the Iron Molders' Journal as follows : " These berkshires were a peculiar institution. They were boys employed by molders to assist them at their work, nominally as helpers, but in reality they were apprentices, and every molder had to use at least one of them."^^ Dr. Motley accepts this statement as correct, and treats the berkshires as apprentices, though they were really helpers. They assisted the molder at his work and were under his

1* Blacksmiths' Journal, January, 1907, p. 23. 15 Ibid., March, 1907, p. 20.

1^ Tile Layers and Helpers' Journal, April, 1907, p. 20.

17 Johns Hopkins University Studies, ser. xxv, nos. 11-12, p. 22.

direct supervision at all times. The only sense in which they were apprentices was that they were learners of the trade.

Dr. Walter E. Weyl and Dr. A. M. Sakolski, in their study entitled " Conditions of Entrance to the Principal Trades," give warning that " the laborer known as the * helper ' must not be confounded with the apprentice," and then proceed to distinguish the two groups. " The latter [apprentice] ," they say, " is generally a youth undergoing a training to become a journeyman. He uses a journeyman's tools and is in most trades permitted to do a journeyman's work. The helper, however, except in a very few trades, receives no instruction and is restricted to certain kinds of unskilled employment. As we have already pointed out, he is not allowed to use the journeyman's tools, and in many trades is not under the jurisdiction of the journeyman's union."^^

Such broad generalities evade rather than solve the question involved. This confusion is doubtless due to an effort to conform to union usage, which is not at all uniform. Even if judged from that standpoint, the above distinctions are far from correct. In the first place, there is an apparent assumption that helpers are more advanced in age than are apprentices. According to union regulations, apprentices are often taken from the ranks of the helpers, and are therefore older than the helpers. The Boiler Makers and the Machinists provide that as many as fifty per cent of the apprentices may be taken from the ranks of the helpers,^^ and the Printing Pressmen require that all the apprentices be taken from the assistants.^^ In many other trades it is the policy of the unions to have the apprentices drawn from those employed as helpers.

In the second place, helpers are not, as a rule, restricted to unskilled work, but are allowed to pass gradually from the position of an unskilled laborer to that of a mechanic. As

18 Bulletin, U. S. Bureau of Labor, no. 67, November, 1906, p. 768. '^^ Constitution, 1908, art. iii, sec. i ; International Association of Machinists, Official Circular, no. 36, 1913.

20 Constitution and By-laws, 1903, art. iii, sec. i.

will be shown in a later chapter, the unions in a large majority of the skilled trades now permit helpers to progress in their work. In the third place, the distinction based on the kind of tools used is unsatisfactory. In a few trades like stone-cutting and bricklaying the helpers are prohibited from using tools. There are other trades, such as steam-fitting, where the helpers do not have tools of their own, but frequently use those of the journeymen with whom they work in order that they may render the assistance required of them. Finally, the criterion of union jurisdiction is invalid, since practically all unions now extend their jurisdiction over both helpers and apprentices.

Dr. Weyl and Dr. Sakolski also state that " the essential distinctions between this [helper] system of promotion and that of apprenticeship are that no formal instructions are given the * helper ' and no definite period of training is required."^^ The same criticism also applies here. Helpers, in order that they may execute their work, must be given some instruction, though it may not be given with a view to making the helper a mechanic. Moreover, in certain trades where the unions make no provision for apprentices — unless helpers are considered apprentices — journeymen are supposed to give helpers instruction. Finally, as to a definite period of training, with the exception of the Elevator Constructors and the Blacksmiths not a single instance has been found where a union representing a skilled handicraft has made provision for helpers to become mechanics without specifying the time they are to serve as helpers. A typical case is the requirement of the Steam Fitters that "Helpers transfering to a Fitters local branch will be required to show that they have worked at least five years at the trade. "^^