In considering the type of plan which is to be adopted, such factors as the nature of the product, the type of process and seasonality of demand, have an mportant influence in the determination of the plan to be adopted. 1. Successive Vacations. The majority of employees favor the successive vacation plan due to the following reasons: (a) It is impractical and impossible due to certain processes in some industries to shut down the plant. (b) Operations cannot be suspended due to continuous demand for products and services. (c) Impossibility of manufacturing for stock certain products which must be consumed immediately upon production. This type of plan is preferable from the employee's viewpoint due to the following reasons: (a) Each worker has an opportunity to select the time of his vacation. (b) Employees not eligible for vacations suffer no loss of wages under this plan. The employee is generally allowed to choose the date of his vacation provided there is no conflict with other people in the choice of vacation dates which would seriously impair or lower production. In such cases preference is given to seniority of service. 2. Shut-Down Vacations.-There are several factors which influence companies to adopt this type of plan, the most important being: (a) It is a more satisfactory method of passing through a period of slack business. (b) It provides an opportunity to make necessary repairs to machinery. (c) It provides an opportunity of obtaining an inventory of the product. When such a plan is adopted by a company all employees who are entitled to a vacation receive pay while those who are not eligible take the time off without pay. Companies maintain skeleton forces which are employed during the shutdown and insure maintenance and service to the customers. The differences among various vacation plans studied are the greatest in so far as eligibility requirements are concerned. In some instances it has been found that only nominal service of a few months or a year is required to qualify for vacations. In other plans requirements are set so high that all except long service employees are excluded from the vacation privilege. Most plans make provision for absence of employees due to military and jury service. LENGTH OF VACATION The lengths of vacations are pretty uniform throughout all these plans. The standard vacation period for office employees, is, of course, two weeks and this length has rarely been exceeded in plans for wage earners. The majority of plans for wage earners provide for a single week. There are two types of plans which are used in determining the length of the vacation period: first, is what is known as the "uniform type," which provides a vacation of a fixed length for all eligible wage earners; the other is known as the "graduated type" and the vacation period is dependent on the years of service of the employee. In other words the length of the vacation is increased according to the length of service until a maximum of two weeks is reached. In 1935 the National Industrial Conference Board made a survey of the vacation plans which were in effect in 1935. The results of this survey showed: 1. That half of the vacation plans for wage earners recorded in 1931 have continued without interruption and are still in force. 2. That nearly one-quarter of the suspended plans have been reinstated. 3. That the rate of establishment of new plans is increasing. That more than three-quarters of the vacation plans examined have either ges of a character to reduce their attractiveness to employees, ther liberalized. g the length of vacation or by reducing the rate of vacation ary in 23.2% of the plants to reduce the burden caused by stricting eligibility. of staggering vacations over several months, with the eration, is preferred by 4 out of 5 companies. et to close the plant completely, while all vacations are 8. That there is no pronounced preference between uniform plans, in which all employees fulfilling the service requirement receive a vacation of fixed length, and the graduated plans, in which the length of vacation is regulated by years of service. Uniform plans were in effect in 44.6% and graduated plans in 55.4% of the companies covered in the survey. 9. That although specifications of different plans vary to a considerable extent, what might be called the standard plan, or the one favored by the largest number of companies, provides one week of vacation for employees who have worked for the company one year or longer. 10. That practically all companies with vacation plans pay wage earners their full rate during their vacation absence and in about three-quarters of the companies this payment is made before the vacation begins. 11. That a majority of companies permit employees to take additional vacation time at their own expense. TYPICAL VACATION PLANS Armour & Company. This company has adopted what is known as the successive type of plan which is operated throughout the year. The length of the vacation is dependent upon whether an employee is male or female and also upon the length of service. In addition, employees have the privilege of either taking their vacations or receiving extra compensation for the vacation period allowed. Male and female employees with two years' service are entitled to one week's vacation; male and female employees with five years' service are entitled to two weeks' vacation; female employees with fifteen years' service are entitled to three weeks' vacation, whereas male employees must have a service record of twenty years to be entitled to a like period. Bird & Son. This company had adopted the successive type plan which is in operation from June 1st to September 30th. Employees with a service record of two to five years are entitled to one week's vacation; employees with a record of five years or more are entitled to two weeks' vacation and employees with fifty years service are entitled to one month. Preference as to vacation dates is based upon seniority. E. I. duPont de Nemours & Co.-This company adopted in 1934 the successive type of plan for vacations, which is in operation the year 'round. All employees who have been in the employ of the company for one year or more are entitled to two weeks' vacation which may be drawn in advance. General Foods.-This corporation has the successive type of vacation plan in operation the year 'round and employees who have been employed two to five years are entitled to one week's vacation and over five years two weeks' vacation. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.-This company has the successive type of vacation plan in operation the year 'round. Those who have been in the employ of the company five years are entitled to one week's vacation, while those in the employ of the company ten years are entitled to two weeks' vacation. International Harvester Co.-This company has the successive type in operation and those in the employ of the company for two years are entitled to one week's vacation while those employed five years are entitled to two weeks. Packard Motor Company.-All hourly rate employees are given a vacation credit of one-half day for every calendar month that they are employed. If they are discharged or laid off before sufficient vacation credits have been built up entitling them to a vacation, the credits which are due them are granted as separation pay. Procter & Gamble.-All hourly workers who have worked two years for this company are entitled to one week's vacation. Standard Oil Company of Ohio.-Employees with a service record of one to five years are entitled to one week's vacation. United States Steel.-This corporation has the successive type of plan in operation the year 'round and all employees who have been in the service of the company for five years are entitled to one week's vacation. Weirton Steel Company. This corporation has inaugurated a plan whereby the employees can either take a vacation or work and get paid the equivalent for the vacation they are entitled to. Vacations are given to everybody employed by the company for a period of one year or more. The length of vacation varies from two days for those with one year's service, six days for those with a service record of five to ten years, eight days for those with a service record of ten to fifteen years and ten days for those with a service record of over fifteen years. The vacation plan in operation is what is known as a successive type and vacations may be taken any time from July 1st to December 31st. Those who elect to take extra compensation, rather than a vacation, are paid in the week beginning December 6th. within conduct in your own State. Furthermore, actual practical amendment to the National Labor Relations Act within the field of commerce is now to be formulated. There is little hope that it can receive attention in this Congress under the distracting conditions and confusion existing, but, in the next Congress it will be a real issue, as it should be in the next Congressional campaign. 6. It is also necessary to call public attention to the erroneous idea that all strikes are legal. One might as well say that all conduct is moral and right. The morality or legality of any strike is determined by its purpose and the means employed. This seems too plain for argument, but it is an easy subject of misrepresentation. The fact that the 14th Section of the National Labor Relations Act provided that nothing in the Act should be construed to restrict or limit the right to strike has led many misguided people to believe that to strike is an absolute right, whereas all rights, particularly those exercised by combinations, are relative and tested by the same common sense standard by which we measure the everyday conduct of even individuals: What is it they undertake to do and how do they propose to do it? I have not the slightest doubt that if an endeavor were made by law to give absolute privilege to any kind of a strike it would be as plainly invalid as to undertake by law to say that any kind of picketing was permissible, or any other kind of combined conduct, irrespective of its purpose or the means employed, was lawful. "The plea of trade unions for immunity," said Mr. Justice Brandeis before he ascended the Bench: "be it from injunction or from liability for damages, is as fallacious as the plea of the lynchers. If lawless methods are pursued by trade unions, whether it be by violence, by intimidation, or by the more peaceful infringement of legal rights, that lawlessness must be put down at once and at any cost. That was true when he said it. It is equally true now. 7. In the Federal field, where commerce is directly affected, the privileges which are conferred upon any organization, whether of employers or employees, may be conditioned upon the acceptance of social standards essential for the protection of the public. A violation of them would withdraw the privilege or suspend it. No social standards are required under the National Labor Relations Act. It is reasonable to ask for them. Now is the time to be moderate, patient, but determined in securing equal responsibility and control for all forms of organization which have it within their power to threaten the peace and safety of the public. To this end, it is equally necessary to direct public attention to the importance of the remedies in equity, that is, by injunction for the protection of individuals, the government and society. This is recognized in dealing with every form of combination except the labor combination. Wherever men, individually or collectively, are threatened with irreparable damage by combinations financially irresponsible, numerous, difficult to identify, the flexible preventive remedies of prohibition are most perfectly adapted to safeguard the public and private rights involved. This is the remedy employed by the national government from the Sherman Act of 1890 to the Security Exchange Act of recent date. On the presentation of the facts, no one can successfully deny its appropriate application to the labor combination when the necessity for its use arises. If it is capable of abuse, provision for protection of all labor organizations against that misuse are available and easily applied. CIVIL LIABILITY SHOULD BE RECOGNIZED in essential that civil liability for the injury which labor com- The spectacle of huge contributions by labor organizations for political parties plainly expecting a quid pro quo, is a corrupting spectacle crying for reform. It is as much the business of government to see that no voluntary association buys favor from a ruling party as to prevent a corporation from doing so. It is the more reprehensible when it is done, as it has been, without the consent of those who contributed the funds. This our British brethren have cured by a firm but severe measure. We may well imitate their example. The public is alive to an issue of the first social importance. Now is the time to rivet public attention upon it to secure, not legislation which will injure the legitimate effort of workers to organize as to them seems best to promote and protect their economic interest, but to prevent the misuse of that power, to the lasting injury of the worker, the employer and the public. The right of men to freely organize as they choose is not the right of mercenary missionaries to organize for their personal pecuniary advantage. Now is the time to ask for the reasonable application of sound principles of justice, which will neither interfere with lawful organization or practical collective bargaining but will protect the fundamental rights of the individual and the society of which he is a part against the unequal application of law. QUEBEC BARS CLOSED SHOP; PREMIER FIGHTS THE C. I. O. Premier Duplessis has recently declared that closed shops would not be tolerated in Quebec Province. Workers, whether they belong to international or national Catholic unions, will have perfect freedom to work at reasonable wages and under satisfactory conditions, but without outside interference being tolerated. "The closed shop is a cause of disorder and an attempt against the freedom of the worker," said the Premier. "The laws are made and applied for the benefit of the people at large, by elected representatives. No other individual or organization can substitute itself in that function." Mr. Duplessis promised to cooperate with Premier Hepburn of Ontario in efforts to keep out of this part of the country such elements as the C. I. O., which, he declared, aimed to progress through the spread of subversive elements. What do we mean by the term "seniority"? Special recognition given the individual worker on account of length of service. Does such special recognition apply to all aspects of employment relations? In the past it has generally been restricted to preference in the case of lay-offs, or reemployment of formerly laid-off employees. Is any effort being made to extend the application of the seniority system? Yes, there are some indications of efforts to extend seniority to cover such items as promotion, transfer and the position of union representatives. The best prevailing industrial seniority practice as reported by the Employment Relations Committee of the N. A. M. December, 1936, is as follows: "Promotion or transfer on the basis of ability and merit, recognizing seniority of service if other factors are equal; in the case of lay-offs consideration should be given ability and merit." "Preference in hiring to former employees with consideration to the following factors-ability, merit and length of previous service." In an endeavor to further assist Association members interested in the seniority problem we now present (1) a detailed analysis of typical recent labor union contract seniority provisions; and (2) review of seniority practice in some important companies which have given special study to this problem. I. LABOR UNION AGREEMENTS SUMMARIZED Recent labor union agreement provisions dealing with seniority were summarized as follows in our May 25 LABOR RELATIONS BULLETIN The subject of "seniority" is given serious study in almost all of the agreements. In the majority of cases, a lengthy and comprehensive analysis of the seniority 89562-38-pt. 17-18 plan that has been agreed upon and its operation, is included. Since "seniority" usually governs "lay-offs;" "re-employment;" "filling of vacancies;" and "promotion;" it embraces many different points of importance, such as: 1-When probation ceases and seniority begins. 5-Seniority in Curtailment of Production and Lay-Offs; three of the methods a-reduction of the work week to minimum of hours as agreed upon, b-dismissal of temporary employees; then newer employees; then (This list is agreed upon by both union and company, and may not, frequently, exceed a certain percentage of total employees.) 6-Seniority usually functions in reverse order to No. 5 for "Re-Employment.' 7-When, how and why seniority is lost or may be retained for regular employees. 8-Stewards, Grievance Men or other Union Officers or representatives often head the seniority lists in their respective departments while in office, after which they usually return to their regular standing in the seniority lists. Most agreements usually carry the provision that seniority lists are to be posted or furnished to shop stewards or committee men. Shop committees are also notified, in many cases, of "lay-offs" and any projected increase in employment. The above set-up is an outline of the system for the accumulation and computations of seniority that is generally agreed upon and put into operation, to a lesser or greater degree, in the majority of agreements. In several agreements, however, the company has been able to relegate "seniority" to second place, below merit, as consideration when "lay-offs" and "reemployment" occur. For promotion, seniority is frequently weighed in conjunction with fitness, ability, etc. It must be borne in mind, of course, that these recent union agreements cover only a minority of industrial workers, that in many cases they contain important exceptions, and also that many are subject to different interpretations. DETAILED UNION CONTRACT PROVISIONS We have selected for reproduction here the seniority provisions in ten recent labor union contracts, omitting, however, the names of the companies. We consider these examples fairly typical of the seniority provisions common to the largest number of recently signed labor-union agreements throughout the country. (1) Agreement with a Union as Representing its Own Members Only Rules concerning seniority, promotion schedules, transfers, reduction of forces, rehiring, vacancies, etc., shall be carried out in substantially the same manner as is now being done in each factory, with the understanding that the local management and the Industrial Relations Committee in each factory may modify rules on these matters to suit conditions existing in the particular factory, provided such rules and modifications thereof can be mutually agreed upon. General seniority rules to cover all factories are established as follows: (a) Departmental seniority and competency shall entitle employees to first consideration for promotion as opportunity shall offer and in the manner indicated by department promotion schedule Inter-plantd inter-departmental sen iority is not recognized, except as ployees are considered as competo disagreement exists in any case ment, the case may be handledrinal cor ber of em mine. If re-employ hereinbe fore provided. |