The fluctuating benefit was very unsatisfactory, inasmuch as the insured member could not be certain as to what amount he would receive, and this uncertainty was aggravated by the voluntary character of the association. Even where participation was compulsory the fluctuations in the number of members were much greater than at present.

As soon as the unions became sufficiently strong, financially and numerically, and had acquired experience in the management of the benefit, they, with few exceptions, guaranteed to their members a benefit of fixed amount. A fixed payment of one hundred dollars was guaranteed by the Iron Molders in 1879 on the death of a member, and in 1882 the voluntary organization known as the Beneficial Association, which had maintained the system of special assessments, was disbanded.[90] The advantage of paying a benefit of fixed amount, as demonstrated by the experience of Local Union No. 87 of Brooklyn, led to the adoption of this system by the Cigar Makers' International Union, in September, 1880.[91]

[Footnote 90: Constitution, 1878 (Cincinnati, 1878); Iron Molders' Journal, Vol. 26, May, 1890, p. 2.]

[Footnote 91: Constitution, 1880 (New York, 1880), Art. 13.]

The majority of American trade unions have inaugurated their death benefits since 1880,[92] and hence have escaped the experimental period of benefits based upon the fluctuating principle. Learning from the experience of the older unions, they have in most cases paid from the beginning death benefits of fixed amount. The benefit is a definite sum in all the unions except the Watch Case Engravers' Association and the Saw Smiths' Union, which in their constitutions of 1901 and 1902 respectively provide for the payment of a benefit upon a fluctuating basis.[93] This must be attributed to the fact that the unions are not sufficiently strong to guarantee the payment of a definite amount.

[Footnote 92: See page 12.]

[Footnote 93: Constitution of the Watch Case Engravers' International Association of America, 1901 (New York, n.d.), p. 21; Constitution of the Saw Smiths' Union of North America, 1902 (Indianapolis, n.d.), p. 8.]

Under the fluctuating system the sum paid was often larger than the amount at which the benefit was later fixed. When, in 1880, the Cigar Makers adopted a death benefit of twenty-five dollars, their membership had increased to 4400, making possible, by a per capita assessment of ten cents, the payment of four hundred and forty-four dollars upon the death of each member. The assessment of twenty-five cents levied by the Glass Bottle Blowers for each death benefit upon a membership of 2423 in 1891 yielded a greater sum than the definite amount adopted one year later. The amount paid under the fluctuating system in the Iron Molders was also larger than the fixed amount later guaranteed by the International Union.

In another respect the early death benefits and insurance systems were alike. Participation in the more important and successful death systems was voluntary. Membership in the Iron Molders' Beneficial Association, created to pay death benefits, was, for example, entirely optional.[94] The first constitution of the Granite Cutters provided for an additional voluntary benefit.[95] In both of the above named unions the voluntary idea was short-lived. In January, 1879, the Iron Molders provided for the payment of a death benefit for all members of the craft.[96] By 1884 the Granite Cutters had abolished the voluntary death benefit and paid it to all members.[97]

[Footnote 94: Iron Molders' Journal, March, 1871.]

[Footnote 95: Constitution, 1877 (Rockland, 1877), Arts. 1-2.]

[Footnote 96: Iron Molders' Journal, Vol. 26, May, 1890, p. 2.]

[Footnote 97: Constitution, 1884 (Quincy, n.d.), p. 11 ff.]

Thus, both the death benefit and the insurance systems in American trade unions had their origin in the movement for mutual insurance which was so widespread in the United States immediately after the Civil War. Only in the railway brotherhoods did the plan result in any considerable increase in membership. In the other unions the insurance systems were replaced by the establishment of benefits, and these were usually smaller in amount than the insurance systems had contemplated.[98]

[Footnote 98: The death benefits established by the Cigar Makers and Iron Molders in 1870 and 1879 were for $40 and $100. The ordinary death benefit in American trade unions is still a sum assumed to be sufficient to inter decently the deceased.]

The tendency in those unions which have longest maintained the death benefit has been to increase the amount of the benefit and to grade the amount according to the length of membership. The policy of the unions in these respects has, however, varied considerably. In some cases there has been an increase in the minimum amount paid, together with provision for the payment of larger sums to members who have been longer in good standing. In other unions, such as the Iron Molders and the Pattern Makers, the regular benefit remains as originally established, but a larger sum is paid to older members. Only a few of the older organizations retain the uniform benefit. The most notable of these are the Typographical Union, the Glass Bottle Blowers, and the Hatters.

The grading of the death benefit serves two purposes. In the first place, the funds are protected. If the benefit were uniform and large, persons in bad health would be tempted to join the union in order to secure protection for their families. The grading of the benefit is accordingly a crude but fairly effective device against a danger which presents itself as soon as the amount becomes large enough to be attractive to "bad risks." A more important reason, perhaps, for the grading of the benefit is the desire to make it a more effective agency in attracting and holding members. If continuous membership carries with it constantly increasing insurance, the lapses in membership lessen.

The maximum death benefits paid by the Cigar Makers and the Glass Bottle Blowers are $550 and $500, respectively. The Iron Molders pay a maximum benefit of $200; the Carpenters of $200; the Pattern Makers of $400; the Germania Typographia of $200. In all these cases except that of the Glass Bottle Blowers the benefit is graded according to the period of membership. The maximum benefit is paid in the Cigar Makers and in the Pattern Makers to members of fifteen years' standing.

Only a few unions have decreased the amount of the benefit from that first established. Among these are the Brotherhood of Carpenters, the Brotherhood of Leather Workers on Horse Goods, the Tailors' Union, and the Metal Polishers' Union. In the case of the Carpenters the death benefit which was originally established at $250 in 1882 was $100 in 1905. Changes of this kind have naturally followed the too liberal policy of inexperienced unions.

The following table, giving the amount of the death benefit as originally established and as paid at present in certain of the more important unions which have adopted the graded death benefit, illustrates the variety of forms which the systems take:

AMOUNT OF DEATH BENEFIT. ========================================================================== Date of Date of Introducing Amount of Death Amount of Death Name of Organi- Death Benefit Paid Benefit Paid in Union zation Benefits Originally 1905. Boot and 1895 1898 $50 for six months' $50 for six months' Shoe membership. membership. Workers $100 for two years' $100 for two years' membership. membership. Carpenters, 1881 1882 $250 for six months' $100 for six Brotherhood membership. months' membership. of $200 for one year's membership. Cigar 1864 1867 Yield of a 10 $50 for two years' Makers cent per capita membership. assessment. $200 for five years' membership. $350 for ten years' membership. $550 for fifteen years' membership. Granite 1877 1877 $50........... $50. Cutters $75 for six months' membership. $100 for one year's membership. $150 for five years' membership. $200 for ten years' membership. Iron 1859 1870 Yield of a 40 $100 for one year's Molders cent per capita membership. assessment. $150 for five years' membership. $175 for ten years' membership. $200 for fifteen years' membership. Leather 1896 1896 $40 for one Workers year's on Horse membership. $60 for two $40 for one years' year's membership. membership. $100 for four $75 for three years' years' membership. membership. $200 for five $100 for four years' years' membership. membership. $300 for eight years' membership. Metal 1890 1890 $100 for six $50 for one year's Polishers months' membership. membership. $100 for two years' membership. Machinists 1890 1890 $50 for six $50 for six months' months' membership. membership. $75 for one year's membership. $100 for two years' membership. $150 for three years' membership. $200 for four years' membership. Painters 1887 1887 $100............... $50 for one year's membership $100 for two years' membership $150 for three years' membership $200 for four years' membership Pattern 1887 1898 $50 $50 for one year's Makers membership $75 for two years' membership $100 for three years' membership $150 for five years' membership $200 for seven years' membership $250 for nine years' membership $300 for eleven years' membership $350 for thirteen years' membership $400 for fifteen years' membership Piano and 1898 1898 $50 for six $50 for one year's Organ months' membership Workers membership $100 for five years' membership $200 for ten years' membership Tailors 1884 1890 $75 for three months' $25 for six months' membership membership $100 for one years' $40 for one year's membership membership $50 for two years' membership $75 for three years' membership $100 for four years' membership -

A few of the unions require only that the deceased member shall have been in good standing. These unions ordinarily pay a small benefit, although the Glass Bottle Blowers pay five hundred dollars without requiring a preliminary period of membership. The term of necessary membership varies from thirty days in the case of the Barbers to two years in the Cigar Makers. The usual requirement is that the member shall have been in good standing for six months.

A few of the unions restrict the benefit to members under a certain age at the time of admission. Where such an age limit is imposed it is ordinarily fifty years, but in a few unions it is sixty years.

The following table shows the conditions imposed upon the payment of the death benefit in the more important unions:

Preliminary Term of Name of Organization. Age Limit. Good Standing Required

Bakers ........................... 50 years 3 months Barbers .......................... 50 years 30 days Boot and Shoe Workers ............ 6 months Glass Bottle Blowers ............. None Carpenters ....................... 50 years 6 months Cigar Makers ..................... 50 years 2 years Granite Cutters .................. 6 months Iron Molders ..................... 12 months Iron, Steel and Tin Workers ...... 3 months Leather Workers on Horse Goods ... 1 year Lithographers .................... 30 days Machinists ....................... 6 months Metal Polishers .................. 1 year Metal Workers .................... 12 months Painters ......................... 50 years 1 year Pattern Makers ................... 50 years 52 weeks Piano and Organ Workers .......... 1 year Plumbers ......................... 6 months Stone Cutters .................... 6 months Tailors .......................... 6 months Tobacco Workers .................. 60 years 1 year Typographical Union .............. None Weavers, Elastic Goring .......... 6 months Wood Workers ..................... 60 years 6 months

Only a few unions make good physical condition a requisite for admission to the death benefit. In a small number provision is made that if death result from disease incurred prior to admission the union shall not pay the benefit. In the majority of the unions every member admitted to the union is covered by the death benefit. Some of the unions, such as the Brotherhood of Carpenters, the Boot and Shoe Workers' Union, the Brotherhood of Painters, and the Pattern Makers' League, provide a smaller benefit for those not eligible at time of initiation. In the Brotherhood of Carpenters any apprentice under twenty-one years of age, or any candidate for membership over fifty years of age, in ill health and not qualified for full benefit when admitted to the union, is limited to a funeral allowance of fifty dollars.[99] The Boot and Shoe Workers' Union provides that members of sixty years of age, or those afflicted with chronic diseases at time of initiation, shall be eligible to half benefit only.[100] In the Brotherhood of Painters members of sound health and over fifty years of age when admitted are eligible to a semi-beneficial benefit of fifty dollars and to a funeral benefit of twenty-five dollars in case of death of wife.[101]

[Footnote 99: Constitution, 1903 (Indianapolis, n.d.), secs. 65 and 98.]

[Footnote 100: Constitution, 1904 (Boston, n.d.), sec. 68.]

[Footnote 101: Constitution, 1904 (La Fayette, n.d.), sec. 133.]

The requirement of a preliminary period of membership serves to protect the union against the entrance of persons who wish to join because they are in ill health and are anxious to secure insurance which they could not otherwise get. None of the unions provide, however, for any deliberate selection of risks, and the mortality is higher than it would be if the applicants were examined.

The death benefit is thus regarded by the unions not as a pure matter of business. It is paid partly on charitable grounds, and the small increase in the cost of the benefit occasioned by the lack of strict physical requirements is regarded as more than compensated by the increase in the solidarity of the organization thus attained.

In several important unions the death benefit has been made the basis for a disability benefit. Thus a member receiving the disability benefit loses his right to the death benefit. So closely are the two benefits associated in these organizations that they are practically a single benefit. This combination of death and disability benefits is found chiefly in those trades in which the workmen are exposed to great danger of being disabled by accident.[102] The principal unions maintaining the disability benefit are the Iron Molders, the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, the Cigar Makers, the Painters, the Wood Workers, the Metal Workers, the Glass Workers, and the Boot and Shoe Workers.[103]

[Footnote 102: Those unions that pay a death benefit and make no provision for total or permanent disability are: Bakers' and Confectioners' Union, Barbers' International Union, Cigar Makers, Elastic Goring Weavers' Association, United Garment Workers, Glass Bottle Blowers' Association, Granite Cutters' Association, United Hatters, Hotel and Restaurant Employees, Iron, Steel and Tin Workers' Association, Jewelry Workers' Union, Brotherhood of Leather Workers on Horse Goods, Lithographers' Association, Metal Polishers' Union, Pattern Makers' League, Piano and Organ Workers' Union, Plumbers' Association, Printing Pressmen's Union, Retail Clerks' Association, Saw Smiths' Union, Stone Cutters' Association, Stove Mounters' Union, Street Railway Employees' Association, Tailors' Union, Tobacco Workers' Union, Typographical Union, Deutsch-Amerikanischen Typographia, Watch Case Engravers' Association, Wood, Wire and Metal Lathers' Union.]

[Footnote 103: Originally, the Granite Cutters paid a disability benefit of five hundred dollars. By 1878 the amount of the disability benefit had been made variable, being raised by an assessment of fifty cents on each member of the Union. About 1884 the disability benefit was abandoned.]

Nearly all the unions thus combining death and disability benefits grade the disability benefit. They usually also differentiate the two benefits either in the amount paid or in the period of membership required for eligibility to the benefit. The Iron Molders, the Cigar Makers and the Painters pay the same sums in case of disability as of death.[104] The other unions, with one exception, provide for a greater maximum benefit in case of disability. The period of good standing required to draw a particular sum is usually greater in the case of the disability benefit than in the case of the death benefit. The provisions of the Brotherhood of Carpenters are fairly typical.[105] After six months' good standing members become eligible to a death benefit of one hundred dollars, but they are not eligible to a disability benefit until they have been in membership twelve months. The maximum death benefit is two hundred dollars, while the maximum disability benefit is four hundred dollars. The maximum death benefit is paid on the death of members in good standing for one year, while to be eligible to the maximum disability benefit requires a membership of five years.[106]

[Footnote 104: The Cigar Makers retain fifty dollars until the death of the member.]

[Footnote 105: The Carpenter, Vol. 2, No. 8, p. 5; Vol. 4, August, 1884.]

[Footnote 106: Constitution of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, 1888 (n.p., n.d.), p. 10; Constitution, 1905 (Milwaukee, n.d.), p. 18.]

The following table shows the amounts of the death and disability benefits in the more important unions, as originally established and as paid in 1905:

AMOUNT OF DEATH AND DISABILITY BENEFIT. =========================================================================== Amount Paid Originally. Amount Paid in 1905. Name of Union. Death. Disability. Death. Disability. - Iron Molders. Yield of a Yield of a $100 for 1 yr. $100 for 1 yr. 40c. per 40c. per 150 for 5 yrs. 150 for 5 yrs. capita capita 175 for 10 yrs 175 for 10 yrs. assessment. assessment. 200 for 15 yrs 200 for 15 yrs. Carpenters, $250 for 6 $100 for 6 mo. $100 for 6 mo. $100 for 1 yr. Brotherhood mo. mo. 200 for 1 yr. 200 for 2 yrs. of. 300 for 3 yrs. 400 for 5 yrs Painters $50 for 6 mo. $50 for 6 $100 for 1 yr. $100 for 1 yr. mo. mo. 100 for 1 yr. $100 for 1 yr. 150 for 2 yrs. 150 for 2 yrs. Wood Workers. $60 for 1 yr. $100 for 1 $ 50 for 6 mo. $150 for 1 yr. yr. 75 for 18 mo. 200 for 2 yrs. 100 for 3 yrs. 250 for 3 yrs. Metal Workers. $75 for 1 yr. $500 for 5 $75 for 1 yr. $500 for 5 yrs. yrs. Glass Workers. $50 for 6 mo. $150 for 1 yr. $150 for 1 yr. $ 75 for 1 yr. 100 for 1 yr. 175 for 2 yrs. 100 for 2 yrs. Boot and Shoe $50 for 6 mo. $50 for 6 mo. $100 for 2 yrs. Workers. 100 for 2 yrs 100 for 2 yrs. -

The ratio of disability benefits paid to death benefits paid varies in the different unions according to the definition of disability adopted. The Iron Molders' Union, which took the initiative in adopting a national disability benefit, undertook to pay benefits to all disabled members, with two exceptions. First, the disability must not have been caused by dissipation, and secondly, the member must not have been disabled before joining the Association.[107] The Granite Cutters' Union, however, when establishing their voluntary insurance association in 1877, limited the benefit to members disabled for life by any real accident suffered while following employment as a granite cutter.[108] The two benefits were unlike in that the Iron Molders paid the benefit no matter how the disability had been incurred, while the Granite Cutters paid only when the disability resulted from a trade accident.

[Footnote 107: Constitution of the Iron Molders' Union of North America, 1878 (Cincinnati, 1878), p. 51.]

[Footnote 108: Constitution of the Granite Cutters' International Association of America, 1877 (Rockland, 1877), p. 27.]

Some of the unions now paying the disability benefit, as for example the Boot and Shoe Workers, have followed the policy of the Iron Molders in paying the benefit in all cases of disability; while others, for example the Brotherhood of Carpenters, pay only where the disability is incurred "while working at the trade." Under this system, in the case of the Iron Molders, the claims for disability were so numerous that in 1882 the term "permanent disability" was defined to mean "total blindness, the loss of an arm or leg, or both," and since 1890 also paralysis.[109] Similarly in 1880 the Granite Cutters defined more exactly what constituted total disability.[110]

[Footnote 109: Constitution, 1882 (Cincinnati, 1882), Art. 17; Iron Molders' Journal, Vol. 16, June and August, 1880; Constitution, 1890 (Cincinnati, 1890); Constitution, 1902 (Cincinnati, 1902), p. 40.]

[Footnote 110: Constitution, 1880 (Maplewood, 1880), p. 18.]

The younger unions have usually adopted the later revised definition of the term "permanent or total disability," with such modifications as are made necessary by the peculiar nature of the trade. The system of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, adopted in 1886, and still in force, defines permanent disability as "total blindness, the loss of an arm or leg, or both, the total disability of a limb, the loss of four fingers on one hand, or being afflicted with any physical disability resulting from sudden accident."[111] The Amalgamated Glass Workers as late as 1900 had made no attempt to give definite limits to the term "total disability," but in 1903 they adopted the definition of the Carpenters and extended it to include disability resulting from paralysis.[112] The Amalgamated Wood Workers, however, still provide simply that to receive the benefit members shall be disabled from following the trade.[113]

[Footnote 111: Constitution, 1886 (n.p., n.d.), p. 11; Constitution, 1905 (Milwaukee, n.d.), p. 19.]

[Footnote 112: Constitution, 1900 (Chicago, n.d.), p. 23; Constitution, 1903, p. 11.]

[Footnote 113: Constitution of the Amalgamated Wood-Workers' International Union of America, 1905 (Chicago, n.d.), p. 42.]

The definitions adopted by the unions are intended as guides for and restrictions upon the administrative officials, but in all cases the latter are given considerable latitude. The cost of the benefit, therefore, depends largely upon the strictness with which the officials construe the rules. In those unions where the injuries entitling to a benefit are not specifically defined, the officers have great discretionary power. Indeed, even if they have the best intention, it is in many trades often impossible to obtain positive evidence as to the totality or permanency of the disability. For example, the Brotherhood of Painters find it almost impossible to pass intelligently upon claims for disability resulting from lead poisoning.

The table on page 63 shows the sums paid for death and disability claims in certain unions for which statistics are procurable.

The addition of a disability benefit to the death benefit as appears from the table does not add greatly to the cost of maintaining the benefit. In general, the amount paid for disability ranges from five to ten per cent. of the total paid for both benefits. The cost of the benefits is somewhat increased also by the loss of dues from the time of the disability to the death of the insured.

SUMS PAID FOR DEATH AND DISABILITY BENEFITS. ===================================================================== Sum of Benefits Paid. Percentage of Benefits Paid. Union. Year. Death. Disability. Death. Disability - Brotherhood of 1894-1896 $ 58,527.10 $10,500.00 85 15 Carpenters 1896-1898 59,108.44 11,100.00 85 15 1900-1902 159,249.98 7,900.00 95.3 4.7 1902-1904 243,218.25 16,700.00 93.6 6.4 1904-1906 306,295.44 28,250.00 91.6 8.4 Painters 1889-1890 2,894.00 250.00 92.1 7.9 1890-1892 6,900.00 750.00 90.2 9.8 1892-1894 10,548.00 1,475.00 87.8 12.2 1898-1899 7,150.00 600.00 92.2 7.8 1902-1003 30,307.00 3,050.00 90.9 9.1 1903-1904 37,711.25 1,850.00 95.4 4.6 1904-1905 43,855.50 4,250.00 91.2 8.8 Wood 1900 2,850.00 250.00 92 8 Workers. 1901 4,200.00 250.00 94.4 5.6 1903 5,775.00 500.00 90.6 9.4 1904 7,574.00 750.00 91.1 8.9 Iron 1890-1895 56,172.00 2,400.00 96 4 Molders. 1895-1899 36,899.00 3,600.00 91.2 8.8 1899-1902 67,414.38 2,600.00 96.3 3.7 1902-1907 259,554.86 19,600.00 93 7 -

An increasing number of unions pay a wife's death benefit as well as the regular death benefit. This form is of comparatively recent adoption and its success has not yet been thoroughly demonstrated. Nine American unions were reported to be paying this benefit in September, 1903, and eleven in September, 1904.[114] The following is a list of the unions reported as paying the benefit in 1904: Bakers and Confectioners, Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, Cigar Makers, Compressed Air Workers, Lace Curtain Operatives, Freight Handlers, Painters, Paving Cutters, Photo-Engravers, Cotton Mule Spinners, Tailors.

[Footnote 114: Proceedings of the Twenty-third Convention, American Federation of Labor, 1903 (Washington, 1903), p. 41; Proceedings of the Twenty-fourth Convention, American Federation of Labor, 1904 (Washington, 1904), p. 46.]

The Deutsch-Amerikanischen Typographia took the initiative in the adoption of this benefit at the New York Convention in May, 1884,[115] and was immediately followed in the same year by the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners[116] and in 1887 by the Painters[117] and the Cigar Makers.[118] For the year ending September 30, 1904, the Carpenters, the Painters, and the Cigar Makers paid more than 92 per cent. of the whole sum expended by the eleven unions that have adopted this benefit.

[Footnote 115: American Federationist, Vol. 2, No. 4, p. 61.]

[Footnote 116: The Carpenter, Vol. 4, August, 1884.]

[Footnote 117: The Painter, Vol. 1, April, 1887; Vol. 17, p. 529.]

[Footnote 118: Constitution of the Cigar Makers' International Union of America, 1887 (Buffalo, 1888), Art. 10.]

The wife's death benefit is designed to defray the cost of burial. It is, therefore, small in amount, not exceeding fifty dollars in any of the unions in which it is important. The following table gives the minimum amounts of the wife's funeral benefit paid under the original and under the present rules in the five unions in which the benefit is of importance. The term of membership required for participation in the benefit is also shown.

MINIMUM AMOUNT OF WIFE'S DEATH BENEFIT. ===================================================================== Originally. In 1905. Name of Union. Amount. Required Period of Amount. Required Period of Membership. Membership. - Bakers........ $50 6 mo. $50 6 mo. Carpenters.... 50 6 mo. 25 6 mo. Cigar Makers.. 40 2 yr. 40 2 yr. Painters...... 25 6 mo. 50 1 yr. Typographia... 25 1 yr. 50 none -

The wife's death benefit is not graded except in the case of the Carpenters, where the minimum benefit is twenty-five dollars for six months' and fifty dollars for one year's membership. The minimum given in the above table is in all other cases also the maximum.

The success of the wife's death or funeral benefit is not beyond controversy. The Tailors, who began to pay the benefit in 1889, abandoned it in 1898. The benefit was at first seventy-five dollars after three months' membership, but it was remodelled until in 1896 it became a graded benefit ranging from twenty-five dollars to fifty dollars according to the length of membership. The chief objection to the benefit was that unmarried members were taxed to support the benefit although they did not participate in the advantages. In 1898 Secretary Lennon declared that the benefit "was based on real injustice, giving one member more benefits for the same dues paid than to another."[119] In other unions which maintain the benefit this objection has been met to some extent, as in the Cigar Makers, by paying the benefit on the death of the widowed mother of an unmarried member provided she was solely dependent upon him for support. Provision is usually made that no member shall receive the wife's funeral benefit more than once. This rule is intended partly to prevent fraud but chiefly to meet the complaint that the benefit confers unequal advantages.

[Footnote 119: The Tailor, Vol. 8, No. 1, p. 16.]

The unions which have adopted the benefit have all experienced difficulty in safeguarding it against fraudulent claims. They usually require, for eligibility to the benefit, that the wife be not in ill health at the time the member is admitted to the union. In the unions which have had the benefit longest in operation it has been found possible materially to lessen the number of claims for the wife's benefit after some experience in its operation.

The following table shows the percentage of claims paid by the Painters for wife's and member's death benefits for a series of biennial periods:

==================================== Percentage Percentage of Wife's of Member's Year. Death Death Benefits. Benefits. 1889-1890 49.1 50.9 1890-1892 43.5 56.5 1892-1894 45 55 1894-1896 37.5 62.5 1896-1900 35.3 64.7 1900-1902 32.5 67.5 1902-1904 32.6 67.4

It will be observed that the ratio of the number of wife's funeral benefits to the number of member's funeral benefits has steadily fallen for a considerable number of years. The experience of the Painters is probably typical, although the number of claims of each kind is not ascertainable in the other unions.

The combination of the wife's funeral benefit with the death benefit causes a material addition in the cost of the death benefit. This increase is greatest in those unions in which the wife's benefit is relatively large in amount. The following table shows the sums paid for member's and wife's death benefits in three of the more important unions:

SUMS PAID FOR WIFE'S AND MEMBER'S DEATH BENEFITS. ====================================================================== Wife's Death Benefit. Member's Death Benefit. - Percentage Percentage Union. Year. of Whole of Whole Expended. Sum Expended. Sum Expended Expended for Death for Death Benefits. Benefits. Painters 1888-1889 $ 650.00 1889-1890 1,075.00 26.8 $ 2,894.00 73.2 1890-1892 2,075.00 23.1 6,000.00 76.9 1892-1894 3,912.00 27.7 10,548.00 72.3 1894-1896 550.00 19.1 2,319.00 80.9 1896-1900 2,025.00 18.3 8,996.25 81.7 1902-1903 6,050.00 16.3 30,307.00 83.7 1903-1904 9,700.00 20.4 37,711.25 79.6 1904-1905 10,025.00 18.6 43,855.50 81.4 Brotherhood of Carpenters 1890-1892 23,650.00 20.1 93,696.00 79.9 1892-1894 17,750.00 14.2 106,906.95 85.8 1894-1896 13,525.00 18.7 58,527.10 81.3 1896-1898 6,725.00 10.2 59,108.44 89.8 1900-1902 29,545.00 15.6 159,249.98 84.4 1902-1904 46,892.60 16.1 243,218.25 83.9 1904-1906 45,525.00 12.9 306,294.44 87.1 Tailors 1890-1893 17,075.00 32.2 35,880.00 67.8 1894 3,600.00 29.5 8,591.00 70.5 1895 2,435.00 23.6 7,853.50 76.4 1896 1,674.70 25.9 4,774.95 74.1

From this table it appears that the expenditures on account of the wife's funeral benefit in these unions range from twelve to twenty-five per cent. of the total sum spent for death benefits. In the Cigar Makers' Union and the Typographia it is probably still less.

The cost of the wife's funeral benefit to each member cannot be determined for all the organizations. In some, even of the older unions, as the Typographia and the Cigar Makers, separate reports of the cost of the wife's funeral benefit are not made, and the reports only of the Carpenters and the Tailors are capable of analysis.

TOTAL AND PER CAPITA COST OF THE WIFE'S FUNERAL BENEFIT. ================================================================ Total Annual Cost Member- Expenditure per Member Union. Year. ship for Wife's of Wife's Funeral Funeral Benefit. Benefit. Brotherhood 1894-1896 29,500 $13,525.00 $ .23 of Carpenters 1896-1898 30,600 6,725.00 .11 1898-1900 50,000 1900-1902 106,800 29,540.00 .13 1902-1904 141,800 46,892.60 .16 1904-1906 165,700 45,525.00 .13 Jan. 1-July 1, Tailors 1890-1891 3,760 4,925.00 .86-2/3 July 1-Jan. 1, 1891-1894 7,560 12,150.00 .64 1894 8,200 3,600.00 .44 1895 8,600 2,435.00 .28 1896 9,600 1,674.70 .17 To July 1, 1897 10,500 499.00 .10

In both unions the per capita cost of the benefit was relatively high at the outset, chiefly on account of the larger size of the benefit, but partly on account of the laxity of the rules governing its administration. In the Carpenters the wife's funeral benefit of twenty-five dollars and fifty dollars to members in good standing for six months and one year, respectively, costs each member about fifteen cents annually. The cost of the seventy-five dollar wife's funeral benefit in the Tailors' Union ran in the first year as high as eighty-six and two thirds cents. At the time the benefit was abolished the amount paid was practically the same as that now paid by the Carpenters and the per capita cost had fallen to about seventeen cents in 1896. It may fairly be concluded that a wife's funeral benefit of twenty-five dollars will cost each member of the union about fifteen cents annually.

The consideration of the cost of the death benefit has been deferred until an examination of the cost of the disability benefit and of the wife's funeral benefit had been made, since the member's death benefit, the disability benefit and the wife's funeral benefit are regarded in the unions with the most highly developed systems as parts of a single benefit. In only a few unions are the payments for these several purposes separated. The unions thus differ so widely in the character of the death benefit paid that it is impossible to institute any comparison as to the relative expense of maintaining the benefit. Some of the systems combine death and disability benefits, some group the death and disability benefits, some pay a wife's funeral benefit while others do not. It will be possible to describe certain typical systems and to indicate the cost of the benefit in the particular system and certain general differences.

The death benefit of the International Typographical Union may be regarded as the simplest type. The greater number of the death benefit systems found in American trade unions are of this general character. The union pays a benefit on the death of any member in good standing. It pays no wife's funeral benefit nor any disability benefit. The benefit, when established in 1892, was fixed at sixty dollars, and has since been raised to seventy dollars in 1906. The annual per capita cost of the benefit has never exceeded eighty-four and has averaged less than eighty cents. This extremely low rate has been due to the large number of lapses. The beneficiary system of the union has not been highly developed and members of the union quitting the trade drop their membership. There is no sort of provision whereby members may retain their beneficiary rights on the payment of less than full dues. Only a small part of the dues are devoted to beneficiary purposes. The net result in such systems is that the members of the union get insurance at a low rate at the expense of those leaving the trade.

A second type is that of the Brotherhood of Carpenters. In their system, death and disability benefits are combined and a benefit is paid on the death of a member's wife. The benefits are graded but the maximum amounts are not large. The following table shows the system as a whole:

BENEFICIARY SYSTEM OF THE BROTHERHOOD OF CARPENTERS. ===================================================== Member's Death Wife's Death Disability Benefit. Benefit. Benefit. - $100 on 6 months' $25 on 6 months' $100 on 1 year's membership. membership. membership. $200 on 1 year's $50 on 1 year's $200 on 2 years' membership. membership. membership. $300 on 3 years' membership. $400 on 4 years' membership. -

The per capita cost of maintaining this system, adopted in 1882, has varied greatly from year to year. In 1895 it was as high as $2.46, while in 1900 it was as low as eighty-one cents. The explanation of this variation lies in the changes in the number of members and consequent changes in the age grouping. When the membership was at its lowest point in 1895 those who retained their connection with the organization were to a considerable extent the older members who were desirous of keeping their insurance. The number of claims (death, wife's death and disability) in 1895 was sixteen per one thousand of membership. In 1900 when the membership had doubled the number of claims per one thousand of membership was thirteen and in 1906 it was nine. The average amount of a claim in 1895 was $133, while in 1900 it was $105. In 1906 the average amount of a claim was $125.

Two deductions may be made from these statistics. The Carpenters have heretofore been unable to retain their membership in dull times. The result has been that the death rate has been lower and the average amount of the claims less than it otherwise would have been. The increase in membership in prosperous times results also in decreasing the average amount of the claims, since in such periods the mass of the members have not been long enough in membership to entitle them to more than the minimum benefits. The benefits furnished by the Carpenters and other unions with similar systems of benefits are provided at less than the cost would be in organizations with stable membership. The per capita cost of $1.23 in 1906 is far below the actuarial cost.

The Typographia and the Cigar Makers are typical unions of the third and final class. In these organizations there are highly developed beneficiary systems. The members receive not only death benefits but out-of-work and sick benefits. In both unions the membership is stable. In the Typographia periods of depression and prosperity do not affect the number of members. In the Cigar Makers the increase in members is checked in hard times but no decrease is suffered. In such unions the per capita cost of the death benefit is not lowered by lapses to any appreciable extent.

The death benefit in the Typographia includes a member's death benefit graded from sixty-five dollars to two hundred dollars, a wife's funeral benefit of fifty dollars and a disability benefit varying according to the age of the member. This combination of benefits costs to maintain on the average about three dollars. The cost varies considerably from year to year on account of the small number of members, and the consequent lack of regularity in the death rate, but taking five-year periods, the cost is stable.

In the Cigar Makers the cost of the death benefit is increasing. The full effect of the grading of the benefit has not as yet shown itself in the cost, since the influx of members recently has caused the rate to be somewhat lower than it would have been. If the Cigar Makers hold their membership and the increase slackens, it may be expected that by 1912 the cost of the benefit will be much higher than at present. In 1905, a normal year, the death benefit, including a member's death benefit graded from $200 to $550 (two to fifteen years), a wife's funeral benefit of forty dollars and a disability benefit equal to the death benefit cost the union the per capita rate of $3.56 to maintain. The following table shows the per capita cost of the death benefit system in several of the more important and typical systems:

PER CAPITA COST OF THE DEATH BENEFIT. ========================================================================= Year. Cigar Typogra- Carpen- Typo- Iron Leather Granite Glass Makers. phia. ters. graphical Mold- Workers Cutters. Bottle Union. ers. on Horse Blowers. Goods - 1882 $0.15 1883 .20 1884 .33 1885 .35 $2.11 1886 .20 1.05 $0.69 1887 .43 1.94 .66 1888 1.23 2.58 .66 1889 1.06 1.85 .90 1890 1.03 1.94 .90 1891 1.51 2.23 .99 $0.92 1892 1.60 1.60 1.38 1.02 1893 1.74 2.20 1.38 $0.73 1.37 1894 2.12 4.36 1.62 .81 1.28 1895 2.27 3.51 2.46 .78 $0.44 1896 2.69 2.36 1.62 .78 .44 1897 2.44 4.23 1.77 .84 .44 1898 3.30 2.63 1.80 .80 .44 $4.66 1899 3.13 1.27 .99 .83 $0.31 1900 2.64 3.13 .81 .78 .42 .11 1901 3.67 4.09 .90 .72 .54 .28 1.18 1902 3.11 3.58 1.10 .80 .57 .39 1.21 1903 3.14 3.25 .92 .72 .60 .34 1.16 1904 3.24 2.26 1.18 .84 .64 .55 1.11 1905 3.56 4.09 1.30 .84 .72 .38 1.53 5.93 1906 4.08 2.71 1.23 .79



CHAPTER III.

SICK BENEFITS.

Second in importance among the systems of benevolent relief maintained by American trade unions is the sick benefit paid to members who are prevented by illness from working. Historically, the sick benefit was probably the earliest beneficiary feature inaugurated by local trade unions, but, for several reasons, its adoption by the national unions was delayed. At the present time two systems of sick benefits can be found among American trade unions. In some unions this benefit is paid from the funds of the local union but is subject to the general supervision of the national organizations. In other unions it is disbursed from the national treasury and is immediately controlled by the national officials.

Of the one hundred and seventeen unions allied with the American Federation of Labor in 1904, twenty-eight reported payment of sick benefits.[120] They were as follows: Bakers and Confectioners, Barbers, Bill Posters, Boot and Shoe Workers, Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, Amalgamated Carpenters,[121] Cigar Makers, Compressed Air Workers, Foundry Employees, Freight Handlers, Fur Workers, Glass Snappers, Hotel and Restaurant Employees, Jewelry Workers, Leather Workers on Horse Goods, Machine Printers and Color Mixers, Machinists, Mattress, Spring and Bed Workers, Iron Molders, Oil and Gas Well Workers, Piano and Organ Workers, Plumbers, Print Cutters, Street and Electric Railway Employees, Tile Layers, Tobacco Workers, Travellers' Goods and Leather Novelty Workers, Wire Weavers. All of these, with a few exceptions, such as the Machinists and the American Wire Weavers, pay sick benefits from the national treasury.

[Footnote 120: Proceedings of the Twenty-fourth Annual Convention (Washington, 1904), p. 46.]

[Footnote 121: An English union with branches in the United States, with a voting strength of fifty in the American Federation of Labor, representing about four thousand members.]

The following table contains a list of the principal organizations that pay national sick benefits, arranged in the order of the introduction of the benefit:

================================================================= Year Year Sick Benefits Name of Organization. Organized. Introduced. - Granite Cutters ................ 1877 1877 Cigar Makers ................... 1864 1880 Typographia .................... 1873 1884 Barbers ........................ 1887 1893 Iron Molders ................... 1859 1896 Tobacco Workers ................ 1895 1896 Pattern Makers ................. 1887 1898 Leather Workers on Horse Goods.. 1896 1898 Piano and Organ Workers ........ 1898 1898 Boot and Shoe Workers .......... 1895 1899 Garment Workers ................ 1891 1900 Plumbers ....................... 1889 1903 -

The Granite Cutters' Union was the first national union to inaugurate a system of national sick benefits. In its first constitution, 1877, provision was made for the formation of a voluntary association for the payment of sick benefits. All members of the Union under fifty-five years of age were eligible to membership.[122] An initiation fee, varying from two dollars for members under thirty years of age to six dollars for those fifty years old, was charged. The amount of the benefit was fixed at six dollars per week during sickness, without any limitation on the amount granted during any one year. The association never had a large membership and was dissolved in 1888. The Union from 1888 to 1897 exempted members during illness from all dues except funeral assessments; since 1897 members in good standing who have been sick for two months are exempt from half dues.[123]

[Footnote 122: Constitution, 1877 (Rockland, Maine, 1877), p. 30.]

[Footnote 123: Constitution of the Granite Cutters' International Association of America, 1888, Art. 38 (New York, 1888); Constitution, 1897 (Baltimore, n.d.), p. 32.]

The Cigar Makers' Union was the first American national trade union to establish a compulsory sick benefit. The system was put into operation in 1880.[124] For some years previously sick benefits had been paid by certain of the local unions, particularly those in New York, New Haven and Brooklyn. In 1877 the Brooklyn local proposed that the sick benefit should be nationalized, but the convention defeated the plan.[125] At the convention of 1878 a committee was appointed to consider the advisability of establishing a national system of relief. This committee made a favorable report in 1879, and its plan was finally adopted at the thirteenth annual session, September, 1880.[126] The success of the sick benefit was immediate, and in 1881 and 1884 the amount of the allowance was increased.[127] The popularity of the sick benefit grew rapidly, and it soon took rank as one of the most successful features of the organization.[128]

[Footnote 124: Cigar Makers' Journal, Vol. 6, Oct., 1880, p. 7.]

[Footnote 125: Ibid., Vol. 3, Oct., 1877, p. 3.]

[Footnote 126: Ibid., Vol. 5, June, 1879, p. 1; October, 1880, p. 7.]

[Footnote 127: Constitution, 1881 (New York, 1881), Art. 9.]

[Footnote 128: Cigar Makers' Journal, Vol. 14, August, 1889, pp. 10-11.]

In the first national constitution of the Deutsch-Amerikanischen Typographia, adopted in April, 1873, provision was made for the payment of sick benefits by the subordinate unions.[129] The system, however, was unsatisfactory, and in 1879 and 1881 unsuccessful efforts were made to remedy its deficiencies. The desire for a better system finally led to the adoption of a national sick benefit at the New York convention in May, 1884.

[Footnote 129: 25-jaehrige Geschichte der Deutsch-Amerikanischen Typographia, p. 6; American Federationist, Vol. 2, No. 4, p. 60.]

The sick-benefit system of the Iron Molders' Union may be regarded as next in importance to those of the Cigar Makers and the German Printers. Although organized into a national union in 1859 the Iron Molders have only within a very recent period turned their attention seriously to the establishment of beneficiary features. In 1866 President Sylvis urged the adoption of a funeral and a disability benefit, to which, he said, sick benefits might be added later.[130] Thirty years later, in 1895, President Fox advocated a national sick benefit as a necessary part of the Iron Molders' beneficiary system.[131] But both of these officials cautioned the National Union against extending the national benefits too far, lest the protective purpose of the association be sacrificed to the benevolent. The unsatisfactory operation of the "Beneficial Association" in the early history of the Union, and later the experience of the Union with the death and disability benefit, had made the membership reluctant to sanction the establishment of any new benefit. A further deterrent influence was the almost total failure of sick benefits operated by the local unions.

[Footnote 130: Iron Molders' Journal, Vol. 1, p. 309.]

[Footnote 131: Proceedings of the Twentieth Convention, Chicago, 1895 (Cincinnati, 1895).]

President Fox's recommendation was effective, however, in securing the establishment of the sick benefit. The system became operative on January 1, 1896, and was essentially the same as that now in operation.[132] Provision is made for a weekly allowance of five dollars during a period of not more than thirteen weeks in any one year to sick members. The beneficiary must have been a member of the organization for six months, and not in arrears for more than twelve weeks' dues.[133]

[Footnote 132: Iron Molders' Journal, Vol. 31, No. 8, p. 3; Proceedings of Twentieth Convention, Chicago, 1895 (Cincinnati, 1895), p. 100.]

[Footnote 133: Constitution, 1895 (Cincinnati, 1895), Art. 17.]

Several unions organized in recent years, availing themselves of the experience of the Cigar Makers and the Typographia, have inaugurated systems of sick benefits within a few years after their organization. The Tobacco Workers' Union introduced national sick benefits in 1896, one year after organization. Similarly, the Boot and Shoe Workers' Union at their fourth convention in June, 1899, established a national sick benefit.[134] This system became operative on January 1, 1900, and provided for members in good standing sick benefits of five dollars per week for not more than thirteen weeks in any one year.[135]

[Footnote 134: Proceedings of the Second Convention, Boston, 1896 (Lynn, n.d.), pp. 42-46; Third Convention, Boston, 1897 (Lynn, n.d.); Fourth Convention, Rochester, 1899 (Lynn, n.d.).]

[Footnote 135: Constitution, 1899, sec. 65.]

Besides the unions thus described, the Barbers, the Bakers, the Leather Workers on Horse Goods, and the Plumbers each pay five dollars per week, the last two for thirteen weeks in any one year, the Barbers for twenty weeks, and the Bakers for twenty-six weeks; the Piano and Organ Workers, five dollars per week for eight weeks; the Pattern Makers, four dollars per week for thirteen weeks; the Garment Workers, three dollars per week to women and four dollars per week to men for eight weeks in any one year, or twelve weeks in two years, or fifteen weeks in three years, or eighteen weeks in four years.

In several other important unions the question of establishing a national system of sick benefits has been much discussed. The following unions have given the greatest amount of attention to the subject: the Typographical Union, the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, the Painters, the Wood Workers, and the Machinists. In each of these many of the subordinate unions pay a sick benefit. Among the Carpenters the payment of sick relief has always been an activity of the subordinate unions.[136] Although the Brotherhood has up to the present left the management of the sick benefit to the local unions, the national officials have recommended on several occasions that the benefit should be nationalized. In 1890 General Secretary-Treasurer M'Guire pointed out that under the system of local benefits travelling members were frequently not entitled to sick benefits.[137] At the ninth and tenth annual conventions, in 1896 and 1898, the subject of unifying the system was discussed at length.[138] Many local unions had bankrupted themselves by paying large sick benefits. The convention of 1898 submitted to the referendum a plan for a national system. The defeat of this proposal was chiefly due to the feeling that it was inadvisable to pay the same amount in small towns and cities where wages were low as in the larger cities.

[Footnote 136: The Society of Carpenters, founded at Halifax, Nova Scotia, February 18, 1798, provided in its constitution that all members of twelve months' standing, if sick and confined to bed, should receive two shillings per week; if able to walk about but unable to work, they should receive such a sum as the Society thought wise (Constitution, 1798, [MS.]).]

[Footnote 137: Proceedings of the Sixth General Convention, Chicago, 1890 (Philadelphia, 1890).]

[Footnote 138: The Carpenter, Vol. 16, October, 1896; Vol. 18, October, 1898, p. 8.]

The Typographical Union, prior to 1892, had manifested little interest in the establishment of a national sick benefit. At the national conventions of 1893, 1894 and 1898 President Prescott urged the adoption of a national system.[139] In 1898 he succeeded in securing a favorable report from the Committee on Laws, but the convention defeated the proposal.[140] Although the Union has not up to the present established a national sick benefit, the Union Printers' Home maintained by the Union has among its inmates not only aged printers but a large number of those afflicted with disabling diseases. The Home also serves as a sanitarium for tuberculosis patients.[141]

[Footnote 139: Proceedings of the Forty-second Convention, Louisville, 1894, p. 3.]

[Footnote 140: Proceedings of the Forty-fourth Convention, 1898, in Supplement to The Typographical Journal, November, 1898, p. 99.]

[Footnote 141: See below, p. 104.]

The table on page 78 shows the chief characteristics of the sick benefit as it has developed in several of the more important unions.

SICK BENEFIT. ========================================================================= Originally. 1905. Name of Organization Maximum Maximum Rate No. of Rate No. of Per Weeks in Per Weeks in Week a Year. Week. a Year. - Iron Molders ........... $5 13[143] $5.25 13[143] Typographia ............ 5 5 Cigar Makers ........... / 3 (1st 8) 16 5 13 1.50 (2d 8) Boot and Shoe Workers .. 5 13 5 13 Plumbers ............... 5 13 5 13 Pattern Makers ......... 6.25 13 4 13 Leather Workers on Horse Goods .................. 5[144] 13 Granite Cutters ........ 6 52 Tobacco Workers ........ 3 13 Piano and Organ Workers. 5 8 Garment Workers ........ / 3 (for women) 8 4 (for men) 8 Barbers ................ / 5 (1st 8) 16 5 20 3 (2d 8) Bakers ................. 5 26 5 26 -

[Footnote 143: See page 80.]

[Footnote 144: Exemption of half dues.]

The sick benefit is intended to support members and their families while the member is unable, through illness, to work. Such sickness, to entitle a member to the benefit, must in all the unions be an illness which prevents him from "attending to his usual vocations."[142] Practically all the unions provide, however, that if the sickness is the result of "intemperance, debauchery or other immoral conduct" the benefit shall not be paid. A few of the unions also specifically provide that illness "caused by the member's own act" shall not constitute a claim for the benefit.[145]

[Footnote 142: Iron Molders' Constitution, 1902 (Cincinnati, 1902), p. 37; Cigar Makers' Constitution, 1896, fourteenth edition (Chicago, n.d.), p. 34; Tobacco Workers' Constitution, 1900, third edition, 1905 (Louisville, n.d.), p. 25; Barbers' Constitution, 1902, p. 10; Garment Workers' Constitution, 1902, p. 37; Piano and Organ Workers' Constitution, 1902 (n.p., 1903), p. 18; Boot and Shoe Workers' Constitution, 1906, p. 31; Pattern Makers' Constitution, 1906, p. 48; Leather Workers on Horse Goods' Constitution, 1905, p. 21.]

[Footnote 145: The Boot and Shoe Workers, who have a large number of female members, provide that "female members shall not be entitled to [sick] benefits while pregnant nor for five weeks after confinement" (Constitution, 1906, sec. 64).]

In nearly all of the unions a member must have been in continuous good standing for six months to be entitled to receive the sick benefit. The Plumbers require that he shall have been a member for a year. Such requirements afford protection to some extent against persons in ill health joining the unions in order to receive the benefit. The unions rely almost entirely upon those provisions to prevent such abuse. In practically none is an examination regularly required in order to determine whether the candidate for admission to the union is likely to be a heavy risk. Certain of them do provide, however, that in case the candidate at the time of his admission is over a fixed age, or in case he is afflicted with a chronic disease, he shall be entitled to a smaller weekly benefit than would otherwise be the case. Thus, in the Typographia members fifty years of age and those passing unsatisfactory medical examinations pay five cents less weekly dues than regular members, but can draw no benefit until after two years' good standing. At the expiration of this period they may receive three dollars per week, two dollars less than the regular benefit, for fifty weeks, and then one dollar and fifty cents, half of the regular benefit, for another fifty weeks.

The rules of the unions paying sick benefits vary markedly as to the time at which the payment of the benefit begins. The Cigar Makers and the Typographia pay benefits for the first week of sickness but not for a fraction of a week; the benefit begins from the time the sickness is reported to the local union. The Iron Molders and the Boot and Shoe Workers begin payment with the beginning of the second week, and in no case allow benefits for the first week or for a fractional part of a week. In the Pattern Makers' League, the Brotherhood of Leather Workers on Horse Goods, and the Piano and Organ Workers no benefit is paid unless the illness continues two weeks; the benefits are then paid for the entire period. The Tobacco Workers begin payment with the second week, but if the illness continues twenty-one days, payment is also allowed for the first week. The Plumbers do not pay a sick benefit unless the illness extends two weeks, in which case payment begins with the second week.

The sick benefit is not intended in any of the unions as a pension for persons suffering from chronic disability. In all of them the number of weeks in any one year during which a member may draw the benefit is limited. The usual provision is that the member may not receive the relief more than thirteen weeks in any one year.[146] Several unions, however, set the maximum at eight weeks, while in a very few a member may draw it for more than thirteen weeks in a single year. The most liberal provision is found in the Typographia. A member of that organization may draw a weekly sick benefit of five dollars for fifty weeks, and may then draw a weekly benefit of three dollars for another fifty weeks.

[Footnote 146: See table on page 78.]

Several of the unions have found that certain members draw the maximum number of weeks' benefit yearly. These members are invalids and practically unable to work at the trade. The benefit is thus to a certain extent converted into a pension for disability. The Iron Molders and the Boot and Shoe Workers have made express provision for retiring such members from the benefit. In 1902 the Iron Molders provided that a member permanently disabled who had "drawn the full sick benefits for three years should be compelled to draw disability benefits." In 1907 the Financier reported that since 1902 eighty-nine members had thus been retired. In 1906 the Boot and Shoe Workers' Union provided that after a member had drawn the full amount of the sick benefit for two years he should be paid a disability benefit of one hundred dollars.[147] The Garment Workers reach much the same end by providing that a member may not receive more than eight weeks' benefit during one year, nor more than twelve in two years, fifteen in three years, and eighteen in four years.[148]

[Footnote 147: Constitution, 1906 (Boston, 1906), pp. 30-32; Proceedings of the Seventh Convention, 1906, pp. 44-45.]

[Footnote 148: Constitution, 1906 (New York, n.d.), p. 41.]

The rate of the weekly sick benefit is five dollars in all the unions except the Tobacco Workers and the Pattern Makers. In the former it is three dollars and in the latter four. The Cigar Makers when they introduced the benefit paid three dollars per week for the first eight weeks and one dollar and a half for the second eight weeks.[149] After a year's experience the amounts were increased to four dollars and two dollars, respectively; in 1884 to five dollars and three dollars; in 1891 the benefit was set at five dollars per week and the maximum period during which the benefit could be obtained was fixed at thirteen weeks.[150] The Typographia, introducing the benefit in 1884, fixed the amount at five dollars and paid the same rate without regard to the number of weeks the benefit had been paid. In 1888 the amount was increased to six dollars.[151] But in July, 1894, because of the drain on the funds of the union due to the depression of business, the amount was reduced to five dollars.[152] The Granite Cutters paid for a time six dollars, but since 1888 have simply allowed total or half exemption of dues.[153] The only other one of the unions which has reduced the amount of the benefit is the Pattern Makers. When this union introduced the sick benefit the amount paid was fixed at six dollars and twenty-five cents, but since 1900 only four dollars have been paid. The only union at present differentiating the amount of the benefit according to the length of the term of sickness is the Typographia.

[Footnote 149: Constitution, 1880, Art. 12.]

[Footnote 150: Constitution, 1881 (New York, 1881), Art. 9; 1884 (New York, 1884), Art. 9; 1891 (Buffalo, 1892), p. 28.]

[Footnote 151: 25 jaehrige Geschichte der Deutsch-Amerikanischen Typographia, p. 35.]

[Footnote 152: American Federationist, Vol. 2, No. 4, p. 62.]

[Footnote 153: Constitution, 1877 (Rockland, 1877), p. 31.]

The total amount which may be drawn in any one year in about one half the unions is sixty-five dollars; that is, thirteen weeks at five dollars per week. The largest amounts during any one year are paid by the Typographia, the Bakers and the Barbers. The Bakers and the Barbers allow members to draw $130 and $100, respectively, while a member of the Typographia may receive as much as $265 per year.

The table on page 82 shows the total and per capita cost of the sick benefit in four of the principal unions maintaining it.

The per capita cost in the four unions, for the last year in which data are available, ranged from $3.59 in the Cigar Makers to $2.18 in the Leather Workers on Horse Goods. The chief reason for the higher per capita cost to the Cigar Makers and the Typographia is the more liberal provision for the payment of the benefit. In both of these unions the relief is paid from the time the illness is reported. The Iron Molders and the Leather Workers do not pay a sick benefit unless the illness extends over two weeks. In the case of the Iron Molders the benefit begins with the second week. Just how effective these limitations are in keeping down the cost per member can only be conjectured since the statistical records of the unions do not afford data for a thoroughgoing analysis. The financier of the Iron Molders estimated in 1902 that if the union had paid for the first week of sickness, the amount paid in sick benefits would have been increased twenty-three per cent.[154]

[Footnote 154: Iron Molders' Journal, September, 1902, Supplement, p. 648.]

TOTAL AND PER CAPITA COST OF THE SICK BENEFIT. ============================================================================== Year. Cigar Makers. Typographia. Iron Molders. Leather Workers on Horse Goods. Total Cost. Per Per Per Per Capita Total Capita Total Capita Total Capita Cost. Cost Cost. Cost. Cost. Cost. 1881 $ 3,987.73 $ .27 1882 17,145.29 1.50 1883 22,250.56 1.68 1884 31,551.50 2.77 1885 29,379.89 2.44 $2,444.85 $4.37 1886 42,225.59 1.71 2,751.35 2.89 1887 63,900.88 3.10 3,034.60 2.82 1888 58,824.19 3.40 3,495.90 3.10 1889 59,519.94 3.29 4,831.50 4.27 1890 64,660.47 2.55 5,361.36 4.34 1891 87,472.97 3.40 6,175.88 4.67 1892 89,906.30 3.22 6,790.60 4.91 1893 104,391.83 3.68 6,051.65 4.33 1894 106,758.37 3.64 7,004.07 5.81 1895 112,567.06 3.82 5,098.98 4.66 1896 109,208.62 3.74 5,426.65 4.86 $ 38,511.00 $1.79 1897 112,774.63 4.00 4,681.25 4.32 36,720.00 1.59 1898 111,283.60 3.90 3,983.85 3.62 37,710.00 1.50 1899 107,785.07 3.45 4,506.35 4.20 57,465.00 1.98 $ 855.00 $ .90 1900 117,455.84 3.21 4,651.65 4.45 102,935.00 2.49 2,105.00 .88 1901 134,614.11 3.65 4,316.81 4.22 118,515.00 2.46 4,870.00 1.22 1902 137,403.45 3.47 4,977.98 4.99 134,116.00 2.47 8,595.00 1.81 1903 147,054.56 3.42 3,767.93 3.77 179,355.00 2.78 11,680.00 1.90 1904 163,226.18 3.59 2,945.68 2.96 198,214.25 2.59 16,940.00 2.18 1905 165,917.00 3.73 4,835.45 4.95 174.946.28 14,345.00 2.13 1906 162,905.82 3.70 2,945.68 3.02 176,799.00

Differences in the rate of morbidity in different trades affect the cost, but these are relatively unimportant in the unions considered. A more important cause of difference in cost is the extent to which the unions are able to prevent the sick benefit from becoming a pension to members incapacitated by old age and disease. The heavy cost in the Typographia is partly due to the more liberal provision which is made for such members. In those unions, such as the Iron Molders and the Leather Workers on Horse Goods, which do not maintain an out-of-work benefit, the cost of the sick benefit is undoubtedly somewhat higher than it would be on account of the temptation of the unemployed member to feign illness.



CHAPTER IV.

OUT-OF-WORK BENEFITS.

The out-of-work benefit, of prime importance among English trade unions, has made little headway in America either as a national or even as a local trade-union benefit. In 1905 the amount expended for out-of-work benefits could not well have exceeded eighty thousand dollars, and of this sum a considerable part was spent by the Amalgamated Carpenters, a British trade union with branches in the United States. Certainly less than one half of one per cent. of the expenditures of American national unions, and less than one per cent. of their expenditures for beneficiary purposes, is for out-of-work relief. In the one hundred principal English trade unions twenty-one per cent. of the total expenditure in the ten years from 1892 to 1901 was for out-of-work benefits. Of the sum spent by the same unions for benefits of all kinds (not including strike pay) about one third was for out-of-work benefits.[155]

[Footnote 155: Weyl, "Benefit Features of British Trade Unions" in Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor, No. 64, p. 722.]

Relief to the unemployed member has assumed in American unions three forms: (a) an out-of-work benefit of a fixed amount per week in money, (b) exemption of unemployed members from weekly or monthly dues, and (c) a loan or benefit sufficient to transport the unemployed member in search of employment. The first and second of these are ordinarily known as out-of-work benefits, while the third is known as a travelling benefit.

The unions that pay a money benefit are the Cigar Makers, the Typographia, the Coal Hoisting Engineers, and the Jewelry Workers.[156] The Cigar Makers' Union is still the only American trade union of considerable membership which maintains a system of out-of-work benefits under which unemployed members receive a weekly money benefit. On October 11, 1875, the New York branch of the Cigar Makers' Union formed an out-of-work benefit and became from that time the steady advocate of a national system. As early as 1876 the New York Union proposed a plan to the International Convention, modelled upon the system in operation in the local union, under which a member was entitled to receive aid for a term of three weeks, beginning with the second week of unemployment.[157] This proposal failed of adoption; but the International Convention agreed that sick members should have their cards receipted by the out-of-work seal. Proposals for the establishment of a money out-of-work benefit were made in 1877 and in 1879 at conventions of the Union. Although International President Hurst endorsed the idea in 1876 and recommended that it be placed before the local unions for consideration, the International Convention voted adversely. A substitute, proposed by Mr. Gompers, was adopted in 1879. This provided that every subordinate union should establish a labor bureau for the purpose of securing work for unemployed members.[158] The compromise was by no means satisfactory, and suggestions continued to be made for the establishment of a national out-of-work benefit.[159]

[Footnote 156: The Amalgamated Carpenters, an English union which had in 1902 forty-four branches with 3307 members in the United States, also pay an out-of-work benefit.]

[Footnote 157: Journal, Vol. 1, September, 1876, p. 1.]

[Footnote 158: Cigar Makers' Journal, Vol. 2, April, 1877, p. 2; Vol. 3, October, 1877, p. 3; Vol. 5, September, 1879, p. 3.]

[Footnote 159: Ibid., Vol. 8, September, 1883, p. 9; Vol. 11, October, 1885, p. 6; Vol. 13, July, 1888, p. 7; Vol. 14, December, 1888, p. 3; Vol. 15, October, 1889, pp. 17-18; Constitution, amended 1889, Art. 8.]

The Cigar Makers' present national system of out-of-work relief was adopted at the eighteenth session, held in New York City in September, 1889, and became operative in January, 1890. The measure as finally adopted by the International Convention was framed by Mr. Gompers. It provided that the unemployed members should receive three dollars per week and fifty cents for each additional day, that after receiving six weeks' aid the member should not be entitled to further assistance for seven weeks, and that no member should be granted more than seventy-two dollars during any one year. The original system has remained practically unchanged with the exception that in 1896 the annual allowance per member was reduced.

From the outset—the first benefit was paid on January 22, 1890[160]—this system has been successful in operation. The report of the international president to the nineteenth session, September, 1891, showed that 2286 members out of 24,624, or less than ten per cent. of the total membership, drew out-of-work benefits during the first year, to the amount of $22,760.50; while during the first six months of 1891, the second year of its operation, 1074 out of 24,221, or less than five per cent., received assistance to the amount of $13,214.50.[161] During 1892 the per capita cost of the benefit was 65-1/2 cents, as compared with 92 cents and 87 cents in 1890 and 1891, respectively. These years were immediately preceding the great industrial and financial depression of 1893-1897, and in consequence during the following years the per capita amount paid showed considerable increase. In 1894 the unemployed cost the Union $174,517.25, or $6.27 per capita of membership, and in 1896, $175,767.25, or $6.43 per capita.[162] Since 1897 the yearly amount paid has gradually decreased with the exception of 1901 and 1904. During sixteen years of operation, ending January 1, 1906, $1,045,866.11 has been paid to unemployed members.[163]

[Footnote 160: Cigar Makers' Journal, Vol. 15, February, 1890, p. 9.]

[Footnote 161: Ibid., Vol. 17, October, 1891, p. 5 (Supplement).]

[Footnote 162: Proceedings of the Twenty-first Session, September, 1896; in Cigar Makers' Journal, Vol. 22, No. 1.]

[Footnote 163: Cigar Makers' Journal, Vol. 31, April, 1906, p. 13.]

Even before the Cigar Makers, the Deutsch-Amerikanischen Typographia, the small union of the German American printers, had established an out-of-work benefit. The Typographia began to pay an out-of-work benefit in 1884, eleven years after the organization of the national union. The new preamble adopted at the first national convention in Philadelphia, 1873, declared one of the purposes of the union to be the support of members "when unable to obtain work."[164] In 1884, when the union nationalized its system of benefits, the out-of-work benefit was fixed at five dollars per week. In 1888, owing to the prosperous financial condition of the Union, it was increased to six dollars per week, but in July, 1894, because of the strain upon the funds of the organization caused by the introduction of typesetting machines and the general business depression, it was reduced to the original sum.[165]

[Footnote 164: American Federationist, Vol. 2, No. 4, p. 61.]

[Footnote 165: Ibid.]

The system in operation at present provides that members in good standing who have been on the unemployed list for eighteen days shall be entitled to six dollars per week. After drawing twenty-four dollars, no further benefit is granted until the member is on the unemployed list again for eighteen days, and no member is entitled to more than ninety-six dollars in any one fiscal year. Since 1888, with the exception of the fiscal years ending June 30, 1890, and June 30, 1891, the amount paid for out-of-work assistance has been the largest single item in the budget of the Union. During the year ending June 30, 1894, $17,262.50, or $14.33 per capita, an equivalent of forty-eight per cent. of the total disbursements for all benevolent purposes, was paid in out-of-work claims. The total amount paid up to June 30, 1906, was $145,826.91, and the average yearly per capita cost had been $5.99.[166]

[Footnote 166: See table, page 91.]

Only two other American unions paid out-of-work benefits in 1906. Both of these are small unions and recently organized. The National Brotherhood of Coal Hoisting Engineers pay five dollars per week to members out of employment, after the first thirty days, until work is secured, or until the expiration of twelve weeks.[167] The Jewelry Workers provide for the payment of seven dollars per week to married men and five dollars to unmarried men.[168] Certain other unions, notably the Pattern Makers,[169] pay a "victimized" benefit to members who are unable to secure employment because they are members of the union. Such benefits are directly connected with collective bargaining, and any discussion thereof lies without the scope of this monograph.

[Footnote 167: Constitution, 1902 (Danville, Ill., n.d.), p. 14.]

[Footnote 168: Constitution, 1902 (New York, n.d.), p. 6.]

[Footnote 169: Constitution, 1906 (New York, n.d.), p. 17.]

The introduction of a national out-of-work benefit has been, however, much discussed in several important unions. These have been the International Typographical Union, the Brotherhood of Carpenters and the Boot and Shoe Workers' Union. The unemployment caused by the depression of 1892-1897 was responsible for much of the consideration given the matter.

In none of these unions has the subject been more fully debated than in the Typographical Union. In October, 1895, the New York local union adopted an out-of-work benefit, which provided for its unemployed members an allowance of four dollars per week for a period of eight weeks in each year.[170] Such activity on the part of the largest local union added considerable force to the movement for an International benefit. President Prescott in his report to the forty-second session of the International Union in 1894 recommended the establishment of an out-of-work benefit, in preference to a sick benefit. He showed that during 1894 several of the largest local unions had found it necessary to levy special assessments for the support of unemployed members. The amount of unemployment, especially in large cities, had increased rapidly. A large per cent. of the unemployed consisted of old men who were unable to compete with younger men in the operation of the linotype. The neglect of this class of men President Prescott characterized as criminal.[171] All agitation for the establishment of an out-of-work benefit has, however, up to the present time failed.[172]

[Footnote 170: Typographical Journal, Vol. 7, No. 5, p. 3.]

[Footnote 171: Proceedings of the Forty-second Annual Session, 1894, p. 3.]

[Footnote 172: Proceedings of the Forty-third Annual Session, 1896, pp. 76, 86.]

In 1894 at the eighth general session and again at the ninth in 1896 the Carpenters and Joiners considered seriously the question.[173] The Boot and Shoe Workers at their fifth convention in 1902, although refusing to adopt a proposed plan for a national system, recommended as a partial substitute that all local unions raise funds for the payment of dues of out-of-work members and provide such other relief as they should deem wise, "to the end that from the experience so gained a national plan for relief of unemployed members may be developed."[174]

[Footnote 173: The Carpenter, Vol. 14, September, 1894; Vol. 16, September, 1896.]

[Footnote 174: Proceedings of the Fifth Convention, 1902, p. 28.]

In the unions maintaining out-of-work benefits it is customary to provide as a precautionary measure that members must have been in good standing for a lengthy period before being entitled to the benefit. The Cigar Makers and the Deutsch-Amerikanischen Typographia provide that only members of the union in good standing for two years shall be entitled to the benefit.[175]

[Footnote 175: Constitution of the Cigar Makers' International Union of America, 1896, thirteenth edition (Chicago, n.d.), sec. 117; Constitution of the Deutsch-Amerikanischen Typographia, 1901.]

Both the Cigar Makers and the Typographia have also stringent regulations intended to prevent fraud. In the Cigar Makers' Union a member thrown out of employment must obtain from the collector of the shop in which he works a certificate stating the cause of his discharge. If the unemployment is caused by the intoxication of the member, or if he has "courted his discharge" through bad workmanship or otherwise, he is not entitled to the benefit for eight weeks. Mere inability to retain employment does not, however, deprive a member of the relief. If a member leaves employment of his own volition, he is not entitled to a benefit until he has obtained work again for at least one week. Having obtained the certificate of the collector, the unemployed member must register at the office of the union in a book provided for that purpose. After having been registered for one week, he begins to draw the out-of-work benefit. If while receiving out-of-work pay he refuses to work in a shop where work is offered him, or neglects to apply for work when directed by an officer of the union, he loses his right to the benefit and cannot receive out-of-work pay again until he has had employment for at least one week. Shop collectors are required to report immediately the name of any member refusing to work.

After having received out-of-work benefit for six weeks, the member is not entitled to assistance for seven weeks thereafter. From June 1 to September 23 and from December 16 to January 15 no out-of-work benefits are paid. During these periods, however, any member out of work can obtain remission of dues by application to the financial secretary. He must, however, pay such dues at the rate of ten per cent weekly when he secures employment. The total out-of-work benefit which may be paid in any one fiscal year is fifty-four dollars. Moreover, any member who has received fifty-four dollars in benefits is not entitled to any further sums until he shall have worked four weeks. But members over fifty years of age are not required to secure employment for four weeks, but may continue to draw the fifty-four dollars yearly although not working.