EXPLANATORY NOTE Throughout the following pages the use of SMALL CAPITALS in the body of a paragraph indicates that the term thus emphasized is separately dealt with elsewhere in the book, in its regular alphabetical order. This plan of denoting cross references as they occur in the text is not, however, followed in the case of such constantly recurring terms as "trade union," "labor movement," etc. Where a cross reference is indicated by the use of SMALL CAPITALS in the body of an entry, it is not as a rule repeated among the cross references given at the close of the entry. UNIV. OF WHAT'S WHAT IN THE LABOR MOVEMENT A A. D. G. B. See ALLGEMEINER DEUTSCHER GEWERKSCHAFTS BUND. A. F. of L. See AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR. A. W. O. See AGRICULTURAL WORKERS' ORGANIZATION. A. W. U. See AUSTRALIAN WORKERS' UNION. Abnormal Place. In British coal-mining, a position in the mine where, owing to especial difficulties presented by the conformation of the coal seam, the miner is unable in a given time to extract the amount of coal necessary to secure the average, or something like the average, PIECE WORK earnings. In nearly all wage scales in the coal-mining industry, the complications presented by the "abnormal place" are duly provided for. (See CONSIDERATION MINERS.) Absentee Capitalism. The modern CAPITALISTIC SYSTEM is often so called, because of the widespread extent to which income is derived from industrial enterprises by investors, or stockholders, who have no direct relations in the way of management or supervision with the enterprises from which they derive their income. This situation has a very definite and important bearing upon labor conditions and industrial relations. "Stocks are bought either as a speculation or as an investment, and in case either the physical property deteriorates or the productive organization tends to become inefficient, the well-informed stockholder generally takes no steps to correct the condition, but merely throws his stock upon the market. TO VIMU This marks a very real and definite distinction from the actual ownership of a property or business which must be kept in good condition by its owner as regards both plant and organization. If all industries were owned and operated by individuals, there might be some reason to hope that generally satisfactory wages and physical conditions might be attained through the education of the owner to a realization that permanent success depended absolutely upon the maintenance of the plant in the best condition and the permanent satisfaction of the legitimate demands of the workers, but with the impersonal, remote and irresponsible status of control by stock ownership, such a hope must be purely illusory. The ordinary stockholder in a large corporation actually occupies a less direct relationship to the corporation in which he is interested, has less knowledge of its actual operations, and less control over its management, than the ordinary citizen has over local, state and national governments." (See CORPORATION.) Absentee Committee. See TIMEKEEPING COMMITTEE. Absenteeism. In a labor sense, this term has reference to the practice or habit, on the part of individual employees, of being temporarily absent from work. As a fairly constant factor in industry, absenteeism makes for lowered plant efficiency and decreased production; while it involves a huge annual loss of wages to the workers. (See CLOCKING.) Academic Socialism. See SOCIALISTS OF THE CHAIR. Accessions. See MOBILITY OF LABOR. Accident Benefits. See DISABILITY BENefits, Accident-Reporting Laws. Legislation requiring an employer of labor to file with the proper public authorities, within a specified time, detailed information regarding any industrial accident that may occur in his establishment. Compulsory accident reporting is a necessary part of any system of WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION. In the case of occupational diseases, a similar reporting duty usually falls upon the physician. Accord System. As found in some parts of Germany, this is a system of CONVICT LABOR which corresponds to what is known in America as the PIECE PRICE SYSTEM. Adamson Law. In September, 1916, the demands of the RAILWAY BROTHERHOODS for the basic EIGHT-HOUR DAY were about to cul OF minate in a strike of national proportions, when President Wilson asked Congress for legislation to meet the situation and to remedy the obvious failure of the NEWLANDS ACT in providing for settlement of railway wage disputes. The result of this request was the passage of a measure known as the Adamson Law, which specified that after January 1, 1917, "eight hours shall, in contracts for labor and service, be deemed a day's work and the measure or standard of a day's work for the purpose of reckoning the compensation" of railroad trainmen. Provision was also made for a Federal Eight-Hour Commission, to study and report upon the workings of the act. This Commission reported inconclusively shortly after the railroads were taken over by the government for the period of the war. The Adamson Law was declared constitutional by the Supreme Court in the spring of 1917. Adjustment Board. Ordinarily, either a board set up by a trade union for the settlement of internal union disputes, or a joint board of employers and workers set up to deal with grievances. Administrative Orders. With specific reference to STATE INDUSTRIAL COMMISSIONS, these are orders or rules issued by, or under the authority of, such a commission, in its work of enforcing and interpreting the state laws relating to industrial matters. Such orders are commonly of two kinds: (1) General orders, applying to all establishments or all persons of the same class throughout the state; and (2) special orders, applying to a single establishment or person. While provision is made for appeal from such orders in a prescribed form and process, they have generally the binding force of legislative enactments. Admission to the Trade. See APPRENTICESHIP. Admittance to the Trade Union. Aside from the various trade union rules regarding qualifications for membership, some of which are noted in the entry RESTRICTION OF NUMBERS, the method by which qualified persons enter a trade union is described in the following summary from the FEDERAL INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION'S Report: "A few national unions provide for admission to membership on application to the national officers, if the applicant lives outside the jurisdiction of any local union. Those who join in organizing a new LOCAL are almost necessarily admitted by action of the national officers. In all unions, however, the regular mode of entrance is by vote of a local. In many cases a written application is required, endorsed by two MEMBERS IN GOOD STANDING. |