The First National Agreement
In that same period of the tumultuous twenties, the IUEC was
successful in delivering to its membership the first National
Agreement between the IUEC and management. Representatives of
the union met with elevator manufacturers in Atlantic City.
The agreement, known thereafter as the Atlantic City Agreement,
set a wage scale according to the relative position of the seven
principal trades in the building industry: Bricklayers, Plasterers,
Carpenters, Electricians, Sheet Metal Workers, Plumbers, Steam
Fitters, and Iron Workers. The delegates to the 12th Convention
of the IUEC ratified the Atlantic City Agreement. The action
proved to be historic, as the agreement would be emulated throughout
the international trade union movement.
But problems with anti-union employers persisted. President
Gompers articulated the problems at the IUEC special convention
that had been called in New York to deal with open shop threats.
He spoke of the fighting spirit that Americans displayed in
World War I against the "imperialistic, militaristic, autocratic
institutions of this mad man (the Kaiser) in Germany."
Then, he added:
"Now we have won the war ... but after the war, there
began a movement among the princes of finance and the captains
of industry against the spirit of Americanism and freedom and
democracy; they believed the spirit which was aroused among
the working people of our country had grown too strong and that
the men of labor of America were even daring to regard themselves
as equal sovereign citizens with equal sovereign rights."
The war, and then the Great Depression , these were two eras
stark in their effect on America and its workers.
Unemployment of the Great Depression meant hard times for
workers and the depletion of the private savings - the hardest
economic times our nation had known. Government assistance for
some building trade unions came through subsidized housing projects.
But this did nothing to help the elevator constructors. The
figures of the elevator manufacturing industry show that sales
of elevators reached $77 million in new sales for 1929 but by
1934, sales had dropped to only $11 million and nearly all elevator
constructors were out of work. The industry suffered as much
as the workers.
In 1931, the Elevator Manufacturers Association came to the
IUEC with a job creation proposal. A problem had developed in
the industry before the Depression that had slowed new construction.
Separate companies were moving into the market of elevator repair,
and repair became the sole province of new industrial concerns.
As a consequence, the elevator construction industry was losing
the chance to repair its own constructions. With new construction
possibilities remaining dormant in the Depression, representatives
of the industry came to the union with a proposal for performing
elevator repair work. The proposal was good for the elevator
construction companies and it was good for the union because
it got members working again.
In support of this plan, the manufacturers had begun to make
agreements with building owners that upon elevator installation;
repair work would be handled through the installing company.
A special convention of the IUEC was called again in 1931 to
consider the proposal. The new agreement for maintenance versus
new construction called for a slight reduction in wages but
it opened up a considerable number of jobs. With workers across
the country standing idle and walk-in, non-union labor threatening
implementation of new agreements across the country, the IUEC
convention accepted the proposal with only minor changes. Indeed,
it was welcomed. Elevator construction locals across the country
were suffering, and this, plan could help.
The worst losses of all were in Chicago. Chicago Local #2
had invested funds on behalf of the membership in three banks
that subsequently collapsed. The investors, and the union, were
liable for the bank's debts. By the time of the 1934 IUEC convention,
the Chicago local debt to the International had reached $35,000.
Under the by-laws of the IUEC, locals not paying their assessments
were denied access to the convention and members not paying
their assessments were denied the protection of the union. However,
with the Depression, the union changed its policy. The 1934
convention, realizing the strength of the organization was in
direct proportion to its ability to control the supply of qualified
elevator constructors, decided those in financial arrears should
not face expulsion. The best way to maintain control was to
have the men become and remain members of the union, and the
convention so ruled.
Men who were qualified to perform elevator constructor's work
but who were not members of the union were viewed as a "serious
menace," especially ex-members of the union. This included
the unemployed that had lost their membership with their jobs.
To counteract this problem, the convention by-laws and constitution
allowed unemployed members of the union to remain in good standing.
"They being your brothers, working with you in prosperous
times, I think it is no more than right, it is only human to
protect them in times of distress." That was the statement
of delegate McAuliff of St. Louis. It stated the general sentiment
of the convention. The decision was both humanitarian and wise
because by 1939, the IUEC locals were getting back on their
feet and the unemployed were returning to work as jobs began
to grow in the industry. After a period of economic growth,
the stable economy began to falter in the late 1940s.
