CONTENTS. PAGE I. Introduction and General Summary, 1. Scope and Method of the Report, 2. Summary of Principal Data, II. General Review of the Labor Movement in Massachusetts in 1914, 5 5 7 9 3. Convention of the Massachusetts State Branch, American Federation of Labor, 14 3. Comparison of Chartered Returns for the United Kingdom, Germany, New 34 4. Summary of Quarterly Reports Received from Labor Organizations in Massachusetts during the Years 1908-1914, 37 SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT ON LABOR ORGANIZATIONS, 1914. I. INTRODUCTION AND GENERAL SUMMARY. 1. SCOPE AND METHOD OF THE REPORT. The present report is the seventh1 of the series of annual reports on the subject of Labor Organizations issued by this Bureau beginning with the report in 1908. The increasing demand for information with reference to industrial conditions in Massachusetts has been such as to justify this Bureau in continuing the collection and publication of statistical data with reference to these organizations, and in enlarging somewhat the scope of its inquiries. The statistics presented in this report,1 covering the calendar year 1914, have reference principally to the number and membership of labor organizations in existence in the Commonwealth at the close of the year and the unemployment of organized workmen, data for previous years being presented for comparative purposes. Considerable other information was obtained from labor organizations during the year, but owing to its volume and distinctive character it has been published in separate bulletins as follows: A directory 2 of labor organizations in Massachusetts, including a list of all national and international organizations represented by one or more locals in the United States; a report showing the union scales of wages and hours of labor in effect in the principal organized trades in Massachusetts in 1914; and four quarterly reports1 1 Earlier reports have been issued as follows: 1908 Part II of the Thirty-ninth Annual Report on the Statistics of Labor. 1909 - Part III of the Fortieth Annual Report on the Statistics of Labor. 1911 - Part II of the Forty-second Annual Report on the Statistics of Labor. 2 See Labor Bulletin No. 98 entitled "Thirteenth Annual Directory of Labor Organizations in Massachusetts, 1914." See Labor Bulletin No. 107, entitled “Union Scale of Wages and Hours of Labor in Massachusetts, 1914.” These reports were issued, respectively, as the Twenty-fifth, Twenty-sixth, Twenty-seventh, and Twentyeighth Quarterly Reports on Unemployment, in Massachusetts. [IX. 5] on the subject of unemployment in Massachusetts, the principal data contained therein being summarized in Section IV of the present report. In addition to the bulletins containing information based primarily on union returns, the Bureau has issued a compilation of the labor laws1 in effect in the Commonwealth at the close of the legislative session of 1914, a compilation which, it was believed, would prove of distinct interest to labor organizations. The data presented in these several reports were secured, for the most part, in answer to inquiries contained in schedules 2 which were received by mail from union officials who were believed to be well qualified to furnish the requisite information. In those instances where the union officials (resident in Massachusetts) failed to return the schedules properly filled out, agents of this Bureau obtained the information from such officials directly, or from some other reliable source. There were only a few instances where the international officials failed to supply the information requested, and in nearly all of those instances it was possible to obtain the facts from the official journal of the organization or from some organizer or other representative residing in Massachusetts. The returns here published were furnished as of the date December 31, 1914, with the exception of the quarterly statistics of unemployment, which were as of the respective dates March 31, June 30, September 30, and December 31. In a very few instances, owing to the failure or inability of certain organizations to state their membership as of the date December 31 1914, we have used the corresponding figure obtained at the end of the next earlier quarter of the year, as returned on the Bureau's quarterly schedule on "Employment and Membership". The data showing the number and membership of organizations in existence on December 31, 1914, as classified by municipalities, industries, and occupations, may be taken as an authoritative and approximately complete showing as to the aggregate membership of all the local organizations in the Commonwealth at the close of the year. With respect to the statistics of unemployment it may be stated that, while no information was received in some instances, and in other instances the inquiries were not applicable owing to the nature of the organization addressed, for all practical purposes the tabulations may be considered sufficiently complete to answer the purpose for which they have been secured that of showing the general conditions in those occupations, industries, and municipalities which are, to any considerable extent, organized. 1 See Labor Bulletin No. 104, entitled "Handbook of the Labor Laws of Massachusetts." |