Mediation Commission, World War I

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Mediation Commission, World War I

United States 1917-1918

Synopsis

When the United States entered World War I in 1917, it faced a mobilization crisis. Throughout the country, labor unrest was rampant and threatened the wartime supply of goods. In response, President Woodrow Wilson formed a Mediation Commission that he charged with traveling to the areas troubled by labor disputes and offering its services to help bring about settlements. The commission was formed to deal with the disputes in the Arizona copper mines and the timber industry of the Northwest, but it expanded to handle disputes in the telephone, transit, and meatpacking industries. The commission's efforts were generally successful, although it experienced failure with the meatpackers and in the timber industry. Usually, the grievances were similar and included such issues as the eight-hour workday, higher wages, collective bargaining, and a closed shop.

Timeline

1897: Zionist movement is established under the leadership of Theodor Herzl.
1902: Second Anglo-Boer War ends in victory for Great Britain. It is a costly victory, however, resulting in the loss of more British lives (5,774) than any conflict between 1815 and 1914. The war also sees the introduction of concentration camps, used by the British to incarcerate Boer civilians.
1905: Russian Revolution of 1905 occurs. Following the "bloody Sunday" riots before the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg in January, revolution spreads throughout Russia, in some places spurred on by newly formed workers' councils, or soviets. Among the most memorable incidents of the revolt is the mutiny aboard the battleship Potemkin. Suppressed by the czar, the revolution brings an end to liberal reforms and thus sets the stage for the larger revolutions of 1917.
1911: In China, revolutionary forces led by Sun Yat-sen bring an end to more than 2,100 years of imperial rule.
1915: A German submarine sinks the Lusitania, killing 1,195, including 128 U.S. citizens. Theretofore, many Americans had been sympathetic toward Germany, but the incident begins to turn the tide of U.S. sentiment toward the Allies.
1917: The intercepted "Zimmermann Telegram" reveals a plot by the German government to draw Mexico into an alliance against the United States in return for a German promise to return the southwestern U.S. territories taken in the Mexican War. Three months later on 6 April, in response to German threats of unrestricted submarine warfare, the United States declares war on Germany.
1917: On both the Western Front and in the Middle East, the tide of the war begins to turn against the Central Powers. The arrival of U.S. troops, led by General Pershing, in France in June greatly boosts morale and reinforces exhausted Allied forces. Meanwhile, Great Britain scores two major victories against the Ottoman Empire as T. E. Lawrence leads an Arab revolt in Baghdad in March, and troops under Field Marshal Edmund Allenby take Jerusalem in December.
1919: With the formation of the Third International (Comintern), the Bolshevik government of Russia establishes its control over communist movements worldwide.
1923: Conditions in Germany worsen as inflation skyrockets and France, attempting to collect on coal deliveries promised at Versailles, marches into the Ruhr basin. In November an obscure political group known as the National Socialist German Workers' Party attempts to stage a coup, or putsch, in a Munich beer hall. The revolt fails, and in 1924 the party's leader, Adolf Hitler, will receive a prison sentence of five years. He will only serve nine months, however, and the incident will serve to attract attention for him and his party, known as the Nazis.
1927: Stalin arranges to have Trotsky expelled from the Communist Party.

Event and Its Context

When the United States entered World War I on 6 April 1917, the country faced not only war but also growing labor unrest. The labor problems were not new, but with the United States depending on the materials from laborers to supply its armed forces, labor problems took on a new degree of urgency. In response, President Wilson created a commission to help arbitrate and allay misunderstandings between employees and employers. President Wilson's Mediation Commission was established on 19 September 1917 as part of a special branch of the Conciliation Service. The new commission was charged with helping to resolve labor problems in the West, especially in the Arizona copper mines, and in the Northwest to ensure an adequate supply for materials for the war effort. It was also asked to investigate the causes of labor unrest and recommend solutions.

William Wilson, the first secretary of labor, led the commission, which consisted of five others: Harvard professor of law Felix Frankfurter, business leaders Verner Z. Reed from Colorado and John L. Spangler from Pennsylvania, E. P. Marsh of the Washington State Federation of Labor, and John H. Walker of the Illinois Federation of Labor. The members of the commission traveled to the problem regions in the hopes of bringing about settlements between the workers and employers. The commission was unique because it was created by the government alone, not by an agreement between the government and organized labor. The commission was also responsible for providing assistance in developing agreements between labor and management. The original intent was for the commission to only travel to the copper mining and lumber regions, but soon problems in the telephone, transit, meatpacking, and oil industries demanded the commission's attention.

The conditions in the troubled areas varied greatly, but the problems that had caused the unrest were similar among the various industries. Generally, the problems included low pay, long hours, blacklisting of union members, and lack of collective bargaining. Each region, however, was different, and the commission was not always able to work out agreements between the parties. Further, union groups such as the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) complicated the situation. The IWW, formed in 1905 by socialists and radical unionists, wanted to crush the more conservative American Federation of Labor (AFL) and lead the working class in a revolution to achieve an "industrial democracy." The Globe, Arizona, Record accused striking workers of being unpatriotic and disloyal and even made accusations that the IWW was subsidized by Germany. Embittered feelings over the IWW and strikers often led to violence. For example, more than 1,000 strikers in Arizona were deported; in Everett, Washington, several were killed during riots; and in Butte, Montana, labor leader Frank Little was lynched. Loyalty Leagues that developed in response to IWW further increased tension.

The most dramatic example of the commission's work was in the Arizona copper mines. Disputes there were particularly troublesome because the war effort depended heavily on the metals produced there. When the commission arrived in Arizona, it identified several serious problems. One of the biggest problems among the miners was language. The commission found 32 nationalities represented in one camp. The miners were unable to communicate effectively with each other or with their employers so as to organize or even to explain their grievances to management or the commission. The labor force was also migratory, and production in the mines suffered from a large turnover rate. Among other problems identified by the commission were absenteeism and the trade union movement.

In their discussions with the commission, the workers complained that the business was run autocratically. They wanted a way to ensure that they would be treated fairly. The miners wanted the mine owners to address concerns about wages, hours, and working conditions. The commission's findings prompted three recommendations. (1) The commission recommended the development of an orderly and impartial way to address the miners' grievances. The commission hoped that once they had a mechanism by which to voice grievances, the workers would agree not to strike during the course of the war. (2) The commission suggested that representatives be chosen from both the workers and employers to address working conditions, ensure that workers had the right to organize, and prohibit blacklisting. (3) The commission proposed that the employers should rehire former strikers who had been let go as a result of their protest. The commission's efforts in Arizona were mostly successful. Between 1 November 1917 and 21 October 1918, there were no strikes.

In the California oil fields, the disputes revolved around independent companies that refused to adopt an eight-hour work-day and a minimum wage of $4.00 a day. The commission used Standard Oil's successful implementation of the eight-hour day as an example of success. The companies eventually accepted a plan similar to that of Standard Oil. The companies also agreed to hire members of the American Federation of Labor but refused to hire IWW members and refused a closed shop.

Another commission success was with the telephone dispute among workers, mostly women, in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Nevada. The main complaints centered on union recognition, wages, and a closed shop. The commission helped the parties reach an agreement on all three points.

By far the worst conditions that the commission witnessed were in the meatpacking industry. Among the complaints were long hours, blacklisting of union members, and lack of collective bargaining, but the most serious was low wages. Many meatpackers were still earning the same wage they had in 1904, only 18 cents an hour. Events reached a climax when packers refused to meet with representatives from the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen and called an industry-wide strike. The commission met separately with the meatpackers and with union representatives and arranged for collective bargaining. In arbitration, the workers also won an eight-hour day, wage increases, collective bargaining, and the right to join a trade union.

The commission suffered its first real failure at the hands of the timber operation management and the lumberjacks. Almost all of the men employed in the timber industry were described as "womanless, voteless, and jobless" men who worked intermittently in harsh frontier conditions. Further, their working and living conditions were very primitive. Loggers lived in lice-infested crowded barracks, had only cheap food, and were required to work regardless of the danger or weather conditions. These conditions made them especially receptive to the IWW, the group to offer the loggers help. The popular prejudices against the radical IWW worked to undermine their efforts to secure better working conditions, a $60 per month minimum wage, and a prohibition against blacklisting using "rustling" cards. A "rustling" indicated whether the worker had left his previous jobs on good terms, which would not be the case if he had been involved in a union.

In addition to striking, the lumberjacks used another tactic. A "strike on the job" involved workers intentionally slowing production through sabotage. For instance, often workers drove spikes into trees, which broke the saws. The operators, however, refused to budge on the issue of an eight-hour day unless southern mills also adopted an eight-hour day. The issue was complicated by the commission's own bias. The members of the commission who were affiliated with the AFL were unable to maintain impartiality. The commissioners did not question even one of the IWW members.

A few months after the commission's efforts failed, Colonel Brice P. Disque from the Spruce Division of the War Department, was able to arbitrate a settlement. Colonel Disque was sent west to investigate the poor supply of spruce, a key material for planes and ships, for the Division of Military Aeronautics. What he discovered was complete chaos. During his tour he heard a suggestion that a patriotic organization be created to win the support of the workers. After presenting his report and ideas to the secretary of war in Washington, Disque returned to Portland and organized the Loyalty Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen, or the "4 Ls." The legion proved successful and greatly decreased the IWW's influence in the timber industry.

In June 1918 the commission submitted a report to President Woodrow Wilson documenting its work and recommendations. The members of the commission also outlined what they believed were the four main causes of unrest in American industry. At the top of their list was the absence of a positive relationship between the employees and management caused by management's refusal to deal with employee organizations. The other three causes were a lack of a mechanism for employees to report grievances, ignorance of each side in attempting to understand the problems of the other side, and wage increases to match cost-of-living increases. To deal with these problems, the commission made several recommendations, including the elimination of all profiteering, establishing an eight-hour work-day, the proactive management of grievances, and establishing some form of collective bargaining. The report itself remained an important document for labor in peace as well. Overall, the commission proved a success in bringing peace to various labor disputes in a time of crisis. It also brought to light a number of important issues such as the eight-hour day and collective bargaining.

The commission was unique because it was formed by presidential proclamation and not from an agreement with any labor unions. Its jurisdiction was not limited to any one place or one trade, thus establishing an important precedent for creating other agencies during crises such as the Great Depression, when the government would take on a referee function similar to that of the Mediation Commission. The creation of the commission addressed a weakness in the newly created Department of Labor, but because William Wilson was the chairman of the committee and the secretary of labor, his position and that of the Department of Labor was strengthened.

Key Players

Wilson, William Bauchop (1862-1934): The first secretary of labor (1913-1921), Wilson was a strong advocate of the eight-hour day, unions, workers compensation, child labor laws, and workplace safety. Among his other positions were secretary-treasurer of the United Mine Workers of America and in Congress.

Wilson, Woodrow (1856-1924): The 28th president of the United States, Wilson ran on a neutrality platform. Once elected, however, he was unable to keep the United States out of World War I. Wilson also sponsored laws outlawing child labor and creating an eight-hour work day for railroad workers.

Bibliography

Books

Bing, Alexander. War-time Strikes and Their Adjustment.New York: Arno and The New York Times, 1971.

Lombardi, John. Labor's Voice in the Cabinet. New York:AMS Press, 1968.

Periodicals

Overstreet, Daphne. "On Strike! The 1917 Walkout at Globe, Arizona." Journal of Arizona History 18 (summer 1977): 197-218.

Tyler, Robert L. "The United States Government as Union Organizer: The Loyalty Legion of Loggers and Timbermen." The Mississippi Valley Historical Review 47 (December 1960): 434-451.

Wilson, Marjorie Hayes. "Governor Hunt, the 'Beast' and the Miners." Journal of Arizona History 15 (summer 1974): 119-138.