Hence they strive to assimilate the
engineers and machinists, whose labor is essential to the continuance of
the operation of the plant. They thus reproduce on a minor scale the
attempt of the Knights of Labor during the eighties to engulf the more
skilled trade unions.
At the same time the relatively unprivileged position of these trades
makes them keenly alive to the danger from below, from the unskilled
whom the employer may break into their jobs in case of strikes. They
therefore favor taking the unskilled into the organization. Their
industrialism is consequently caused perhaps more by their own trade
consideration than by an altruistic desire to uplift the unskilled,
although they realize that the organization of the unskilled is required
by the broader interests of the wage-earning class. However, their long
experience in matters of organization teaches them that the "one big
union" would be a poor medium. Their accumulated experience likewise has
a moderating influence on their economic activity, and they are
consequently among the strongest supporters inside the American
Federation of Labor of the trade agreement.
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