Beneficiary Features of American Trade Unions Part 5

[Footnote 96: Iron Molders' Journal, Vol. 26, May, 1890, p. 2.]

[Footnote 97: Const.i.tution, 1884 (Quincy, n.d.), p. 11 ff.]

Thus, both the death benefit and the insurance systems in American trade unions had their origin in the movement for mutual insurance which was so widespread in the United States immediately after the Civil War. Only in the railway brotherhoods did the plan result in any considerable increase in membership. In the other unions the insurance systems were replaced by the establishment of benefits, and these were usually smaller in amount than the insurance systems had contemplated.[98]

[Footnote 98: The death benefits established by the Cigar Makers and Iron Molders in 1870 and 1879 were for $40 and $100. The ordinary death benefit in American trade unions is still a sum a.s.sumed to be sufficient to inter decently the deceased.]

The tendency in those unions which have longest maintained the death benefit has been to increase the amount of the benefit and to grade the amount according to the length of membership. The policy of the unions in these respects has, however, varied considerably. In some cases there has been an increase in the minimum amount paid, together with provision for the payment of larger sums to members who have been longer in good standing. In other unions, such as the Iron Molders and the Pattern Makers, the regular benefit remains as originally established, but a larger sum is paid to older members. Only a few of the older organizations retain the uniform benefit. The most notable of these are the Typographical Union, the Gla.s.s Bottle Blowers, and the Hatters.

The grading of the death benefit serves two purposes. In the first place, the funds are protected. If the benefit were uniform and large, persons in bad health would be tempted to join the union in order to secure protection for their families. The grading of the benefit is accordingly a crude but fairly effective device against a danger which presents itself as soon as the amount becomes large enough to be attractive to "bad risks." A more important reason, perhaps, for the grading of the benefit is the desire to make it a more effective agency in attracting and holding members. If continuous membership carries with it constantly increasing insurance, the lapses in membership lessen.

The maximum death benefits paid by the Cigar Makers and the Gla.s.s Bottle Blowers are $550 and $500, respectively. The Iron Molders pay a maximum benefit of $200; the Carpenters of $200; the Pattern Makers of $400; the Germania Typographia of $200. In all these cases except that of the Gla.s.s Bottle Blowers the benefit is graded according to the period of membership. The maximum benefit is paid in the Cigar Makers and in the Pattern Makers to members of fifteen years' standing.

Only a few unions have decreased the amount of the benefit from that first established. Among these are the Brotherhood of Carpenters, the Brotherhood of Leather Workers on Horse Goods, the Tailors' Union, and the Metal Polishers' Union. In the case of the Carpenters the death benefit which was originally established at $250 in 1882 was $100 in 1905. Changes of this kind have naturally followed the too liberal policy of inexperienced unions.

The following table, giving the amount of the death benefit as originally established and as paid at present in certain of the more important unions which have adopted the graded death benefit, ill.u.s.trates the variety of forms which the systems take:

AMOUNT OF DEATH BENEFIT.

========================================================================== | | Date of | | |Date of |Introducing|Amount of Death |Amount of Death Name of | Organi-| Death | Benefit Paid |Benefit Paid in Union | zation | Benefits | Originally | 1905.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Boot and | 1895 | 1898 | $50 for six months' |$50 for six months'

Shoe | | | membership. | membership.

Workers | | | $100 for two years' |$100 for two years'

| | | membership. | membership.

| | | | Carpenters,| 1881 | 1882 | $250 for six months'|$100 for six Brotherhood| | | membership. |months' membership.

of | | | |$200 for one year's | | | |membership.

| | | | Cigar | 1864 | 1867 | Yield of a 10 |$50 for two years'

Makers | | | cent per capita | membership.

| | | a.s.sessment. |$200 for five | | | | years' membership.

| | | |$350 for ten years'

| | | | membership.

| | | |$550 for fifteen | | | |years' membership.

| | | | Granite | 1877 | 1877 | $50........... |$50.

Cutters | | | |$75 for six months'

| | | | membership.

| | | |$100 for one year's | | | | membership.

| | | |$150 for five | | | | years' membership.

| | | |$200 for ten years'

| | | | membership.

| | | | Iron | 1859 | 1870 | Yield of a 40 |$100 for one year's Molders | | | cent per capita | membership.

| | | a.s.sessment. $150 for five | | | | years' membership.

| | | |$175 for ten years'

| | | | membership.

| | | |$200 for fifteen | | | |years' membership.

| | | | Leather | 1896 | 1896 | $40 for one | Workers | | | year's | on Horse | | | membership. | | | | $60 for two |$40 for one | | | years' |year's | | | membership. |membership.

| | | $100 for four |$75 for three | | | years' |years'

| | | membership. |membership.

| | | $200 for five |$100 for four | | | years' | years'

| | | membership. |membership.

| | | $300 for eight | | | | years' | | | | membership. | | | | | Metal | 1890 | 1890 | $100 for six |$50 for one year's Polishers | | | months' | membership.

| | | membership. |$100 for two years'

| | | | membership.

| | | | Machinists | 1890 | 1890 | $50 for six |$50 for six months'

| | | months' | membership.

| | | membership. |$75 for one year's | | | | membership.

| | | |$100 for two years'

| | | | membership.

| | | |$150 for three | | | |years' membership.

| | | |$200 for four | | | |years' membership.

| | | | Painters | 1887 | 1887 | $100............... |$50 for one year's | | | | membership | | | |$100 for two years'

| | | | membership | | | |$150 for three | | | | years' membership | | | |$200 for four years'

| | | | membership | | | | Pattern | 1887 | 1898 | $50 |$50 for one year's Makers | | | | membership | | | |$75 for two years'

| | | | membership | | | |$100 for three | | | | years' membership | | | |$150 for five | | | | years' membership | | | |$200 for seven | | | | years' membership | | | |$250 for nine | | | | years' membership | | | |$300 for eleven | | | | years' membership | | | |$350 for thirteen | | | | years' membership | | | |$400 for fifteen | | | | years' membership | | | | Piano and | 1898 | 1898 | $50 for six |$50 for one year's Organ | | | months' | membership Workers | | | membership |$100 for five | | | | years' membership | | | |$200 for ten years'

| | | | membership | | | | Tailors | 1884 | 1890 |$75 for three months'|$25 for six months'

| | | membership | membership | | |$100 for one years' |$40 for one year's | | | membership | membership | | | |$50 for two years'

| | | | membership | | | |$75 for three years'

| | | | membership | | | |$100 for four years'

| | | | membership ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few of the unions require only that the deceased member shall have been in good standing. These unions ordinarily pay a small benefit, although the Gla.s.s Bottle Blowers pay five hundred dollars without requiring a preliminary period of membership. The term of necessary membership varies from thirty days in the case of the Barbers to two years in the Cigar Makers. The usual requirement is that the member shall have been in good standing for six months.

A few of the unions restrict the benefit to members under a certain age at the time of admission. Where such an age limit is imposed it is ordinarily fifty years, but in a few unions it is sixty years.

The following table shows the conditions imposed upon the payment of the death benefit in the more important unions:

Preliminary Term of Name of Organization. Age Limit. Good Standing Required

Bakers ........................... 50 years 3 months Barbers .......................... 50 years 30 days Boot and Shoe Workers ............ 6 months Gla.s.s Bottle Blowers ............. None Carpenters ....................... 50 years 6 months Cigar Makers ..................... 50 years 2 years Granite Cutters .................. 6 months Iron Molders ..................... 12 months Iron, Steel and Tin Workers ...... 3 months Leather Workers on Horse Goods ... 1 year Lithographers .................... 30 days Machinists ....................... 6 months Metal Polishers .................. 1 year Metal Workers .................... 12 months Painters ......................... 50 years 1 year Pattern Makers ................... 50 years 52 weeks Piano and Organ Workers .......... 1 year Plumbers ......................... 6 months Stone Cutters .................... 6 months Tailors .......................... 6 months Tobacco Workers .................. 60 years 1 year Typographical Union .............. None Weavers, Elastic Goring .......... 6 months Wood Workers ..................... 60 years 6 months

Only a few unions make good physical condition a requisite for admission to the death benefit. In a small number provision is made that if death result from disease incurred prior to admission the union shall not pay the benefit. In the majority of the unions every member admitted to the union is covered by the death benefit. Some of the unions, such as the Brotherhood of Carpenters, the Boot and Shoe Workers' Union, the Brotherhood of Painters, and the Pattern Makers' League, provide a smaller benefit for those not eligible at time of initiation. In the Brotherhood of Carpenters any apprentice under twenty-one years of age, or any candidate for membership over fifty years of age, in ill health and not qualified for full benefit when admitted to the union, is limited to a funeral allowance of fifty dollars.[99] The Boot and Shoe Workers' Union provides that members of sixty years of age, or those afflicted with chronic diseases at time of initiation, shall be eligible to half benefit only.[100] In the Brotherhood of Painters members of sound health and over fifty years of age when admitted are eligible to a semi-beneficial benefit of fifty dollars and to a funeral benefit of twenty-five dollars in case of death of wife.[101]

[Footnote 99: Const.i.tution, 1903 (Indianapolis, n.d.), secs. 65 and 98.]

[Footnote 100: Const.i.tution, 1904 (Boston, n.d.), sec. 68.]

[Footnote 101: Const.i.tution, 1904 (La Fayette, n.d.), sec. 133.]

The requirement of a preliminary period of membership serves to protect the union against the entrance of persons who wish to join because they are in ill health and are anxious to secure insurance which they could not otherwise get. None of the unions provide, however, for any deliberate selection of risks, and the mortality is higher than it would be if the applicants were examined.

The death benefit is thus regarded by the unions not as a pure matter of business. It is paid partly on charitable grounds, and the small increase in the cost of the benefit occasioned by the lack of strict physical requirements is regarded as more than compensated by the increase in the solidarity of the organization thus attained.

In several important unions the death benefit has been made the basis for a disability benefit. Thus a member receiving the disability benefit loses his right to the death benefit. So closely are the two benefits a.s.sociated in these organizations that they are practically a single benefit. This combination of death and disability benefits is found chiefly in those trades in which the workmen are exposed to great danger of being disabled by accident.[102] The princ.i.p.al unions maintaining the disability benefit are the Iron Molders, the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, the Cigar Makers, the Painters, the Wood Workers, the Metal Workers, the Gla.s.s Workers, and the Boot and Shoe Workers.[103]

[Footnote 102: Those unions that pay a death benefit and make no provision for total or permanent disability are: Bakers' and Confectioners' Union, Barbers' International Union, Cigar Makers, Elastic Goring Weavers' a.s.sociation, United Garment Workers, Gla.s.s Bottle Blowers' a.s.sociation, Granite Cutters' a.s.sociation, United Hatters, Hotel and Restaurant Employees, Iron, Steel and Tin Workers'

a.s.sociation, Jewelry Workers' Union, Brotherhood of Leather Workers on Horse Goods, Lithographers' a.s.sociation, Metal Polishers' Union, Pattern Makers' League, Piano and Organ Workers' Union, Plumbers' a.s.sociation, Printing Pressmen's Union, Retail Clerks' a.s.sociation, Saw Smiths'

Union, Stone Cutters' a.s.sociation, Stove Mounters' Union, Street Railway Employees' a.s.sociation, Tailors' Union, Tobacco Workers' Union, Typographical Union, Deutsch-Amerikanischen Typographia, Watch Case Engravers' a.s.sociation, Wood, Wire and Metal Lathers' Union.]

[Footnote 103: Originally, the Granite Cutters paid a disability benefit of five hundred dollars. By 1878 the amount of the disability benefit had been made variable, being raised by an a.s.sessment of fifty cents on each member of the Union. About 1884 the disability benefit was abandoned.]

Nearly all the unions thus combining death and disability benefits grade the disability benefit. They usually also differentiate the two benefits either in the amount paid or in the period of membership required for eligibility to the benefit. The Iron Molders, the Cigar Makers and the Painters pay the same sums in case of disability as of death.[104] The other unions, with one exception, provide for a greater maximum benefit in case of disability. The period of good standing required to draw a particular sum is usually greater in the case of the disability benefit than in the case of the death benefit. The provisions of the Brotherhood of Carpenters are fairly typical.[105] After six months' good standing members become eligible to a death benefit of one hundred dollars, but they are not eligible to a disability benefit until they have been in membership twelve months. The maximum death benefit is two hundred dollars, while the maximum disability benefit is four hundred dollars.