was no shadow of doubt that the employers would promptly pay the benefits.
Of what were the benefits to consist?
Every brewery-worker injured in connection with his work would receive a specified, liberal, compensation of sixty-five per cent of the wages he would otherwise have earned during the period of his disability, or that in the event of his killing in connection with his work his dependents, if any, would receive, in lump sum or in pro rata payments as the Board of Directors and Award might deem best in each case, the equivalent of sixty-five per cent of the victim's wages for three hundred weeks, or practically six years—to the amount of not more than $3,400.[1]
One hundred and eighty-one unions voted against the plan. There is nothing inscrutable about this, even to the employers who say: "They think we are Greeks bearing gifts." That is the explanation. This strong and well-paid labor organization has become so far socialist, so far "class conscious," that it dreads every measure which identifies its interests those of the master class. This labor organization knows that it is very far in the future before the Government in this country will give them anything comparable to what the employers offered. Yet they refuse, preferring freedom to fight for their cause unimpeded, when and how they choose. This is the syndicalist spirit, and with the growth of Socialism, it becomes daily more and more the spirit of the trade union. It is this spirit that refuses the New Zealand Arbitration Act, and the "incorporation" of their
- ↑ The details of this may all be found in The American Underwriter, April, 1912. There was obviously the fear of a "joker" which in some way was believed to cripple their freedom of action.
