Number and Membership of Local Unions in Existence at the Close of Each Year, 19081914, Classified by Principal Industries.

During the period 1908-1913 there was an increase in the number of unions in all industries from 1,243 to 1,403, but in 1914 there was a slight falling off to 1,392. Likewise there was an increase in membership during the period 1908-1913 from 173,399 to 241,726, and in 1914 a decrease to 234,266. In 1912 there was a very large increase both in the number of unions and in membership, but in 1913, although there was an increase of 42 unions, the increase in membership in all industries was less than 5,000, while in 1914 there was a decrease of 11 unions and 7,460 members.

In the following paragraphs the principal industries are separately considered.

Boot and Shoe Manufacturing. In 1908 there were 82 unions of boot and shoe workers in the State, and in 1909 the number increased to 107, with a corresponding increase in membership from 30,004 to 38,242. During the years 1910-1914 the number of unions varied slightly, but with the exception of 1911 (when there was a slight falling off in membership) the membership had increased each year until 1914, when there was a slight falling off, the number of members in that year being 41,740 as compared with 42,204 in 1913.

Building Trades. With the exception of the year 1910 there was a gradual increase each year in the number of unions in these trades from

333 in 1908 to 368 in 1914, while the increase in membership was from 27,539 to 38,304, the increase in 1914 being, however, very small.

Transportation (Steam and Electric). With the exception of a slight decrease in the number of unions in 1914 and in membership in 1909 there was an increase each year both in the number and membership of unions classified in this group, the number of unions having increased from 122 in 1908 to 163 in 1913 (160 in 1914), and the membership having increased from 17,971 in 1908 to 35,367 in 1914. In 1912, when special efforts were made to organize the street railway employees, there was an increase of nearly 10,000 members.

Textiles. During the years 1908-1911 there was very little change either in the number or the membership of unions in the textile industries, but in 1912, as a result of efforts made by the Industrial Workers of the World to organize employees in the leading textile centers of this State, there was a large increase both in the number of unions and aggregate membership, the membership having increased from 15,863 in 1911 to 31,962 in 1912, or about 16,000. During the years 1913-1914, however, there was a large falling off in the aggregate membership of local unions in the textile industry, due, principally, to the disbanding of, or loss of membership by, certain of the local unions of Industrial Workers which were organized in 1912, but the number of local unions in this industry identified with the American Federation of Labor has shown a fairly steady increase each year and also an increase in aggregate membership.

Iron and Steel Manufacturing. In 1906 there were 106 local unions, with an aggregate membership of 9,021, in this branch of industry, but since that year there has been a falling off both in the number of unions and the membership, with the result that in 1914 the number of unions had fallen to 94 and the membership to 7,535. In 1910 and in 1912, however, the aggregate membership was somewhat in excess of the aggregate reported in 1908.

Printing and Allied Trades. During the period 1908-1914 there was an increase each year, both in the number of unions and the aggregate membership in this industry. In 1908 the number of unions was 42 and the membership 4,658, and in 1914 there were 56 unions with a membership of 6,769.

(b) Occupations.

Local unions, for the most part, are organized on the basis of specific occupations or crafts, but in some instances it is necessary to classify a particular union under that occupation in which the greater portion of its members may be employed or to combine several occupations under

one title in those cases where the members of the local union are not all employed in the same occupation. Thus, in the case of certain unions of boot and shoe workers, known as "mixed unions", the membership may consist of lasters, stitchers, cutters, and others in diversified branches of the work of boot and shoe manufacturing. Such mixed unions are more apt to be found in those localities in which there are not a sufficiently large number in any single branch of the trade to justify the formation of a separate union. Owing to these difficulties in classification it has not been possible to present the returns with that degree of detail or exactness in classification that might be possible were the returns supplied by the individual as the unit of investigation, as in the case of a census. Nevertheless, the returns by occupations are presented sufficiently in detail to serve the present purpose of comparison.

The occupations in which there were 25 or more unions at the close of 1914 were: Carpenters, 151; boot and shoe workers, 104; painters, decorators, and paperhangers, 64; textile workers, 61; bricklayers, masons, and plasterers, 48; machinists, 44; plumbers, steamfitters, and gasfitters, 44; teamsters, chauffeurs, and stablemen, 43; electrical workers, 41;2 municipal employees, 39; barbers, 35; molders and coremakers, 29; musicians, 29; bartenders, 28; and street and electric railway employees, 27. In the following occupations there was a net change of more than five unions in 1914 as compared with 1913: A net increase of 13 unions of electrical workers (of which, four were unions of telephone workers) and seven unions of machinists, and a net decrease of six unions of textile workers and of five unions of retail clerks.

The occupation comprising the largest number of organized workingmen in 1913 was boot and shoe making, including 41,740 members in 104 local unions and constituting 17.8 per cent of the aggregate membership of all the local trade unions in the State. Textile workers ranked second with a total membership of 18,662 in 61 locals, followed in order of membership by carpenters, 18,558; street and electric railway employees, 15,386; teamsters, chauffeurs, stablemen, etc., 11,113; garment workers, 8,300; electrical workers, 7,673 (including 3,413 telephone operators); painters, decorators, and paperhangers, 6,376; bricklayers, masons and plasterers, 5,637; municipal employees, 5,551; musicians, 5,133; machinists, 4,642; hod carriers and building laborers, 4,498; railroad trainmen, 4,281; bartenders, 4,073; cigarmakers, 3,352; plumbers, steam

1 For information in detail by occupations, see Table 4, on page 52.

Including 9 local unions of telephone operators which are affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

This decrease consisted principally of members of local unions affiliated with the Industrial Workers of the World.

fitters, and gasfitters, 3,231; compositors, 3,008; barbers, 2,708; and molders and coremakers, 2,502.

A comparison of the returns of membership for 1914 with those for 1913 indicates that in 20 of the 60 occupations specified there was an increase in the number of organized workingmen; in 40 there was a decrease. The increases of more than 1,000 members were as follows: Electrical workers (including telephone operators), 1,931; teamsters, chauffeurs, stablemen, etc., 1,234; and street and electric railway employees, 1,074. Two occupations showed decreases of more than 1,000 members, as follows: Textile workers, 6,3661, and carpenters, 1,408.

E. WOMEN IN LABOR ORGANIZATIONS.

In several occupations in Massachusetts organized women wage-earners are well represented. A tabulation2 by sex of the membership of labor organizations in the State shows that at the close of 1914 there were 198 unions having women as members as compared with 195 at the close of 1913. The aggregate female membership at the close of 1914 was 28,919 as compared with an aggregate female membership of 30,513 one year earlier, representing a loss of 1,594 women members, or 5.2 per cent, as compared with a net gain of 4,764, or 18.5 per cent, during the year 1913. The principal increases during 1914 were: Telephone operators, 865, and garment workers, 614, whereas in 1913 the principal increases were boot and shoe workers, 1,867 and garment workers, 1,148.

The municipalities in which there were at least 1,000 female trade unionists at the close of 1914 were: Boston, 9,391; Brockton, 3,925; Fall River, 2,507; Lynn, 2,281; and New Bedford, 1,712. In each of the following municipalities there were over five local unions having female members at the close of 1914: Boston, 41; Brockton, 15; Lynn, 14; Fall River and Springfield, eight each; Haverhill, seven; Fitchburg, Lowell, New Bedford, and Worcester, six each.

Of the 28,919 female trade unionists in the Commonwealth at the close of 1914, 11,594, or 40.1 per cent, were boot and shoe workers; 5,428, or 18.8 per cent, were textile workers; 3,799, or 13.1 per cent were garment workers; 3,413, or 11.8 per cent, were telephone operators; and 4,685, or 16.2 per cent, were distributed among other occupations. 2 Of the 198 unions which had female members at the close of 1914, 22, with an aggregate membership of 5,536, were composed entirely of women. Six of these 22 unions were in Boston, three were in Springfield, and there was one in each of the following municipalities: Cambridge, Con

1 Principally members of the Industrial Workers of the World.

? For tabulation in detail by occupations, see Table 5, on page 53.