An Unequal Clash: The Lake Seamen’s Union, the Lake Carriers’ Association, and the Great Lakes Strike of 1909, Spring 2018, p. 125

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An Unequal Clash An Unequal Clash 125 operated under the direction of the executive committee of the Lake Carriers' with day-to-day operations handled by the secretary. Individual vessel captains remained in command of the ship's operations, but the new system required that they conform to the policy.14 The Welfare Plan created a system of assembly rooms throughout the major Great Lakes ports overseen by a regional commissioner. These rooms offered amenities such as libraries and other facilities intended to take the place of union hiring halls and served as central locations where captains placed requests for crewmen.15 Admission to the program demanded seamen and officers to disavow any union affiliation and to pledge loyalty to owners. Qualification certificates were "revocable in the discretion of the association" should the bearer be accused of union activity.16 Obtaining the certificates of competency such as for able-bodied seaman or for holders of government licenses for officers required the affirmative recommendation of another officer. Again, the certificate stipulated that the seaman or officer "will faithfully perform all lawful duties without reference to membership or affiliation...in any union or association whatsoever."17 It then remained to create a system to monitor and enforce participation. The records of sailors and officers below the captain and chief engineer were documented in record discharge books, which upon discharge would receive an entry of "good" or "fair" from the appropriate officer. A negative evaluation would result in the revoking of the discharge book. Justified as an incentive for promotion and a continuous credential, it served as a powerful tool for vessel owners to manage their workforce. The assembly rooms facilitated employment but captains could still reject those men sent to them and request a different officer or seaman.18 However, the captain and chief engineer could not go outside the system to find sailors unless those men had registered for a discharge book. The captain then created a crew list for each trip to send on to the home office for tracking purposes. While the system did not micro manage captains, it placed them within a corporate bureaucratic system with clear lines of reporting and authority. The final component of the Welfare Plan covered members' injuries or death. Detroit Evening News, 28 February 1901; "Hours of Labor of Lake Seamen," Marine Review 15:11 (13 March 1902), 15; Stuart Brandes, American Welfare Capitalism, 1880-1940 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976), 9, 32-33; Daniel Nelson and Stuart Campbell, "Taylorism Versus Welfare Work in American Industry: H.L. Gantt and the Bancrofts," Business History Review 46:1 (Spring 1972), 2-3; Ryan, 102-9. 14 Hoagland, 92-93; Captain Herbert W. Dosey, "The International Ship Masters Association," Inland Seas, 33:4 (December 1977): 272-276; Jay C. Martin, "The Principle of Beneficence: The Early History of the International Ship Masters Association," Hayes Historical Journal 11:1 (no month, 1991): 29-41. 15 Ryan, 109-12. 16 George A. Marr, "Welfare Work of the Lake Carriers' Association," Monthly Bulletin of the American Iron and Steel Institute 3:6 (1915), 159. 17 Ibid. 18 Ibid., 163.

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