Beneficiary Features of American Trade Unions Part 6

The maximum death benefit is paid on the death of members in good standing for one year, while to be eligible to the maximum disability benefit requires a members.h.i.+p of five years.[106]

[Footnote 104: The Cigar Makers retain fifty dollars until the death of the member.]

[Footnote 105: The Carpenter, Vol. 2, No. 8, p. 5; Vol. 4, August, 1884.]

[Footnote 106: Const.i.tution of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, 1888 (n.p., n.d.), p. 10; Const.i.tution, 1905 (Milwaukee, n.d.), p. 18.]

The following table shows the amounts of the death and disability benefits in the more important unions, as originally established and as paid in 1905:

AMOUNT OF DEATH AND DISABILITY BENEFIT.

=========================================================================== |Amount Paid Originally. | Amount Paid in 1905.

Name of Union.|------------------------------------------------------------ |Death. |Disability. | Death. |Disability.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Iron Molders. |Yield of a | Yield of a |$100 for 1 yr. |$100 for 1 yr.

|40c. per | 40c. per | 150 for 5 yrs.| 150 for 5 yrs.

|capita | capita | 175 for 10 yrs| 175 for 10 yrs.

|a.s.sessment. |a.s.sessment. | 200 for 15 yrs| 200 for 15 yrs.

| | | | Carpenters, |$250 for 6 |$100 for 6 mo.|$100 for 6 mo. |$100 for 1 yr.

Brotherhood |mo. | mo. | 200 for 1 yr. | 200 for 2 yrs.

of. | | | | 300 for 3 yrs.

| | | | 400 for 5 yrs | | | | Painters |$50 for 6 mo.| $50 for 6 |$100 for 1 yr. |$100 for 1 yr.

|mo. | mo. | | |100 for 1 yr.|$100 for 1 yr.| 150 for 2 yrs.| 150 for 2 yrs.

| | | | Wood Workers. |$60 for 1 yr.|$100 for 1 |$ 50 for 6 mo. |$150 for 1 yr.

| |yr. | 75 for 18 mo.| 200 for 2 yrs.

| | | 100 for 3 yrs.| 250 for 3 yrs.

| | | | Metal Workers.|$75 for 1 yr.|$500 for 5 |$75 for 1 yr. |$500 for 5 yrs.

| |yrs. | | | | | | Gla.s.s Workers.|$50 for 6 mo.|$150 for 1 yr.|$150 for 1 yr. |$ 75 for 1 yr.

|100 for 1 yr.| | 175 for 2 yrs.| 100 for 2 yrs.

| | | | Boot and Shoe |$50 for 6 mo.| | $50 for 6 mo. |$100 for 2 yrs.

Workers. |100 for 2 yrs| | 100 for 2 yrs.| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The ratio of disability benefits paid to death benefits paid varies in the different unions according to the definition of disability adopted.

The Iron Molders' Union, which took the initiative in adopting a national disability benefit, undertook to pay benefits to all disabled members, with two exceptions. First, the disability must not have been caused by dissipation, and secondly, the member must not have been disabled before joining the a.s.sociation.[107] The Granite Cutters'

Union, however, when establis.h.i.+ng their voluntary insurance a.s.sociation in 1877, limited the benefit to members disabled for life by any real accident suffered while following employment as a granite cutter.[108]

The two benefits were unlike in that the Iron Molders paid the benefit no matter how the disability had been incurred, while the Granite Cutters paid only when the disability resulted from a trade accident.

[Footnote 107: Const.i.tution of the Iron Molders' Union of North America, 1878 (Cincinnati, 1878), p. 51.]

[Footnote 108: Const.i.tution of the Granite Cutters' International a.s.sociation of America, 1877 (Rockland, 1877), p. 27.]

Some of the unions now paying the disability benefit, as for example the Boot and Shoe Workers, have followed the policy of the Iron Molders in paying the benefit in all cases of disability; while others, for example the Brotherhood of Carpenters, pay only where the disability is incurred "while working at the trade." Under this system, in the case of the Iron Molders, the claims for disability were so numerous that in 1882 the term "permanent disability" was defined to mean "total blindness, the loss of an arm or leg, or both," and since 1890 also paralysis.[109]

Similarly in 1880 the Granite Cutters defined more exactly what const.i.tuted total disability.[110]

[Footnote 109: Const.i.tution, 1882 (Cincinnati, 1882), Art. 17; Iron Molders' Journal, Vol. 16, June and August, 1880; Const.i.tution, 1890 (Cincinnati, 1890); Const.i.tution, 1902 (Cincinnati, 1902), p. 40.]

[Footnote 110: Const.i.tution, 1880 (Maplewood, 1880), p. 18.]

The younger unions have usually adopted the later revised definition of the term "permanent or total disability," with such modifications as are made necessary by the peculiar nature of the trade. The system of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, adopted in 1886, and still in force, defines permanent disability as "total blindness, the loss of an arm or leg, or both, the total disability of a limb, the loss of four fingers on one hand, or being afflicted with any physical disability resulting from sudden accident."[111] The Amalgamated Gla.s.s Workers as late as 1900 had made no attempt to give definite limits to the term "total disability," but in 1903 they adopted the definition of the Carpenters and extended it to include disability resulting from paralysis.[112] The Amalgamated Wood Workers, however, still provide simply that to receive the benefit members shall be disabled from following the trade.[113]

[Footnote 111: Const.i.tution, 1886 (n.p., n.d.), p. 11; Const.i.tution, 1905 (Milwaukee, n.d.), p. 19.]

[Footnote 112: Const.i.tution, 1900 (Chicago, n.d.), p. 23; Const.i.tution, 1903, p. 11.]

[Footnote 113: Const.i.tution of the Amalgamated Wood-Workers'

International Union of America, 1905 (Chicago, n.d.), p. 42.]

The definitions adopted by the unions are intended as guides for and restrictions upon the administrative officials, but in all cases the latter are given considerable lat.i.tude. The cost of the benefit, therefore, depends largely upon the strictness with which the officials construe the rules. In those unions where the injuries ent.i.tling to a benefit are not specifically defined, the officers have great discretionary power. Indeed, even if they have the best intention, it is in many trades often impossible to obtain positive evidence as to the totality or permanency of the disability. For example, the Brotherhood of Painters find it almost impossible to pa.s.s intelligently upon claims for disability resulting from lead poisoning.

The table on page 63 shows the sums paid for death and disability claims in certain unions for which statistics are procurable.

The addition of a disability benefit to the death benefit as appears from the table does not add greatly to the cost of maintaining the benefit. In general, the amount paid for disability ranges from five to ten per cent. of the total paid for both benefits. The cost of the benefits is somewhat increased also by the loss of dues from the time of the disability to the death of the insured.

SUMS PAID FOR DEATH AND DISABILITY BENEFITS.

===================================================================== | |Sum of Benefits Paid. |Percentage of Benefits | | | Paid.

| |---------------------------------------------- Union. | Year. | Death. |Disability.| Death. |Disability --------------------------------------------------------------------- Brotherhood | | | | | of |1894-1896|$ 58,527.10|$10,500.00 | 85 | 15 Carpenters |1896-1898| 59,108.44| 11,100.00 | 85 | 15 |1900-1902| 159,249.98| 7,900.00 | 95.3 | 4.7 |1902-1904| 243,218.25| 16,700.00 | 93.6 | 6.4 |1904-1906| 306,295.44| 28,250.00 | 91.6 | 8.4 | | | | | Painters |1889-1890| 2,894.00| 250.00 | 92.1 | 7.9 |1890-1892| 6,900.00| 750.00 | 90.2 | 9.8 |1892-1894| 10,548.00| 1,475.00 | 87.8 | 12.2 |1898-1899| 7,150.00| 600.00 | 92.2 | 7.8 |1902-1003| 30,307.00| 3,050.00 | 90.9 | 9.1 |1903-1904| 37,711.25| 1,850.00 | 95.4 | 4.6 |1904-1905| 43,855.50| 4,250.00 | 91.2 | 8.8 | | | | | Wood |1900 | 2,850.00| 250.00 | 92 | 8 Workers. |1901 | 4,200.00| 250.00 | 94.4 | 5.6 |1903 | 5,775.00| 500.00 | 90.6 | 9.4 |1904 | 7,574.00| 750.00 | 91.1 | 8.9 | | | | | Iron |1890-1895| 56,172.00| 2,400.00 | 96 | 4 Molders. |1895-1899| 36,899.00| 3,600.00 | 91.2 | 8.8 |1899-1902| 67,414.38| 2,600.00 | 96.3 | 3.7 |1902-1907| 259,554.86| 19,600.00 | 93 | 7 ---------------------------------------------------------------------

An increasing number of unions pay a wife's death benefit as well as the regular death benefit. This form is of comparatively recent adoption and its success has not yet been thoroughly demonstrated. Nine American unions were reported to be paying this benefit in September, 1903, and eleven in September, 1904.[114] The following is a list of the unions reported as paying the benefit in 1904: Bakers and Confectioners, Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, Cigar Makers, Compressed Air Workers, Lace Curtain Operatives, Freight Handlers, Painters, Paving Cutters, Photo-Engravers, Cotton Mule Spinners, Tailors.

[Footnote 114: Proceedings of the Twenty-third Convention, American Federation of Labor, 1903 (Was.h.i.+ngton, 1903), p. 41; Proceedings of the Twenty-fourth Convention, American Federation of Labor, 1904 (Was.h.i.+ngton, 1904), p. 46.]

The Deutsch-Amerikanischen Typographia took the initiative in the adoption of this benefit at the New York Convention in May, 1884,[115]

and was immediately followed in the same year by the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners[116] and in 1887 by the Painters[117] and the Cigar Makers.[118] For the year ending September 30, 1904, the Carpenters, the Painters, and the Cigar Makers paid more than 92 per cent. of the whole sum expended by the eleven unions that have adopted this benefit.

[Footnote 115: American Federationist, Vol. 2, No. 4, p. 61.]

[Footnote 116: The Carpenter, Vol. 4, August, 1884.]

[Footnote 117: The Painter, Vol. 1, April, 1887; Vol. 17, p. 529.]

[Footnote 118: Const.i.tution of the Cigar Makers' International Union of America, 1887 (Buffalo, 1888), Art. 10.]

The wife's death benefit is designed to defray the cost of burial. It is, therefore, small in amount, not exceeding fifty dollars in any of the unions in which it is important. The following table gives the minimum amounts of the wife's funeral benefit paid under the original and under the present rules in the five unions in which the benefit is of importance. The term of members.h.i.+p required for partic.i.p.ation in the benefit is also shown.

MINIMUM AMOUNT OF WIFE'S DEATH BENEFIT.

===================================================================== | Originally. | In 1905.

|------------------------------------------------------ Name of Union.|Amount.|Required Period of| Amount.|Required Period of | | Members.h.i.+p. | | Members.h.i.+p.

--------------------------------------------------------------------- Bakers........| $50 | 6 mo. | $50 | 6 mo.

Carpenters....| 50 | 6 mo. | 25 | 6 mo.

Cigar Makers..| 40 | 2 yr. | 40 | 2 yr.

Painters......| 25 | 6 mo. | 50 | 1 yr.

Typographia...| 25 | 1 yr. | 50 | none ---------------------------------------------------------------------

The wife's death benefit is not graded except in the case of the Carpenters, where the minimum benefit is twenty-five dollars for six months' and fifty dollars for one year's members.h.i.+p. The minimum given in the above table is in all other cases also the maximum.

The success of the wife's death or funeral benefit is not beyond controversy. The Tailors, who began to pay the benefit in 1889, abandoned it in 1898. The benefit was at first seventy-five dollars after three months' members.h.i.+p, but it was remodelled until in 1896 it became a graded benefit ranging from twenty-five dollars to fifty dollars according to the length of members.h.i.+p. The chief objection to the benefit was that unmarried members were taxed to support the benefit although they did not partic.i.p.ate in the advantages. In 1898 Secretary Lennon declared that the benefit "was based on real injustice, giving one member more benefits for the same dues paid than to another."[119]

In other unions which maintain the benefit this objection has been met to some extent, as in the Cigar Makers, by paying the benefit on the death of the widowed mother of an unmarried member provided she was solely dependent upon him for support. Provision is usually made that no member shall receive the wife's funeral benefit more than once. This rule is intended partly to prevent fraud but chiefly to meet the complaint that the benefit confers unequal advantages.

[Footnote 119: The Tailor, Vol. 8, No. 1, p. 16.]