The strike of the employes of the Macaulay Company, the book publishers, is having its repercussions. Whether or not the strike is eventually won is relatively unimportant because its psychological effect on other publishers’ employes has already resulted in bringing to the their attention the advantages of unionism. Already employes of Vanguard Press, Random House, Viking Press, Covici Friede have either joined the Office Workers’ Union or are in the process of joining.
Unlike other industries the employers have shown a surprisingly willingness to have their employes unionized. Of course it must be admitted that working conditions in the publishing business, especially in the smaller houses, are pleasant. The number of hours spent in employment, the salaries paid, the vacation periods now in effect are in most cases more liberal than the union requirements so that, in reality, the publishers are making no sacrifices, however, the unionization of the publishers is a healthy gesture.
PREJUDICE OVERCOME
In the countless attempts made to unionize American workers success has come least often to organizers who devoted their time to the white collar class. These genteel employes have always shown a surprising reluctance to do anything in the way of bettering their conditions by mass action. Unquestionably they have been among the most exploited of all workers. It has only been their silly horror of laborers as a class apart, a class with whom they had nothing in common, that has kept them from adapting union methods to their own use.
The organizing of the publishing houses should do much to dispel this feeling. After all the people who work in publishing concerns epitomize the genteelness of the office workers. As a class they are among the most intelligent, sophisticated and learned workers.
They exert a tremendous influence because of their control of the public’s reading matter and they often play an important role in setting the fashion in thinking. In addition they work in a profession where individuality is considered a virtue.
Certainly, if individuals such as these find that unionization can help them other white collar workers will listen much more readily to the wiles of the union organizer.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
