Two or three large Union houses settled for
terms, in hours and wages, which were satisfactory to every one
concerned, though lower than the demands on these points listed in the
cloak makers' first letter.
Curiously enough, wages and hours had been left to arbitration, had never
been thoroughly considered in the whole situation before. Neither the
workers nor the employers had clearly stated what they really would stand
for on these vital points. No one, not even the most wildly partisan
figures on either side, supposed that the first demands as to wages and
hours represented an ultimatum. The debaters in the Marshall conference
now agreed on feasible terms on these points,[30] though, curiously
enough, the rates for piece-work were left to the arbitration of
individual shops. In spite of this fact, the majority of the workers are
paid by piece-work. The former clauses of the agreement relating to the
abolition of home work and of subcontracting remained practically as they
had stood before.[31] As for the idea of the preferential Union shop, it
had undoubtedly been gaining ground. Naturally, at first, appearing to
the _Vorwaerts'_ staff and to many ardent unionists as opposed to
unionism, it had now assumed a different aspect.
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