100 ECONOMIC ESSAYS IN HONOR OF JOHN BATES CLARK
strike benefits may give out, the fear that the employers’
resources may be stronger, the fear that either non-union work-
men may be brought in from outside or that the work may be
sent out to non-union shops, the fear that in the event that the
strike should prove unsuccessful the strikers may be black-
listed from employment or discriminated against as regards pro-
motion. But these fears are less than they otherwise would be,
and at the same price less labor is offered than would otherwise
be the case. The greater is the number who are thus organized,
the more the supply curve will approach something of a plateau
when the level of the union rate for which the unionists are striv-
ing is reached. The nature of the change effected by trade-union
organization may be illus-
trated in Figure 15. Curve
Aj is assumed to represent
the supply schedule of
labor before and Curve
Bs after a sturdy organi-
zation has been built up.
The laborers from A to
B are common to both
situations, namely those
who would work for little
and who do not wish to
join the union lest it im-
pair their ability to secure
work. Their bids, there-
fore, are still low in the
hope that they will be employed. The group from B to Bj
represent those who do not join the union but who will ask for
more than they otherwise would, because they know that the
large group in the union will demand a still higher wage. The
group from B; to B, are the union members who are sticking out
for the wage of height B;. This may well be somewhat less than
the minimum which they are ostensibly demanding of the
employers. The units of labor offered from B; to Bs; may be
regarded as the number of overtime hours which would be fur-
nished by the workers at given prices. It will be noticed that
it will take a larger price than formerly to induce an equal
quantity to offer itself. This is because the basic wage is itself
Be