186 INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION AND WAGES

of union members in better standards of work and higher
incomes. It has also been the policy of the Amalgamated
to develop among its officers a large number skilled in the
technical and business problems of the clothing industry,
who apply this knowledge to specific problems in plants in
their territories. In a number of cases, due to their suggestions
 and activities, methods have been revised and
processes changed, with the result that costs of production
were reduced and wages increased. On three occasions,
firms which were threatened with forced liquidation have
been given financial and other assistance by the union. At
least two of these companies would have been compelled to
discontinue business had it not been for the assistance of
the Amalgamated. Together they now give employment to
4,000 workers. In general, it may be said that it has been
the steady and successful policy of this enlightened labor
organization to cooperate with management to realize increased
 productivity of and higher rates of pay for its
members, and this policy has been practically applied as
far as possible in various working agreements and arrangements.


TaE “B. & O. PLAN”

In a more specific way, one of the noteworthy achievements
 by organized labor is to be found in the definite
agreement for union-management cooperation adopted by
the Federated Shop Crafts and the Baltimore & Ohio
Railroad in 1922, popularly known as “The B. & O. Plan.”
It is based on an agreement that employees shall participate
in the gains arising from their cooperation with management.
 Since it was developed on the Baltimore & Ohio
Railroad, the same plan has also been put into effect on
three other railway systems—the Chesapeake and Ohio,
the Chicago and Northwestern, and the Canadian National