LABORS NEW STATUS 203

ing ratio, such as increase in density and volume of traffic,
the expansion of the business of the railroad company or
higher freight and passenger rates.

Tue SHor CrarFTs AND THE “B. & O. Prax”

The most important experience in cooperation between
labor unions and management, however, so far as railroads
are concerned, has arisen from the so-called “B. & O.
Plan,” which has been in practical operation for about five
years. It was first inaugurated in 1923 by an agreement
between the Federated Shop Crafts and the management
of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Both management
and employees pledged themselves to reduce operating
costs by economies, new methods and improved mechanical
processes, and thus to stabilize employment and to extend
the annual period of regular work. Local, division and
general joint-committees composed of representatives of
management and men were formed to put the arrangement
into effect and to carry out its provisions.
This innovation in industrial relations was successful
from the beginning. Waste was eliminated, new methods
and processes installed, costs reduced and greater stability
and duration of employment secured. Its results on the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad were so satisfactory that the
same plan was later adopted by the Chesapeake and Ohio,
the Chicago and Northwestern, and the Canadian National
railroads.
Thus far under this plan the benefits to employees, however,
 have been restricted to more regular and more extended
 employment. The arrangement contemplates also
that, in addition to regular rates of pay, there should be a
pecuniary reward to employees in the form of a share in
the net revenue gains arising from increased economies and
efficiencies : but. up to the present time. emphasis has been