206 INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION AND WAGES

tion in the soft coal industry. A woman, Miss Josephine
Roche, is responsible for it. She took charge of the Rocky
Mountain Fuel Company in 1927, and inaugurated it in
that company. The agreement provides for union recognition,
 a basic wage, a wage differential for union labor efficiency,
 and a pledge by both management and the union to
cooperate for the realization of the greatest possible output.
Its main features are as follows:

1. Establishment of a basic daily wage of $7.00.
2. Granting of a differential of 23 cents per day over
non-union mine rates as a recognition of the greater
efficiency of organized labor.
3. Acceptance by the miners of the obligation to cooperate
 with management in the more efficient operation
 of the mines.
Elimination of all working conditions which impair
the efficiency of the mine worker.

4.

In addition to these fundamental principles, the agreement
 also provides for the establishment of departments
of medicine and sanitation in lieu of the old “company
doctor” system, and for other improved working conditions.


This is the first formal precedent in the bituminous coal
mines for securing increased productive efficiency by cooperation
 between union and management, and for the guarantee
 to the mine workers of increased rewards for their
productive gains. The principles involved should be accepted
 in all the soft coal fields for the reason that the
stabilization and prosperity of the whole industry is dependent,
 more than upon anything else, upon the establishment
 of constructive, economic accomplishment through
cooperation between mine-managements and the United
Mine Workers of America.