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Colorado Fuel and Iron: Culture and Industry in Southern Colorado Main MenuCF&I TimelinePredecessor and Subsidiary CompaniesMiningHealth and SafetyEthnic Groups and DiversityImportant PeopleEmployee LifeLabor Relations in the Industrial WestLand and WaterCities and TownsSteel ProductionArtifactsCompany PublicationsAssorted Histories and Short StoriesQuips and blurbs relating to Southern Colorado's industrial historyThe Steelwsorks Center of the WestBooks and Other ResourcesCredits and AcknowledgementsChristopher J. Schrecka2fcfe32c1f76dc9d5ebe09475fa72e5633cc36dC.J. Schreck
The Employee Representation Plan
12015-11-30T23:17:42-08:00Christopher J. Schrecka2fcfe32c1f76dc9d5ebe09475fa72e5633cc36d72424plain2021-04-12T07:19:14-07:00Christopher J. Schrecka2fcfe32c1f76dc9d5ebe09475fa72e5633cc36dThe Rockefeller Employee Representation Plan at the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company
In 1915 the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company instituted an employee representation plan in order to bring labor peace to the company's coal fields. It did so at the behest of its chief stockholder, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who suffered many personal attacks for his role in the infamous Ludlow Massacre of 1914 that left seventeen people dead, including women and children. While the legitimacy of most company unions were often questioned, and for good reason, transcripts of CF&I company management meetings with the plan’s labor representatives suggests that Rockefeller and his management staff took this effort seriously. Indeed, Rockefeller believed that this kind of organization would bring about permanent labor peace.
The plan seems to have worked well for a time. Scores of employee grievances were settled by the plan apparatus. Workers who complained about wages, ethnic and racial discrimination, working hours, and other common labor problems were able to file grievances, and there appears to have been a serious attempt by management to solve those grievances peacefully. There were, however, many more labor/management relations problems deriving from the Rockefeller Plan in the following years.
This article is incomplete. Please contact the Steelworks Center of the West if you would like to help us complete it.
To learn more check out Representation and Rebellion: The Rockefeller Plan at the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, 1914-1942 by Dr. Jonathan Rees.
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12020-10-15T13:48:37-07:00Christopher J. Schrecka2fcfe32c1f76dc9d5ebe09475fa72e5633cc36dLabor Relations in the Industrial WestChristopher J. Schreck6image_header2024-09-25T12:09:31-07:00Christopher J. Schrecka2fcfe32c1f76dc9d5ebe09475fa72e5633cc36d
