Engineers, Unite!

The idea of joining a union appalls many a scientist and engineer. To a professional man this means not merely the surrender of his individual economic rights, to union leaders whom he frequently distrusts. It also means surrender of his self-esteem as an individualist. So most scientists and engineers have shunned C.I.O.'s union (Federation of Architects, Engineers, Chemists & Technicians) as well as A.F. of L.'s (International Federation of Technical Engineers, Architects & Draftsmen).

Last week a big professional group laid the foundation for its own union--and for what may become a far-reaching countermove by professional men against established unionism. The American Society of Civil Engineers, meeting in Atlanta, voted to recommend that its local branches set up collective-bargaining committees to negotiate salaries for their members (90% are eligible to join other unions). The local committees will be independent of the national organization but the Society will hire four experienced "field representatives" to advise them on organizing and bargaining.

The engineers called their decision the most "momentous" in the Society's 91-year history. Their reasons: "If the professionally-minded engineer is not prepared to bargain collectively through representatives of his own choosing, collective bargaining will be done for him by representatives selected by an organization with which he may not wish to be identified." A.S.C.E.'s tall, courtly President Ezra Bailey Whitman (Whitman, Requardt & Smith) insisted on leaving out the word "union," substituting the words "bargaining group." But in effect, the engineers were setting up their own counterunion.

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