Walter Gordon Merritt highly favored the “open shop” because he believed it allowed for union members and non-union members the opportunity to be employed. They had the chance if they were non-union members to join the union once employed as well. There was no discrimination against either unionist or non-unionist at “open shops” which was the great thing about them. Merritt believed closed shops “means closing the doors of industry to all but union men and closing transportation and the markets of the nation to all but union goods”(16). Merritt felt closed shops left people no choice but to join unions. I believe the discrimination factor in “open shops” is were Merritt and Gompers opinions differ. Unlike Merritt, Gomper felt that open shops
