Page:George Henry Soule - Recent Developments in Trade Unionism (1921).pdf/25



Outside of the needle trades, a shop committee movement similar to the English shop steward movement began years ago in the United States. Its beginning was the "system federation" in the shop departments of the railroads. The system federation extends over the lines of a single railroad system. It consists of delegates from the various craft unions working ill the shops of that system. Such bodies of delegates conducted strikes and negotiations with the common employer of the various groups concerned, its first big success being on the Chicago and Northwestern. This idea is of course the same as the shop committee idea, applied t6 a railroad system.

During the war shop committees, composed of delegates from the various craft unions concerned, were set up for local adjustment in the ship yards, the arsenals and navy yards, and many of the private munitions plants. These shop committees were recognized by the unions, and worked hand in hand with the national "departments" of the American Federation of Labor. They greatly strengthened the tendency towards industrial unionism.

Just as a shop committee made up of delegates from various craft unions may apply industrial un-