Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/457

* TRADE UNIONS. 399 TRADE UNIONS. their victories by political action, socialism has made little headway. With the view of giving some idea of the be- ginning and extent of labor organization in the various Continental countries, the following tab- ular statement lias been preijared. It is almost impossible to distinguish the labor organizations from the political clubs and fraternal associa- tions in many countries, so that the figures must be interpreted as rough estimates of the extent of labor organization in the several countries rather than exact statistical measurements. industrial union is niiTcly a lunlralized union, in which are united all the workers of any one industry, irrespective of trade or occupation. The United Jline Workers, for instance, aim to coa- lesce in the same local union all wage-earners "working in and about the mines except mine manager and top boss.'' There are also industrial unions which do not aim to unite all classes of workmen in the same locals, but which attempt to unite local unions of the dillcrent trades in a single national body. The latter are to be re- garded as federations of trade unions, rather COCNTET Beginning o( the modern movement Approximate mcm- berBhip of labor organizations Remarks Date Number 1811 1840 1858 1871 1865 1867 1871 1871 1883 1894 1900 1900 1900 1899 1901 1900 1899 1898 52,818 100.000 50,000 688,832 864.350 150.000 96.295 24.000 60,000 Freedom of combination was granted in 1811 : the move- ment was. however, weak until very recently. Constituting from lO'/r to 11% of tlie laboring popula- tion from which unionists are drawn. This estimate is a verv loose one France In addition there were 533.454 persons in agricultural associations and 29,044 members of mixed associations of emjiloyers and employees. In addition, about 6'20.000 members of organizations exercising some of the functions of a trade union. In 1901 the membership of the socialistic trade unions alone was 688,870. 119,050 in the geueral federation of socialistic " Gewerk- schaften." It is reliably estimated that 76 per cent, of the male and 21 per cent, of the female industrial population over 18 years of age belong to trade unions. This estimate is a very loose one. Classification of Tkade Unions. As was pointed out in the article on Labok Organiza- tions, the trade union is simply one branch of the great family of labor organizations. The follow- ing classification brings out clearly the great di- versity of structure which exists both among organizations of laborers and among trade unions themselves: Not on the trade principle Labor oroanizations Continaous Temporary On the trade principle Strike. Bo.vcott. than labor organizations. The 'central' or 'central union' is merely another name for the municipal federation of trade unions. Go'ERNMENT. The government of local unions is distinguished by its thoroughgoing democracy. The tenure of office is usually six months and there is a widespread feeling in favor of rotation in office. The most important local officers are C Political. • e.g. Independent Labor Party. Fraternal.* e.g. Ancient Order of United Workmen. Mixed .iHsemblies, e.g. Knights of Labor. Industrial unions, e.g. United Mine Workers. General amalgamations, e.g. Knights of Labor. Sub-locals, e.g. Printers' chapels. Local unions, e.g. " Big Six " of New York. District councils, e.g. of Carpenters and Joiners. National unions, eg. Iron Molders' Union. International unions, e.g. Cigar Makers' Inter- national Union of America. f Central unions, e.g. Chicago Federation of 1 Labor. 1 State federations, e.g. Massachusetts Feder- J ation of Labor. "I Industrial federations, e.g. National Building j Trades Council. I General federations, e.g. American Federa- I tion of Labor. Non-federa- tive Federative • These are not strictly labor organizations, bnt are included here because their membership is drawn almost exclusively from the ranks of labor. The preceding classification emphasizes the difference between amalgamated labor unions and trade unions or federations in which the in- dividuality of each trade is preserved. The 'mixed assembl}'' is simply the governmental unit of the amalgamated union. It was a per- manent feature of the Knights of Labor, but it is also used by the Federation of Labor, and is known as the 'federal union.' It supplies a union for workmen in unorganized trades, or in places where there are not enough workers in one organized trade to start a local union. The the business agent or walking delegate and the chairman of the grievance conunittee. Only a small proportion of the locals have such ofiiicers, but where they do there is a strong tendency to reelect men who have proved themselves the possessors of the unusual abilities which these positions require. The government of the na- tional union usually comprehends a periodical convention, a permanent executive board, a corps of organizers, a president, several vice-presidents, and a secretary-treasurer. As the referendum is apparently becoming more and more popular in