Page:William Zebulon Foster - The Railroaders' Next Step, Amalgamation (1922).djvu/52

Rh as one proposition, and, if necessary, strike as one man to make them prevail. Craft autonomy would be a thing of the past.

The process of industrialization, begun by linking together the heads of the trade unions, would be extended as fast as possible throughout all their ramifications. The local, system and divisional federations would be extended to conform to the new, closer relationship. Wherever practicable the local unions would be actually amalgamated. The many sets of officials, national, divisional, system and local, would be gradually transformed into one homogenuous force. The many journals would be combined into one powerful publication. Standardization of the dues and benefit systems would be introduced; grading the dues of the various departments to fit the differently paid classes of workers, and preserving, if wanted, the heavy insurance features carried now by the transportation unions. A free transfer would be made to prevail between the different departments, and also a standard, uniform initiation fee, etc., etc.

A revolution in the prevailing convention system would be necessitated. Instead of sixteen craft conventions, as there are today, then there would be but one general gathering of representatives of all classes of railroad workers—the departments would not have either the need or the right to hold separate conventions of their own. The united railroad workers of America, possessed of one organization and one will, would meet in general national convention to work out their common problems. Along with the obsolete craft conventions would go their equally obsolete system of representation. As the industrial union would be a huge organization containing many thousands of local unions, naturally the local union as a basis for convention representation would have to be discontinued. This would be a blessing for it is a primitive, expensive and impractical method. A much more fitting unit of representation is the system federation now used by the