Page:William Zebulon Foster - The Railroaders' Next Step, Amalgamation (1922).djvu/56

Rh a modified amalgamation: As the basis of their refusal to give up their members, the six semi-railroad unions would argue with great weight that the mechanics have not only an industrial interest as railroad workers, but also a craft interest as tradesmen. They would contend that the machinist or boilermaker who is now working on the railroad may be working next week at his trade in some other industry; and that, consequently, he has a direct interest in maintaining good conditions for his craft in all industries, and a moral obligation to belong to the organization that is doing that work. Whether right or wrong, this contention would have to be met, and it could only be met successfully by giving the men involved a double affiliation to correspond to their double interest. That is to say, the shop mechanics would at once be affiliated to the railroad industrial union and also to their respective craft unions. The two unions would divide between them the control over these classes of workers, each organization reserving the functions necessary to its proper working. Likewise, they would apportion the dues and per capita according to the services rendered by each organization.

Already there is a beginning of this system in the Railway Employes' Department. That organization is an embodiment of the recognition of the common industrial interests of the many crafts going to make it up. It is continually encroaching upon the authority of its component trade unions. It has succeeded in securing a large measure of control over the shop mechanics, together with a share (all too small) of per capita to finance this control. But as yet only a start has been made. In an amalgamation along industrial lines the general railroad organization would necessarily exercise a far greater degree of