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1 Handbook of Union Government, Structure and Procedures 1955

handle is hein.beal/hndbkgv0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Highlights of the Report Studies in Personnel Policy, No. 150 National Industrial Conference Board, Inc. Handbook of Union Government, Structure and Procedures A UNION'S constitution contains more information about the union than any other single document. It is the union's supreme law. Its provisions deter- mine the relationship between the local unions and the parent national or international union. It also governs local union constitutions and by-laws inasmuch as they cannot be contrary to the parent union's constitution. This study is based on examination of the: 1. Constitutions of the AFL, the CIO, and the proposed constitution of the new merged labor fed- eration-the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. 2. Constitutions of 194 American labor unions: 110 AFL, 29 CIO and 55 independent. These unions have a declared membership of 17.5 million. Approx- imately 16.5 million are in the United States and make up about 98% of total national and inter- national union membership in this country. Close to 1 million members are in Canada, where they com- prise about 75% of that country's total union mem- bership. Every important American labor union is included. New Federation of Labor The merged AFL-CIO will be composed of 158 unions: 123 formerly AFL and 30 formerly CIO. Member unions of the federation have a declared membership of 16 million. Five and one-half million belong to CIO unions and 10.5 million to AFL unions. Unions now affiliated with the AFL will have vot- ing majorities in the new federation's executive bodies and will also predominate in the merged fed- eration's legislative body, the convention. George Meany, the AFL's president, and William Schnitzler, AFL secretary-treasurer, are scheduled to be presi- dent and secretary-treasurer of the new organization. John W. Livingston, a vice-president of the United Automobile Workers, CIO, will head the merged fed- eration's powerful new Department of Organization. Contrary to popular opinion, the new labor feder- ation will not be composed predominantly of craft unions. Analysis of the declarations of jurisdictions in the constitutions of the member unions of the new federation shows that only 33% of the membership of the AFL-CIO belong to unions which are organ- ized on a purely craft basis. Sixty-seven per cent of the AFL-CIO's membership belong to unions that are industrially organized or which frequently engage in industrial unionism. At present, 22 of the 30 unions in the CIO are industrial unions and 26 of the 123 unions in the AFL are industrial. Therefore, the AFL brings more industrial unions into the new federation than the CIO. AFL acceptance of indus- trial unionism was one of the factors that made merger possible. Data on Amerlean Unions Union Revenue-The 194 unions covered by this study take in a minimum of roughly $457 million a year in dues. Approximately $228 million of this goes to the international or national headquarters of the various unions in per capita taxes. The remainder stays in local union treasuries. Most union constitu- tions set a minimum and/or maximum amount of dues and initiation fees that the local unions may charge. Within these limits, local unions may usually set their own amounts. Initiation Fees-Initiation fees in American unions vary from $.65 to $250. The highest fees are in the maritime unions and in the craft unions consisting of the highly skilled. No representative average figure can be calculated because of the great range in specific amounts and because many union consti- tutions set only minimum amounts, leaving the determination of the exact amount to the local unions. This study, however, contains a table listing the exact revenue provisions of each of the 194 union constitutions. Strike Authorization-Most unions require author- ization of strikes by both the international union and the local union or unions involved before they can be called. Local unions, in most cases, have no power to call strikes without international approval. If unauthorized strikes are called, the international usually has power to discipline the leaders or to withhold financial support from the local. Strike Votes-Of the 194 unions covered by the study, 110 require that the members affected must vote approval before a strike can be called. These

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