LABOR'S HOUSE DIVIDED
Fry, Varian
Labor's House Divided By VARIAN FRY NOW that the new World Federation of Trade Unions is about to be born, there will be apparently 3 international labor organizations in existence. To judge from...
...THUS, although the final step has not yet been taken, it seems likely that there may soon be two international federations of labor...
...But, of the American labor groups, it is probable that only the CIO will participate...
...Invitations, however, went not only to the IFTU members, but also to rival bodies like the CIO, and to the Soviet trade unions...
...In the U. S., the AFL, the independent Railway Brotherhoods, and the UMW all declined to attend...
...Impetus for the formation of the new international federation has come from the CIO and the Russian unions, both of them excluded from the IFTU—an extension of the split between the "ins" and "outs" in international affairs...
...Thus, the CIO remained the only American labor body to be represented...
...To judge from various signs, there is already a good deal of confusion in the public mind about them...
...This Conference was called not by the IFTU, but by the British Trades Union Congress, itself a member of the IFTU...
...It promulgates conventions on working conditions, the employment of women and children, etc., which are then ratified and enacted into law by member governments...
...THE World Trade Union Conference passed a resolution stating that it was the intention of the participating organizations "to work together for the creation of a powerful democratic world trade union federation" embracing "the trade union bodies of freedom-loving nations, irrespective of considerations of race or creed or of political, religious or philosophical distinctions...
...The draft constitution omits the question of unions controlled by governments —there is no definition of what constitutes a bona fide labor organization...
...Unlike the ILO, the other 2 organizations consist only of labor representatives...
...The proposal for this organization grew out of a World Trade Union Conference which was held in London last February...
...IN the U. S., the American Federation of Labor belongs to the IFTU, but the younger Congress of Industrial Organizations and such independent unions as John L. Lewis' United Mine Workers, and those Railway Brotherhoods not in the AFL, cannot be represented on it...
...Created at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, it has been functioning steadily ever since, first at Geneva and, during the war, in Montreal...
...The older, the International Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU), was founded in 1901 and has its headquarters in London...
...An "escalator" method of voting would reduce the power of organizations like the Soviet trade unions, claiming a huge membership, in relation to the voting power of smaller organizations like the British Trades Union Congress and the CIO...
...One, the IFTU, will presumably continue to exclude government-controlled unions and rival national labor bodies...
...The IFTU has refused to admit the latter on grounds that they are not genuine labor organizations, but are controlled by the government...
...In fact, they are both world federations of the labor movements of the various nations...
...From the U. S. only the AFL will be represented on it...
...Theoretically it will, in exceptional cases, be open to more than one labor group from any one country...
...The other international labor organization, the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), though not yet formally created, threatens to become a rival of the IFTU...
...Nevertheless, the IFTU has rendered important service to the various member organizations and to the cause of labor as a whole...
...The problem of government-controlled unions and the existence of the IFTU was ignored...
...The other will ask no questions as to whether or not a member organization is a bona fide labor union...
...The International Labor Organization (ILO) can be distinguished right away, because it is not a pure labor organization at all, but a tripartite international body, with representatives of labor, governments, and employers, set up to deal with labor problems...
...The proposed constitution contains an escape clause providing that its decisions shall not be binding on member organizations...
...As a general rule, only one national trade union organization would be eligible in each country, but, in exceptional cases, "more than one national trade union center or individual national trade union organization may be granted the right of affiliation...
...Last April, an Interim Committee appointed by the Conference met in Oakland, California, to draft a constitution for the proposed WFTU for consideration at the next conference, scheduled to convene in Paris this September...
...Headquarters of the new federation would be in Paris...
...Its constitution, drawn up to avoid divisions and quarrels in the different national labor movements, permits only one group from each country to belong...
Vol. 9 • July 1945 • No. 30
