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History of the
Labor Movement

Eugene Victor
Debs

Debs Foundation

Peter H. Clark

Principals of Union Organization

1. All union officers should be elected directly by the rank and file and their salaries should be no greater than the wages of the workers they represent.
   
   
2. All union officers should be subject to recall at any time that a majority of their constituents vote for such a recall.
   
   
3. All union contracts must be submitted to the rank and file for final approval. Copies of a proposed contract must be made available to the entire union membership before a vote can be taken upon it and within an adequate period of time prior to the date set for that vote to allow for sufficient review and discussion by the membership.
   
   
4. No contract shall contain any restriction on the right to strike. Nor shall it contain any provision that impedes the right of workers to strike over local working conditions or safety questions.
   
   
5. No union charter, constitution or bylaw should empower the union to take any disciplinary action against workers who resort to wildcat strikes or work stoppages.
   
   
6. No union charter constitution or bylaw shall empower the taking over of a local or a union by the executive authority of a local or a union by the executive authority of a national or international body alone under any circumstances.
   
   
7. All workers in the same industry are to be covered by the same contract. Where such workers are covered by different contracts the expiration date on each is to be the same.
   
   
8. All revisions and/or amendments of a unions charter, constitution or bylaw must be submitted to the rank and file membership for final approval.
   
   
9. All union organizers, business agents and shop stewards are to be members of the same union they represent and shall be directly elected by the rank and file, subject to recall; and where they receive salaries, these should not be greater than the wages of the workers they represent.
   
   
10. All union policy decisions and decisions on matters of general importance to the membership shall be made directly by the workers at a local meeting or through a delegated convention. The delegates to any such convention must be elected directly by the rank and file. Contract demands that are democratically determined by the membership should be made binding upon the delegated contract negotiators.
    
    
11. Amendment procedures for union charters, constitutions and bylaws shall be simplified in order to facilitate the widest possible change by the rank and file with minimal difficulty.
    
    
12. There shall be no divisions among workers in a union according to craft, race, ethnics, origin, sex.
    
    
13. We support programs that break down discriminatory barriers within the unions that have further the exploitation and oppression of women and minorities.
    
    
14. Unions must actively work to organize the unorganized.
    
    
15. Unions should encourage class solidarity by including the unemployed, disabled and retired members of the working class into unions.
    
    
16. The union shall work to directly offer class solidarity to other unions on strike by slowdowns, work stoppages and strikes.