In turn the creation of system federations
sharpened the employers' antagonism. Some railway systems, like the
Illinois Central, might be willing to enter into agreements with the
separate crafts, but refused to deal with a federation of crafts. In
1912, stimulated by a dispute on the Illinois Central Railroad and on
the Harriman lines in general, involving the issue of system
federations, a Federation of System Federations was formed by forty
systems upon an aggressive program. In 1908 a weak and rather tentative
Railway Employes' Department had been launched by the American
Federation of Labor. The Federation of Federations was thus a rival
organization and "illegal" or, at best, "extra-legal" from the
standpoint of the American Federation of Labor. The situation, however,
was too acute to permit the consideration of "legality" to enter. An
adjustment was made and the Federation of System Federations was
"legitimatized" through fusion with the "Department," to which it gave
its constitution, officers, and fighting purpose, and from which it took
only its name. This is the now well-known Railway Employes' Department
of the American Federation of Labor (embracing all important national
unions of the railway workers excepting the four brotherhoods), and
which, as we shall see, came into its own when the government took over
the railways from their private owners eight months after America's
entry into the World War.
Pages:
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272