ing man or a trade union official, I would get them

4 Eee I had the chance to speak to a work-

to explain the workings of their organization. On
the Saturday afternoon of the day before my departure
from Moscow, I finally obtained an appointment with a
number of officials of the All-Union Central Council of
Trade Unions and travelled to the Palace of Labor.

A number of other American correspondents and I had
hoped to get this interview at an earlier date. But the
trade unionists were busy attending a meeting of their ex-
ecutive, while we were taken up with the last sessions of
the Council of Foreign Ministers.

Among others, I talked, to
Peter Kazakoff, head of the org-
anization department; Alexander
Stephanoff, in charge of the de-
partment on wage problems, and
A. Sverloff, one of the secre-
taries: of AUCCTU.

Any worker, whether employed
in a factory or an office, can
become a member of a Soviet
trade union. ©

All one has to do is fill out
an application card which is
considered by the local trade
union committee and approved
by a general membership meet-
ing. The applicant receives a
card personally from the chair-
man of the Shop committee.
There are no racial, national or
religious bars to membership.

I was told that while the trade
unions do not conduct any spe-
cial campaigns for membership,

the majority of the workers are -

members. The dues payments
are one percent of the monthly
wages. Dues are paid monthly
and the worker receives a stamp
for his dues book, a _ practice
similar to ours.

The union is usually organized
on a factory-wide basis, but
there are further subdivisions
based on departments. In some
instances there are _ regional
organizations of the trade unions
or what we might call district
councils, but there are very few
of these. As a rule they embrace
professional workers — teachers,
doctors and the like.

7]

: poreyeeo to know how the

unions obtained their income. I
learned that the only source of
income for the trade unions is
dues payments. The factory
trade union committee has the
right to spend and_ allocate
money for whatever purposes it
deems necessary. Between 80

and 90 percent of the dues and:

initiation fees remains with the
factory local. Only 10 percent is
forwarded to the All-Union
Central Council of Trade Unions.
What do the unions do with
all their funds, especially since
the social insurance fuhd is sep-
arate from union funds? ; (The
social insurance fund is a gov-
ernment institution, but is run
by the unions. This fund now
has in it over 15 million rubles
or about three ‘billion dollars.)
Fifteen percent is spent for
administrative things to keep the
organization going, but up to 70
Percent of the funds left with

the local organization is expend-_

ed for what the Soviet trade
unions call cultural work, such
as amateur arts, books for their
club libraries, general educa-
tional activities, sports, outdoor
excursions, lectures and for rest
homes.

Most of the factories have
sanatoriums, or rest homes, lo-
cated nearby and any worker
who feels he needs a rest or a
special diet can go there after
work or on his days off. In
addition, some money is spent
for the families of war victims
who are members of this par-

ticular union,

@

stain there is a lot of talk

about everything in the So-
viet Union being ‘dictated’ from
the top, I was interested in
knowing how they elect their
officials in trade unions., I talk-
ed to a number of workers as
well as officials and they gave
me the following picture.

The factory committees, the

FRIDAY, JUNE 20, 1947

x

department committees, as well
as the officers of these are elec-
ted annually. The candidates are
nominated at general meetings
of the membership. During these
nominations there is no time
limit set for discussion. A guy
can talk his head off. He can
say anything he wants about a
nominee.

In order that a meeting be
legal amd the nominations valid,
two-thirds of the membership
must be present. If the attend-
ance is not big enough, then an-
other meeting is called. This is
to prevent any small group or
clique from perpetuating itself
in office. The leadership is not
always on the job and some-
times neglects to protect the in-
terests of the workers.

Such democratic rules of pro-
cedure make it possible for the
working man and woman to
replace such people with better
ones,

A nominee must receive at
least 50 percent of the vote. All
voting is done by secret ballot
and the trade union member has
the right to scratch out any
nominee and write in anyone
else if he feels like it.

Each local union or factory
decides for itself how large a
committee it wants to elect. If
a factory is very large and
holding one meeting of the
membership becomes impractical,
then they have a right to con-
vene a conference.

But the delegates to this con-
ference are elected from various
departmental membership meet-
ings by secret ballot,.and the
incumbent leadership must ac-
count for its
these various general member-
ship meetings before the con-
ference. In any case, the lead-
ership must give a report to the
membership every six months,
between elections. :

The district officials are elec-
ted for two-year periods, and in
the same way as the local lead-
ership, subject to the same rules.
During these elections, the locals
as well as the district elect
auditing commissions—the locals
for a one-year term, the district
for two-year terms.

To guarantee the independence
and impartiality of these audit-
ing committees, they are ans-
werable er subordinate only to
a higher committee of a trade
union organization. They give
reports to the lower organiza-
tions, but the lower organiza~
tions cannot control them.
These auditing committees

have the right to inspect fin-.

ances, to look into administra-

tive expenditures, to see how

much of this money is spent on

such things as cultural and edu-
cational activities.
-@

Ftd All-Union Trade Union

Congress, equivalent to inter-

national conventions of the CIO —

or AFL, is held every two years.
But the Central Counoil of the
Trade Unions must report to the
districts and the general mem-
bership at least once a year,
The Central Council is elected
at the All-Union Congress of
Trade Unions whose delegates

come from the factories and.

from the various regional and
district conferences. All elections
are by secret ballot.

What kind of officers do the
lower organizations of the trade
unions elect? They have an

stewardship to

organizer, a social insurance
delegate, a public inspector of
labor conditions. .
In addition, they have a num-
ber of voluntary committees, in-
cluding those on Wages, culture
and education, veterans, inven-
tions, work among children, for

workers’ welfare and supply and ©

for living and housing condi-
tions.

The organizer is a sort of
combination chairman and busi-
ness agent to compare them
with the officers elected in our
unions. The insurance delegate
gives aid to those workers who
are sick and need help,

He takes care of arranging
facilities in hospitals or rest
homes. He also visits sick trade
union brothers and sisters and
assists in seeing that the chil-
dren of the membership get to
a camp or a rest home if they
need it. Of course, he protects
the interests of the trade union
and sees to it that these privi-
leges are not abused.

The public inspector of labor
conditions checks the hours of
work according to the contract,
and sees that there are no over-
time violations. He looks into
the safety measures, sees whe-
ther ventilation and light are

‘sufficient, and so on. The public

inspector has the right to insist

on immediate corrections of vio- ~

lations.

If the factory management
continues to stall, the factory
public inspector can ask the
Council of Trade Unions to file
a lawsuit. If the violation is
serious, then the inspector of
the Council of Trade Unions
can close down any department
which the workers consider un-

safe. Until the unsafe condi-

tions are remedied, this depart-

ment or factory remains closed.
. @

N the Soviet factories, the

management undertakes cer-
tain responsibilities concerning
supplies, particularly food and
housing.

The Commission on Workers’
Welfare and Supply checks’ to
See that the dining rcoms are
run properly, that there’s enough
food and that the meals are well
cooked. It also investigates the
stores that sell to the factory
workers. It watches that the
ration system is not abused and
also checks to see that Supplies
come in regularly. I¢ they are
not in, it usually wants to know

_ the reason why.

The Commission on Living and
Housing Conditions checks on
the. management’s responsibility
regarding construction. Also, it
sees that the old houses are kept
in condition and that there is
adequate housing for single
People who sometimes have to
live in dormitories or rooming
houses, '

This committee also meets

with the housewives to get their
opinion as to whether the new
houses contain the conveniences
that they need and are com-
fortable to live in.
_ The Veterans Commission con-
cerns itself chiefly with helping
the families of trade union mem-
bers who were killed in the war
or who were wounded. It helps
find work for members of vet-
erans’ families and takes a hand
in the training of widows and
children for more skilled. occu-
pations. ;

If a veteran’s family is large

and there is only one breadwin-

ner, the Veterans Commissio®
gives it a hand. It sees to
that the kids are sent to camP
and that the family gets add
tional material aid. If the house
that the vet’s family lives
needs repairs because of

of funds or material, this SP& cf

cial trade union committee raise
funds, supplies trucks to mov®
the material and even supplies
the labor to do the repairs 0?
the home when necessary.

4 ipa trade union executive 0
membership listens to reP®
of the management. When the
trade union committee invites
the director to attend a meet
ing, he must come.
. As a rule, the director wants —
to come to these meetings 8°
he can be in closer touch
the workers. Since the trad@
union and management are both
interested in better productio?,
the director wants to have clos®
ties with the union. é
These meetings do not merelY

concern themselves with produc —
tion problems. The workers VeXY

often raise their beefs and af
critical of the management.
Though the director has ¢&
tain rights which a manage?
needs to have to run the factory
efficiently, the workers do 20%
hesitate at these meetings t

give the management pointers —

on ‘how to improve — conditions
and in this way, increase PYO
Guction that all seem concer?
with.

All these facts lead to th?
conclusion that the rank and file
workers themselves run the ©
viet trade unions and that d¢
mocracy is the outstanding £2
ture of their organization 2°°
work. ieee ‘g

amen

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 10 _