Fellow Workers:
At the 2004 General Assembly in Edmonton, AB, Canada, your Committee presented its Final Report & Recommendations. The Assembly referred the Report to an ad-hoc committee, which concurred in the Committee’s recommendations and moved their adoption in full.
The full Assembly adopted a significant amendment to the Committee’s recommendations, which is discussed in the accompanying Appendix, but deferred further action on the Report & Recommendations to the 2005 General Assembly, instructing your Committee to undertake a campaign to educate the membership on the recommended revisions to the I. W. W. Chart. The 2004 Assembly specifically declared that the amendment it had adopted was not binding on the Committee, and that the Committee could continue its work and present whatever recommendations it thought fit to the 2005 Assembly.
Your Committee accordingly submits the following Supplemental Report & Recommendations to the 2005 General Assembly.
At the time of the 2004 General Assembly, the members of your committee were Jim Crutchfield (Chairperson), Karl Howeth, Breeze Luetke- Stahlman, and Tristan Masat. Subsequently, FW Pat Brenner joined the committee. FW Luetke-Stahlman has asked to be relieved of her duties on the committee, owing to the press of other obligations, though she did generously participate in the preparation of this report and its appendix on the 2004 Amendment. The committee now consists of FWs Brenner, Crutchfield (Chairperson), Howeth, and Masat.
Your committee has continued to receive occasional comments from union members. These are not substantially different from those we received in response to our March 2004 draft (most of which are provided in an appendix to our 2004 Report), and we have not reproduced them here. With a few notable exceptions, they seem to have come from people who have not read, or have not understood, the 2004 Report, or who remain dissatisfied with our response to their earlier comments. Although these later comments often include vehement objections to this or that aspect of the Committee’s proposals, we have not found them compelling enough to warrant changes to the proposal by the Committee.
We are aware, of course, that our proposal is not perfect, and have for that reason recommended a plan for a streamlined amendment process (Proposal No. 3 in the 2004 Report). Because of your Committee’s limited time and resources, and the constant evolution of capitalist industry, it is inevitable that more changes in the Industrial Classification system will be needed as we rebuild the organization’s Industrial Union structure. For the present, however, we believe that our proposal offers a significant overall improvement in the Industrial Classification system, and that further revisions should be left in the hands of the workers who will be affected by them.
The General Executive Board approved $300 to support the Committee’s work in 2005. Because we have not had to travel for face-to-face meetings this year, however, we have not used nearly that amount. Most of the Committee’s expenses have taken the form of printing and postage, which has largely been borne by the General Headquarters.
A. Your Committee adopts the findings set forth in its Report to the 2004 General Assembly, and respectfully refers the 2005 General Assembly to that report.
B. Your Committee further offers the findings set forth in the accompanying Appendix with regard to the Amendment adopted by the 2004 General Assembly.
A. Your Committee respectfully recommends that the 2005 Assembly concur in the recommendations set forth in the Committee’s Report to the 2004 General Assembly, and submit them to the membership by referendum, with the recommendation that they be adopted in full, provided that the dates mentioned in those recommendations be advanced by a year.
B. Your Committee further recommends that the 2005 Assembly not adopt the Amendment passed by the 2004 Assembly, for the reasons set forth in the accompanying Appendix.
Respectfully submitted,
By Jim Crutchfield, Chairperson
Please address comments and corrections to the Chairperson at classify@iww.org.