Development  of  the  Miscellemeous  Unions

Before  going  further  with  the  four  brotherhoods  let  us
turn  our  attention  to  the  unions  in  the  miscellaneous  sec-
tion ;  viz,  Telegraphers,  Clerks,  Signalmen,  Stationary
Firemen,  and  Maintenance  of  Way  Workers.  Their  evo-
lution is  comparitively  simple.  Before  the  war  the  latter
four  led  a  very  precarious  existence,  as  they  possessed  lit-
tle organization  upon  the  various  roads.  When  the  war
came,  however,  they  underwent  a  mushroom  growth  and
swarmed  nearly  all  of  the  eligible  workers  into  their  ranks.
At  one  blow  almost  they  advanced  from  the  primitive
status  of  negotiating  separate  agreements  for  each  system
to  the  establishments  of  national  agreements  for  their  re-
spective crafts  on  all  interstate  systems.
Because  of  their  long  quarrel  with  the  Trainmen,  the
Switchmen  remained  in  the  detached  condition  character-
istic of  the  unions  in  the  miscellaneous  section.  In  fact,
although  properly  a  transportation  union,  they  usually
found  themselves  left  out  of  the  joint  movements  in  that
department.
Development  of  the  Shop  Unions

The  principal  shop  unions  are  the  Machinists,  Black-
smiths, Boilermakers,  Carmen,  Electrical  Workers,  and
Sheet  Metal  Workers.  Their  evolution  was  much  more
lengthy  and  involved  than  that  of  the  miscellaneous  unions.
It  is  comparable  to  that  of  the  transportation  unions  and
merits  our  attention.  It  illustrates  clearly  the  constant
get-together  tendencies  of  the  railroad  unions.
