definite results and excluding all economic vagaries, it bids
fair to overcome the disputes that disturb it from within and the
onslaughts of Socialism and of Bolshevism that threaten it from
without.



CHAPTER VI. THE TRADE UNION

The trade union* forms the foundation upon which the whole
edifice of the American Federation of Labor is built. Like the
Federation, each particular trade union has a tripartite
structure: there is first the national body called the Union, the
International, the General Union, or the Grand Lodge; there is
secondly the district division or council, which is merely a
convenient general union in miniature; and finally there is the
local individual union, usually called "the local." Some unions,
such as the United Mine Workers, have a fourth division or
subdistrict, but this is not the general practice.

* The term "trade union" is used here in its popular sense,
embracing labor, trade, and industrial unions, unless otherwise
specified.


The sovereign authority of a trade union is its general
convention, a delegate body meeting at stated times. Some unions
meet annually, some biennially, some triennially, and a few
determine by referendum when the convention is to meet. Sometimes
a long interval elapses: the granite cutters, for instance, held