Fellow Workers of the General Executive Board

 

Your Committee on Industrial Classification offers the following interim report.

 

1.  Membership.

 

Your committee consists of the following members:

 

Jim Crutchfield, Chairman

John Hollingsworth

Breeze Luetke-Stahlman

Tristan Masat

James Sheldon

 

FW Patrick McGuire is GEB observer.  Former member Skip Porter has had to resign because of other obligations.  The committee can have up to seven members, and would appreciate nominations from the GEB and others for the two vacant seats.

 

2.  Timetable.

 

Pursuant to the direction of the General Assembly, your committee reports the adoption of the following agenda and timetable, with apologies for its lateness:

 

09-Nov-2002 07-Feb-2003 General discussion; research assignments; report

to GEB (90 days)

08-Feb-2003 09-Apr-2003 Committee meets; Develop provisional list of

                        Industrial Departments (60 days)

10-Apr-2003 10-May-2003 Revise present Department 100; report to GEB

30 days)

11-May-2003 09-Aug-2003 Revise present Department 600 (90 days)

16-Jun-2003 30-Jun-2003 Prepare interim report to General Assembly

30-Jun-2003             Interim report due at GHQ

10-Aug-2003 12-Oct-2003 Revise present Department 400 (60 days, not

counting GA)

29-Aug-2003 01-Sep-2003 General Assembly, Portland, Ore.

13-Oct-2003 27-Nov-2003 Revise present Department 500 (45 days)

28-Nov-2003 12-Dec-2003 Revise present Department 300 (14 days)

13-Dec-2003 27-Dec-2003 Revise present Department 200 (14 days)

28-Dec-2003 18-Jan-2004 Other revisions; Committee meets; Provisional

List of IUs to membership (21 days)

19-Jan-2004 18-Apr-2004 Comment period (90 days)

19-Apr-2004 19-May-2004 Committee meets; Revise List of Industrial

Unions (30 days)

20-May-2004 03-Jul-2004 Prepare final report for General Assembly (45

days)

06-Jul-2004             Proposal for General Assembly due at GHQ

07-Jul-2004 03-Sep-2004 Prepare presentation for General Assembly

04-Sep-2004 06-Sep-2004 General Assembly:  Present final List of

Industrial Unions with explanatory notes

07-Sep-2004 06-Mar-2005 Prepare guide to industrial organization

 

3.  Rules.  Your committee has adopted by-laws and rules of procedure, which the chairman will distribute to the Board under separate cover.

 

4.  Activity.

 

We have begun researching the various sectors of industry, as currently divided in the I.W.W. Constitution.  Individual members have taken on various Departments or (in the case of large Departments) Industrial Unions, and will report to the committee on the present organization and operation of industries within those divisions.  These reports will result in a provisional list of Industrial Departments, projected for completion in early April.  We will then proceed to review and, where necessary, to revise the industrial unions within each Department.

 

Correspondence among members of the committee is becoming more regular with the adoption of rules requiring monthly reports.  We have also begun meeting informally via internet relay chat, thanks to FW James Sheldon, and will begin monthly business meetings by chat in January on IRC server irc.irchat.tv, channel #cic.  Informal meetings are Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. EST.  Business meetings are the last Thursday of each month at the same time.  GEB members are welcome to observe and contribute.

 

We hope to meet in person in late winter or early spring, to facilitate the analysis of our research and the discussion of the provisional list of Industrial Departments.

 

5.  Conclusion.

 

Your committee has made a slow start, but is functioning, and has taken up its assigned task.  We shall continue to report as our work progresses, and welcome any suggestions or inquiries from the General Executive Board.  The chairman may be reached by email at classify@iww.org.

 

Respectfully,

 

The Committee on Industrial Classification

 

by Jim Crutchfield, Chairman