(Editor's Note: The chart below outlines where each union is at in the contract ratification process. It displays some of the weaknesses of the fractured and divided craft union system, and raises numerous questions, among them:
1 -- Why are rail workers saddled with this antiquated and outdated structure?
2 -- Wouldn't it make sense for all rail workers to be in the same union?
3 -- Wouldn't it give rail workers more power if we were united in a single powerful and
united organization?
4 -- Isn't it undemocratic to have such small units set a "pattern" for the rest of rail labor
to follow?
5 -- How can the smaller units, with a few thousand - or even just a few hundred -
members, scattered over 48 states, actually be functioning and democratic
organizations?
6 -- How can railroad workers - and our unions - work together to build the united rail
labor organization that we all need to do better in the next bargaining round and in all
future confrontations with the rail industry?