Unofficial ILWU Local 19
History & Education
Unofficial ILWU Local 19
History & Education
Good Committee Work (From a 1965 ILWU Handbook for members)
1. Appoint or elect a committee for a specific purpose.
2. Define the purpose.
3. Select members who are qualified and who are acceptable to the membership.
4. Keep committees small and workable.
5. Designate one member as Chairman.
6. Whenever possible set a date for a Committee report and strive for the date to be kept. If it cannot be kept, ask for a Progress report.
7. See that the report and recommendation receive adequate consideration.
8. Don't let an issue referred to a Committee be forgotten. Don't let a committee once appointed fail to act as directed. If one committee is unable to achieve its goal or does not function, discharge it and appoint another.
9. Thank your Committee.
When You Make a Decision
1. Define the problem so
you know what it is.
2. Get the basic facts and all other
facts that are relevant.
3. List the possible solutions - all
the ways you might solve the problem.
4. Test the consequences: "If we
do this, then what will happen?"
5. Choose the solution, testing it to
see if it is practical and possible, given the conditions under which you
have to work.
6. Evaluate the results from all the
angles you can think of. This evaluation may lead you to change the
solution.
Recommendations
The Local is not obliged to accept the report and recommendations. It may reject them and arrive at its own decision. It may refer the subject back to the committee for further work.
It may accept the recommendations in part or with qualifications. The committee must remember that it is responsible to the body which appoints it and that it has only the powers given by the appointing body. Hence its recommendations must stick to the subject matter given it to act upon.
