Controlling funds
The document shown after this paragraph displays a decision that the union made in an attempt to generate more revenue for a specific purpose. The members currently are paying an assessment of 4% of their gross income to help unemployed members and members who are on strike. They have passed a resolution to the voting process to spend more money on helping unemployed members and on organizing strikes; however, another document in the collection actually reveals that the current 4% fund is meeting current needs, let alone to allow far an increase in spending. To accomplish the spending increase, they need to increase each member's contribution to the union's funds by two percent of their gross income, which is also contained in the same proposed vote. District 14 has decided that the well-being of the union and the members who are down on bad luck is worth paying more money into the fund. In a sense, the union's function of collective bargaining can be seen here being taken up by the members and advanced into a sense of collective wellness; the members desire to look after one another and work towards the goal of everyone prospering.
The document at the bottom of this page shows the title page of a report detailing an audit of District 14's secretary-treasurer. This document is the first page of a thirty-two page document that lists all of the incomes and expenses of the district for the year, and it is one of two similar documents in the Hearl Maxwell Collection. This report seems to have been done yearly, and it shows the work that went into tracking the flow of money within such an organization. The local unions needed to know where the money they payed in to the district was going, and the district needed to keep track of receipt of payment from local unions. Additionally, the national organization would have wanted to keep track of the financial situation of each district. The report also allowed the leadership to view the proportion of funds going places and do rough estimates of the effectiveness of where their money is flowing. For example, they could examine page twenty of the report to look at strike expenditures. They might notice that they spent the a great deal of money on a certain strike that was unsuccessful and closer analyze the strike to determine what made it unsuccessful despite the high investment, and they might notice a very successful strike that cost them little and examine what lead that strike to success.
