MILL WHISTLE
A Message From Management
Now that our mills are running again, the
major task ahead of us is to get enough orders to
keep them running. At the same time, I thought it
might be appropriate if I were to discuss with
you frankly our thoughts and feelings about the
strike which has just ended.
The most welcome sound that I have heard for a long
time was the blast of the mill whistles last Wednesday-
morning, calling people back to work. I am sure that all
Fieldcrest people felt the same way.
As I have said before, no one wins a strike. In
the strike which we have just experienced, you
lost over five weeks’ pay, the Company lost its
profits for the period, and we BOTH lost orders
for our goods which we need in order to run.
Before and during the strike, I stated to you
that we could not understand what was being or
could be accomplished by this strike. Now that
it is over, I repeat that we cannot see what WAS
accomplished by the strike.
The Union called off the strike and you are
back at work at exactly the same wages we offer
ed to pay before the strike began. You could just
as well have been receiving these wages for the
past five weeks. The matter of wages is still to be
negotiated. What its outcome will be I do not
know. I do know, and I think you do too, that
whatever is done in the end would have been
done without this needless strike. The new con
tract contains nothing which we were not ready
to do before the strike was called. It contains
nothing which could not have been worked out
without the strike.
I am glad -we are all back at work without the bitterness
and hard feeling among employees and between em
ployees and the Compapny which sometimes accompanies
strikes. Let’s keep it that way.
What about our future relations with the
Union? We have again signed a contract with the
Union. We have done so because indications are
that the majority of our employees want to be
represented by the Union. We have again agreed
to accept check-off cards and deduct the Union
dues of the employees who so request by signing
such a card.
We feel obliged to remind you that under the
North Carolina Right-to-Work Act it is illegal to
make Union membership a condition of employ
ment in this State. Nobody has to sign a card. As
you know, our check-off is revocable; it can be
withdrawn by any employee who has signed a
card at any time he wishes, by notifying the Com
pany in writing. Forms for that purpose are avail
able in the various Personnel Oflfiices.
We have instructed our supervisors to see that
the following provisions of our contract with- the
Union are observed:
SECTION 3 (b)—“The Mill will not interfere with the
right of the employees to join the Union or engage in 'Un
ion activities and the Union agrees that such activities will
not be carried on in the Mill on Company time in such
manner as to interfere with the efficient operation of the
Mill.”
SECTION 3 (c)—“The Union agrees, for itself and its
members, that it will not interfere with, coerce, or intimi
date employees' into joining the Union or continuing mem
bership therein.”
If you are to be represented by a union, you
must accept the responsibility for how that union
represents you. It is up to you to see that the
Union is run in a democratic manner, it is up to
you as Union members to select representatives
satisfactop^ to you, and it is up to you to see that
the decisions of the Union leaders reflect your
true wishes in important matters. These are im
portant responsibilities — nobody else can dis
charge them for you. '
There is something which is far more import
ant than whether you belong to a union or not.
That something is the attitude which exists be
tween all the employees and the Company. It
must rest on the realization that in the long run
the best interests of the Company and all its em
ployees are identical. Unless the Company is
COMPETITIVE and PROFITABLE, everyone
connected with the Company will suffer.
If the stockholder suffers, he can take his
money out and invest it in something else. The em
ployees’ prosperity can be achieved only through
steady work at good wages. To accomplish this
there is no substitute for orders from our custom
ers. The customer is everybody’s boss — yours as
well as mine.
Let’s all pitch in and do the best we can to
satisfy these customers by watching our quality,
getting work out on time, and by doing the best
job we know how. Only in this way will we get
enough orders to run our mills full and do what
we can to make up what you and we have lost.
This we want to do just as much as you.
Assistant General Manager