North Carolina Newspapers

1 1 1 5' PAGE TWO THH DAILY TAR HEEL 1 . W FRIDAY, MAY 1, 195? , 1 1 i ii J '- o (7 YPr uu 1 rn" J 11 M J'liB (SI1G1 WUlS, 1 1 Who Is Right? Ytiv Niiiil tlu it is no longer .i strike in I k i sun. It 1 1. I k ii tratislornit'il into a !tkMit thiu;li tin- tiiclcss efforts of union Itustin; Jolin 1). Cooper, pi evident .of tlic 1 1 .m i t 1 Irndi iMtn Mills. C do imi weed to he icmindi'd that tlicie .uc alw.tNs two sides to a stoiy. Nov do t lie u.idris need notili( at ion that sometimes one ! tlu- two sides is li.nht. while the other is Im-u.iII 1011-4. Sni h is the ease in Hender son. Attn 4oiii4 to lleiideison, and following the pio et (lilies ill the past L", weeks, the pipei i coiniiKul loond any shadow of a doiiht that the stiikeis aie li.ht. We fmther lei 1 that it the situation continues at its ' pies en t 1 1 1 lu le is little ( ha ii( e il the sti ikeis w inning. o!in ( oopei is piep.ned and hilly able to hold out tor an indelinite peiiod of time. I he polio ol the union, whith is beini; tli icitiit 1 I'.omI Paton, is not sulfieient tor the Ntiikiis to tiiuinph. Tnless and until the I I 111 it t I It ndt 1 sou Mills aie closed by the (toxeinor, the "Valis" will continue to tin 11 out the piod u ts. while the mill 'i I labels will st uid on the other side of the sheet, Inm 41 . tiled tlish.ui-'lit. .irul UHiHT! We sa li-ht Ik cause we feel that Cooper h is misled the (ioxeinot and the woikcrs. We viv liuht Ixi iuse the stiikeis only wanted a uik u d ol iluit old contract. And we say lijit I'ei.iixi- the stiikeis aie detent people who hae bi en out of woik for 'J" weeks, while ohu 1). Cooper continues to tail to show ii an si'ns of c oinpromise. Special Page 1 he editoi ol the paper wishes to expicss his applet iation to 'led Crane. Ron Shumate, Petei P. Voiin- and Charlie Webb for their fine assist am e in the compiling of this special l)ail I n I feel editoi ial pac. Iluse lour, alon with the editor, hae all bi a n in lleiideison dining this shike and hue seen the situation as it is existing totlay, just a lew miles horn here. The editor invites comments I10111 the .students in the form of lettcis 01 columns peitainin;.; to the Hender son situation and this pae totlay. f V. Is publisher! daily txcrpt Monday and examination periods ind n'mme term Entertd sj second clas- matter in ihe rxt office in Chapel Hilt. N. C. under the act of March 8 1870 Si.hcription rites: $4 50 per -e mestrr, $8 50 pr ft r The DMily Tar Heel U printed by th? Nrwi Inc., Carrboro, N. C. FiUtnr Associate Kditor Managing Kditors Ilusines Manager Advertising Manager News Kditor I'eview Kditor sst. News it or Sports Alitor 1 , Siif of lb yuivrrtUy N.nh Carolina vliuh firC HHfHvC i dtXM m fartuiry i 1 J Going For Broke Peter B. Young One hour on the HVndvrson pick et line is prc-bably worth ono year in college. I have now .spent two houp on the line at Henderson and this -combined with more years in college than 1 like to think about. is what makes me a reasonably well-educated American in this year of our Lord 15r:i. As you probably know. I am Ly temperament and conviction on the side of the IUnder-son .strikers. I make no apologies for this; it is inconceivable to me that I could be anywhere else. However and this is the point', the analysis of the strike which I am about to make is one that i.s basically agreed upon by many students who arc not particularly sympathetic to organized labor. The follow. 114 hard FACTS seem to be agreed upon by all observers: 1. The labor movement in this state is weak in terms of mem bership, money, leaders and tra dition. 2. The above fact is reflected in the state's "right -to-work" law, the enforcement of which by the High way Patrol at Henderson enables Cooper to run his mill on imported "scab" labor. 3. Ihe textile industry is chron ically sick, that is, it has inherited feudal patterns of industrial organ isation from the very first plants of the Industrial Revolution in England. This fact has been well documented by our o.vn Mary (1 il son in her book. What's Past Is Prologue. 4. The three facts above com bine to form an explosive fourth fact: in this st:de it i.s possible for a determined employer to bu.-t a union and John Cooper is nothing if not determined. It. i.s not my purpose here to argue the merits or demerits of union-busting. And, in fairness to ooper-variage merit I 8IKS Charlie Webb (Charlie Webb is a junior from Asheville, N. C. He writes here of his hour-long visit last week with Marshall Cooper, vice president of the Har-riet-Henderscn Cotton Mills in Henderson. We are pleased to have this dissenting opinion (pro-management) in contrast to the editor's announced support of the strikers.) Last week I journcycu to Henderson with three friends and we were able to talk with the Vice President of the Harriet-Henderson Mills, and see first-hand the evidences of the violence which has plagued that town for some weeks now. Here, then, I will attempt to present the facts learned and impressions gained in that afternoon. We sat and talked with Marshall Cooper for about an hour. He laid us of dynamitings, rock throwing, general mob violence, and of strike break ers, highway patrolmen and many other things He showed us pictures of shambled workers' homes, of a man struck by a rock, and of highway patrol men trying to handle angry and violent strikers. He gave us some 'acts and figures: The unions have caused the workers to lose over eleven months from their jobs due to strikes in the last seven years. In that time, the workers have paid well over $300, 000 in union dues and have lost over 2vz million dollars in wages .If these facts are all correct, then can the TWIT A (Textile Workers Union of America) really be helping the workers? While we were at the Mill, the first shift got off and the second came on. This was at 3 p.m. Th" workers filed quickly from the mill, got in their cars, usually four or more to each car, and drove quickly out. We could see them close windows and bolt doors. We saw one man open his trunk, re move a shotgun, and place it on the seat beside him, before driving away. They drove out the gate amid hoots and cat-calls, and some curses, uttered mainly by the women standing about. This was daytime, however. At night, as Cooper informed us, the strikers get violent. They have the cover of darkness under which to hide. Cooper told us that most of the workers coming in on the second shift (3-11 p.m.) would be carrying guns. This second shift was the group that had to spend the night in the mill earlier last week, because the extreme violence of the mob outside would not per mit them to leave safely. He said, however, that over 90 of them were back at work the next afternoon, although they could not leave the mill until 7 a.m. the next morn ing. Many of them had driven over an hour to get to and from the mill. We asked Cooper, whose home was dynamited two weeks earlier, if he thought this stunt might be tried again. His reply was matter-of-factly: "Wouldn't surprise me a bit." After leaving Cooper's office, we traveled out to the North Mill, where we saw more evidence of violence. One section of the mill did not have a pane of glass in any of its windows on the three sides which were exposed. Cars parked inside the fence were garbed in cardboard to prevent rocks from doing further dam age. Some strikers were standing by the side of the road, and we rode by with our windows up. Their glances were by no means of the more friend ly type. I received two impressions from my visit in Henderson. One was the clear determination of the Harriet-Henderson Mills' management not to give in to the unions. The other was that the TWUA is on its way out in Henderson. Marshall Cooper is under that impression. Stopping at a filling station, we talked with the attendant there. Asked his opinion of the whole thing, he said, "I'm for the working man, but I believe the unions are on the way out here." When and if the unions do go. the workers will have to vote them out. The mill cannot run them out; nor can the Mayor of Henderson or the Governor. mill owner Cooper it should be noted that he has denied several times any intent to "bust" the union. Yet actions speak louder than words, ard Mr. Cooper's ac tions from the beginning of the strike down to the present day will rdmit of no other interpretation than that of wanting to abolish the union. It is an elemental rule of po litics that organizations do not ne gotiate the question of their exist ence. The union has compromised every substantative issue of the strike; it cannot compromise on the question of its existence. The corollary here is that Cooper is the participant in the conflict who can win. Cooper can win by driving the union out, and bring ing his old workers (sans union) back into the plant on their knees. The worker, on the other hand, cannot "win" because a return to the status quo ante helium is not a victory. At best, the workers can only avoid a crushing defeat. But even if the workers cannot "win" in the sense that Cooper can, it is nevertheless of the ut most importance that they do not lose. The tactical problem lor Cooper is how to sew up the vic tory. The tactical problem for the union is how to avoid irreparable defeat. . Stripping the conflict of all legal- j itics, and all questions of "right;," and making the analysis in strict ly military terms, the key to thelj situation at the South Hendersony mill is the control of the road that leads up to the plant gate. As it stands now, this road is controlled by the well-armed Highway Pa trol, backed up by a court injunc tion which keeps the workers on the sidewalk. Twice a day (and next week per haps three , times a day) the "scabs", drive down this road un der the; protection of the oiled riot guns belonging to the High way Patrol. Twice a day (and pext week perhaps three times a day) the union men on the sidewalk in front of the grocery store die just a little bit. 1 The Governor, John Cooper, and even the leaders of the union have talked so; much in recent -weeks about the importance of 'law and order" that they have all tended to ignore the brutal truth that "law and order" is killing the strikers twice a day (and next week perhaps three times a day). It is painfully obvious that even tually the strikers are going to violate the injunction in some way by contesting for control of the road. If they are not to be shot down like sheep the operation will have to be handled with great de licacy and skill. One suggestion that has been made is lor the strikers' wives to block the road. And Boyd Payton, reminiscing the other night over a cup of coffee, told me that several years ago in Danville he led a group of workers to lie down on the highway there. Meanwhile, the strikers and the scabs and the Highway Patrol all know that real violence is immin ent. The scabs are well-armed (as recent arrests have proved); the Highway Patrol gets more nervous with every passing day; and the workers cluster in tense little knots on the sidewalk. John Cooper is holding all the cards except one. The one card he does not hold is the desperation that drives his former workers. One of these former workers car ried a sign the other night which said: "GOING FOR BROKE." That sign is something to think about, eh Governor? 1jc Baity 3uir ttl Th official student publication ol the Publicatlor. Roard t f the University of North Carolina, -!here H Backg . . DAVIS B. YOUNG FRANK "cROWniKR . CHUCK ROSS RON SHUMATE WALKERBLANTON FRKD KATZIN ANN FRYE ANTHONY" WOLFF . 7 ED RINKR . ELLIOTT COOPER Feature Editor MARY ALICE hOWLETTE A5t. Adv. Manager LEE ARBOGAST Ron Shumate (Daily Tar Ilorl Managing Edi tor Ron Shumate has been the paper's special correspondent assignH to the Henderson strike for the past several weeks. lie is as well qualified to comment on the situation in Henderson as any student on this campus. Ed.) The Henderson strike ends its twenty-fourth week today. That's a total of l(i; days and that is a total of 24 paychecks that strikers have gone without. Five and a half months is a long time to be out of work. The strike began a mere six weeks after classes started here at Carolina. Classes are still going; the strike is still going. And it's beginning to look as if the strike will outlast classes in both semesters. And suppose you had gone with out money from home or from your job since November 19. 1958. That's when the strikers drew their last paycheck. If such were the case, you would have had to sub sist on. let's say, meal tickets to Lenoir Ha!l and an occasional pack of cigaret'es. You would have had no spending money no mon ey to buy beer, no money to go to a flick, no money to take a week end off and go to the beach. round, It wouldn't have been fun, would it? Well, it isn't I tin in Henderson either. For in Henderson, strikers have no money, except a little potket change they pick up oc casionally doing (Kid jobs. And most of them have families to care for. True, the union is supplying them wi.h food, cigarettes oc casionally, is paying the strikers' doctor bills, and other bills (such as heat, lights and water) that must be paid. It isn't fun. And neither is it pretty. It all began as just another strike. And it began necausc mill presi dent .khn D. Cooper Jr., wanted to tear up a 14-ycar-old contract to write a new one. The new con tract that the mill proposed was identical to the old oneexcept that it included a clause that would prevent any arbitration on disputes between labor and management. And so a story that started out as a minor one on the inside pages of papers across the state has blossomed into the "Black Orchid" of the state and nearly every day now, makes ftont pages all across North Carolina, and other states as well. The Henderson situation now bangs like an ominous dark cloud ever the whole state. And it is presently saiurating the people of Analysis RED I: xpert Henderson with a downpour of hatred, bitterness and amimosity that will when and if the cloud passes over leave Henderson a bottomless pool to be avoided by industry and peace-loving human beings. For the damage that has been and is still being done at Hender son will leave an indelible black mark on the people of Henderson. Little children, who never before knew the meaning of such words as "scab," now use such words freely and they probably still wonder at the meaning of some of them. And these same children are being brought up to hate some of their former playmates be cause the other children are the sons and daughters of "scabs" Henderson people who have gone back to work. As the "scabs" come out of the mill each day, strikers on the picket lines hurl such abusive phrases at them as "Yellow scab!" "Chicken;" "You're gonna get yours;" and many, many more some of them worse. And most of the insults are voiced by women wives and mothers who must later turn to the upbringing of their children. But instead of teaching their children of love and affec tion, they teach to hate "the dirty scabs." And when the parents are asked why they have quit coming to church on Sunday, they answer,1 "The union is feeding us and cloth ing us and what is the church doing for us?" This was the case that one minister, whose church is in one of the mill areas, cited to me only a few weeks ago. Spring is here now. That means many things to many people. To students here at Carolina it means a weekend trip to the beach; or taking your girl to a movie. Spring means picnics, beer blasts, par ties. And to some it means base ball, as the age old adage goes. Spring means clear nights to go to a drive-in. And to some strikers in Hender son spring also means clear nights. But the clear nights in the mill areas of Henderson mean a better, clearer shot at a "scab" coming out of the mill late at night. Spring in Henderson means no more standing in driving rain and bitter cold to hurl even more bitter insults at men with whom you once hunted, fished, gamled, drank and grew up with. Spring in Henderson is a time when you hit men in the head with steel nuts thrown from tremendously powerful slingshots. And probably only a few months ago these same men had helped you out of a jam; had looked out for your wife and children when you were sick. . VA it Ifc. ' ji The Mill O A Pictorial Survey of Henderson Scene t i ; :ly 'y - - i - THE MILL VILLAGERS I I . . . typical cn in th mill village, police, striker, children, union officials and amiout women gather on the sidewalk across from the Harriet-Henderson Mills in South Henderson. What are they doing? They're waiting lor the next shjft to get off. 'THE -SoJtH MILL' . . . the building pictured above Ts the oft publicized South Mill in Henderson, scene of most of the violence in the strike so far. It is owned by Mihn O. Cooper and is now turning out the products of the strikebreakers, most of whom have been transported in from another area. This is spring in Henderson. And this is as much the tragedy of the Henderson strike as the poverty of the strikers. But, as in every case, there are sides to the story. The strikers feel that they are right in striking. And they are. And they feel that those who have gone back to work have be trayed the union as well as their friends. And they have. And they feel that the "scabs" are helping Mr. Cooper destory the union and what it stands for. And they are. The strikers very definitely have something to stand on. There are many technicalities that may be given as reasons for their strike. But the most important reasons to the strikers are not legal reasons. Their reasons for striking are purely and simply their beliefs. They believe in the union and rightly so. They believe in trying to fight Mr. Cooper's attempt to crush the -union and, as Boyd Pay ton put it last Thursday night, to "rub the worker' noses in the dirt." They believe in these things; but more strongly they believe in standing up and fighting to their last breath for the things they be lieve to be right. And this is still another tragedy of the Henderson strike. For When people stand up and fight for the things they believe to be right and in this case, the th ngs that ARE right and they are thwarted at every turn by a guzzled old mill owner who is out to cut oil the ine bloi,d the union of the pcop.e, this is a tragedy. And as lar as we know, the only purpose in tearing up a 14-year-ckt contract to wre a new one, was to smash the union. Maybe Mr. Cooper has just reason for wanting to do this. If he Goes, he has tclJ no one rublicly, that is. Before this .'Like began. Mr. Ccuper had a reputation of being pro-labor, ii: u.-.oJ to make speeches in which he advanced un ions. He has spokjn mar.y times in favor of labor. V. hat, then, is h's reason? And there a e a multitude cl questions one could ask about the strike: When will it end? WILL it end? Who will end it? If it ends, who will win? Will the scars ever be healed? South Mill Rd. Theodore Crane Jr. At eleven p.m. in Henderson on the s)n-h road, you will find the trees already lined up . lawns of the cottages, mothers holding ii; small children to peer from darkened sere : dows, and older children beginning to sn . night standing by their fathers on the narrow en sidewalk. Each man has a separate cone all of them represent the idea of home. fan,, food while the mill opposite the houses, sir. the length of the block across the street lazilv . bles and waits hungrily for these men. their ; bag sandwiches and morning coffee. The L-i houses on this street are turning out thr.'j-;,;, dreams in another mill, which grinds slowly !; house to house, a naked gray wind, scraping through the unshaven trees that seem to rea.-h to one another from house to house from fan,,: family as faces move their feet slcwly and cv;i the soft earth, spitting carefully and joking. l,k- trees crouched and comfortable, as if they w waiting for the rain. There are no street lights on the mill ro,i ! dimly lit tunnel, it lies beneath the police flfn. and sky rockets, the brifht searchlights at the m v , gates of the mill pushing the brown jackets further into the shadows. Faceless cigarettes suspended n. the darkness blink on and off on the wod , porches, and the men talk quietly as if they wen- ... church. A grocery store sells hot dogs and h;m ! out coffee, a man with a suspended jil sent'-tr is surrounded by a group of small boys joking uh -his lost job, his feet rest easily on the ground ; he sits on his son's green bicycle and everyone i too casual. Only a few of the men mention tl.; strike or why they. have become part of it. many of them chew blades of grass and talk about the b:" ball scores. The crowd ripples slowly along the street. aH policemen are nervous enough to kill because tb' can't predict this weather seething indecisively lie fore them talking politely and waiting with the patience of a machine turned off. The strikers w s;' for those who are still working to come out of tin3 mill, and they stand in front of these men. v. walk quickly around them with their eyes fixed in tently on the ground. Children of the strikers a them questions, but the men hurry on silently no' talking even among themselves. A small brown haired boy standing at the side of his father. It -sleeves torn and his feet bare, stretching out his hand to one of these silent men offers him ? piece of his jelly doughnut here, mister, aw n't you hungry? and the other men lauh a it thr tensions were momentarily forgotten. Many people stand unhearing and insensitive, almost at attention before the state troopers spaced evenly at the edge of the road. One policeman secins worried because no one is violating a law at th" moment, and he must allow them the freedom t do so. Some troopers carry tear gas guns and oth er weapons, but not even the little boys show in terest in these. No one appears to notice. Final!, the last of those who are still working have left th" mill, and the police leave in their cars slowly, a if they felt guilty about leaving so early. The strik ers remain, some in small groups, many on th" lawns and porches of their neighbor's houses, smok ing and talking about expressions on faces, the taste of ceffee, and the coolness of the night. The men stand there, a product of the black rich ness of tenant farms in the southwest from which they came hoping to grow from the mill a family and a permanent home, and each man has a dream which no mill thread can pull down or understand. But a child can understand his starving mother and father, their ragged jackets and muddy faces, th" whispers, their eyes gleaming like severed ends of newly clipped trees, and they are fighting in th" only way they know how against forces of ratur. fighting for the rain hoping to gain the streng'h ' ? live your children are waiting, Henderson, an 1 children will grow. " it A STRIKER . . . sometimes the face of one desperate and hungry man can tell more of a story than a thousand words. If' 1!M i n m pltim 'iiiiriniW