Newspapers / The Charlotte Labor Journal … / Oct. 13, 1938, edition 1 / Page 1
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Th« ONLY REALLY INDEPENDENT WEEKLY, in Mecklenburg County. For a Ito Readerm Reproent the LARGEST BUYING POWKE hi Official Organ Central Labor Union; standing for tbc A. F. of L. Chr Charlotte labor Journal Users. Thor i paper possible operation. > be YOU* by »Wr* Truthful, Honest, Impartial Endorsed by tbe N. C. SUte Federa tion of Labor AND DIXIE FARM NEWS Endeavoring to Serve the J#< VOL. VIII—NO. 22 «our aovirtimhint in Tni Journal is a toot IMVBSTMKMT CHARLOTTE, N. C., THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1938 IOWRNAI AtVIRTIIIM OUIRVI C TNI RlAOCM WILLIAM GREEN DENOUNCES C. I. 0. HEAD—TOBIN THREATENS TO LEAD TEAMSTERS OUT OF THE A. F. OF L v HOUSTON, Tex., Oct. 11.—The American Federation of Labor, de termined to make no peace terms “with dictatorship or communist leadership,” was aroused by a heated debate Monday, as Daniel J. Tobin threatened to lead the teamsters’ un ion out of organised labor’s fold. Tobin demanded that a resolutions committee report assailing John L. Lewis be sent back to the A. F. of L. executive council. The president _ of the International Teamsters’ Union shouted that, if the convention did not take definite steps to rebuild the labor movement, “we will try to build our own home—the teamsters’ union” The resolutions committee report was adopted with one dissenting vote after Tobin had withdrawn opposition to the federation’s “open door” policy for labor peace. The teamsters un ion head and his delegation voted for the committee report after President William Green assured him that the federation remained ready to meet the C. I. 0. and “let bygones be bygones.” The resolutions committee wound up its scathing attack on the C. I. O. and its leadership by recommending that the council “carry on the battle” but stand ready to respond ‘t’o any genuine appeal for peace.” Scornfully, Tobin said “That’s what we did last year and the year before and what we will do next year unless the members of our national and international unions insist that we do othervise." “I am satisfied,” he said, “that a referendum would carry 20 to 1 that the executive council open up nego tiations where they broke off in the last session with the C. I. O.” Tobin asasiled the resolutions com mittee’s six-page attack on the C. I. O. and Lewis, and said the calling of such names as “traitors, dictators and Judases” had further spoiled the hope of peace. His voice became hoarse, he de manded that the convention go further than the committee recommended or send the report back to the executive council. “If you don’t,” he asserted, “we can get along without either the C. I. O. or the A. F. of L. If you refuse to let us rebuild, then we will try to! build our own house—the teamsters’ union. I we want a settlement, he shout-, ed. “If we can’t get it, we can’t go fighting our battles and everybody! else’s battle.” Florid of face, President William Green rose and replied: "We could have had peace at At lantic City three years ago if you del egates had given the other side what they wanted.” The delegates cheered. “Personally, I am willing to do all that lies within my power to reunite i the labor movement. We have con stantly sought to establish solidarity. We possess a passion for peace be tween nations and among ourselves and in the labor movement. "If it is to be peace at any price in the labor movement,” he shouted, “why didnt’ you surrender three years ago and give them what they wanted?” Earlier today Lewis was accused by resolutions committee of being “a Caesar who has constituted himself as a dictator of the C. I. O.” The convention asked amendments to the Wagner labor act and vigorously pro posed the renomination of Donald Wakefield Smith to the National La bor Relations Board. In his reply to Tobin, Green said the federation would abide by Presi-1 dent’s Roosevelt request to keep the door to peace open. The president’s request was con tained in a message he sent the con vention last week, urging that the door be left open and that labor lead ers make peace and keen the peace. “Mr. President,” Green said, “youi request has been and will be compile, w,th. The door is open and will b, kept open. ,-*Ply to the nresident what was the C. I. O. reply? Th< very next day the chairman of th, C. I. O. announced he was calling , convention in Pittsburgh to estab “«wJHSrniatuent C, L 0 movement. Who is the culprit now?” Green said no one of the federatioi was “so weary of the fight” as t! —-Tn i I make an ‘unconditional’ surrender.” | Gaining the floor again, Tobin said no one had asked for “unconditional surrender.” Then Green and Tobin agreed to Jet bygones be bygones and the vote was taken. R. M. Burr, representing the American Ann Aibor Central Trades and Labor Council, offered the only dissenting vote. Matthew Woll, chairman of the res olutions committee, led the fight against Lewis as he read a formal re port that blamed the C. I. O. boss for most of the troubles on the labor fiont. The report ended with an in vitation to the C. I. 0. rank and file as unorganized workers to come into the A. F. of L. as “the house of labor.” The attack on Lewis brought a thinly veiled threat from Daniel J. Tobin to lead his teamsters’ union out of organized labor ranks. Tobin, head of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, demand el that the resodutions committee re port be sent back to the executive council. Tobin said, if the convention does not take definite steps to rebuild the labor movement, “We shall try to build our own house—the teamsters’ union.” Standing before the convention, Woll waved the council’s recommenda tion and thundered: “The one question confronting our representatives at every turn is the paramount question of the power and arrogance and the over-weening pride of one man. Confronted with such an issue, there is no solution, un til the adherents of that man deprive him of his authority or he voluntarily steps aside. He seems not likely to step aside, but there are signs that the other pos sibility may materialize. People do giow tired of carrying the burden for self aggrandizement; they do grow tired of paying the price of dictator ship.” Lewis, Woll continued, has “ruth lessly rejected every suggestion of peace, including that just put forth by President Roosevelt.” President Roosevelt, in his message •to the convention on the opening day. asked thatjabor find a solution of its problenfh and work in harmony if pos sible. “Our task now is to build the A. F. of L. while the incubus of autoc racy destroys the C. I. O., Woll said. “Let us see what is the condition, pursuant to the breakdown of nego tiations begun a year ago,” the com lu it tee chairman continued. “Let us see first, what has hap pened within unions comprising the C. I. O. under the domination of its fulminating Caesar, with the doubtful and perhaps doubting help of his .prime minister Machiavelli.” He charged that huge sums of Pioney had been taken from the United Mine Workers of America, Lewis’s backbone organization, to “be used in amazing political adventures and to bolster the ambitions of one man at the top.” The absorption of the United Tex tile Workers by the C. I. O. was char acterized “as more than anything else Hike Hitler’s march into Austria, not yet explained in full to the public or to the membership; a truly astound ing chapter in labor history." Colonel Boate Is Improving at Rapid Rate The many friends of Colonel Harry Boate, in civic, religious, fraternal isnd labor circles will be glad to learn that he is on the road to health again, being able to sit up after a siege of nearly three months. The editor was down to see the Colonel Monday and found him the same cheerful, optimis tic personage as ever, never complain ing, but taking the worst, hoping for the better, but always maintaining an even demeanor. He is keenly interested in current events and his views are of the kind that keeps things stabilised. Patronize Journal Advertisers PICK FORAK • ANN SHERIDAN • ROBERT aShSHTONR f KIDAI - SATURDAY Charlotte Theater Lewis’ Offer To Resign Called “Fraud” By William Green —Says He Still Would Be Dictator In The C. I. 0. I HOUSTON, Tex., Oct. 12.—rresi dent William Green, of the American I Federation of Labor, last night placed ! his future as head of the federation 1 in the hands of 6,000,000 workmen. He called John L. Lewis' offer to re sign as C. I. O. chairman, if Green would step down as A. F. of L. presi dent, “an attempted fraud on the public.” I “It is obvious,” Green said, “that even if he (Lewis) resigned as chair man of the C. I. 0.. he still would re main its dictator.” Green, as yet unopposed, is up for re-election Friday. In Washington today Lewis offered to retire as C. I. O. chieftain if Green would relin quish the A. F. of L. presidency. Lewis’s offer came after the A. F. of L. convention yesterday adopted a res olution saying Lewis’s removal or resignation would help to bring labor peace. “The presidency of the American Federation of Labor is an elective of fice,” Green said. “The chairmanship of the C. I. O. is an entirely different proposition. The officers of the C. I. O. are not elected by the workers they presume to represent. They are self constituted, self-appointed, self-per petuating. “I conceive it to be my duty as president of the A. F. of L. to be the spokesman for the majority of the $5,000,000 workers who rule the fed eration. I have never sought and I do not now seek to impose my per sonal views on the membership of the federation, or to control or domi nate its policies. In every statement and in every act of the A. F. of L., I have sought earnestly and honestly to present the majority viewpoint. “On the other hand, the chairman of the C. I. O., as everyone knows, is the dictator of the C. I. O. He has not once even consulted the membership of the C. I. O. during his regime. ' “Now he offers to resign if I will. “Well, the World Series is over, but the chairman of the C. I. O. is still making grandstand plays. His offer is an attempted fraud and de ception on the public. To anyone fa miliar with the labor situation, it is obvious that, even if he resigned as ■ chairman of the C. I. O. he would still 'remain its dictator behind the scenes. Because he would remain as presi dent and dictator of the United Mine Workers of America, the union which is the financial angel of the C. I. 0. and whose funds are being wantonly wasted in a vain effort to keep the C. I. O. alive. “Here is a man who has ruthlessly vetoed every fair proposal to restore | peace in organized labor, who has I e\ en refused to sit down again in con | ference without prior commitments to seek the kind of labor peace which iv iyone in this nation wants, now : Hying to mislead the public with an I empty gesture. “The public can no longer be fooled i by the grandiose bluffs of the chair man of the C. I. O. “The question of my service with the American Federation of Labor will be placed squarely and fairly before this convention for a vote. Green said. “I will be guided by the Demo era tic decision of the 5,000,000 work ers who make up the A. F. of L.” t Green said the federation workers, through their delegates, would decide whether it is in the interest of or ganized labor “to re-elect me or to re tire me from the office I have held for 14 consecutive terms.” Foremost of the resolutions before the convention today were those pro posing removal of Reconstruction Finance Corporation officials for re putedly lending funds to employers maintaining below-standard labor con ditions, and a proposal to study pub lic works planning at long range. The RFC resolution, supported by the Potters’ union, was referred to the Federation’s executive council, after James Duffy, president of the Potters’ International, had pleaded from the floor that the convention take some action against “the pour ing of Federal funds into the hand' of employers woh are paying 40 per cent less wages than employers who [ use organized potters.” I “This is our bread and butter,” said “Please do something about !t. Unless you do, I am mightily I afraid the per capita assessment of the Potters’ union will begin to de cline.” Majority of A. F. L. Officials Against Peace Parleys HOUSTON, Texas, Oct. 8.—Ameri can Federation of Labor leaders, ap parently resisting strong pressure within their ranks for immediate re newal of peace talks with the CIO, were reported ready Friday night to' ask the AFL convention Monday to uphold a policy of waiting for 'John L. Lewis to make the next peace move. Standing between the leadership and ratification vote, however, was Daniel J. Tobin, one of the Federa tion’s vice-presidents, who wants the AFL to do something more than merely hold open the door to labor peace. After a meeting of the executive council earlier in the day which de bated Tobin’s urgent peace plea to the convention Friday and President Roosevelt’s expressed hope that labor leaders would “make and keep the peace,” Tobin told reporters: “My interpretation is that the Pres ident is extremely anxious as a friend of labor, to bring about unity in the family of labor in the interests, not only of the workers, but of the pub lic.” The possibility that Mr. Roosevelt might be drawn into the situation as a mediator or arbitrator was consid erably dimmed, however, after AFL President William Green and the council finished their extraordinary session. Green told reporters the council in terpreted the White House message on peace in the labor movement to mean the President did not want the convention to close the door to peace and that labor leaders should avoid ’urisdictional disputes which result in a stoppage of work. "We are unwilling,” Green said, “to submit fundamental and vital ques tions of administrative control to someone for final adjustment. Green said Tobin’s plea for imme diate peace negotiations was before the convention and there was nothing the council could do about it at this ime. Subscribe for The Journal Newell Again Working A Fake Game in S. C. GREENVILLE, S. C—State and City Central Labor Union officials throughout the South are warned to be on the lookout for one R. J. New ell, or J. R. Newell, and his solicitors who use any of a dozen aliases. Newell’s game is to solicit mer chants, manufacturers, banks, and every line of business, for advertising in a labor paper that does not exist. Newell came here recently with an as sistant solicitor by the name of F. W. Thomas, alias F. W. Waggoner, alias F. W. Wilson, and solicited advertis ing for “The South Carolina Labor Journal.” J. L. Sowers, alert vice-president of the South Carolina State Federa tion of Labor, knew there was no South Carolina Labor Journal,” so he had warrants issued for Newell and Thomas and their several and va rious aliases. Thomas was arrested, but Newell made his escape. Thomas was tried last week for soliciting ad vertising in the name of the State Federation of Labor and the Ameri can Federation of Labor, when he had no connection with either organiza tion and no authority to represent eitehr. He was found guilty and given two years on the chaingang, fined |500 and taxed with the costs, amounting to about $200. Thomas resented it because Newell “walked out’ o’n him and left him with the bag to hold. He told the whole story as to how Newell oper ates his racket. The prison sentence was suspended on condition that .Thomas pay the fins and the costs. He has not been abel to do so, and is ■still in prison. tfOTHER ADDITION THISJ WEEK TO OUR UNION DIRECTORY National Ass’n of Post Office snd Railway Mail laborers. This makes the P. O. practically] 1100% A. F. of L. PROSPERITY NOTE There was much interesting information in the scale of building wages which the City Council found to prevail in Charlotte, and which will be paid on the Memorial Hospital job. The scale ran from 30 cents an hour for common labor to $1.25 for the more skilled trades such as hoisting engineers, iron workers, marble and tile setters, welders, plumbers, and the like. For the largest classes of artisans, bricklayers and carpenters, the scale is $1.10 and $.875. Wages for a week of 40 hours would begin at $12 for common labor and go up to $50 for the specialists, with bricklayers drawing $44, carpenters $35. And these, by almost any comparable standards, are good wages, and it can be seen at once how much money the building of Memorial Hospital and other structures is going to turn loose in the community. It can be argned conversely—the President himself has broached the subject—that the level of building wages defeats its own end; that lower wages would bring about more building and on a yearly basis put more money in the artisan’s pocket. That may be so, but it’s nice work when you can get it, and it can be got in Charlotte in the months ahead.—News Editorial, Oct. 8. INDUSTRIAL INSURANCE AGENTS GO INTO THE HOMES OF THE WORKERS SAYS WILLIAM GREEN THEY SHOULD REORGANIZED When we think of insurance we usu ally think of a huge central office with a large staff receiving premium payments by check and settling claims in the same way. But actually that type of service is for a comparatively small portion of the population, for at least 42 per cent of all families have incomes less than $1,000. What ever insurance one-third of all fam ilies has is probably of an industrial nature and payment sare collected by the army of industrial insurance agents. Every week these agents knock at the same doors to collect the five, ten or twenty-five cents the family takes from actual living expenses to set aside for burial insurance, life insur ance, or some other provision against emergencies. The agent learns to know the financial difficulties of the family and the mishaps that prevent prompt payments. More frequently than not the smal laraounts must go for sickness. The whole family story unfolds in those periods of need be fore the industrial insurance agent who must know whether the family will be able to continue payments and how long he can personally carry the account. More often than not the family turns to him for advice on medicine, dooctor, or small loans, etc. When all is well the insurance agent gets the brighter side of family life and the friendliness that comes through regular service. These industrial insurance agents who go into the homes of our workers —an army more than a quarter of a million strong, are turning to union* ism to solve some of their own trou bles. Organizing in unions chartered by the American Federation of Labor, these agents are trying to negotiate agreements with their employers to in crease their pay and better working conditions. Vacations with pay an unknown to most of these workers. Men are known to work six days a week for twenty years without a hol iday even unpaid. Pressun is put upon them for collections and sales and general holidays an a chance to find the family at home. Even in addition to unlimited houn of work with no vacation arrange menta, there are unfair compensation practices. For example, agents have had no base compensation or guar anteed salary but nave been paid com missions. The agent receives a com mission on new business but if a pol icy should lapse, it may be charged back to the agent who must return the commission or get substitute bus iness without comraisison. The new members of the organised labor movement are most welcome both for what we can do for them and what they can do for us. These men are trained salesmen with wide per sonal contacts. It is important to labor to have them organised and iden tified with our labor movement so that they may carry the habit and practice of unionism into homes that are difficult to reach. These insurance ajpnts may be come our best missionaries for the cause.—Wm. Green, in American Fed eration, Washington, D. C. Just a few weeks ago Newell tried he same stunt in North Carolina. He was soliciting ads for “The North Carolina Labor Journal,’’ which had uo indorsement from any labor or ganization. He was arrested in Wil mington, tried, and found guilty and sentenced. His wife appeared in court, an expectant mother, she said, and won the sympathy of the court and the prosecutors. Newell was let off at that time with payment of the costs, and refund of the money he had collected on advertisements and pajmient of the expenses which the North Carolina State Federation of hhn had lncurred in Prosecuting •J.he“ he came into South Carolina N»w».ih- 8ame .ra*ket- Thomas says Newell is now in Georgia. Labor of ficials are asked to watch out for him or any one else soliciting adver tisements in the name of Labor, mak ing certain that such solicitors bear credentials from proper State labor officials. TOBACCO-WRAPPING TITLE KENTUCKY.—Brown and William son Ttobacco Corporation officials say there is not likely to be a challenger in these days and times for the world’s plug-tobacco wrapping champ pionship now claimed by 76-year young Andy Boehlein, of Louisville. Andy says “It’s all in the fingers.” The retired tobacco worker declared his wrapping of 2,238 sixteen ounce plugs in one day in 1899 never hat been equaled. The present title holder says his work was not con nected with the paper and foil wrap ped around the plugs, but with the fine leaf tobacco which went around the lump itself to make it more at tractive. Brown and Williamson mod ern machines show marvelous speed today in turning out union made cigarettes. IF TOUR SUBSCRIPTION IS IN ARREARS' SEND IN A The Cadillac Folks Used Cars at Your Prices —See These— 1937 Packard 120 Sed. $850 1936 Packard 120 Trg. Sedan_$595 1930 Ford Coupe_$145 1932 Cadillac V-12—-$295 1933 Chevrolet Coach $175 1932 Chevrolet Sedan $165 1933 Chevrolet Coach $195 1934 Chevrolet 2-door Sedan __$245 1933 Chrysler 6 Sedan $250 1934 DeSoto Airflow _$295 1933 Dodge Sedan ___$195 1931 Essex Sedan_$50 1931 Ford Coupe_$160 1934 LaSalle Sedan„$450 1934 Olds 8 TVs. Coach_$325 1934 Olds 6 Coape_$325 1934 Olds Sedan_$295 1933 Olds 8 Trg. Sedan_$245 1937 Olds 8 Sedan_$765 1928 Olds Sedan_$65 1935 Olds 6 Coach_$325 1936 Plymouth Sedan $435 1935 Plymouth Sedan $425 1931 Pontiac Sedan ..$145 1934 Studebaker Sed. $295 1935 Terraplane Coach $295 1935 Terraplane Coach $465 —AND OTHERS— The above listed are warranted as to condition and an tionai in every detail. Long Trades — Easy Terms THOMAS CADILLAC - OLDS, INC "THE SAFETY FOLKS’* Phone 71S9
The Charlotte Labor Journal and Dixie Farm News (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Oct. 13, 1938, edition 1
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