Che Charlotte labor Journal
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Federation of Labor
AND DIXIE FARM NEWS
Official Organ of Central Labor Union; Standing
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VOL. XII—NO. 28
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A. F. OF L. AND C. L 0. SIGN ARMISTICE;
NO MORE “RAIDINGS” - IMPORTANT
STEP TOWARDS AMALGAMATION (?)
WASHINGTON, D. C.—The American Federation of Labor
and the CIO signed an armistice on Dec. 2. The agreement, en
tered into by the Peace Committees representing both organiza
tions, calls for an immdiate end to union raiding and jurisdictional
warfare. The conferees described 4heir action as a most im
portant first step toward actual amalgamation of the A. F. of L.
and CIO. They also emphasized that it will be of tremendous
benefit to the war production program, since the agreement will
prevent delays due to union rivalry.
Having accomplished this initial and significant truce, the peace con
ferences recessed until later this month when negotiations to bring about
a permanent merger of the AFL and CIO into a united labor movement will be
resumed.
The truce, which will have to be ratified by the Executive Councils of
the A.F.L. and C.I.O. provides for the appointment of a joint committee of
A.F.L. and C.I.O. representatives to hear and decide any jurisdictional dif
ferences arising between an A.F.L and a C.I.O. union in the same field. If
this committee fails to agree on its decision, it shall select an impartial
arbiter to resolve the dispute. If the committee cannot agree on an arbiter
within five days, the President of the United States shall be requested
to name one.
“We recommend that this understanding shall remain in force until labor
unity is effected,” the announcement by the A.F.L. and C.I.O. Peace Com
mittees stated.
The truce was proposed by the A.F.L. Committee, composed of Vice
Presidents Harry C. Bates, Daniel J. Tobin and William Hutcheson.
Their recommendation was made pursuant to the unanimous action of the
recent A.F.L. convention in Toronto which urged an immediate armistice
with the C.I.O. to end raiding. The convention declaration said:
“We are convinced if these (peace) negotiations are to be successful,
bitterness of feeling must be eliminated and hostilities come to an end. Your
committee believes that it would be difficult indeed for the unity committee
to make satisfactory progress if in the meantime hostile raiding tactics
continue. We, therefore, urgently recommend that this convention approve
of an immediate armistice as an essential evidence of good faith and sin
cerity.”
In very similar language, the agreement entered into between the A.F.L.
and C.I.O. Peace Committees declared:
“We are convinced that if peace negotiations are to be successful and
unity achieved, cooperation among our respective members and organizations
must be encouraged and promoted. It is our belief that it would be extremely
difficult to make satisfactory progress toward unity through these negotia
tions if, in the meantime, there is absence of practical cooperation between
the two organizations. We agree to the establishment of a joint A.F.L.
C.I.O. Committee to hear and decide any disputed jurisdictional differences
that may arise between the two above-named organizations.”
At a press conference following announcement of the truce, A.F.L.
Chairman Bates said complaints could be filed with the new Jurisdiction
Committee only by national and international unions affected. The committee
will not consider disputes between two A.F.L. unions or between two C.I.O.
unions, he added.
Members of the new Jurisdiction Committee will be named by the Execu
tive Councils of the A.F.L. and C.I.O. when they meet to ratify the pact.
BY TAYLOR CALDWELL
Human revolutions are of slow growth. Modern democracy is the heir
of the ages, of men dead for many centuries. It began in the thoughts oi
Egyptian Hebraic, and Grecian philosophers, and burst into open fire in the
Magna Carta, when, for the first time, the Rights of Man were boldly pro
claimed. It progressed through hundreds of years of darkness, oppression,
and misery, sometimes shining brightly, sometimes almost disappearing in
the murk of tyranny and despair. It broke into a wider blaze in the Amer
ican and French Revolutions. But democracy is still in the process of be
coming. It may take many hundreds of years longer before it has per
fected itself, rid itself of the old grossness and injustice which it inherited
from the Dark Ages.
But even in its present imperfections it is still the noblest concept which
man has ever dreamed and for which multitudes have heroically died. In
each century it must again engage in the ancient struggle against the
primordial forces of destruction and reaction. And each time that the battle
is won the march of ultimate democracy is hastened.
It is worth fighting for, this ultimate democracy, though we ourselves
may never see its perfection. However, by the Grace of God and our own
THE MARCH OF LABOR
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SEEKS-236
WHAT ARE WE LIVING FOR?
By RUTH TAYLOR
“It’s not what you would die for—it’s what you’re living for that
counts!
He wasn’t much more than eighteen, and he didn’t look that old, but
rather like a schoolboy dressed up in sailor’s clothes. His face with its soft,
childish lines was very serious as he tried to make clear what he believed.
“I’m not going out to die for England,’’ he said, “though I’m not afraid
of death. I’m going out to fight to live for my mother, and a home, and a
country where she can live in comfort and security. That’s what I’m living
for, and that’s what really counts.”
It’s what we’re living for that counts today. To talk of dying is very
heroic, but it belongs in the days of slow motion battlefields where enemy
faced enemy according to the rules of warfare. Today our battlefields are
everywhere—our enemy is unseen until he swoops down from the clouds nr
rises up from the depths of the seas. Death lurks in many places and under
many guises. But it is not what we would die for but what we live for that
counts.
What are we living for? It is the vision upon which this nation was
founded, a union o.f free men who live for the great and limitless dream of
freedom for all. This is the creed of democracy. This is the spirit of the
republic. This is the reason why we will win. This is the secret weapon
unknown to the dictator ridden countries.
We are living for our homes, our families, our rights as free men to
speak the truth as we see it, to work at the job we want to do, to agree or
dissent as citizens without fear of consequences, to earn for our children
a better way of life in a better world, and to worship God according to the
dictates of our own consciences.
We are living for the ideal that the four freedoms—of speech, expres
sion and of worship, freedom from want and from fear may be extended to
all peoples of all the world.
What are we living for? The Secretary of State expressed it thus, in
stating our war aims. “We have always believed—and we believe today,
that all peoples, without distinction of race, color or religion, who are pre
pared and willing to accept the responsibilities of liberty, are entitled to
its enjoyment. We have always sought—and we seek today—to encourage
and aid all who aspire to freedom to establish their right to it by preparing
themselves to assmue its obligations.”
This is what we are living for—and it is what we as individuals and as
a people are living for that will count in the final victory!
devotion and strength, our children will see it. They shall inherit the treas
ure for which we have fought and died—if we have faith, if we realize that
nothing is too much to sacrifice for this inheritance. Work is not too
much. Courage and our lives are not too much. All the money we can
pour out into War Bonds and Stamps is not too much. For, if we hold back,
in work, in courage, in life, in money, we shall not bequeath them only the
bitter knowledge that when we were tested we gave “too little, too late,” and
that they have inherited from us only slavery and fear.
WRITER THINKING OF POLICEMAN
WHO HAS SPENT LIFE POUNDING
THE STREETS OF OUR FAIR CITY;
NOW ABOUT TO BE THROWN OUT!
BY. J. A. MOORE
I am thinking of the Policeman that has spent almost an en
tire life pounding the pavements in Charlotte that is about to be
thrown almost completely out of employment, or, an income in
sufficient to meet the ever-increasing cost of living. It is no fault
of their that there is no retirement fund for them to fall back
on, probably if they had (in the past) suggested that something
be done to protect their future they would have been called agi
tators or something equally as bad.
You know that it has been said that a former President of the United
States owes his political success to his (successful) effort to destroy the
Union for Policemen. I believe this occurred in Boston. Why don’t our City
Fathers assume the responsibility of the neglect and help them set up a
retirement plan that will protect them in the future? It can be done.
And while I am on that subject, why don’t they work out a plan where
seniority will be a consideration in promotions, (all other considerations being
equal) and a consideration in the hours of duty also? Then you wouldn’t
go down after midnight and find Policemen over sixty years of age, with
twenty years of service doing a tour of duty that ought to have a young
man .on it. I am not picking on the young Policeman, but only trying to
say a word for them when they get old. They are all good fellows or they
would not have the jobs; so let’s go down the line with them and try to help
them. All this goes for the Firefighters too.
Last week’s Labor Journal spoke something about a conference in At
lanta, of Labor for several Southern States. It seems to me that this is
an important conference and shouldJhave your presence, or, surely a delegate
from your Local Union. Plans for the post-war period may be discussed.
You know these conferences have much to do with the future. I remember
previous to 1930 we didn’t have much Organisation in the South, but the
American Federation of Labor held that great conference here in Charlotte
and laid plans to Organize the South that were followed up to this very day,
and, I believe you will agree that if it had not been for the careful planning
at this conference we would have still been a RAT South.
The National War Labor Board recently said that labor had observed
its “no-strike” pledge almost to “perfection,” and I think so. It is said
that, during October loss of time because of strikes was equal to about one
day’s idleness per one man in eight years. This should make all of us feel
good, and no doubt Hitler knows by now that we are after him, so LET’S
HIT HIM AGAIN Boys, Harder, Harder and Harder, and keep up the
reeord, and, after the war, let’s try to find some way to carry on forever
without any strikes. We will do it if we are allowed to.
'I
UNION LABEL AND CHRISTMAS GIFTS
L M. ORNBURN,
Secretary-Treasurer Union Label Trades Department American Federation of Labor
The Union Label Trades Department of the American Federation of Labor advocates buying Union Label
goods and using Union services throughout the entire year. Due to the increased purchases made during the
holiday shopping period, we especially urge all Union Label-conscious consumers to buy only Union Label articles
for Christmas gifts. This year, only useful presents should be purchased. The money previously spent for luxu
ries should be used to buy War Bonds and Stamps. When necessary goods are purchased, many practical union
made products may be found in market places.
American income is at an all-time peak in the United States and Canada. In this country the total individ
ual income is put at $114 billions. Never was there such great purchasing power as at the present time. Con
sumers will spend over $80 billions during this year. The quantity of goods and services purchased in 1942 is
estimated to be three per cent higher than last year while dollar expenditures will be seven per cent above 1941.
We owe it to loyal employers who have collective bargaining agreements with American Federation of Labor
unions to see that they receive their proportionate share of this increased purchasing power of all consumers.
Due to priorities and rationing for war purposes small factories and other industries are dosing down. It is
up to Trade Unionists and the members of their families to buy only Union Label goods to prevent fair manu
facturers and all other union employers from going out of business. It is the best way to save small (unionised)
business.
Union Label buying is also the best method to preserve free American labor unions which have always stood
for liberty, justice and humanity. These fundamental principles were the reasons for forming labor unions and
they are the same reasons why the members of organised labor are unreservedly all-out for victory in our war
for world freedom.
Capt. Ernest Morgan
Visits The Journal
For A “Handshake”
Captain Ernest M. Morgan, well
known in Charlotte, both in, fraternal
and labor circles, also with a “po
litical background, is a known Re
publican, who has carried the banner
in many a hopeless battle, both locally
and state-wide, but withal a Good
Scout and a Thorough Patriot, for in
World War No. 1 he was marked up
as among those present, was in to
see us a short while back, being home
on leave from his Army duties at
Camp Lee, Va. He is connected with
Headquarters Co., 3rd Regiment,
Quartermaster School, at Camp Lee.
Friend Morgan is looking fit as a
fiddle, really better than he did in
“private life,” and while the years are
not neglecting him in their passing,
his ideas remain young and his patri
otic fervor has not waned. To hear
him tell of some of his contacts with
the F. F. V. aristocracy of days gone
by in Petersburg, the old “Cockade
City” of Virginia brings back to this
old “Sore Back” memories of the Old
Dominion, the state where he first saw
the light of day.
-V
Union rrinters
Start On Red
Cross Supplies
WASHINGTON, D. C. — Union
printing shops will roll out 11,370,000
items of supply for the 1943 Red
Cross War Fund, according to records
of the American Red Cross. Included
in this total are 250,000 sheet posters;
20,000 mail truck posters; 100,000
posters for use in plants; 10,000,000
contributor lists and 1,000,000 of the
“100%” posters awarded offices and
plants where all employees contribute.
While this is the first year the
union label has appeared on national
Red Cross materials, records show
that 95 per cent of Red Cross print
ing, contracts for which are awarded
under the closed bid system, has been
done in union shops.
-V
Labor Men Are
Named To Board
Of Red Cross
SAN MATEO, Calif.—Two union
members have been named to the
. Board of Directors of the San Mateo
Red Cross chapter, according to re
ports to national Red Cross head
quarters.
They are; Charles Seafuse, financi
al secretary of Painters’ local No. 913
and a member of the Building and
Construction Trades County Council,
and Mervyn Rathborne, executive sec
retary of the California State CIO
Council.
THE JOURNAL has by far
the largest city circulation of
any weekly published in Char
lotte. Your ad in The Journal
will bring results from the
workers.