Newspapers / The Charlotte Labor Journal … / March 4, 1943, edition 1 / Page 1
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BONDS <Ihe Charlotte labor Journal Endorsed by the N. C. Stats Federation of Labor VOL. XII—NO. 39 VOIMI ASIUTIIMMT IN T«l JOUNNAL •• A SOON INVIITHINT AND DIXIE FARM NEWS CHARLOTTE, N. C. THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 1943 Official Organ of Central Labor Union; Standing for the A. F. L. 12 YEARS OP CONSTRUCTIVE SERVICE TO NORTH CAROLINA READERS ;OURNAL ADVMTIfIM DESERVE CONSIDERATION OR the Readers $2.00 Per Year Labor Is On the Job For Victory The ONLY REALLY INDEPENDENT WEEKLY In Mecklenburg County lmC"in,iSrmi5TFor * Week,y I*8 Read*™ Represent the LARGEST BUYING POWER in Charlotte PRES. GREEN CALLS ANTI-LABOR DRIVE IN SOME STATES A RUSE TO BY-PASS ROOSEVELT AND HIT WAR PRODUCTION PROGRAM WASHINGTON, D. C.—President William Green of the American Federation of Labor charged that reactionary interests, facing certain defeat of anti-labor legislation in Congress, have launched a concerted campaign to carry out their objectives by the enactment of similar bills in the various state legislatures. This is an attempt to “by-pass . President Roosevelt and to obstruct him in the direction of the war pro duction program, Mr. Green warned. He urged all State Federations of Labor to be on the alert for such dan gerous bills and to exert all their power to deefat them. Mr. Green’s statement follows: "War production was more than quadrupled during 1942, the first year of the war. This year labor faces the heavy task of doubling last year’s staggering volume of war production. We are confident we can attain this goal, which is vital to victory, if the not restricted and if the hands of the trade unions that represent them are not tied by vicious legislation. “The splendid production achieve ments of 1942 were made possible by the hard work of American workers and the all-out cooperation of their trade unions with every program ini tiated by the government. "The Congress of the United States understands this and so do the offi cials of our federal government, led by our Commander-in-Chief, President Roosevelt. Therefore, we are confident that the anti-labor bills now pending in Congress will meet the defeat that they merit. “Apparently, the selfish, reaction ary interests who are the real spon sors of these bills also are aware of this fact. That is why they have now launched a concerted campaign to ob tain enactment of similar laws in the state legislatures. “This is equivalent to stabbing the government ana tne laoor movement in the back. It is an attempt to by pass the President and the leaders of our Army and Navy and erect ob stacles on the home front which will hinder them in the successful prose cution of the war. “The American Federation of La bor does not question the right or the duty of state legislatures to adopt laws which in their judgment are nec essary for the welfare of the citizens they represent. But we do protest most vigorously against the false and misleading propaganda with which the enemies of labor are flooding the members of state legislatures in an effort to induce them to take piece meal action on issues which in a war emergency must be decided by the federal authorities. “State legislatures are not in a po sition to know the facts with regard to the war production program as well as the heads of the War and Navy De partments, the War Production Board and the President, himself. We ap peal to them, therefore, not to ob struct the war production program by local legislation but to give our Com mander-in-Chief and his trusted aides a free hand in directing it. “At the same time, the American Federation of Labor calls upon all of its affiliated State Federations of Labor to keep ever on the alert against proposed state legislation which, under cover of supposedly pa triotic motives, attempts to hamstring labor. We urge our State Federations of Labor to exert all their power to defeat such bills.” LABOR POP VICTORY MORE THAN 990 LABOR -MANAGCMENT COMMITTEES ARC SPEEDING WAR PRODUCTION -• AND OFTOI PISHIN& SAL PS OP WAA. SAVINS) BONO),TOO/ -(WE Put «o% of oue . ' IN WAE. SOUPS RE60LAKLX/ BY CHAR LBS R£L££R V88 710A V. 8. lYeamry Deft. Kicking Labor In Pants Is A New Pastime DETROIT.—Quentin Reynolds, war correspondent who has seen England, France, Russia and Africa in the grips of war, challenges Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker’s views on the patriotism and record of In an address to Detroit busi American workers, nessmen. Reynolds said: *T understand that lately it has become quite popular to give labor a kick in the pants. I don’t know how many plants Capt. Eddie Rick enbacker has seen. But I know that I’ve seen 30 since my return three months ago and I’ve seen hundreds of plants in Russia and England and in other spots on this globe. “And I say that nowhere in the world is labor digging in and work ing as hard as it is right here in America.” The Co-Operative Movement Is Growing In China Keep your eye on the growing Co operative Movement in China. It will play a vital and influential role in post-war economic life not only in China but in all Asia. Through the Sino-Japanese war, China has lost four-fifths of her modern industrial capacity. The Co-operatives were first fostered to help overcome the resulting grave economic shortcom ings. At the end of 1938 China had only 69 industrial co-operatives with a membership of 1149 and no output to speak of. By March of 1942 the number of societies was beyond 2000, their membership oi^r 30,000 and their monthly production valued at more than $20 million. There are also co-operative transport and bank ing societies. -V IT’S LABOR’S WAR — LET’S FIGHT—WITH PAY DOLLARS IN WAR BONDS. CAPTAIN RICKENBACKER PAGED TO LISTEN TO A LETTER WRITTEN TO HIM BY A DEFENSE WORKER Dear Captain Rickenbacker: Please don’t rock the boat. Remember, there were other heroes in the rubber boat with you. Among: those alongside of the chief executive of the Eastern Air Lines was a member of the United Textile Workers Union. Regardless of what his name may be, regardless of his past heroism and present intentions, he who seeks to pit our soldiers in uniform against our soldiers in over* alls is rendering priceless service to Hitler and his Axis. No heroic achievement of yesterday should serve as a license for any one undermining today the fine feeling prevailing between the soldiers of production turning out the tools of victory and the soldiers at the front using these tools for victory. There can be no worse disservice to our country and no higher service to Hitler than to disrupt our national unity by promoting suspicion and antagonism between soldiers on the firing line and soldiers on the assembly line. - .... . , Why do some individuals seek to stir up bad blood between American soldiers and American workers? Aren’t both red-blooded members of one great family—the American people? Besides, who has more brothers, fathers, sons and sweethearts in the armed forces than the working people in the army of production? Please don’t forget: The OPA has revealed that our biggest munitions magnates have been making fantastic profits. Its comparison of 1941 profits with those of the four year period (1936-1939) shows the following increases: General Motors, 20 per cent; Curtiss-Wright, 994 per cent; Bethle hem Steel, 123 per cent; Douglas Aircraft, 930 per cent; Consolidated Air craft, 962 per cent; Glenn Martin, 177 per cent; United Aircraft, 321 per cent; New York Shipbuilding, 2420 per cent; Lockheed Aircraft, 961 per cent. In 1941 Boeing Airplane garnered $6,113,000.—as against a loss of $840,000 in the peace-time period. Oh yes! you might raise the question of what taxes have done to the poor fellows who can’t afford to pay over time before the 49th working hour is over. We are referring to the very poor souls who can’t make ends meet, who can’t exist, on a net income of only $25,000 a year. Well, this OPA study discloses that with 200 of our giant corporations, profits, after taxes, were about 80 per cent above the pre-war average. May we humbly suggest that the next time you address factory owners (absentee as well as active) and factory workers you tell them that they ought to do some Ull thinking about'the following facts recently brought home by Price Administrator Prentiss M. Brown: “It may be flatly said that business, small as well as large, is in a better position today than at any previous time.” To illustrate, an analysis of 1324 corporations shows that they have jacked up prices all along the line and that their profits on sales mounted from 8.1 per cent in 1939 to 13.5 per cent last year. Thus, in 1942, corporations cleaned up over $20 billion—nearly 300 per cent more than in 1931. Tories and Labor-baiters of all stripes are filling the air and loading the press with the hokum that Labor is imperilling the stabilisation of prices. The very opposite is true. It is the failure to stabilize prices that is im-1 perilling Labor. To put into the trenches the men skilled it. turning oi.t the tools of vic torq would rob our country of these fcrv t«'jJs;«fi r^isVl the Vic*/Ties the men trained to use rather than produce the tools of victory would only rob us of our finest fighting men where they can do most good. We wonder why anyone should now be forgetting the time-tested maxim about putting square pegs into round holes. Such policies help nobody and hurt everything. To have been a hero once is one thing; to continue worthy of the fine spirit that goes into heroism is something else. That always requires coura geous loyalty to the welfare of the people rather than routine conformity. —A Defense Worker. WELCOME TO POLICE ORGANIZATION GIVEN BY CHARLOTTE A. F. L. UNITS; A CALL TO OUR “OLD WAR HORSES!”. BY. J. A. MOORE We extend a hearty welcome to the members of the Char lotte Police Department that have joined the ranks of the Amer ican Federation of Labor, and pledge to them our co-operation in enforcing the laws that are written, and helping them secure some improvement in their working conditions, and let me say at this time that they have been tried before a Microphone in the re cent past and nothing was.brought out at that time that could lead any one to believe they were inefficient or negligent of' their duties; now, here comes accusations of inefficiency, (Old Age) neglect of duty, drunkenness, and that they have JINED a Union. How in the world can a man afford to stoop to a level where he could neglect to protect the life and property of the citizens of a city of over a hundred thousand souls? _It can’t hardly be done by true Americans, and who wouldn’t “JINE” a Union for their own protection when they were being followed by men that were paid out of the same money they were and whose duties were the very same. I think the men that have been suspended will have had a hearing before the Civil Service Commission before this is published and too, 1 believe these men will have properly acquitted themselves. It seems that the evidence right now is in their favor and, if such is their good fortune, let’s hope there will be no more of this stuff that has all the earmarks of a fight against the organization. They are entitled to a Union if they want one and, if such is against the law, then let’s change the law to provide for them the same privilege that all other people have. Various and sundry meetings were held since our last letter was writ ten. The Central Labor Union met on last Thursday night, the Electricians met at the same time, the Building Trades Council having met Wednesday night and the Carpenters always meet on Tuesday night. All local Unions are regularly reporting all members working. The Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor, at a meet ing held during the month of January, 1943, adopted a lengthy statement endorsing the National Red Cross Campaign and, President Green has is sued an appeal to all meggers to give generously to this very worthy cause, so let me ask that if yornaven’t given that you call some one connected with the Campaign and ask that you be allowed to make a contribution to this worthy cause. The 3-Man Emergency Boards were slated to start sessions Monday of this week in an effort to adjust the pay of over a million and a quarter mem bers of the “Big Five” Brotherhoods in the Railway Group of Labor. More than usual interest centers on the proceedings, for the outcome may be a test of the Administration’s wage-stabilation policy. Locally we have many members that are concerned in the outcome of these negotiations. Through the columns of this paper we would like to urge some of our old war HORSES to visit with us at some of our meetings. Don’t want to embarrass them by calling their names out loud, they will know who I mean when I say that they have been responsible for the very existance of the Charlotte Central Labor Union. Some of them are working at nights and some of them are cut of town; some are'careless and some are downright lazy. Come on boys and see what you helped to build. Everybody will be glad to see you. We need your assistance right on. Have you given the information to the Editor of the Journal that he has been asking for? Well less do it right away, then read what he has to say about your brother and mine. Let’s read The Journal anyway. Free Labor Will Out-Produce Nazi Slaves Q. Can Stamp* of various de nominations bo placed in one album? A. More than one denomi nation in an album greatly increases the work and cost of re demption. Please, therefore, don’t mix denominations. Q. May a minor designate a co owner or beneficiary? A. Yes, if the purchase is made by the minor from his own wages or earnings. Q. Do I lose my investment if my War Savings Bond it lost, Stolen, or destroyed? By Gib Croekttt. A. No; upon uliifirtory proof of loss or destruc tion, the Treasury De partment will issue • duplicate, usually with 1 eel > quiring a bond of lode .initv. Q. May I register the name of a beneficiary on a Bond with out his knowledge? A. Yes. Records of War Savings Bonds are con fidential. It is not nec essary for the Treasury to contact the bene ficiary during the own er's lifetime. Only indi viduals may be named as beneficiaries. No as sociations, churches, or dubs may be so named. you keep War Bonds, np to 10 years, the more valuable they becomes I PATRONIZE THOSE WHO ADVERTISE IN • THE TO? TRN Al, BUY Bonds NOW m * 4 * V 9 ftV' ^ 7/ie Choice Is Yours
The Charlotte Labor Journal and Dixie Farm News (Charlotte, N.C.)
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March 4, 1943, edition 1
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