£hf Charlottr labor Journal
12 YEARS OF
CONSTRUCTIYB
SERVICE TO
NORTH
CAROLINA
READERS
VOL. XIII—No. 11
Endorsed by the N. C. State
Federation of Labor
von* aovmtisimint in Thb JOURNAL »• A
INVIITMRNT
AND DIXIE FARM NEWS
CHARLOTTE, N. C_ THURSDAY, JULY 29, 1943
Official Organ of Central Labor Union; Standing
(or the A. F. L.
JOURNAL Aovcwtirirr DllIRVI consideration or
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Labor Is On the Job For Victory
The ONLY REALLY INDEPENDENT WEEKLY in Mecklenburg Comity m'nfnmurrFor * Weekly Its Readers Represent the LARGEST BUYING POWER in Charlotte
Governor Would
Give Women And
Children Longer
Hours; More Work
For The Duration
—V—
RALEIGH, July 28.—Gover
nor Broughton will ask the
Council of State next week for
authority to proclaim additional
changes in the state’s labor
laws.
The modifications, prepared by
Labor Commissioner Forrest H. Shu
ford and the State Labor Advisory
committee, are intended to be of temp
orary duration to help relieve the
serious man-power shortage.
Shuford said the changes would:
Permit adult women to work as
much as 10 hours a day, but no more
than 48 hours a week. Shuford said
that in practice this modification
would mean that women workers
would be able to do their weeks
work of 48 hours in five days, instead
of having to work a few hours on
Saturday morning.
Permit minors 16 and 17 years of
age to work a full 10-hour shift in a
plant which operates such a shift.
This provision also would enable a
minor employed in a plant to per
form his or her week’s work in five
Permit minors 14 and 15 years of
age to work as late as 9 p.m. Shu
ford said that since the great major
ity of employed minors 16 and 17
years of age were working in manu
facturing industries and were not
available for work in service estab
lishments. the change would make it
possible for minors 14 and 15 years of
age to do a full day’s work in res
taurants, grocery stores, drugstores
and other types of nonmanufacturing
and service establishments. However,
the limitation of the work week to 40
hours and of the work day to eight
hours for such minors and the limi
tations preventing their working dur
ing school hours would remain in
force.
Permit girls from 14 to 18 years
of age to deliver newspapers on
established routes, provided the pub
lishers deliver the papers to the car
riers at their homes, and provided
certain requirements protecting the
health and welfare of the girls be
met to the satisfaction of the labor
commissioner.
Give the commissioner of labor au
thority to issue permits allowing male
minors between 16 and 18 years of
age to work in plants at types of
work, under working conditions and
for such hours of work, as may be
helpful to the war effort. This modi
fication. Shuford said would permit
him to deal with situations where a
severe manpower shortage necessi
tates temporary departures from the
general rules governing the work of
male minors.
Minors employed in excess of nine
hours in any one day would be paid
not less than one and a half times
the usual compensation an hour for
such work.
On the advisory committee are
Shuford. Mrs. W. T. Boat, commis
sioner of charities and public welfare;
Dr. G. M. Cooper, assistant state
health officer; William H. Ruffin, see
retary of th* Erwin mills; Frwk
Daniels, general manager of the Ra
Huge AFL War Bond Drive
fiewypRK
.
_:
THIS CHECK REPRESENTS PROCEEDS OF SPECIAL WAR BOND SALE IN NEW
YORK, THE MONEY TO GO FOR PURCHASE OF TWO FLYING FORTRESSES
WASHINGTON, D. C.—AFL President William
Green launched a nation-wide campaign for the pur
chase of 500 million dollars worth of War Bonds by
the six million members of the American Federation
of Labor between now and Labor Day.
In a “Labor For Victory” program broadcast
from coast to coast over NBC, Mr. Green called
upon central labor unions and State Federations of
Labor in 850 principal cities to organize the special
War Bond drive as a climax to this year's Labor
Day celebrations.
Funds raised in the drive will be earmarked, by
arrangement with the Treasury Department, for the
purchase of various types of war equipment which
will be inscribed with the name of the sponsoring
union.
As an example, Mr. Green pointed out that
$600,000 recently raised in a special War Bond
Drive in New York City will go for the purchase of
two Flying Fortresses—one to be named the “Spirit
of the A. F. of L.“ and the other to be named after
the Central Trades and Labor Council of New York
City.
Stressing the need for increased War Bond pur
chases. Mr. Green said:
“The spectacular new offensives in Sicily and
the Solomon Islands bode well for victory, but we
cannot win these battles unless our men are sup
plied with enough planes, tanks, ships and guns.”
In many cases, Mr. Green announced, the war
equipment purchased with funds raised by the AFL
will be displayed in the various cities in connection
with Labor Day celebrations. He added:
“When the people of our country get an oppor
tunity to see what their savings are buying, they
derive a sense of participation in the war effort
which will spur them on to greater sacrifices in
the future.”
In the same program. Mr. Green interviewed
Mrs. Herman H. Lowe, President of the American
Federation of Women’s Auxiliaries of Labor, who
pledged that women war workers and the wires of
war workers will participate whole-heartedly in the
drive to sell War Bonds.
“Let me tell you about one of our members who
is a typical example,” Mrs. Lowe said. “Her husband
is a union worker, her oldest son was called into
the Army. She has two other children going to high
school. This woman decided she was going to do
her bit to help win the war and bring her son safely
home. So she took a job. And every penny she
makes goes for War Bonds. Of course, she still
does her own work at home, with some help from
the children. That is just one case, but we have
a long list of other women like her—women who
have courageously changed their whole way of life
in order to speed the day of victory.”
Stressing the handicap of higher prices, especial
ly for food, Mrs. Lowe said:
“Most people who write about economics don’t
seem to realise that wages have not gone up in the
same proportion as prices. They forget that almost
every family has lost a breadwinner to the armed
forces. That means that the women are forced to
make strict economies. They’ve cut out not only
luxuries but many comforts which were formerly
considered essential to the American way of life.
Frequently I run - across families who are doing
without things they need—and need badly—in order
to save money for bonds.”
In answering the question, “What is the best
way for a family to determine how much of their
income they can safely invest in bonds?” Mrs.
Lowe said. “The best way is a family round-table
conference, at which a budget of indispensable fam
ily expenses can be worked out. Then I’d figure
the difference between income and expenses and
put the bulk of it in War Bonds.”
leigh News and Observer; C. A. Fink,
^resident of the State Federation of
Labor; and E. L. Sandefur, state di
rector of the CIO.
Sign of The Times?
—V—
The German occupation forces have
“ceased quarrying” for large stone
blocks in the southern provinces of
Norway, the Stockholm newspaper
Aftontidningen said in an article re
ported to the OWI. The Germans
had intended using the stone for vic
tory 'monuments, the article said.
The color of red symbolizes dynamic
strength; yellow makes for gayety
and blue stands for a soothing effect.
THE MARCH OF LABOR
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SMALL BUSINESS IN STEEL
INDUSTRY IS HELPFUL WITH
MONEY VOTED BY CONGRESS
Tucked away among the billions of dollars appropriated by
Congress before it adjourned for the summer is a small sum of
$2,000,000 that is going to worry the big steel boys more than a
little before it is all spent. Twenty-six states $re particularly in
terested in the spending of that money, for that is the number of
states with iron ore deposits which are today considered worth
develoDment.
Congress wants the Bureau of
Mines to get the truth about these
deposits and, where advisable, to
start local small iron and steel in
dustries by first setting up a few
pilot plants to test out the ores,
processes and to get certain engineer
ing data.
This |2,000,000 fund may be the be
ginning of the end of “Pittsburgh
plus,” the basis of the price control
over steel set up by the big steel in
terests. It is incidentally a boost for
the sponge iron process, which has
recently been developed to a point
where small plants, requiring com
paratively small investment, can be
built near the mines to produce iron
and steel in competition with the big
gest steel plants in existence.
Because a shortage of steel inter
feres seriously with the building of
ships, airplanes, tanks, and munitions,
as well as for railroads, electric pow
er plants and other war needs on the
home front, Congress started an in
vestigation a little over a year ago to
see what could be done about it. John
P. Frey, president of the Metal Trades
Department of the AFL, was the first
SSSSSSSSMWWWMMMMMMMMWMS
witness called by the Steel Shortage
Investigating Committee, headed by
Representative Frank W. Boykin, of
Alabama.
The solution agreed upon was.what
is referred to as the “decentralisation
of the steel industry.” That is to set
up small plants near the mines and
in certain areas whose local indus
tries are retarded by the high freight
cost on steel shipped in from the big
steel Board. R. F. C., and other war
agencies through its dollar-a-year
men.
Governors and industrialists in
states with iron ore and fuel resources
urged this move. They want their
states to have a fair chance _ to de
velop and offer its labor a diversity
of jobs. They would employ their
native iron ores by processing it into
steel independent of Big Steel. Among
the states which pledged themselves
to help relieve the steel shortage
situation and began spending time
and money were California, Texas,
Virginia, North Carolina, New Jersey,
Minnesota, New York, North Dakota,
Massachusetts, Washington, and Con
necticut. _
AVERAGE WEEKLY WAGE RATE
IS $23.55 SAYS N. C. SURVEY
RALEIGH, July 26.—The average weekly wage of 239,
590 employes of North Carolina manufacturing, commercial,
service and mining companies during June was $23.53 and
the average hourly wage was 50 cents.
The State Labor department in announcing the figures
said the average work week was 400.5 hours, and that hourly
wages in the manufacturing industries was about 10.5 cents
higher than in the other groups surveyed.
The highest wage, averaging 85.3 cents an hour, was
paid to 647 employes in the Printing and Publishing industry.
Hourly wages in other industries were: Pulp mills, 84.2
cents; full-fashioned hosiery, 72.1; tobacco products, 70.9;
woolen mills, 63.3; rayon, 60.8; cotton textile, 56.6; and fur
niture, 53.5. The survey included 1,434 establishments.
S. C. MAGISTRATE DISMISSES
“WORK - OR • FIGHT” CHARGE;
SAYS ACT UNCONSTITUTIONAL
SPARTANBURG, S. C., July 25—Magistrate John L. Lan
caster dismissed the cases of two defendants Saturday charged
with violating the state’s new “work or fight” law and voiced the
opinion that the act was unconstitutional. “Some of the members
of the Legislature who passed this law would look far better in
the uniform of their country than in the halls of the Statehouse
passing such acts as this,” the magistrate said.
Cases were dismissed against Jim Leister and Bucky Painter, former
employes of the Fairmont mill in Spartanburg county.
Testimony disclosed that both defendants are veterans of the First World
war and both have been employed in some capacity for more than 40 years.
Painter, who said he saw overseas service with the Army in the last
war, was identified as president of local No. 2135 at Fairmont. He said
he was dismissed last April for lending aid to a strike at the plant and had
not yet been put back to work despite a National Labor Relations board re
quest. With the exception of the time spent in the Army, he said, he had
been employed at Fairmont since 1911. .....
Leister said he served overseas with the merchant marine in the last
war and had been employed in textile mills of Spartanburg county for 40
years. An employe of Fairmont since 1929, he said his job was “thrown out
the window” in a consolidation of jobs some time ago, and that he is now
drawing unemployment compensation.
The two men originally were charged with vagrancy in a warrant sworn
out by an officer of Sheriff Sam M. Henry’s staff but the charges subse
quently were amended to charge violation of the work or fight law enacted
by the 1943 Legislature. .......
John G. Galbraith of Spartanburg appeared as counsel for the defend
ants. He was employed by the State Federation of Labor.
EVERY MAN IN THE UNION
SHOULD PULL OWN WEIGHT
Here is a Detroit receipt for every union man to *pull his own
weight’ in the union: .
1 Live out the principles of sound trade unionism, right for
the right wherever you are. Start with yourself in the home and the
shop. See what you can contribute. . _ .
.2 Build teamwork in the union and the plant. Remember
friction among men is a worse slower-down than friction in ma
ChUI3* One cool head can avert a crisis. When tempers get hot,
concentrate on what’s right, not on who’s right.
4. Inspire such a spirit in labor that it will have the moral
authority to call upon all interests to unite and win. Selfishness
is the arch-saboteur of national strength.
5. Build and back leadership that will fight for those moral
standards of honesty and unselfishness which are one sure founda
tion for a new world.
LABOR’S WORLD ENEMY NO. 2
BITES THE DUST
Look to the enemies of I^abor and you’ll see the enemies
of mankind.
The first thing Signor Mussolini did when he marched
on Rome WAS TO DISOLVE THE LABOR UNIONS.
Tyranny and dictatorship can never exist where Labor
Unions exist. One cancels out the other — and Mussolini
knew that in 1922—therefore, he cancelled out the Labor
Hitler followed him in 1933—THE FIRST THING HIT
LER DID WAS DESTROY THE LABOR UNIONS.
Now Mussolini bites the dust, and you’ll eventually see
the symbol of liberalism and freedom return—Labor Unions.
Labor Unions can not exist under dictatorship—they can
only exist under free and liberal governments.
* Those are the hard proven facts—let Pegler, Hans Kal
tenborn and others make what they will out of it.—H. L. G.
^Young America Saves Tires and Gasoline *
In millions of V-Homes throughout America the “express”
wagon is returning to its own. Boys and girls, eager to do
all they can to speed victory, are conserving rubber, gas
oline and manpower by using their wagons for many of the
small errands that formerly were done with a delivery tfuck
« * k_______— i ' *•«»
or the family car. ^