Cbe Charlotte labor Journo
Endorsed by the N. C. Stats
Federation of Labor
AND DIXIE FARM NEWS
Official Organ of Control Labor Union; Sta.. ^|i%^
for tko A. r>-ta^s «
13 YEARS OP
CONSTRUCTIVE
SERVICE TO
NORTH -
CAROLINA
READERS
VOL. XIV—No. 2
m a
CHARLOTTE, N. C., THURSDAY, MAY 25, 1944
<*6
00 Per-Tow
it
WIN
Free Labor Will Out-Produce Nazi Slaves
HE WAR IN<44” —
Z- i
ttA. F. OF L SLOGAN FOR 1944
—*
Tho ONI.T HEALLT INDEPENDENT WEEKLY In Mecklenburg County For « Weekly Ita Riders Represent the LARGEST BUYING POWER in Charlotte
I T. U. GOES BACK TO A. F. OF L;
REAFFIUATION ASSURED ON
BASIS OF REFERENDUM VOTE
NEWARK, N. J-y May 21.—Reaffiliation of the Inter*
national Typographical union with the American Federa*
Hon of Labor appeared certain on the basis of votes re*
ceived from Wednesday’s union referendum on the sub
ject, Lewis N. Hermann, referendum chairman, said
*■%
_a member of the Newark Typographical
1^1, said that 31,061 votes received to date out of an
estimated maximum of 65,000 cast, showed a majority
of 4,306 in favor of rejoining the AFL. The vote thus
fur was 17,630 in favor to 13,324 opposed.
Locals which have not yet reported, Hermann said,
were mostly in smaller places which have previously fav
ored reaffiliation, while the ballots on hand showed that
larger centers which had been imposed to it, including
Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, Baltimore and Kansas
CttyThad come over to the pro-AFL camp.
The present referendum is the fifth of its kind since
the interaation was suspended by the AFL in 1939 for
refusing to contribute to a war chest to be used against
the CIO. Last October an AFL national convention rati
fied a readmission agrement reached by AFL and ITU
leaders, but the Typographers rejected it by a slim ma
jority in a referendum the next month.
U. S. SERVICEMEN EXPECT JOB
PREFERENCE—64% SAY UNIONS
SHOULD HAVE STRIKE POWER
NEW YORK, May 22.—Seventy-three per cent of this war’s
veterans feel they are entitled to job preference, the Iron Age re
ported today after a survey of former soldiers now working in
tern and middle western factories.
The **»»—■*. the magazine Mid, believed that the welfare of the nation
anient on John for all, aoldiera and civilian*.
The Majority group answer, the Iron Age said, indnded one coament
win get what they want. There are too Many to get
“All wanted private enterprise to provide Jobe hot 14 per cent thought
the government shoo Id supply Jobs in civil service if industry defaulted,
the report on the survey said.
“Ten per cent would give industry about eight months to prove its
ability to provide Jobs and then should private enterprise fail to do so, the
ot should bjr subsidies maintain these industries which could not
regarding unions—some analysts have held that soldiers
at strikes and would direct that resentment at anions—the magazine said
M per cent believed “unions were good things since they were the only
voice any employe possessed. Of this group, it added, It per cent inclined
toward the-description “necessary evil” and 24 per cent felt union political
power should be curbed. Sixty-four per cent thought anions should keep the
power to strike, and 59 per cent would permit the dosed shop.
ONE STARTLING RESULT OF “THE BIG FREEZE”
LOOK AT THIS PICTURE:
Senator Elbert D. Thomas, of
Utah: "The United States Bn
rean of Labor Statistics says the
rise in the cost of living is 23.4
per cent. Organised labor says
it is M per cent. Oar committee
isn’t snre as to the exact figare,
bat wo do know that millions
of good Americans have bad
their incomes cat in effect from
tt to M per cent. These figures
partially portray their plight”
THEN AT THIS ONE:
Figure* printed under heading
“Corporate Earnings” are from
■worn statements to the govern
ment. A few from recent re
port Net earning* for 1943:
Greyhound Corp. -$19,792,469
Anaconda Copper_$33,769,891
Anaconda Wire-$ 1,319,698
Long-Bell (Mo.)_$ 2.298491
Corporation profits are not
“froaen.”
HORNETS NEST LOCAL NO. 263
ELECTS OFFICERS, AND PASSES
COMPLIMENT TO THE JOURNAL
Dear Bra. Witter:
In The Charlotte Labor Journal of May 11th there was a
beautiful and inspiring poem that should be read and memorized
tar all trade unionists :"Say Something Good About Folks, Even
if You Have To Make It Up. I clipped it out and put it on the
bulletin board where I work. It has been read by everybody
working there and some have even copied it. The sentiment is
splendid and should be adopted by everybody.
Oar old friend and brother, S. J. you even greater success for the fu
roarcn, is seriously ill at his home m
Petersbburg, Vs. His friends and bro
thers here in Charlotte, where he used
to work, wish him a spedy recovery.
Our local has been m existence for
44 years but in the last six months
we nave taken in six ladies, the first
in our local's history.
We, as a local, are proud of our
Labor Temple—labor's home in Char
lotte.
We see congratulations coming in
to The Labor Journal on its four
teenth anniversary. The Machinists
send theii greetings and congraula
tions on this occasion. We congratu
late you on past achievement and wish
rare, we are proua oi our paper, »uu
its Editor and Management.
Yours Fraternally,
E. L. BARKLEY, Ree. Sec.
Local No. 263 I. A. Q. Machinists.
The following brothers have been
elected and installed as officers of
Machinists’ Local No. 263:
C. L. Biggerstaff, president; Frank
Allis, vice-president; E. I* Barkley,
recording secretary; T. C. Calhoun,
Financial Secretary; G. M. Gunnels,
treasurer; E. L. Rudisil, conductor;
P. R. McCrory, sentinel; C. E. McGin
ins, trustee; J. A. Moore, trustee;
1 Thomas Simpson, trustee.
UNION LABOR
LEGIONNAIRES
WILL MEET
IN CHICAGO
—V—
CHICAGO.—The National Confer
ence of Union Labor Legionnaires,
made up of almost a hundred union
labor posts of the American Legion,
will hold its annual meeting June
3-4 at the Sherman Hotel here, it was
announced by Secretary George C.
Danfield.
One of the most important subjects
to be taken up at the meeting is op
position to National Commander Ath
erton’s campaign for enactment of
national service legislation, which, the
union legionnaires contend, is not in
conformity with the Legion’s policy.
Other problems up for consideration
wil Ibe post-war programs for serv
icemen, anti-labor propaganda, Amer
ican and national defense programs,
education and child welfare.
AFL SPOKESMAN!
TAKES CRACK AT
WORK, FIGHT BILL
-V—
WASHINGTON, May 23.—Opposi
tion to the work-or-flght bill, under
which draft boards could induct for
war work 4-Fa and men between 18
and 46 who refused to take essential
jobs, came today from the American
Federation of Labor and the Brother
hood of Railroad trainmen.
Lewis G. Hines, AFL legislative
representative, called it an attempt to
“coerce” workers where no coercion
has been shown necessary.
Martin H. Miller, legislative spokes
man for the Trainmen’s brotherhood,
contended also that “there is no need
for civilian conscription” in any form
at this stage of the war.
“The great majority of people, when
they understand, oppose and resent
conscription of civilians who would be
driven, like cattle, to the private
profit-making industries of the na
tion,” Miller told the Senate military
committee.
He asserted that no “straightfor
ward” attempt had been made to solve
man power shortages in some indus
tries by getting management, labor,
and government representatives to
gether around a conference table, and
added:
“We are ofj, the opinion that civil
conscription in the United States will
lead dangerously close to the evils
which we war against”
While the pending bill doesn’t go
u far as universal service, he said it
would force men 18 to 46 to take
civilian jobs at military pay.
Hines said the AFL was against
the bill “because we in America have
always believed that a free and volun
tary service of our people is superior
to coercion.”
-V
l
Pres. Green To
Submit Planks
To Conventions
PHILADELPHIA. — Presi
dent William Green will sub
mit the platform recommenda
tions of the American Feder
ation of Labor personally to
the conventions of both the
Republican and Democratic
parties by direction of the Ex
ecutive Council.
The labor planks will be
drafted by the members of the
Council who reside in Wash
ington. Mr. Green then will
take them to Chicago to urge
their acceptance by both ma
jor parties.
.a iuu'»v»'»~»~»nnnnn i ' ri"‘*‘
AND STILL THEY DAMN THE “SLACKING” Oft* ,OR;
LABOR “GI JOES” USING UNION MADE WE/ JNS;
85 PER CENT ARE PRODUCED BY “SLACKERS”
ROCHESTER, N. Y.—The anion label could be pat on 85 per cent of all the weapons now
in the hands of “GI Joes,” WPB Vice Chairman Joseph D. Keenan said in an address to the
Seventh Semi-Annual Convention here of the Union Label Trades Department of the state
of New York.
“Eighty-five per cent of the engines of destruction that have been produced in this
country for the global fighting fronts have come from the plants having onion contracts,”
he told the meeting.
“IT IS A PRODUCTION THAT IS THRILLING TO ALL AMERICANS EXCEPT THOSE WHO HAR
BOR THE FEELING THAT ORGANIZED LABOR HAS NOT KEPT ITS NO-STRIKE PLEDGE-A
PLEDGE THAT AFTER TWO YEARS OF A VERY DRASTIC ECONOMIC UPHEAVAL IS NOW f»:44
PER CENT PURE,” KEENAN ADDED.
Labor’s excellent record, Keenan said, la being challenged by ached ales calling for the production rate for
most critical material to rise 25 per cent by the end of this year. Meeting this goal, he asserted, will tax the
resourcefulness of both labor and management.
“The cooperation of labor and management has been of inestimable raise in the war effort,” Keenan
said. “Their resourcefulness has paid handsome dividends in war production figures. The implements of
cooperation and collaboration forged in the fires of war shonld bo the instruments in oar hands for the
building of a better world upon the defeat of Germany' and Japan.”
The nation must at this time shape the plans for the welfare of all Americans after the crushing Mow
has been delivered on the battlefields, he said. “We mast not la the years to cosm repeat the failure of oar
‘can’t-happen-to-us’ years. We mast bo wiser asw than we were then. We mast see that a free nation re
quires foresight and understanding of world forces, of world economy, of the fact that no sum and no nation
can afford in the twentieth century to ignore the wel-fare of other men and other nations.
“To await the end of hostilities before planning for a return to a peace economy is certain to bring
chaos and disunity. The glen of victory mast not be shrouded in a fog of uncertainty. Wo will fail, in
deed, if we win a victory, only to let oar people, through absence of action, sink into weakness and despair.”
Finding a solution to the problem ef maintenance of suximnm levels of production and employment is
one of the first and major steps, Keenan advised.
“It is the feeling of many within government, la-bor and industry,” he said, “that only by raising the
standards of living can asaximum levels of production and employment be suiatained.”
Keenan recalled to Ma audience that America’s war leaders have aaid that the attack will bo “relentless
and increasing.” To keep it so, be said, calls for grueling labor in Aseerica’s war plants. The higher pro
duction schedules must be amt. “We certainly will not meet them if workers keep shopping around for
lighter, easier work,” he argued. “It behooves labor leaders to help stop this turnover. The battled tasks
ahead call for farther sacrifice, not only from those who wear uniforms of oar Army and Navy, babt from
each one of ns on the production front. The Job you have done so far has been magnificent. And America
is confident that the days ahead will be glorified farther by new and more tremendous production triumphs
of labor.”
LINE FORMS
TO THE RIGHT
RICHMOND, Calif.—When the man
applying for work at the Ford plant
had his temperature and pulse taken
and his blood tested, he wasn’t too
surprised. After all, physical require
ments were important.
But when a young woman pushed
aside his personnel references and told
him to roll up his sleeve and lie down
on a cot, he was sure that something
was wrong. .
Then he discovered that he had got
in the wrong line. The mobile unit
of the Red Cross Blood Donor Service
was visiting the plant and he was
among the prospective donors.
After giving his blood, he talked to
the personnel
the job^_v
manager and landed
Patronize Journal Adverttaera
AUSTRALIAN GIVES KEY
TO ILO POST-WAR PLAN'
The most comprehensive *»lue-printe ever Jfor the post
war world have just been completed by the 350 workera, em
ployers, and government delegates and advisors from ^l nations
assembled at the 26th Conference of the International Labor
Organization. _ _
Delegates from blitzed Britain, rep
resentatives of occupied countries es
caped from the shadow of the Gestapo,
leaders of the masses of the Orient,
rugged Australasians, and North and
South Americans—all met together in
Philadelphia where they pooled the
best thinking of the united nations to
outline the major objectives and min
imum standards of post-war social
policy.
The resulting program aims to en
sure adequate levels of employment,
social security, unemployment and old
age insurance, healthier working con
ditions, medical care, facilities for
training and transfer of labor, child
welfare and maternity protection, nu
trition, housing and facilities for rec
reation and culture, and equality of
vocational and educational opportuni
ty.
The whole of such a conference in
the middle of a global war, and the
agreements reached are tributes to
the vision and leadership, both of the
founders of the ILO and of the dele
gates to the Philadelphia Conference.
NEW SPIRIT NEEDED
“To put this program into action/
said Herbert C. Bardnard, Australian
government delegate and a leader in
the country’s powerful labor move
ment, “will take more than resolu
tions. It will take a new spirit among
the millions of workers and producers
of the good things of life.
“Having made these blue-prints at
the Conference and agreed to present
them to the governments represented,
thta is only th beginning. The next
step is to implement and translate
them into everyday life, where the or
dinary man and woman, rich and
poor, will share in the benefits be
stowed by nature and by modern sci
ence and technical skill.
“The experts can make the blue
prints of the new world but it takes
the millions of ordinary citizens to
Duua it »«u «*• “ —■7'
of a distinguished delegate to this
Conference, ‘we must work *0 that we
can live better and live ao that we can
work better.'
“These things can only be accom
plished in the final analysis by a
new spirit," continued Mr. Barnard,
for sixteen years an officer of the
Australian Federated Union of Lo
comotive Enginemen and Chairman
of the Parliamentary Social Security
Committee. __ __ . _
WORKERS MUST LEAD THE WAY
“We of Australian labor who now
control our legislature are looking to
our brother workers throughout the
American continent for increased co
operation to bring about in our time
the idealg of the motherhood of man.
The Moral Re-Armament program is
a practical approach to the problems
of the worker and of the world.”
-V
This Republican
Committeewoman
Shuns Conventions
—V—
ATLANTA, May 22.—Mrs. Bertha
M. Field, Republican national commit
teewoman for Georgia, announced to
day she would shun the party’s state
and national convention because of
disunity which she said has "pitted
race against race and class against
class to an extent that may well de
stroy any chance which the party may
have to win the national election."
-V
FLY A BOMB TO BERLIN- PITT
10 PERCENT OF PAY IN WAR
RONDS.
THE AFL WAR RELIEF
CONFERENCE WEIGHS
POST WAR MEASURES
Marking the end of a period of outstanding achievement in
the field of war relief work, the annual conference of the officers
and regional directors of the Labor League for Human Rights,
official relief arm of the AFL, is now in progress at the Hotel
Hoilanden in Cleveland. (May 19th to 27th.)
According 10 ADranam muesiein,
executive director of the League, this
conference will give officers and reg
ional directors of the League the op
portunity to survey and analyse their
experiences of the past year, both in
regard to the National War Fund and
Red Cross campaigns, and in connec
tion with the League program of |
working to increase labor's participa
tion in the field of community wel-1
fare activity.
Keynote speaker during the week's
sessions was Matthew Woll, president
of the League, who addressed the del
egates and guests of the conference
during the afternoon of May 24th, at
a panel devoted to a general review of
the League’s work. That same eve
ning, Mr. Woll was one of the main
speakers at a session of the National
Conference of Social Work, which is
holding its seventy-first annual con
ference in Cleveland at the same
time. In his address, Mr. Wall pre
sented labor’s point of view on the
need for social responsibility on the
part oi an elements in me community
in the postwar world.
In announcing the conference, Mr.
Bluestein said: “Now that the Euro
pean war has entered its third and
final stage, the work of the Labor
League for Human Rights has taken
on a two-fold character. On the one
hand, we are continuing with our war
time emergency task of raising re
lief funds that will contribute to the
morale of our servicemen, and extend
badly needed aid to our allies abroad.
On the other hand, we are planning
now for the changes that will have to
take place in our work as soon as vic
tory has been won. We are laying
the foundations, at this Cleveland con
ference, for the aid which the Ameri
can Federation of Labor will extend
to the free workers of the liberated
countries of Europe; we are laying
the foundations, too, for increased la
bor participation in the kind of com
munity planning which can make the
American city a healthier and happier
place for all in the post-war world.”
RATIONING
ROUND-UP
—V—
War Food Administration says:
Manufacturers of ice cream are per
mitted to make more and richer ice
cream during May and June in an
ticipation of a heavier-than-usual
production of milk during that per
iod.
For our armed forces, 25 to 35 mil
lion pounds of pork and 40 per cent
of the major cuts of beef are current
ly being set aside, each week.
Spinach, beets, carrots, eggs and
white potatoes head the list of plen
tiful fpods over most of the country
this week, followed by canned oeas,
string beans and tomatoes, oranges,
peanut butter and citrus marmalade.
Through the use of refrigeration,
it is now possible to send 460,000 to
ms toe plants from Georgia to East
ern and Middlewestern growers, with
minimum loss in shipment even dur
ing hot spell.
Of the 12,000 to 13,000 farm work
ers expected from Jamaica to work
in this country, 804 have arived for
employment on farms in the Hart
ford, Conn., area.
Rags, like waste paper, should be
turned in to salvage centers for use
in the manufacture of asphalt roof
ing, blueprint paper, and other es
sential purposes, WPB says.
All drivers using their cars for
occupational driving (“B” and “C”
drivers) and all small delivery trucks
are now eligible for new passenger
tires, says OPA.
Political Advertising
ALL THOSE WHO LABOR
REALIZE THAT
THEY HAVE A FRIEND IN
CAMERON MORRISON
A VOTE FOR MORRISON IS A
VOTE FOR TRUE DEMOCRACY