Cbe Charlotte labor journalmmmm
AND DIXIE FARM NEWS onuS&m 4 cm** ut~ w** atmrn, , ..jiiii).,.
for the A. F. L.
VOL. XIVw—No. 51 Y#iB JOW#"Al *' * *°°* CHARLOTTE, N. C., THl RSDAY, MAY 3, 1945 jmmm** aov^imm oumi conudmation •* .9 aa p— Ym>
_- __ RtAOIM
Bach Up The Boys - 1 *mJS
Ihe ONLY REALLY INDEPENDENT WEEKLY hi Mecklenburg County nmno and oowiub m cbarlotts ami For e Weekly Its Renders Represent the LARGEST BUYING POWER hi
IfBCK LBNBUBG COUNTY 09 ITS PNTIBSTY
% ■ _ , ■> *
. THE CHARLOTTE LABOR JOURNAL ADVOCATES LOYALTY TO THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOr/^ ' “
PROMOTION OF INDUSTRIAL PROSPERITY, AND COOPERATION OF ALL WORKERS ALONG EVERY LINK
_______.
* ^
tale of two mail order houses
AND ITS LABOR ATTITUDE MAKES
GOOD READING FOR WORKERS
The 6th Regional War Labor Board with offices at Chicago,
announced that it had reversed a previous directive and had
eranted partial approval to an application of Sears, Roebuck &
rnmoanv of that city to raise the wages of some 7,847 out of the
10 488 employes of this premier mail order house to ‘‘correct gross
ineuuities and eliminate sub-standards."
Among the Job classifications grant
ed increases wen messenger, tube
clerk and file clerk, 60 to 68 cents per
hour; purchase order writer, 60 to 66
cents; clerk-record, 64-77 cents; spe
cial clerk-record, 70H to 86 cents;
watch assembler, 72 to 86 cents. Ad
justments in individual jobs to cor
rect intra-plant equaltiies in addition
to the approved increases also were
(Ranted.
While the wage rates in this field
always were pitifully low, and as indi
cated by the voluntary action by the
Sears, Roebuck management, still are,
—doe to the fact that these workers
previously were never organized—the
Sears, Roebuck policy is in sharp con
trast With that of its leading com
petitor, Montgomery-Ward * Com
pany, which, under file dominance of
the nation’s number one labor-hater,
Sewell Avery, spent hundreds of
thousands of dollars to fight the un
ionisation of its employes; defied the
War Labor Board; and was taken
over twice, under presidential order,
for violating the provision of the war
time labor relations act predicated on
its adamant refusal to pay a mini
mum wage of 44 cents per hour, ne
gotiated with the CIO Clerks’ Union,
and live up to a signed agreement.
A stockholders’ report issued early
this month by Montgomery-Ward re
vealed that the firm had made larger
profits than it ever did, in spite of the
fact that It was taken over by the
Army, spent vast sums to fight the
union, and had more than $70,000,000
in unfilled orders.
The contrast between the labor
policies of these two giant mail order
firms is striking and reveals how re
actionary and exploitative the Mont
S>mery-Ward management really is.
ow any fair-minded, right thinking
American, whether he likes or dis
likes organized labor, can uphold the
MoMgomery-Ward policy and attitude
is literally beyond our understanding.
/
, Free Labor Will Out-Produce Nazi Slaves
“FUsht - Work - Save”
i------* ..
THE AFL PRESENTS . . .
“BUILDERS OF VICTORY”
The Dramatic Story of Labor’s
Own Seabees
OVER CBS—EVERY SATURDAY—6:45 P.M., E.W.T.
THE MARCH OF LABOR
0UY 0.9. WAA 0OJOS.„
&eaooi*Lr f
i EVERY MAN IS BORN WITH
i A Ri&HT Of FREEDOM TO
I HIS PERSON, WHICH WO
ft OTHER MAN HAS A ROWER
• OVER, BUT THE FREE
DISPOSAL OF IT LIES
IN HIMSELF . *
r
OUT OF EVERY PAY ENVELOPE
BUY WAR BONDS
YOUR UNCLE SAM NEEDS HELP
I
MECKLENBURG AND CHARLOTTE
HAVE AN OVER-ALL QUOTA OF
$13,910,000 IN WAR BOND DRIVE
Mecklenburg County and Charlotte, with a quota
of $3,922,000 of Series “E” bonds, was allotted approxi
- mately 41 per cent of the $9,396,000 Series “E” quota for
the eight counties of North Carolina’s Ninth Region in
the current seventh loan drive.
Quotas made public by J. P. Robinson of Charlotte,
regional chairman, totaled $26,770,000 for all types of
Federal securities offered in the campaign, with Meck
lenburg County and Charlotte assigned an over-all quota
of $13,910,000. ..7L
Quotas for the other seven counties were announced,
as follows (first figure is Series “E,” second figure is
over-all): Cabarrus, $996,060, $2,702,000; Cleveland,
$744,000, $2,069,000; Gaston, $1,660,000, $4,698,0Q0;
Lincoln, $375,000; $462,000; Rutherford, $530,000, $1,
214,000; Stanly, $649,006, $965,000; Union, $520,000,
$750,000.
__Campaign leaders here have announced that Series
‘E bonds bought by payroll deductions and other funds
between April 9 and July 7 will be credited against the
proper community’s Series “E” quota. The major cam
paign, however, will begin May 14.
—
MUSSOLINI’S END INGLORIOUS;
FROM GLAMOUR TO TUB GUTTER;
THEN A RUDE WOODEN COFFIN
MILAN, May 1.—The beaten, misshapen body of Benito Mus
solini lay last night in a rude wooden coffin in the Milan morgue,
while stUl vengeful Italian Partisans, moving against other form
er Fascist leaders, were reported already to have tried and ex
ecuted Marshal Rodolfo Graziana,
demonstrations continued m Milan
during the day as funerals were held
for patriots who were killed in tha
revolt last week.
The bodies of Mussolini, 61-year
old former dictator and Fascist lead
er; his beautiful young mistress. Clar
etta Petacci; and 17 of his Fascist fol
lowers were removed to the morgue
reportedly at the request of Cardinal
Schuster, who had appealed to the
people when Milan was liberated to
suspend all cruelty and leave justice to
regular tribunals.
After Mussolini and his companions
had been shot by partisans near Como
yesterday, the bodies were first
thrown on the ground of the Piassa
Quindici Martiri (square of the 16
martyrs, formerly the Piazza Loreta)
where they were kicked and mutiliat
ed. Later, to make the macabre sight
visible to more of the crowds milling
constantly in the square, the bodies
were hang by the heels from the gird
er of a filling station.
At the morgue last night, Musso
lini’s pasty white, grotesque body was
in a rude white coffin to which was
affixed a small scrap of white paper
bearing in a penciled scrawl ‘Musso
lini, Benito.”
The top half of the coffin was
THE RED CROSS
LAUDS WORK OF
LABOR-MGMENT.
4.W—V—
WASHINGTON, D. C.—Recogni
tion of labor-management teamwork
in the nation’s generous over-sub
scription to the 1946 American Red
Cross War Fund was given today by
Basil O’Connor, Red Cross Chairman,
Irving Abramson, Chairman of the
National CIO War Relief Committee,
and Matthew Woll, President of the
Labor League for Human Rights
(AFL). Their joint statement fol
lows:
‘The response of labor and manage
ment in the Red Cross campaign
again has demonstrated the outstand
ing results that can be achieved
through genuine cooperation among
all elements of American communi
ties. Through employee fund cam
paigns conducted in industrial plants
and factories of this country, h»th
worker and employer are successfully
helping the American Red Cross to
keep at the side of our fighting men
and their families at home.”
f Chairman O’Connor haa announced
that $219,076,000 has been subscribed
to the American Red Cross by the
people of the United States.
“Much of the success of the 1945
Red Cross War fund Campaign is due
to labor-management cooperation,” he
_v_ aim
Workers in the war-devastated
countries still think in terms of dem
ocratic trade unions. The A. F. of
L. is trying to help them regroup by
raising a $1,000,090 Free Trade Un
ion Fund for reorganisation purpose*.
---V
Labor abroad, working long hours
at low pay,-1a a threat *0 our living
standards in America. Support the
A. F. of L.’s $1,000,000 Free Trade
Union Fund! _
--V
PATRONIZE THOSE
WHO \ DVFRT18E IN
> THE JOURNAL
wax doll, except for his head, which
was more massive in death than in
life. His awj, apparently broken,
jutted out in a horrible caricature of
II Duce’a most characteristic pose.
In similar coffin^ scattered around
the room were the remains of Clar
ettaPetacci and others killed by the
partisans. The coffins of the men
were labeled “unknown.”
14,500,000 WORKERS ARE UNDER
UNION CONTRACT SAYS BUREAU
! OF LABOR STATICS IN A REPORT
WASHINGTON,—Organised labor has reached its greatest
strength in American history, the U. S. Department of Labor re
vealed last week.
“Some 14,500,000 workers were employed under collective
bargaining contracts in January, 1945,” according to a study
made by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At the beginning of
1943, BLS reported that there were 13,000,000 workers under
union contracts. In 1939 there were 8,000,000 U. S. workers cov
ered by union contracts, BLS said in an official report in October
of that year.
During the year 1944 there was an increase of more than 500,
000 workers covered by union contracts. This “was equivalent to
a 4.5 per cent rise in the proportion of employed covered by agree
ments,” according to the “Monthly Labor Review,” published by
BLS.
Labor’s strength under contracts is estimated but the BLS
does not attempt to break down the total figure in terms of AFL,
CIO and other union membership.
“The largest increases in the proportion of workers under
agreement,” the analysis found, “were in the tobacco and chemi
cal industries and, to a less extent, in ’the canned and preserved
foods industry.”
The analysis also found that more than 90 per cent “of the
production wage earners were working under union agreements
in the aluminum, automobile, basic steel, brewery, fur, glass, men’s
clothing, rubber and shipbuilding industries.”
JOURNAL'S ANNIVERSARY EDITION
TO BE A WAR BOND EVENT
On May 17th The Labor Journal will celebrate its Fif
teenth Birthday of continuous publication, and instead of
usual run we have decided to devote it exclusively to promo
tion of the Seventh War Loan. Our many business friends
have co-operated with us in the past in celebrating our an
niversary, along with our local, State and National labor
leaders to great degree, and we thartk them. But these are
crucial days, and while we are nearing the climax with one
phase of our struggle, we still have Japan upon our hands,
and our country is calling upon us for the necessary funds
with which to bring it to a victorious conclusion.
We thank those who have gone down the line with us,
in the past, and ask our friends for continued co-operation.
■ IS TIME in 01
10 JUMP THE GUN!
. \
The 7th War loan starts In May.
It’s the greatest yet Uncle Sam needs
7 billion dollars of our money - almost
as much in one chunk as was raised by
this time last year in two!
The way to fulfill your obligation to
the men who fight is to jump the gun—
ti start now saving for your share of
this gigantic loan.
26,000,000 smart Americans who belong
to the Payroll Savings Plan have already
started to save—spreading their War
Bond purchase allotments over more
paychecks. '
'lS*J t'f-'f:.
Be ready for the 7th. You can do your
full share if you think ahead and start
now putting that dough aside for your
country.
& 0
Start Saving now for the mighty 7V
BACK UP OUR FIGHTING AMERICAN MEN ON THE BATTLEFIELDS
V WORK — FIGHT — SAVE
y^i >•*.■ ,r . ' ' ' . I ;.;:y