North Carolina Newspapers

'mm Che Charlotte labor Journal a tfc* MiMlHi to M» Mac tria^Htiacto iw warfcvr. A Newspaper Dedicated To The interests of Charlotte Central Labor Union and Affiliated Crafts—Endorsed By North b*pw» Carolina Federation of Labor and Approved By The American Federation of Labov^K* * ^ **Umm*' — £ fiB i-m ) -- ~ VOL. XT*. It* » PcMMwi Weekly CHARLOTTE, N. ( ., DECEMBER 27, 1945 Subscription Price >2.00 Per Year Right To Scan Books Vital In Pay Cases, Truman Rules ALSO BULBS TEAT A COE IMS 1 S nOUMKH Ml NOT M MA»K Pl»I.K' IN OHhKH «• follows: ■ t' V • “to oppototi— • fsrt-flMlinr J^Ejwjpsj, it - " ' ■ .. , . - heard hare the authority, when ever it deems it necessary, to ex amine the books of the employer. That authority is essential to en able the board to determine the ability of the employer to pay an iarreaas in wages where such abil ity is in question. Ability to pay is always one of the facts relevant to the issue of an increase in f “This does not mean that the government or its fact-finding beard is going to endeavor to fix a rate of return for the employer. It doee mean, however, that since wages are paid out of earnings, the question of earnings is rele vant* “Tbs detailed information ob tained from the books of an em ployer should not be made public. Bach a disclosure would place the employer at a disadvantage with rsspast to his competitors. But the fact-finding board should un questionably have the right to ex amine the employer’s books where it deems it necessary in order to make up its own mind as to wheth er a demand for increase is justi fied and to make public all find ings based on such information, that it deems relevant to the con troversy. “That is one of the things I meant when I stated in my mes sage of December 3, 1945, to the “ ‘The board should be .,. di rected to make a thorough investi gation of all the facts which it deems relevant in the contro versy.' “This is [nothing new. There are of corporations are opened for in spection to represetatives of the State and Federal governments and where the information so ob tained is used solely by such offi cials to carry out their functions. “To confer the right to exam ine books is one of the main pur (Please Tarn to Page 2) i I __ , _ 0 _ Gov *t Workers Get Meager Wage Boost From Senate Washington, D. C.—The United States Senate voted an average 11 per cent increase in the pay of ! government employes receiving I less than $10,000 a year and re jected the Downey bill which i would have provided the 20 per cent increase urged by President Truman and the American Federa tion of Labor. AFL unions representing gov ernment workers immediately served notice that they would press for the higher rates when the measure comes up for considera tion in the House of Representa tives late In January. Meanwhile, the AFL Council of Government Employes Unions will conduct a vigorous campaign to enlist the support of members of Congress for a more adequate wage bill, including pay increases for Representatives and Senators. The Senate substitute was spon sored by Senator Harry Byrd of Virginia, who has a * long record faction of finishing up the job the best way you can. ’ — • • • * Following tho Victory Loon, the mIo off, FIO U. S.'Savings Bonds will continue through regular \ authorized agencies and ings Flan % tMM Huir j»b—Ut's 4M*♦ MW/ «* * »> of obstruction against lifting the standards of Federal employes. In the name of economy, Senator Byrd has fought practically every measure which would give Uncle Sam’s army of public servants a break. The measure adopted by the Senate grants higher percentage increases to those in the tower in come brackets and scales down the increase for those in the higher brackets. Results of three surveys Just completed have demonstrated that Labor and Management alike advocate the continuance of the payroll savings method of buying U. S. Savings Bands in peacetime, the War Finance di vision has disclosed. Take a squint at the Roosevelt Bond, shown above. No better savings method—bay a bond for 9150 and get 9209 in 10 years! Although the war is over, it is important to continue purchas ing Uj_8. Savings Bonds, either outright or through the payroll savings plan which has proven so convenient dad prod table. SchweUenbach Warns Cost Of Living May Pierce Roof When Controls End Washington, D. C.—Removal of price and rent controls would boost the cost of living through i the roof and create a “very grave”, situation as to wages, Secretary! of Labor Schwellenbach advised Congress. “Until supplies are really ade quate, it i* important to hold cott-. trols nSt only over prices, but over materials in some cases,” he told the Senate Small Business com mittee. A “big profits” lobby h*s been pressuring Congress for removal! of price control, while real estate1 interests have undertaken an all- ’ out campaign to relax rent ceil-, inga. Secretary Schwellenbach’s report I offered no support for these selfish1 interests. He said: “The experience of the war dem onstrates that the kind of price control we have had makes pos sible production on a very large scale. "We need to continue price con trol.” Schwellenbach declared that if American labor were faced with a rise in prices month after month, “industrial unrest will inevitably increase.” Wages in heavy industries al ready are down to $44.50 weekly from $52.90 in April, 1945, just before the end of war in Europe, the Secretary said. Workers in light industries are receiving an average of approximately $38 now, representing a decline of only 75 cents from April. But even where the decline has been slight, he related, family in comes on an average have dropped because fewer persons are em ployed’ now than last spring. Gov ernment employment alone has de clined 230,000 since mid-August. “With such a situation as this,”) said Schwellenbach, “we simply cannot afford to allow prices of more. Most of all we cannot per mit rents to run wild. “I do not want to conjure up any imaginary dangers. These dangers are very real indeed. They begin with the simple fact that there are shortages of many kinds of goods. If price and rent con trols are removed, the cost of liv ing could go through the roof within six months.” Everyday goods which consum ers buy are now up 33 per cent above the prewar level, Schwellen bach continued, and even with con tinuation controls there will be no decline in the cost of living soon. 1 Because food and clothing con tinue in short supply, prices paid for them will remain as high as tl c government permits. “You can imagine,’ Tie said, what would happen to the prices wf the few shirts that do come into retail stores if this govern ment were to say to the retailers end manufacturers, now or in June, ’price control is off and you can charge anything you please’.” OPA Price Ceilings Established For 34 Scarce Building Materials New York City.—'Leo P. Cent ner, regional OPA administrator, announced flat dollars-and-cents ceiling prices on S4 major “hard" building materials for New York City and Nassau county. . «. "■ Included in this list are plaster, bricks, tile, cement, lath, wall board, clay, sewer-pipe, plywood and other important construction commodities. ^ 3 The OPA ceiling prices for New York City and Nassau county be came effective January 1, 1946, with one exception, western soft wood plywood, on which ceiling prices went into effect on Decem ber 18. Prices include all charges and additions for delivery in the free-delivery tone recognised in the base-period, March, 1942. OPA’s establishment of ceiling prices on the S4 major “hard” building materials follows the agency’s announced program of improving and strengthening price controls in the building construction field, and is in line with the na tional movement inaugurated by OPA to prevent an inflationary spiral in new housing construction. OPA’s action is expected to accel erate housing construction and spur builders to provide dwelling for millions of homeless people. & - 17 AFL Unions Tender Testimonial * j' To Rep. Ramspeck, Friend Of Labor Washington, D. C.—Members of Congress, executives of Federal agencies and representatives of 17 AFL unions paid tribute to the 16 years' public srvice of Representa tive Robert Ramspeck (Democrat of Georgia) at a testimonial din ner at the Statler hotel. In a letter, President Truman credited Ramspeck with a large share in the raising of standards and efficiency in public service during the 10 years he headed the House Committee on Civil Service. Ramspeck leaves the House Jan uary 1, to accept the position of vice president of the Air Transport Association of North America at. a reported $25,000 salary. For mors than two hours, speak ers, including House Majority Leader John W. McCormack, Dam oorat of Massachusetts, and A FI, President William Green, landed Ramspeck for nia leadership and steadying influence in the Con gress, as well as his fairness and wisdom as a friend of labor. Mr. Green emphasised that * if pay standards for Federal em ployes, including members of Congress, had been raised to proper levels, the government would not have to lose faithful and efficient public servants, such as Ramspeck. A scroll, citing Ramspeck’s sponsorship of the Ramspeck act, the Mead-Ramspeck act, the liber alised Retirement act, the War Overtime Pay act, and the Federal Employes Pay act of 1946, was pre sented in the names of the 17 (Please Tarn to Page 2) Jobs For Veterans Are Shrinking As General Unemployment Mounts Washington, D. C.—Veterans are beginning to encounter difficulties in finding employment, with the full impact discharges upon the labor market yet to be felt, the Department of Commerce said in its Survey of Current Business. “Despite the fact that peak sep arations had not occurred and that many veterans already,, rslefffyi were not seeking work, difficulties in reabsorption had begun to emerge during September and Oc tober,” the article stated. Although about 5,000,000 veter ans, half of the number to be dis charged, are expected to be mus tered out by January 1 and many servicemen have not yet joined the labor force by taking time out for adjustments to civilian life, oppor tunities for veterans already have narrowed and the job situation will be aggravated in the next few months when discharges hit flood tide, the article stated, adding: “The increase in the number of veterans receiving compensation j for unemployment, together with, the widening gap between appli-1 ■.. .. .T... cation for placement in Jobe through local offices of United ' States Employment service, reflect the occupational shifting now un der Way and the changed relation ship of app ’ rants and job oppor tunities.” Before V-J day, it was explained, discharges were offset by large scale withdrawals from the labor market into military service so that veterans were really absorbed, while under present conditions, with the rate of releases stepped up, reconversion has reduced, at least temporarily, the demand for workers in many industries. With Army surveys showing that at least 75 per cent of the return ing veterans would be job-seekers, the article concluded that the country faced a “primary prob lem” of developing a labor de mand sufficient to provide em ployment for the returning veter ans," along with the additional problem of “finding jobs satsifac tory to the veteran'with previous training, newly acquired skills and generally high expectations.” - New Housing Bill, Endorsed By AFL, o Gets Bi-Partisan Senate Support WASHINGTON. D. C.—A com promise general housing bill, as sured of bipartisan support, was introduced in Congress by Senator1 Robert F. Wagner, Democrat of New York. The new bill reflects an agree ment between Senator Wagner and Senator Taft, Republican of Ohio, hearings began November 19 be fore the Senate Banking and Cur rency committee, of which Sena tor Wagner is chairman . It is.hoped that passage of this legislation will make possible a huge construction program to meet the serious housing shortage and to provide millions of new jobs over the next 10 years. The bill in cludes the major features of the AFL’s housing program. Combining the Federal Home Loan bank board, the Federal Housing administration and the United States Housing authority into a single agency under one pol icy-making head, the bill concen trates on enabling private enter prise to expand its activities in the so-called middle market or “no man’s land” of housing by strengthening the FHA system eo as to reach a greater number of families in that market. “The first main plan for this middle income privately financed housing sets up a special plan for small home ownership with FHA insurance," Senator Wagner ex plained. “This plan raises the vamount eligible for insurance from IBO per cent or 90 per cent of the cost of the housing to 95 per cent, i ' - thus reducing the down payment required for the middle income family to 5 per cent. "To make the terms more favor able, it extends the period of amor tization from 20 or 25 years to 32 years. It also reduced the maxi mum interest rate allowable un der the statute from 5 per cent to 4 per cent. It provides addi tional insurance protection to pro mote the flow of capital on these more favorable terms. Another major provision affect ing private financing of mutual home ownership or rental projects permits insured mortgages of as much as 95 per cent in the-ease of mutuals or public instrumentali ties, and 90 per cent in other eases, at interest of no more than S 1-2 per cent with a maximum amorti zation period of 40 years. A 5-year program for urban re development, in which both pri vate and public funds would be utilised, also is set forth in the measure. For this purpose the Federal government could loan $500,000,000 to cities and towns to get land assembly and clearance projects started and which must bo repaid in full within five years. It could lean $50,000,000 annual-, ly, repayable in 45 years, for the same purposes. To expand low-rent public hous ing, the measure sets up a four year program to cost the Federal government a total of $88,000,000, and Senator Wagner estimated this would provide about 500,000 addi tional units of low-rent public housing.