Newspapers / The Charlotte Labor Journal … / Jan. 31, 1946, edition 1 / Page 1
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Cl» Charlotte labor Journal (AND DIXIE FARM NEWS) A New*paper Dedicated To The Interest* of Charlotte Central Labor Union and Affiliated Crafts—Endorsed By North Carolina Federation of Labor and Approved By The American Federation of Labor. VOL. XV; NO. 38 Published Weekly CHARLOTTE, N. C., THI RSDAY, JANUARY 31. 1916 —-y I’rice *>c /fN Per Copy Subscription Price $2.00 Per Year Truman Supports General Wage Hike In Challenging Message To Congress Washington, D. C. — President Truman declared in his annual message to Congress that Ameri can business can afford and should pay “substantial” wage increases to labor. To set industry a good example, the President urged Congress to increase the pay of government employes and to vote an immediate boost in minimum wage levels from 40 to 65 cents an hour. The President emphasized that wage increases in private industry should be negotiated through col lective bargaining. He also pressed for prompt action in full employment legislation, social se curity improvements, higher un employment compensation and in surance against medical costs. Full employment and increased production, Mr. Truman said, are the only safeguards against the disaster of inflation and consequent depression. He warned that an other depression in this country would upset the entire world econ omy. Deploring work stoppages, the President called upon management and labor to settle their disputes through collective bargaining. He also reiterated his request for fact finding legislation. “Private capital and private management,” the President said in his message, “are entitled to adequate reward for efficiency, but business must recognise that its reward results from the em ployment of the resources of the nation. “Business is a public trust and must adhere to national standards in the conduct of its affairs. These standards include as a minimum the establishment of fair wages and fair employment practices. “Labor also has its own new peacetime responsibilities. Under our collective bargaining system, which must become progressively more secure, labor attains increas ing political as well as economic power and this, as with all power, means increased responsibility.” In endorsing a boost in the min imum wage level prescribed under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the President said neither serious price adjustments nor geographic dislocations would be caused by,, such increases. Continued price control and rent control were urged by the Presi dent to prevent inflation. He rec ommended liberalization of the whole structure of the social se curity laws and restated his pleas for the establishment of health in surance. In giving his views on the need for a fair wage structure to bul wark expansion of American in dustry, the .President said: “Most industries and most com panies have adequate leeway with in which to grant substantial wage increases. If we manage our econ omy properly, the future will see us on a level of production half again as high as anything we have ever accomplished in peacetime. Business can in the future pay higher wages and sell for lower prices than ever before. “This is not true for all companies, nor will it ever be there for all, but for business generally it is true. We are relying on all concerned to de velop through collective bargaining wage structures that are fair to labor, allow for necessary business incentives and conform with policy to hold the line on prices. OPA To Spur Clothing Production But Bars General Price Boost Washington, D. C.—OPA Ad ministrator Chester Bowles prom ised vigorous government action to increase production and supply of reasonably-priced clothing now practically unobtainable in the stores. The move was designed especial ly to provide more civilian clothing for returning veterans. Bowles warned manufacturers who have engaged in a sit-down strike in the hope of forcing in creases in price ceilings that the OPA will not permit price boosts as a stimulant to production. Meanwhile, in a significant arti cle carried in the current issue of a national weekly magazine, Bowles revealed that the “crisis in clothes” is not something that has arisen overnight. It has been long in the making. “Mistakes” by the government itself are in large part responsible, he admitted. He blamed the situ ation on the failure of the War Production Board and OPA to take drastic steps early in the war to head off the crisis. Way back then, he said, the gov ernment should have prohibited or sharply reduced production of high-priced evening dresses, other luxury apparel and costly draper ies. It should have set up tight controls to “prevent the shift to high-price, high-profit lines.” Also, it should have established better controls to keep out “shod dy” garments and to have required production of necessary quantities of good lower-priced clothing. Above all, it should have started apparel rationing in the spring of 1943, he said. “OPA certainly must carry its full share of the blame,” he con ceded. “In 1942 and 1943 and through much of 1944, OPA failed to take sufficient vigorous actfbn.” Treat your friend to a year’s subscription to The Charlotte La bor Journal. The cost is 12.00 per year and he’ll appreciate the gift. Why Companies Provoke Strikes— Tax Refunds Will Pay Losses Washington, D. C.—One of the frankest admissions so far made that employers are using tax “savings” to finance a war against labor has come from a big textile plant in Union Point, Ga. It is owned by the Union Manu facturing Company and union workers have gone on strike be cause the manat* orient refuses to put into effect National War La bor Board orders. In response, the company, in a circular distributed to employes, brazenly boasted that it will lose nothing from the walkout. "Any losses we sustain in 1946 will be made up to us by the gov ernment out of our profits in 1944 and 1946,” the circular declared. What the company referred to was that, under the “carry-back” provisions of the tax laws, passed by Congress to facilitate reconver sion, it will be entitled to rebates jfrom Uncle Sam, which will be j sufficient to take care of any losses it may sustain in the next j two years. Attend your Union meeting! Truman Endorses Union Label Idea Washington, D. C. — President Truman approved of the principle of the Union Label in a letter to the AFL Union Label Trades De partment. The letter was in re sponse to an invitation to attend the Union Label and Industrial Exhibition in St. Louis, Oct. 29 to Nov. 3. The President said he could not make a definite appoint ment at this tim%. The rest of his letter follows: i ,-I trust that the 134b Union Label and Industrial Exhibition will be an outstanding success in full keeping with its laudable aims. The purpose of such an exhibition, and of the other work of jour de partment, is important. Through other types of labeling the con sumer has a guide to the content and quality of the goods he pur chases. Through tne union label he has knowledge that the men and women who make the product work at fair wages and under de cent conditions. By educating con sumers in general to the full mean ing of the union label, >rou will enable them to give added impet us to the establishment and main tenance of fair labor standards.” I. M. Ornburn, secretary-treas urer of the Union Label Trades Department, said that plans and preparations are now under way for the greatest union labor ex hibition ever held. •I J. M. Gillespie, Of Teamsters, Dies Indianapolis. — John M. Gilles- f pie, secretary-treasurer of the In-! ternational Brotherhood of Team- ■ sters and one of the best-loved men in the labor movement, died here at the age of sixty-six after a long 1 illness. I Mr. Gillespie had served .the Teamsters’ organization for almost half a century and had earned a ' reputation for square dealing and ! intelligent leadership throughout the trade union movement. Teamster President Daniel J. Tobin, shocked at the passing of his close friend and associate, de clared that Mr. Gillespie’s efforts had helped to build the Teamsters Union into one of the most power ful organizations in the nation. “He was one of the best-liked men I ever knew,’’ said Mr. Tobin. “We started out together as busi ness agents for the same local union in Boston and when I be came president of the internation al, I brought him along with me as my assistant. “He was an able negotiator and a faithful union official. He was always so friendly and genial that < even when the other fellow got the ! worst of the argument he didn’t bear any unkindly feeling toward ‘Gil.’ I have never head anyone say an unkind word about him.” Thia tribute from Mr. Tobin was echoed by many of the lead ing officers of the American Fed eration of Labor gathered in Mi ami for the AFL Executive Council meeting. AFL President William Green, who had come into frequent con tact with Mr. Gillespie at conven tions and council meetings, de clared that the labor movement as a whole, besides the Teamsters (See Page 4, Column 4) I TO MV1KS MO INTEREST ACl'UIHUTM | SAVINS Mint M5TU a >tm 1 $3.75 $195.00 $1,004.20 $2,163.45 1' 625 325.00 1,67416 3,607.54 750 390.00 2.009.02 4.329.02 1 938 487.76 2.513:42 5,416.97 112.50 650.00 3448.95' 7.217.20 15.00 780.00 . 4,018.67 6.660.42 118.75 i L i 975.00 5.024.24 10.828.74 Davis Opposes Fact-Finding Boards, Upholds Collective Bargaining Washington, D. C.—William H. Davis, former chairman of the War Labor Board, told the Senate Committee on {Education and La bor that government intervention in labor disptrtWf in 'peacetime de feated the basic purpose of collec tive bargaining and rendered the achievement of industrial peace far more difficult. So long as there was held out to each side in a labor dispute the possibility that it might gain more from government intervention than it could by its own efforts, any, legislation would aggravate rather than ameliorate the problem, he said. “You can't pull John Jones out of bed and make him go to work if he doesn’t want to,” asserted Mr. Davis. “And, believe me, strikes don't continue indefinitely. The old lady at home will want to know before long where the next day’s meals are coming from. “Yes, you could require unions to post cash bonds not to violate contracts. But a national union half a million members can ex* haust that sum in strike benefits in two or three weeks.” In similar blunt language, Mr. President Truman was off on the wrong foot in advocating fact finding boards. “If I were in the driver’s seat,” j he said, “I would say to you: don’t legislate in the light—or perhaps I should say the heat—of these controversies. "You are faced with an inevita ble post-war situation. It is some thing like an irresistible force meeting an immovable object, so far as anything is concerned that the government can do.” He advocated larger salaries and a larger staff for the United States Conciliation Service. This force, most of its mem bers getting not more than $4,200 a year, had done wonders in get ting capital and labor to settle their disputes, he said. 50,000 Contracts Can’t Be Wrong— Collective Bargaining Works! Chicago — While collective bar gaining; has broken down in a few big industries, nonetheless 60,000 union agreements are functioning today and helping to keep the peace on the industrial front. That significant point was made by Edgar L. Warren, director of the U. S. Conciliation Service, in an address to the Chicago Asso ciation of Commerce. “Every day approximately 100 of these contracts are being re opened and rewritten, and every day literally thousands of griev ances are being settled under the terms of these existing agree ments," Warron explained. It was to be expected, he said, that after the strain of the war, long hours of work and wage freezing, the coming of peace, should lead to an outburst of dis putes. -Actually, however, in the vast majority of cases, labor-em ployer differences are being set tled without stoppages, he stressed, j “The wonder is not there is so much industrial strife, but that there is no morel" Warren insisted. “The wonder is not that there are interruptions to production, but that the reconversion program is proceeding.” PRINTERS MEET SUNDAY Charlotte local No. 838, Interna tional Typographical Union will meet at 2:00 o’clock Sunday after noon in Red Men’s hall. The AFL Presents “AMERICA UNITED” At 1:15 P.M„ EWT. Over NBC Date Fet. 3 ~TF Feb. 10 _ Topic Nedd for Health Insurance Long-Range Home Plans Panel Members Nelson Cruikshank, AFL Senator Pepper, of Florida Russell Smith, National Farmers Union Boris Shishkin, AFL Senator Warner, of New York Russell S.mith, National Farmers Union Woll Demands Firm Stand On Russia, Warns Unions Against Politics New York City. — AFL Vice President Matthew Woli called up-, on the government to stop “ap- j peasing” Soviet Russia, advised j labor not to depend on government j or political parties to win its bat tles and proposed that further la-, bor-management conferences be held to extend the scope of “in dustrial co-operation, mutual trust t and good-will.” In his annual message to the member; *>ip of his own union, the International Photoengravers Un ion, Mr. Woll recommended that the United States set forth its in ternational policies with complete frankness and candor. He de scribed Stalin's foreign program as “diplomatic aggression” and de clared that any efforts at appease ment would be as unsuccessful as the attempt to appease Adolf Hit ler at Munich. The same prescription should apply to our relations with Great Britain, the Netherlands and . all other foreign governments, the AFL leader said. “Even in politics no one has yet succeeded in finding an adequate substitute for honesty,” he ob served. The end of the war has dispelled the hope of some labor leaders that they could look upon the fed eral government as “a sort of fairy god-mother” who would protect them from the harsh facts of life, Mr. Woll said. “The political honeymoon for la bot i* xuuv.de/i0Uely oyer,” -he 1fe dared. “From her* out victoij will go to those unions which di< not barter their trade union birth right. And among these, as anj intelligent trade unionist knows are the unions of the American Federation of I.abor. a “Labor's strength lies in its own organizations, in its own member btrship, in its institutions, its tried and trusted leadership. The AFL has consistently adhered to this philosophy. It is the only safe and sound policy for American la bor. CIO publications please copy lie characterized the labor-man agement conference recently iteld in Washington under the auspic'es'iL of President Truman as “a step forward” in that it had given both sides a better understanding of their mutual problems. In advocating that further joint conferences be held, he said: “Much remains to be done, and the road that has ttf be traveled may be difficult at times. But employers who stand in the way of this co-operation, who promote an tilabor legislation and fan the fires of class conflict, are as dangerous to the American system as the most subversive Communist now secretly plotting to take over our industry and government.” SHEET METAL WORKERS WIN WAGE INCREASES Chicago—Substantial wage in creases, plus other improvements in working conditions, have been won for nearly 900 employes of various sheet metal plants here by Local 115 of the Sheet Metal Worker’s International Associa tion, .AIRCRAFT INDUSTRY HIT K HARDEST BY CUTBACS r Washington,. D. C.—Hardest-hit I s the industries which skyrocket • id during the war is that of air ’ craft, the Surplus Property Ad , ministration revealed. Black Market Rackets Grip Nation, Business Paper Proves In Survey New York City — All over the nation, “black market” racketeers are thirving as never before and making a joke out of OPA price ceilings, the “Wall Street Journal” revealed. It summarized findings made by correspondents' throughout the country. From these disclosures, the “Journal” Concluded that “the black market is blazing a spectac ular career.” “The fact is that evasion or out right violation of OPA regulations i is nearer the rule than the excep tion,” the paper declared. “Ceil ing price enforcement is shot full of holes. Black markets in cars, trucks, housing, building materials, home furnishings, hosiery and foods are rampant from coast to coast.” The business paper cited a grow ing practice among landlords who, while technically obeying rent ( ceilings, sock prospective tenants a huge price for furnishings. In Chicago, the paper said, “it is ( not uncommon" for an applicant, in order to get a 3- or 4-room apartment, to pay as much as $2, 500 for furnishings, worth only a fraction of the amount. In the clothing industry around New York, the “Journal” revealed, jobtiers “fake invoices to show, for example, that a manufacturer got twice the 50,000 yards of cloth he actually received, and the manu facturer, anxious to stay in busi ness, pays up and shuts up.” Automobile garages are engag ing in one of the “biggest rackets,” particularly in the nation's capi tal, the “Journal” asserted. Many garages, it said, soak drivers for repairs at least twice what the job should be worth, and. then do such poor workmanship that the cars must be brought back. Crookedness among business men plus willingness of too many consumers to pay more than ceil ing prices are given much of the blame for the situation by the “Journal." Sen. O’Daniel Evicts Blind Man And Thirteen Others From Homes Washington, D. C. *— Oscar H. Smith is blind, but he manages to make a living bj^plling cigars and candy. He memorised the route rrom his home in Washington to' i his cigar counter, so he could go ' back and forth alone. Senator “Pappy” O’Daniel, Tex ; as labor hater, has just evicted j I this blind and aging man from one | of the 14 apartments in the 40 room Washington building O’Dan iel claims he needs to house him self and his family. Smith had to move to Arlington, a suburb across the Potomac. The j route from there to his cigar stand is so long and complicated he has to hire a guide to take him back and forth. O’Daniel also evicted the other 1.'! tenants in the midst of the des perate Washington housing short age, but putting out he blind man was his choicest performance. “Pappy” has been subjected to so much criticism because of these evictions that he now protests he must have the building so he may setup a “free home for veterans.” Heretofore, “Pappy” has con tended he needed the 14 apart ments for his family.
The Charlotte Labor Journal and Dixie Farm News (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Jan. 31, 1946, edition 1
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