Newspapers / The Charlotte Labor Journal … / May 2, 1946, edition 1 / Page 1
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A Newspaper Dedicated To The Interests of Charlotte Central Labor Union and Affiliated Crafts—Endorsed By North Carolina Federation of Labor and Approved By The American Federation of Labor. Che Charlotte lahoe Journal (AND DIXIE FARM NEWS) Published Weekly CHAHI OTTE, N. C., THURM AY. MAY 2. 1946 Price 5c Per Copy Subscription Price S2.00 Per Year AFL Labor Gathering In Asheville May 11-12 Will Be Greatest In History Of Southern Conferences (Special to Labor Journal) Although final arrange* ments are far from complete the Third Biennial Southern Labor Conference at Ashe ville, North Carolina, on May 11 and 12 will, it appears, be come the greatest gathering of its kind in the history of the American Federation of La bor, far exceeding in attend ance any of the National con ventions. President William Green, Secretary Treasurer George Meany, Director of Organiza tion Frank P. Fenton of the national office will be among the principal speakers. Presi dent John L. Lewis of the United Mine Workers will make his first appearance in many years before an au dience of American Federation of Labor delegates. President William L. Hutcheson of the Carpenters, John Frey, presi dent of the Metal Trades De partment, and Nelson Cruik shank, Director of Social Se curity Activities, are among others from Washington who are already scheduled to speak. George L. Googe, Southern Representaive of the A.F. of 1*, is in charge of arrange ments for the conference and ~ ' layoff dfive for an addlfKiiar 1,000,000 members in the South, which will begin upon conclusion of the Asheville meeting. “Our plans for Asheville will not be compelted for at least another week,” Mr. Googe stated yesterday. “We expect nearly all members of the Executive Council to be in Asheville, and from present indi cations 95 per cent of the Inter national Presidents plan to attend. 11 it were not for previous engage ments which could not be cancelled we would have 100 per cent at tendance in both instances. “This will be the largest and most important gathering of Amer ican Federation of Labor officials ever held on a local level. It will be of vital importance to every wage earner in the South and of particular significance to our American Federation of Labor del egates. I ask that every local union aend as many delegates as possi ble. They will leave with a better understanding of our problems and will be well equipped to meet con ditions in the turbulent period which lies ahead. “Everyone in the Sooth realizes wartime restrictions caused us to abandon our Biennial Conference and to delay our expanded organi zational drive. We continue to be handicapped in wage negotiations by governmental regulations and formulas which are particularly un fair to some Southern industries. Our record of achievement in the South can stand up under the most critical observation. In ten years our membership has risen from 430,000 to 1,800,000 and in many instances wages have been doubled. Deliver us from the interference of governmental restrictions and we will show at least as great an in crease in the next ten years. “I am compelled to publicly re ply to the utterly fantastic propa ganda appearing daily in the press through the activity of the high powered dual movement publicity men. The C.I.O. claims 1,000,000 members in the South, and state they have accumulated a slush fund of several millions of dollars to 'organize' the South. They don’t have one tenth of what they claim and even if backed with the re sources of the U. S. Treasury would never succeed in organising the South. In the first place the red. oration already has pretty wall o» (Oenfiaaad an rage I) JOHN L. LEWIS President of the United Mine Workers of America, and an AFL vice president. Mr. Lewis will at tend the Southern Labor Confer ence meeting in Asheville May 11 12 and address the gathering. THOUSANDS OF EMPLOYERS VIOLATE U. S. LABOR LAWS New Yorlf City.-—Thousands of employers have been violating fed eral labor laws, the Wage and Hour and Public Contracts Divi sion of the U. S. Labor Department revealed. Studies by government inspect ors revealed that of 44,800 estab lishments visited, 32,800, or 74 per cent were violating the minimum wage and overtime provisions. The report showed that one out of every four cases of violations concerned an employer failing to pay his workers the required 40 cent per hour required under the Fair Labor Standards Act. Em ployers guilty of such practices, officials said, can be fined up to $10,000, or, in the case of a sec ond violation, can be jailed for six months in addition to the fine. In addition, the worker is entitled to sue for double the back pay due him. WORK CLOTHES PRICE WASHINGTON, D. C—Immed iate increase of 12 to 15 percent in retail prices for work clothes has been authorisd by OP A. WAGE AND JOB SECURITY SOUGHT IN FILM INDUSTRY V> Washington, D. C.—Determina tioh to devise security in the mo job and wage security in the mo tion picture industry was ex pressed in the annual report of Eric Johnston, president of the Motion Picture Association of America. “The time has come,” Mr. John ston declared, “to study means and methods of securing continuity of employment. Unquestionably, much of labor's unrest comes from a feeling of job insecurity. The higher wages which this industry pays over wage rates to compar able skills in the Los Angeles area is merely an attempt to give fi nancial demuneration for job in security. “I realize full well the inherent causes of intermittent employment in this industry. Nevertheless, we must go on exploring means and methods to secure the maximum job continuity. “We speak of the motion pic ture as an art-industry. We take pride in its being the democratic art. This is only half the story. Let us complete it by making this industry industrially _d4mocratic. “NW that we have passed the’ emergency precipitated by last year's jurisdictional strike in Hol lywood, we must begin to develop a long-range labor relations pol icy. First of all we must rectify any glaring mistakes and abuses which have prevailed.” - RETAIL CLERKS SCORE San Jose, Calif.—A precedent in the retail industry for both wage increases and a contract guaran teeing a profit-sharing plan has been set in the agreement signed by the Retail Clerks’ Union, Lo cal 428, (AFL) and Hart’s Depart ment Store. Union Secretary J. P. McLough lin announced basic pay raises amount to 18 1-2 per cent on an overall basis. A.F.L. Officials Pledge Co-operation President Green Secretary Meaney American Mtralion of Labor officials have left no stones unturned toward making the Southern Labor conference meeting in Asheville Saturday and Sun lay. May II and 12, a huge success* At this meeting plans will be laid for organizing the unorganized workers in every citv, village and hamlet in Dixie and advance information indicates that Asheville wilt be deluged for hotel reservations for the gathering. Reading from left to right: William Green. president of the American Federation; George L. Googe, south ern director who will be the directing head of the souern director, who will be the directing head of the sou urer of the American Federation of Labor. President C. Truman’s clfJKon of the value of the union label as * protection for consumers was incorporated in a ENDORSEMENT >N ft: Lake. IIDENT Tiuasn radio program, “The Shield of j Protection,” presented by the j Union Label Trades Department of the AFL over the Mutual Broad casting System. Emphasizing the importance of labels as a consumer guide to the content and quality of goods he purchases, the President wrote: “Through the union label he has knowledge that the men and wom en who make the product work at fair wages and under decent con ditions. By educating consumers in general to the full meaning of the union label, the Union Label Trades Department will enable them to give added impetus to the establishment and maintenance of fair labor standards." The AFL Presents • • • BOILERMAKERS DRAFT ORGANIZING PLAN8 Kansas City, Kan.—Intensive or* ganizing drives are to be inaugu rated soon as the result of plans drafted at the recent Boilermakers' (AFL) International Conference in Denver, the brotherhood announced. These campaigns are to be press ed vigorously in all branches of the boilermakers’ trade, with spe cial attention to areas not pre viously thoroughly organized. Plans also were made to build a stronger organization in shipyards, navy yards, railroads, petroleum indus try, contract shops and other fields. WASHINGTON, D. C.—Many is sues highly important to organized labor face a tie-up in Congress under increasing pressure for an early summer adjournment. N. C. Federation of Labor Officials Left to right: C. A. Fink, president of the North Caroline Federation of Labor; J. A. Scoggins, first rice president from Charlotte, and H. C. Fisher, secretary and treasurer of the N. C. Federation, who will bo present at the Asheville meeting and who will be actively at the head of North Carolina’s contribution to the South-wide organisation campaign to be launched at the Asheville meeting May 11 and 12. They will work under the direction of George L. Googe, southern director of the AFL. ' Salisbury, N. C.—With the wel fare of hundreds of thousands of unorganised and unprotected work ers in mind. President C. A. Fink, of the North Carolina State Fed eration of Labor, is appealing to Central Labor Unions and local unions throughout the state to quis legists tire candidates on the ques tion ef a State Minimum Wage Law before the voting takes place in the May primaries. With con gress and the country debating a ef«» law. President Pink is eonesmsd orre the pli|kt of tko workers employed in poreljr is Instate of tko This is no new tkoucht with ths croups of worhors protoctcd ThtiTtoLk is MM, aw4 arouoof tho Mio to ftowWi tetonst to behalf of the unorganised, unpro tected, over-worked, underpaid -and under-nourished thousands of work ers who were and remain outside by the Federal Wage-Hour law. A strike of laundry workers in Char lotte less than a year ago brought to light the fact that these work ers were being paid aa low as IS cents an hour. It is believed that candidates for the legislature will he consulted before the primaries as to their attitude on the question of minimum wages for the uapre ef North Forthcoming radio programs in the “Cross Section—AFL” aeries broadcast each Saturday at 3:45 p, m., Eastern Time, over the nation* wide Columbia Broadcasting Sys tem, are listed eblow for the in formation of trade unionists every where so that they can make ad vance plans to tune in: May 4—Printing Trades. John B, Haggerty, president of the Inter national Allied Printing Trades As sociation; and Oscar Whitehouse, secretary of the union employers of the Printing Industry of Amer ica, will talk from a printing plant in Washington, D. C. May 11—Truck Transportation. Members of the Teamsters’ Union will be interviewed from an over the-road lunchroom stop in the Chi cago area. GOXl PARLEY DRUGS ALONG; MINES CLOSED Washington, D. C.—Negotiations between the United Mine Workers Union and the operators of the na tion’s bituminous coal mines con tinued desultorily without visible evidence of progress while the mines stayed shut. UMW President John L. Lewis put the operators at a psycholog ical disadvantage when he urged that the negotiations be conducted in public and the management rep resentative refused. The union leader insisted that the operators have failed thus far to make any satisfactory offer for improving health and safety conditions in the mines. The union is insisting that this vital matter be settled before any consideration is given to the for mulation of increased • pay scales. Another issue in the negotiations is the unionization of supervisory employes, which has been sanc tioned by a recent NLRB decision. Meanwhile, many steel plants in the nation began feeling the pinch of coal shortages and were forced to curtail operations. Other industries are expected to be hard hit unless the .dispute is settled wihin the next three weeks. Government officials continued their hands-off policy, except for offering the services of a U. S. con ciliator, but rumors persisted that the Labor department and other Federal agencies are drawing far stepping into the pfcters U the ahutdown is —«-^«-rTd be yend an emMffongjr deadline, ■l Washington. I), c.—Plans to launch the most intensive organizing drive ever under* taken in the South by the trade union movement were announced by AFL President William Green. The main goal of the cam paign is to enroll 1.000.000 ! new members in AFL unions in the next year. Mr. Green 1 said. The drive will be direct ed entirely by the executive officers of the 12 State Fed erations of Labor in the South and George L. Gouge, AFL southern representahe. At a week-end meeting in At lanta, AFL southern leaders com pleted plans for the third jaiennial Southern Labor Conference to he held May 11 anu 1-2 at Asheville, N. C. The organizing drive will be launched at this conference, which will be attended by delegates from b.600 AFL local unions now func tioning in the South, city and dis trict councils and state federations of labor. i / Mr. Green, Secretary-Treasury George Meany, Vice President Wf iiam L. Hutcheson, John L. LJ. and other members of the a>%. f Executive Council, will addreM the ' conference, along with officers n* , the Railway Employes Department, A the Building end Construction ' Trades Department, the Metal Trades Department, the Govern ment Employes Council and the Union Label Trades Department. The Spring meeting of the AFL Executive Council will be held here immediately following the confer ence at Asheville and presumably will consider ways and means of supporting the southern drive with assistance from the national or ganization as well as all affili ated unions. The Southern Labor Conference, the largest regional labor gather ing in the nation, will include del egates from West Virginia, Vir ginia, North Carolina, South Caro lina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky. Among important items on the agenda besides the organizing drive, are: 1. Co-ordination of national and state legislative and political activ ities in the South. 2. Hastening of reconversion and e.\pansion of industrial activity in the South through union-manage ment so-operation. 3. Marshalling of labor forces to resist inroads of Communism and subversive elements. 4. Mobilization of labor support for the advancement of the eco nomic and social welfare of south ern agriculture through co-opera tion with farmers' organizations. The Southern Labor Conference originally was scheduled to be held ii. 1944 but had to be postponed because of wartime travel restric tions. Attendance will be so large that special arrangements had to be made with the railroads and ho tels to accommodate the delegates and guests. WINE. LIQUOR UNION PUTS 800 VETERANS INTO JOBS New York City—More than 200 veterans with no previous experi ence in the trade have been put on the job at the full union scale by the New York City Local 1 of the Wine, Liquor and Distillery Work ers (AFL). Re-employment of more tK«n 600 of iU member* who have been In service also has been arranged by the union. Bighty per cent have returned and each aiatir found a job waiting for Itm, with an heart's eC union wages md i
The Charlotte Labor Journal and Dixie Farm News (Charlotte, N.C.)
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May 2, 1946, edition 1
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