A Cht Charlotte labor Journal (AND DIXIE FARM NEWS) 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. VOL. XVI; NO. 2 CHARLOTTE. N. C„ THURSDAY, MAY 23. 1916 Subscription Price $2.00 Her Year Health and Welfare Fmd Fight Fully Justified, IIFl Says As Government Seizure Impends In Strike Deadlock Washington, D, C.—Placing responsibility for the coal shutdown on the “uncompromising*’ attitude of the mine owners, the AFL Executive Council pledged full support to the United Mine Workers of America “until victory is won.” This means, AFL President William Green told a press conference, that the seven million members of the Federa tion will back up the coal miners “morally, financially, and politically.” The Executive Council’s sweeping endorsement of the union’s demand for a health and welfare fund broke the wave of denunciation which had been rolling up against UMW President John L. Lewis and served notice to the nation that the mine union leader is not carrying on his fight alone and unbefriended. . . The controversy was rapidly heading toward a new crisis as the mining truce granted by the union neared its end and the deadlock in negotiations between the UMW and the coal operators remained unbroken. Reports persisted that the Government plans to seize and operate the mines under an agreement to be worked out with the union, the anti-labor bloc in Congress rushed efforts to enact legislation which would outlaw the very things the miners are fighting for. Mr. Lewis appeared at a morn ing session of the Executive Coun cil, of which he is a member, to give his colleagues the “inside story” of the negotiations to date. He was not present, however, at the afternoon session when the Council reached its decision and drafted its declaration. Another outstanding develop ment as the Executive Council end ed the first week of its Spring meeting was the issuance of a sol emn warning that the clouds of another world war are gathering because of the aggressive actions of Soviet Russia since V-J Day. The Council demanded that the United States force a showdown with Russia to preserve world peace. In its resolution on the coal strike, the Council unhesitatingly and unanimously gave the union’s proposal for a health and welfare fund unqualified support. It said: “Health and welfare funds have been established to protect mine workers in Great Britain, Spain, and India. Shall America lag be hind other countries in safeguards for its workers?” The Council pointed out that similar health and welfare funds are in operation in other American industries, including the garment and electrical trades. It demanded to know on what grounds it is reasonable to refuse such benefits to miners, engaged in a far more hasardous occupation. Citing the heavy toll of death and injuries in coal mines each year, the Council sharply con demned the mine owners for their “greedy and begrudging policy toward safety installations.” Declaring that “the facts leave no room for debate,” the Council charged that thousands of miners are “slaughtered or crippled each year by preventable m^ne acci dents,” and that compensation for injured miners and the dependents of those killed “falls far short of even a minimum standard of hu man decency." The evils or the company aoctor system, the council said, deprives the miners of the opportunity for proper medical care and hospital ization. The proposed health and welfare fund, the statement assert ed, will prove a great boon to the mining industry in accident pre vention, reduction of occupational disease and improved morale, as against the “inhuman conditions” under which miners have been com pelled to work. “We wish to let it be known,” the Council declared, “that the American Federation of Labor sup ports the UMW to the fullest ex tent in this controversy. The coal miners are not fighting alone for the justice they deserve. The sev en million members of the AFL will back them to the limit.” The Council’s blast at Russia for impeding efforts by other members of the United Nations to establish world peace, was issued several days before Secretary of State Byrnes, in a report to the Nation, made it clear that the Soviet is the ,stumbling block to interna tional understanding. “Gravest concern” over the In creasing threat of another world war was expressed by the Coun cil, which asserted “the evidence Is clear and menacing.” Calling at tention to the fact that more than a year has elapsed since V-E Day and nine months sin,ce V-J Day, it deplored the inability of the For eign Ministers’ Conference in Paris to chart a road for enforcing Euro pean peace or rod hostilities in Asia. “But more dangerous than these obvious manifestations of unrest (Please Tun to Page 4) REDS’ ATTITUDE CONDEMNED NY A.F1. Washington, D. C.—'Text of AFL Executive Council statement con demning Russia’s post war attitude ; and demanding toughening of U. S. stand, follows: Tho Executive Council views with the gravest concern the 1 mounting threat of another world war. j The evidence is clear and men acing. It is now more than a year since V-E Day and nine months after V-J Day, yet world peace has not yet been established. The fail ure of the Foreign Ministers’ Con ference at Paris to reach agreement on how peace shall be applied and enforced in Europe is grievously disappointing. Continuation of hos tilities in Asia appears to baffle all attempts at settlement. But more dangerous than these obvious manifestations of unrest and conflict is the deep cleavage in policy which has developed be tween the United States and Brit j ain on one side and Soviet Russia or the other. The Executive Council is con vinced that further delay and ap peasement offer little hope of suc cess and may only widen the breach. We must reach a clear un derstanding with Russia. If the policy of Soviet Russia is to be “tough” we must show her that we can get tougher in our defense of basic principles. The American Federation of La bor unequivocally condemns the at titude taken by Soviet Russia since the war ended. In Europe and in Asia, she has employed main force instead of consultation with other powers. Russia has seised captured territory, she has'brazenly sought to extend her influence and domain over most of Asia and eastern Eu rope. In pursuing this policy Soviet Russia has employed the methods ot aggression (rather than self-de fense). She has trampled on the high principles proclaimed by the United Nations, denying funda mental freedoms to the citizens of other countries and depriving them of self-determination. The Executive Council considers it significant that the foreign agents of Moscow are again assail ir.g the foreign policy of the Unit ed States and accusing us of "Im perialism.” Such propaganda al ready is being broadcast through out South America and it even has ■ invaded our shores. At a recent convention in Atlantic City of a ! union of government employes not affiliated with the American Fed i eration of Labor resolutions were | adopted condemning the United States and Great Britain for "ag gression.” While Soviet Russia at tempts to hoodwink our diplomats her followers in America are en i gaged in a campaign to deceive the ; American people. The time has come to face these ' facts. We call upon the Govern ment of the United States to insist 1 that Russia observe her wartime j commitments based on the Atlantic Charter. COUNCIL BACKS MIRERS' FI6HT Washington, D. C.—Text of dec laration of the AFL Executive Council on the United Mine Work ers’ demand for a health and wel fare fund follows: The Executive Council, after giving careful consideration to the issues involved in the coni dispute, has come to the unanimous con (Pleaae Turn to Pag* 4) CONVENTION CALENDAR OF AJL UNIONS (Following is a list of conven tions scheduled for this year ay Natonal and International Unions and State Federations of Labor under the banner of the American Federation of Labor. This is not final or complete. Additions will be announced later.) June 1 — National Brotherhood of Operative Potters, Atlantic City N. J. June 3 — Inti. Union of Glove Workers—Champagne, III. June 3—Inti. Union of United Hatters, Caps, etc. — New York, N. Y. June 3—American Federation of Musicians—St. Petersburg, Fla. June 8 — South Dakota State Federation of Labor — Huron, 3. D. June 10—Ore*on State Federa tion of Labor—Astoria, Ore. June 13—Maine State Federa tion of Labor, Bangor, Me. June 13—Colorado State Feder ation of Labor—Pueblo, Colo. June 17—California State Fed eration of Labor—San Francisco, Cal. June 17—Nevada State Federa tion of Labor—Las Vegas, Nev. June 17—Inti Union of Elevator Constructors—Toronto, Ont., Can. June 17 — Pattern Makers League of North America—Cin cinnati, Ohio. June 24—Texas Federation of Labor—Houston. Tex. June 26 — Inti. Fed. of Tech. Engineers, Architects, etc.—Wash ington, D. C. LAUNDRY WORKERS PUN INTENSIVE SOUTHERN DRIVE Washington, D. C.—Plans for an intensive campaign to organize laundry workers throughout the South were announced by Sam J. Byers, president of the Laundry Workers’ International Union (AFL), in an article prepared for the American Federalist, official AFL publication. Citing marked strides made in union-management relations through newly-negotiated con tracts, Byers said: “The laundries considered our I ' Had . — * nifiiiufis ansmitva woritTf prior 1 to the war. They learned their mis take from the abominable and cost ly work turned out by temporary workers who tried to fill the places of those who went into the armed services of war plants. “During the past year we have been successful in markedly in creasing our membership and our rates of pay. Confidence and satis faction pervade the membership. The heavy turnover of the war days has slowed down and we are getting some of our old members back. Employers in the laundry in dustry are learning that humane methods, as advocated by the un ion, are good business and pay dividends. “We are getting across to the unorganized laundry workers of the South the story of what organ ization has meant to others in their industry. In some sections of the South wages are as low as 15 cents an hour. The workers have no vacations and no extra pay for holiday vork. “We have recently negotiated a minimum wage of 75 cents an hour in San Franeifco. It is our deter mination to raise, as rapidly as possble,- the scales in Southern cities to thit levc.. “We are concentrating on the South because it is .here the woric ers arc the r:r>i*t ruth'essly victi mized, livirr: und’t conditions p.m., Eastern Standard Time, over the nation-wide Columbia Broad casting System, are listed below for the information of trade union ists everywhere so that they can make advance plans to tune in: May 25—Report from the South. George Googe, AFL Regional Di rector, and David Lilienthai, TV A chairman, will describe the ad vances won by AFL organization of southern workers. June 1-—Teamsters. Members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters who operate over-the road trucks in the mid-west area will be interviewed from a road side lunchroilh. JUSTICE ON THE MINERS’ SIDE y> ashmgton, D_ C.—The justice of the coal miners’ cause is upheld in the following excerpt from an article in the United Mine Workers Journal: “From the very start of the bi tuminous coal wage negotiations the operators have attempted to pooh-pooh the UMW demands for the establishment of a health and welfare fund and a guarantee of the acceptance by the operators of compliance with safety laws tn accordance with mine inspectors’ recommendations. Operators have openly defied discussion of the NLRB decision granting collective ! bargaining* rights to supervisory employes. “Repeatedly, the operators have insisted that these demands—fun- j damental principles—be cast aside, and that wage negotiations be con fined solely to a discussion of hours and dollars-and-cents earn ings and pay increases. “There is nothing new about this pattern . . . Operators througn the years ... have been solely in terested in dollars and cents . . . The whole propaganda program of the operators ... is tied to the hope that (they) can make the public believe the UMW is respon sible for the breakdown in nego tiations. “Every investigator, every re porter who has gone to the coat fields to investigate . . . has found a multitude of victims of Inawe-. quate compensation and medical care. “American coal miners are fed up with the stalling tactics and continued refusal of coal operea tors to consider the financial obli gation of industry to meet the hu man needs of the men who man America’s basic industry.’’ ILO DELEGATES MEETING ON 17-POINT AGENDA Montreal—Delegates to the two weeks session of the International Labor Organisation are in confer ence here on matters covering a 7-point agenda. Following the meetings here, an ILO delegation ( will visit New York to negotiate < the terms of the ILO’s relationship with the United Nations Organixa- < tion- —> Refugee Couple Who Saved 26 GIs From Nazis Reach U. S. with NRS Aid _ At wfujwi in Italy, while themselves hiding front tlir Naiis, I'Oui* Kahn. 73, and his wife, l.eontine, risked their lives to help 26 American and British prisoners of war escape from a IMari tiring squad. The National Refugee Service, whose work is supported by the $100. 000,000 campaign of the United Jewish Appeal for 1916. helped the Kahns to immigrate to the United States. They are shown here telling their story to Ann IVtlurk (left), head of the MRS Migration Department. With them is a relative, Frederick D. Weil, himself a refugee who gave an affidavit for Mr. and Mrs. Kahn. The Kuhns have settled in San Antonio, Texas. BELT TIGHTENING 1$ URGED j BY 6REQI TO MB HUNGRY Washington, D. C.—AFL Presi dent William Green, in a special message, called upon American families to eat 40 per cent less wheat and 20 per cent less fats m a move to relieve mass famine abroad. In an editorial written for the American Federtionist, AFL offi cial publication, Mr. Green saidr “Famine, which means human misery and suffering on a mass scale — hunger and malnutrition for approximately 600,000,000 per sons—is the aftermath of a war bringing unparalleled destruction of life and material civilization. “War prevented the planting and harvesting of crops in Europe and Asia. Further losses came from forced migration of large groups of people. Some of the armetf forces lived on the land of con quered peoples. The USSR extenu ed its control over neighboring countries and reversed old lines of supplies and markets. Large armed forces in Central Europe daily in crease the amount of relief food needed. “We in the United States must and will share with those who have not. Let us each and all make plans to eat 40 per cent less wheat and save at least 20 per cent in fats. Let us willingly and con scientiously make our contribu tions. The success of the plan de- ! pends upon determination and dis cipline within each household. “Famine and malnutrition are a poor foundation for peace within nations or between nations. Food ' Freely given will be a power for peace and for democratic Institu tions.” COSTS OF LIVING CLIMBING, LABOR DEPT, INDEX SHOWS Washington, D. C.—Living costs are continuing their climb, the Labor Department disclosed in a report showing its “consumers' price index,” official yardstick of the rise in costs of many commod ities, had risen 30.2 per cent above pre-war levels. The index does not reflect the ’ full rise in costa, however, the ■ iepartment conceded, since such ! things as deterioration in quail-! 1 ty of goods and disapperance of < cw-cost goods from store shelves 1 aren’t shown adequately in the > compilation. The latter factors 1 vould add another 3 to 4 per cent, baking (the total officially-re- 1 :orded advance 38 per cent, the re- < >ort explained. i WOLL OFFERS RUSSIA AFL BULLETIN OR POLICIES OF FREE TRADE UNIONS New York City. — AFL Vice President Matthew Woll announced he will ask Soviet officials here to arrange for the distribution in Russia of an American Federation of Labor bulletin on free trade unionism. This eight-page pamphlet has been translated into several other foreign languages, as well as Rus sian, and will be circulated throughout Europe and South America, Mr. Woll said. He disclosed that he intends to send a copy to Andrei Gromyko, Soviet member of the United Na tions Security Council, with a re quest that permission be given for tde distribution of thousands of copies in Russia. However, Mr. Woll indicated he was somewhat pessimistic about the response of the Soviet Gov ernment, which has always dis played a hostile attitude toward the AFL. The Federation, In turn, has consistently opposed Commun ism. A key paragraph in the pamph let reads as follows: “The workers of all free lands know the traditional position of the AFL— its unswerving loyalty to democratic principles and its unyielding opposition to every type of dictatorship, to every shade and stripe of totalitarian tyranny.” The bulletin contains articles calling for “solidarity among dem ocratic forces everywhere,” de manding democracy for Spain, sup porting Chilean workers in their fight against oppressive govern ment measures, explaining the AFL's program for full employ ment and social security, outlining AFL policies on the reorganization of trade unions in occupied Ger many and Japan and endorsing the proposed U. S. loan to Britain. Mr. Wo!l’s disclosure of the AFL’s move to “make Russian workers familiar with the views of American workers,” as expressed in the pamphlet, was revealed in passing as he outlined at a press ■onference the Federation’s major fforts in Spain, Germany and La in America. He announced the AFL has isked Acting Secretary of State Jean Acheson to protest the im prisonment of a Spaniard who was harged with Communism unfair y. The man, Rafael Robledo, was erving as an agent for the AFL’s abor League for Human Rights. “I don’t need to tell you,” aaid (r. Woll, “that we are opposed to Communism and wouldn’t send aybody to Spain to promote it,” AFL SURVEY ASKS VOICE FOR LABOR IN ECONOMIC AGENCIES Washington, D. C.—Representa tion of labor, management, farm ers and other citizens’ groups in economic agencies of the American government was urged by Labors Monthly Survey, economic publi i cation of the AFL. “Giving the citizens a voice through their economic organiza tions is the democratic way to mo bilize initiative and avoid the dan ger of concentrating power in gov ernment hands,” the article de clared “Participation is the^fe of democracy. Free men can work to gether for progress. Communist regimentation offers nothing which can compare with the co-op eration of free citizens.” The survey, discussing peaceful settlement of disputes, cited the electrical construction industry, with 150,000 workers and 1,500 firms, which has been free of ma jor labor strife for 25 years. “Its Council on Industrial Rela tions, established in 1920, Is to day becoming the model for other industries," it added. “The plan is simple. A 10-man council, com posed of fve union and five Indus try representatives, is the su preme court for settlement of dis > putes. A joint union and manage ment planning committee studies future economic problems. Local labor-management committees thresh out local problems regular ly. The plan has ended union-man agement hostility, prevented wage cuts, resulted in efficient wore at high pay. Workers and employers have prospered, the union has been strengthened and the public has hud better service.” Union-management co-operation in the railroad industry was cited as another example of how suc cessful such plans can be. Out of the rail strike in the early 20*s, the survey pointed out,'camera plan for union-management of the rail repair shops. Joint commit tees of labor and management stu died mutual problems. Workers of fered many suggestions, and | through these improvements came I gains in railroad income which 1 bi ought wage increases and otner ; benefits. During the war, union-man agement co-operation in different forms was spread to more than 4, 000,000 workers in 2,500 plants," the survey added. “A partial study early in 1945 showed at least 700 committees dealing with such problems as improving production, care of tools, absenteeism, safety and health, training and many oth er matters important in daily snop work. Through these committees workers contributed immensely to speed the war effort. “During the war, labor and man agement representatives on the War Labor Board, the W'ar Man | power Commission and other agencies gave workers and em ployers a partnership in the war efforts without which our produc tion miracles could never have ’ been achieved.” The AFL economists saw a bright outlook for employment during the next year. ' “Right after V-J Day,” the re port said, “forecasters estimated that by March, 1946, 8,000,000 peo ple would be out of work. Actual ly, government figures .show less than 3,000,000 unemployed. The reason (1) the demand for workers in industry has been much greater than expected; and (2) some 5, 000,000 people have retired from work, whieh is more than was an tcipated, and many veterans are taking college courses or vacation ing on their terminal pay, “Retail sales today are the high est in history, now running at a level of more than 90 billion a year, compared to the previous peacetime peak of 651-2 billion in 1941. Some forecasters expect that by early 1947 68,200,000 will be working in civilian jobs and 1, 300,000 in military service—total SO,000,000.”