Newspapers / The Charlotte Labor Journal … / March 6, 1947, edition 1 / Page 2
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Editorial CHARLOTTE LABOR JOURNAL & DIXIE FARM NEWS Published Weekly st Charlotte. N. C. Address All Communications to Post Office Box 1061 Telephones 3-3094 and 4-5502 Office of Publication: 118 East Sixth Street. Charlotte. N. C. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $2.00 per year, payable In advance or 6c per copy. ADVERTISING RATES for commercial advertising reasonable. A. Stalls, Editor and- Publisher W. M. Witter, Associate Editor Entered as second-class mail matter September 11, 1»*1, at the Post Office at Charlotte, N. C., under the Act of Congress of March 3, 187» Official Organ of the Charlotte Central Labor Union and Approved,!* The American Federation of Labor and the North Carolina Federation of Labor The Labor Journal will not be responsible for opinions of corre spondents, but any erroneous reflecting upon the character, standing or reputation of any person, firm or corporation which may appear in the columns of The Labor Journal will be gladly corrcctedwhen called to the attention of the publisher. Correspondence and Open Forum opinions solicited. _ ___ ANTI-LABOR MEA8URES Legislative proposals to penalize organized labor would be “a body blow to our democracy,’ declared David Dubin sky, President of the AFL Ladies’ Garment Workers Appearing before the Senate Labor Committee, Mr. Dub insky, a Vice-President of the American Federation of La bor, joined other union leaders in sharp criticism of meas ures to outlaw industry-wide bargaining and the closed shop. He also denounced bills which would prohibit organiza tional strikes and regulate health and welfare funds. In sharp tongue, Mr. Dubinsky told the committee that the “economic insecurity of the workers” was the cause of the strike wave which followed the war. The Garment Worker?’ chief added: ! “The obvious solution of the problem lies in efforts and measures that would remove or minimize that insecurity. Yet not a single one of the labor bills before your commit tee is directed to that end. “Instead, the proposed legislation would render organized labor impotent; it would prove detrimental to the best! in terests of our country; it would be a step in the direction of weakening our economic system; it would be a body blow to our democracy.” _V . Mr. Dubinsky said that, in addition to erasing economic insecurity, Congress should concentrate on assuring “real collective bargaining” between management and labor. Declaring that practically all of the 380,000 members of his union are employed under union shop agreements, Mr. Dubinsky said such contracts provide “the only realistic bargaining strength with which to match the bargaining advantage of the employer.’ He added that “instead of removing a cause of indus trial discontent and friction,” a law knocking out closed and union shops “would increase a thousand-fold.” As for industry-wide bargaining Mr. Dubinsky contended “there is no other basis on which fair labor standards and legitimate competition can be maintained” in the garment industry. 1 He said that to ban such bargaining “would bring back exploitation of labor” and make it impossible for his inter national union “to guarantee the performance of a local contract.* * ,, Declaring that Senator Ball’s bill to outlaw industry-wide bargaining waa not “the solution” Mr. Dubinsky faced Senator Ellender of Louisiana, who proposed that the labor leader offer a solution to the Nation’s labor problems. “Maybe if I knew the answer I’d run for the Senate,” responded the witness. Matthew* Woll, also a Vice President of the AFL, dealt mainly with problems confronting the International Photo Engravers’ Union of which he also is Vice President In all of its 45 years of existence, Mr. Woll told the com mittee, this union had never shown any evidence of monop oly uid nearly all employes in this field are members of the AFL. He declared that the veils of monoply did not lie inherently in the combination itself but in the manner in which the monopolistic power was exercised and the end to which it was directed. Mr. Woll demurred emphatically to the suggestion of Senator Ball that the maintenance of such an organization sounded to him “dangerously’ like saying “the end justi fies the means.” Mr, Woll presented to the committee an extensive account of the organization and development of the union for which he spoke. He explained that, in view of the comprehensive picture placed before the committee in both branches of Congress exploring the labor situation, by both labor and industrial leaders, he did not feel it necessary to go into details on each bill thrown into the hopper. Other labor leaders appearing before the committee ex pressed deep concern over pending legislation which they regarded as "aimed at the heart” of organized labor. They declared that the “deliberate strategy” of labor foes was to dissipate the energy and resources of the American people, to destroy their trade unions “and render the com mon man helpless and impotent to protect himself from elements which, in time, would invite Fascism.” TRUMAN ADVISORS SUPPORT ANNUAL WAGE PLAN Collective bargaining between unions and employers, rather than legislation, is the most clear-cut path to Ameri can economic security. This was the note highlighting the statement presented to President Truman by the advisory board of the Office of War Mobilzation and Reconversion, a White House agency; Top represent es of labor, industry, agriculture and the public make up the board and all signed the statement to Truman. For labor, the signers were AFL President William Green, T. C. Cashen, president of the Switchmen and chairman of the Railway Labor Executives’ Associa tion ; and CIO President Philip Murray. Along with their statement, they submitted to the Chief Executive ah extensive report on the annual wage, pre pared by Murray W. Latimer, former chairman of the Rail road Retirement Board, with the assistance of a number of noted economists. The report was lauded as a “major contribution to the sum of knowledge in this field and as a guidepost to em ployers and unions in working out guaranteed wage plans. The signers stressed, however, that the annual wage will not in itself assure economic stability, but can only serve as “one of the instruments” toward achieving that goal. They recommended that the Council of Economic Ad visers, which administers the “Full Employment Act,” be assigned to continue studies in that held. "What a Wonderful World It Would Be - - Ip* I r' m*1 in -IF WE WERE ALL AC FREE FROM HATE AC Tfctf IlilLLXilSu c wif ,| ; M11 Country Appreciate America- toe. Collective Bargaining Ban Rapped At AFL Hearing Washington, D. C. — The pro posal that all contracta between employers and employes be con fined to a local labor market hits at the very heart of free collective bargaining process, declared AFL President William Green in a brief supplementing his discussion of anti-labor legislation in his appearance before the Senate La bor Committee. “It would destroy long estab lished and mature collective bar gaining relations in many key areas of industry," Mr. Green said. “Industrial peace was unbroken over a period of many years in many such areas because the scope of agreement between labor and management has been extend ed to cover more than one plant and more than one employer. La bor-management relations did not break down and no work stop pages occurred at the most criti cal stages of industrial conflict in the .difficult transition from war to peace since V-J Day where voluntary settlement of differ ences was developed through area wide* association-wide, and indus try-wide agreements. That is pre cisely the area the proposed leg islation would invade, and that is the procedure this legislation would outlaw. "The attack against industry wide bargaining is aimed at con ditions remote from free collec tive bargaining. It is directed at the evil which has already been eradicated by the termination of wartime controls over wages. Un der the wartime wage stabilisa tion program, continued until re cently, wage terms and other con ditions agreed to by a few firms dominating an industry were im posed upon other firms in the industry. In such instances the bargaining process was confined to a few giant aggregates in the industry. The smaller firms were compelled to sign up without even a pretense at negotiations." • “In the glass bottle manufac turing Industry, hi the pottery and chinsware manufacturing in dustry, in the stove manufactur ing industry. In dress manufac turing, in pulp and paper manu facturing, and many others, there have been no strikes or lockouts, norf interruptions in production and no cause for government inter vention during the crucial 20 months since the end of the war. “In all these instances, area wide, industry-wide and associa tion-wide AFL agreements proved to be the most effective instru ments of labor peace. They have withstood the supreme test of inflationary pressures, dislocation and discord of the most trying reconversion period. Yet these tested tools of industrial harmony and accord would be thrown on the scrap heap by the proposed legislation in the name of pro moting industrial peace! “The attack against industry wide bargaining is aimed at con ditions remote from free collec tive bargaining. It is directed at the evil which has already been eradicated by the termination of wartime controls over wages. Under the wartime wage stabili zation program, continued in peacetime until recetotly, wage terms and other conditions agreed to by a few firms dominating an industry were imposed upon other firms in the industry. In such instances, the bargaining process was confined to a few giant ag gregates in the industry. The smaller firms were compelled to i sign up without' even a pretense | at negotiations. The “formula” was a part oi a government direc tive. Neither the employer nor the union had much choice; they acted under orders. In all such instances there was no collective bargaining. Industry-wide stand* aids so imposed were not the subject of real negotiation or real agreement. “None of these instances, there* fore, were instances of industry wide collective bargaining. The very nature of the procedure used was repugnant to the voluntary process of free collective bar gaining. .Such procedure was often regarded as an evil by both em ployer and unions. That evil has been gnded with the end of gov ernment controls on wages and the end of the wartime regula tion over labor disputes. The real target of the proponents el this legislation is new gone. The high explosive charge they have readied against that target must not be belatedly misdirected and allowed to destroy the very roots of industrial ^eace. "Proposed V legislation would srike at the very areas where harmonious and peaceful relations have been achieved after years of mmmom . —m» . ww . ootmcoo* 'I building up mutual confidence and good will betwen labor and man agement. “Through the free collective bargaining process, unions and employers mutually determine the form of their collecive agreement and fit it to the most effective way of solving the problems both confront In many cases over the past 50 years, the scope of these agreements has been en larged in response to the growth of large-scale enterprises and the increasing interdependence of re lated business interprises. Statu tory limitation of labor egree menta to a single locality is a di rect attack upon the process of free collective bargaining. Any such attempt to confine collec tive bargaining to a specific area will turn back the clock of indus trial progress.** Sixteen States still exclude women frond jury service, accord ing to the U. S. Department of Labor Women’s Bureau. — . Uncle Sam Says The Labor Journal ia a Choice Adrerttain* Medio* » eirWi*^****^1 **!****** A FRIENDLY CHURCH PRITCHARD MEMORIAL BAPTIST CHURCH 1117 Barth Boalerird 9:4* a. Worship Sendees 11:00 s. m. 7:90 p. m. Train tn* UbI«« •:00 p.m. Dr. William Harmon Williams, Pastor # ^ ___ For Iadiccotion, Sour Stomach and Gaa, Tako NA-CO TABLETS MONET BACK GUARANTEE SELWYN CUT RATE DRUG STORE / NEXT TO POST OFFICE vaqgfZHipns “KNOW THE ICE CREAM YOU EAT” OUR PLEDGE OF QUALITY ON EACH PACKAGE “a health food” 4 PET DAIRY PRODUCTS CORP. _ IjandlsL - UhuxilwUu WlutiuxL JiuWuaL (tuociatiniL Ambulance Service 820 E. 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The Charlotte Labor Journal and Dixie Farm News (Charlotte, N.C.)
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March 6, 1947, edition 1
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