Newspapers / The Charlotte Labor Journal … / March 20, 1947, edition 1 / Page 1
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AFFILIATE WITH YOUK CENTRAL LABOR UNION AND THE N. C. FEDERATION Unionists, Da AM la Um Southern Within Your Power To A. F. L. Membership Drive Working For A Better Understanding Between North Carolina AFL Unions and Employers of Labor mr.-mpw:. * • '-r.1 . 0 Charlotte Labor Journal i . . • A Newspaper Dedicated To The Interests of Charlotte Central Labor Union and Affiliated Crafts—Endorsed Bn North Carolina Federation of Labor and Approved By The American Federation of Labor, “Win it aet fee the laker ■U net kt what K Is day, aad any bmo triee la iajare a laker per ia a trailer to VOL, XVI; NO. 4f CHARLOTTE. N. Cn THURDAY, MARCH 20. 1947 Subscription S2j00 Per Year FREE LABOR FACES WORLD - WIDE THREAT Congress Told Many Labor Bills Strictly “Punitive” moil wins of danger II SPREAD OF SLAVE LABOR AROURD WORLD Washington, D. C.—Expansion <of the “slave labor system” is a "dire threat to the free workers of all countries," according to the International Labor Relations Committee of the American Fed eration of Labor. ' This was the pronouncement is sued here by Matthew Woll, AFL vice president, who declared that '‘forced labor has become a post war institution in many lands." "In Europe alone," Mr. Woll’s statement declared, “it has been estimated that nearly one-third of all productive work is now being done by slave labor.” Hie Survey, upon which Mr. Woll was reporting, reported that: : “Slave labor is a challenge which free labor must meet and must meet at once—or be drivejl into slavery itself.” , Despite the interval sisals Urn end of the war -telfttonsePmw and women from former enemy countries are still being held as slave laborers.” » Large numbers of war prison ers still are being held in Great Britain, Poland, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, the summary points out, in asserting crimes -committed by the Nazis were no excuse “for the crimes being per petrated today, especially in the name of democratic and peace loving peoples." “Under no guise is the return to chattel slavery ami the Dark Ages permissible or desirable," said Mr. Woll, in the statement which was said to have the ap proval of the executive council of the AFL “What a sad retrogression. Compare this with what happened after the first war when, within ten months after the end at hos tilities, all prisoners of war were freed. With such impetuosity has mankind been going backward that even ad organisation calling itself the World Federation of Trade Unions has proposed the imposition "of forced labor on the Ruhr coal miners. “Paradoxical as it may appear, it is the land which calls itself 'socialist,’ the government which parades as a 'workers’ republic,’ that is tlw worst and biggest slave center on earth today. It is from Soviet Russia that the tidal wave of labor enslavement has swept westward. The Irkutsk Pravds only recently boasted that 5,000,000 prisoners of war are being used as penal labor in Si beria. In the Kremlin domain there •re millions of Soviet citisens doomed to slave labor camps merely because, they are suspected or convicted of disapproving or disagreeing with some act or pol icy of the ruling group. < "But the Moscow dictatorship also holds in slavery millions of aoh-Kussians ... hundreds of thousands of these slaves were rounded up by the Soviet police and snared by its spy dragnet in the capitals of Russia's conquered and satellite^ lands. ... "Barrack economy anywhere is a menace to free labor every where. When Japanese soldiers are turned into slave-toilers on the Volga-Lake Baikal railway for the benefit of the Russian bu reaucracy or when Papuans and „ (Continued so Pago 4) Green* Asks AFL Unions To ^ * Back Teachers’ Pay Demands * - r- " f — ■ ' 1 SmiohjI Ut»r Struct k SPRING CUANINO v RiCXSNTHS MEETING W CHICAGO DISCUSS PUIS FOR YEAR Chicago, HI.—Two hundred and fifty delegate*, representing ap proximately 800 unite with a membership of 80,000, are ex pected her* for t|w 17th conven tion of the International Prethee hood of Blacksmiths (AFL) next week.. Headquarters for the con vention will be in the Morrison Hotel President Boy Hern is seriously ill and will be unable to attend this oonelave. Vice President John Pelkofer will preside. Mr. Pelkofer has been acting as president at the organisation during Mr. Horn’s illness. * * Many vital problems will be presented to the convention by delegates from all parts of the. Nation, including revision of the union’s constitution. Melroy Hera, sew of President Horn and business manager of the Gasoline Station Attendants’ Union in St. Louis, is scheduled to extend his father’s greetings to the convention.' Mr. Pelkofer reported that “wonderful progress has been made throughout our entire trade since the last convention.’’ The union today is. at peak strength and has won marked gains in wages and working conditions, Mr. Pelkofer told newsmen. Also, in conjunction with other AFL shop craft unions, the black smiths have established contrac tual relations on every railroad !n the United States except the Pennsylvania, and a drive to organise shop craft workers on I that road is now under way, he I_,. t ■ SEAFARERS SEEK WA6E RAISES TO MEET HIGHER GOST OF UVM6 New 4ork City. — Increued wages to the rising costs of liv ing are being sought by the East Const Division of the Seafarers International Union (AFL), fol lowing a meeting here. Operators with which the union has contracts .were notified of the new requests aftej a special meeting of the SIU. In announcing the move, a un ion spokesman pointed out that last year the SIU, sided by other AFL maritime unions, had brought American shipping to a "complete standstill” when the Wage Stabilisation Board ruled against increases that the union had negotiated with shipowners. No definite demands have been set by the union but a negotiat ing committee, headed by J. P. Shuler, assistant secretary-treas urer, will attempt to "work out” a satisfactory wage scale with operator representatives, it was reported. ‘ * Assetring that the gains won by the union last year had been "practically wiped out” by the rising cost of essentials, Paul Hall, port agent for the SIU, declared: "We cannot allow ourselves to go back to the substandard liv ing. that seamen had to endure for so long. "We expect the operators to bargain in good faith. If not; we can always, rely on economic ac tion at the point of production.” Sixteen States still exclude women fronf Jury service, accord ing to the U. $. Department of Labor Women’s Bureau. URGES STRONG DRIVES IK ALL LOCALITIES FOR MORE SCHOOL FUNDS IjPishington, D. C.—AFL Presi dent William Green, in letters io all AFL Central Labor Unions, has sounded a stronjr appeal to all central bodies to five vigorous' support to efforts of teachers i throughout the Nation in their1 efforts to provide increased stand ards through advocat on of in creased educational appropria tions. Deploring the inadequate funds supplied for teachers, Mr. Green i declared: % “The 1946 convention of the American Federation of Labor gave serious attention to the crisis % education whjgh has frown out uf inadequate compen sation and resulted in teacher shortage. “Teaching is an occupation vital to our democracy, and should be dignified by pay in proportion to value of services. To assure pay adequate to main tain and improve education's op portunities for all children, two approaches are necessary—Fed eral aid to local schools and larger local appropriations, or more effective tax measures. “Only through the sustained and co-ordinated efforts of the labor movement, acting through all federated bodies and local un ions, can these ends be realised. Education is the concern of every union.” Pointing out that throughout its lifetime, the AFL has active ly supported the Nation's public school system “as the basis of equal educational opportunity for all, Mr. Green added:, ‘“Unfortunately, teachers them selves have not organised prop erly to promote their economic interests. It was not until the first World War that teachers realised an economic foundation was nec essary for sustained professional standards and began organising in unions affiliated with the AFL. During the present period of cri sis the American Federation of Teachers has made unparalleled progress and now has local* ia over 300 cities. "The teacher* union* are the agencies with which Central La bor Union* should co-operate in working out adequate tax reve nues earmarked for education. I urge ■ each Central Labor Un ion to take the initiative in its locality in securing larger appro prations for education, and to work in co-operation with our unions for these workers." Meanwhile. Boris Shiskia, AFL economist, addressing the annual conference of the New York Teachers* Guild in New York, cited particularly the need of pro viding instructors with an ade quate salary if the task rests with them of teaching children how to obtain an adequate stand ard of liping. Mr. Shiskin told the group: “Since I941„ the year of our entry into war, half the school teachers have left the school sys tem. .They were forced out of their chosen pursuit'by economic (Continued On Fag* 4) FIRST DINGER SIGNS CITED IN CREDIT RISE, SITINGS DECREASE Washington, D. C. — Workers and'other consumers are making up their income deficit by draw ing on their savings and buying on credit, it was reported in the Monthly Survey of the American Federation of Labor, which de clared that consumer credit has increased 45 per cent in the last year while Savings have dropped 41 per cent. „ “These are the first signs of danger,” the report said. “To sup port production by consumer bor rowing and by spending savings is to build our industrial structure on a hollow foundation which will collapse. An enduring foundation can only be built out of increased consumer intome, and about 75 to 80 per cent of American con sumers are workers and their families. “‘Wages aad salaries ycovl^a about 70 per cent of consumer in come, which is spent for foods. Factory workers’ average weekly ‘real’ wage in December, 1040, was 4 per cent below the same month of the previous year and the ‘real’ wage of workers in re tail stores dropped 2 per cent In, the same period—to cite as typi cal examples industries which • mploy 40 per cent of all non farm workers. That is why woix ?rs have had to borrow and draw on their saving*. That is why workers’ income must be re stored.” * Discussing the question of whether labor and employers can be partners, the survey said: “American industries and con sumers are reaping the benefits of labor’s co-operation. A reliable investors’ service anticipates ex cellent earnings statements’ for the first quarter of 1947, and expects profits for the full year of 1947 “to exceed the record net results of 1946.’ Full year results depend on the course of indus trial developments.” The "key” question, seen in the report, "centers about the will ingness of employers, through peaceful negotiations, to agree to the wage increases Which today's favorable situation makes pos sible. Or will employers make it neccessary for workers to strike in order to obtain fair wage gains? "Workers’ total income declined by *6,600,000,000 while the income of other croupe rose by a total of *8,600,000,000," in the period between 1946 and 1949, the re port revealed. ‘“This cut hi workers’ income is serious for two reasons,” it added, “it means a decline in workers’ living standards, espe cially when it comes at a time of price increases, and the mar ket for « industry’s products will be cut unless workers’ income is increased. The Nation’s 40,000, 000 wage and salaried workers buy a great deal larger share of industry’s consumer goods prod uct than do the 10,000,000 farm ers and business men.” AFL LION WINS High Point, N. C —The Ameri can Federation of Labor waa vic torious recently in an election held for employes of the Plant ers Oil and Fertiliser Co. Economists Ask For V * Commission To Explore Labor Relationships KLEIN SIYS 70 ANTI LABOR SPEAKERS CITED FOR UNFAIR PRACTICES New York City.—Charges that the majority of the 70 manage ment witAesses who have ap peared before the U. S. House Labor Committee arguing for re strictive labor leg station are per sons who have been cited by the National Labor Relations Board or courts for unfair labor prac tices were made by Representa tive Arthur Klein of New York. Representative Klein, member at the committee, apebo befsrso conference of 500 delegates from 160 local labor unions here. He disclosed he is gathering data on the labor records of the man agement witnesses, who, he said outnumbered the labor witnesses seven to one. He will publish y* results in the Congressional Rec ord, he said. “The labor bills before Con-, gress will do away with the gains of labor for the past 40 to 60 years,” he asserted. Charles & Zimmerman, fvice president of the AFL Internation •I Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Uru ion, displayed a handbill that would hare announced a general strike in the garment industry if a settlement had not been reached two days ago. The union very nearly had its first strike in IS years because, the employers had been encouraged to “get tough” by anti-labor agitation, he charged. “Happily,” he added, “they changed their minds and agreed to bargain in good faith.” Emil Schlesinger, general coun sel to the ILGWU, said the por tal-to-portal bill proposed would scrap the wages and hours law. Messages were read from Sec retary of Labor Lewis B. Schwel lenbach and Senator Robert Wag ner. Resolutions were adopted unanimously opposing restrictive labor legislation. DAIRY WORKERS GET RAISE Johnson City, Tcnn. — Eight hundred employe* of Pot Dnlry Products Company, in SS plants in six states have boon organised end brought under n standard' agreement negotiated by the In* teraational Brotherhood of Team sters. The contract is system* •ride and the dosed shop and check-off are established with system-wide seniority. Up to three months payment td full wages during illness, six legal holidays and double pay if crocked are some of the benefits established. Dressing and clean ip time for inside workers prior a and finishing work is paid time. CTMW WINS » ELECTIONS Atlanta, Ga.—The United Mine Workers of America (APL) have iron elections among itrlnifsl and supervisory employes) in three West Virginia coal mines, located it PineviUe, Valley Head and Ben wood, W. Va. ■ Amhurst, Mass.—Many of the labor bills now pending: before Congress represent “punitive leg islation, designed to destroy many successful collective bargaining practices and to jeopardise the rights of workers, rather than to And solutions to existing prob lems.” This was the conclus'on reached by a group of 160 economists and political scientists in session here who addressed a letter to Senator Taft, chairman of the Senate La bor Committee, urging support of , President Truman’s proposal for a joint commission to con duct a careful investigation of labor-management relations. Ttoay saaaessiets nagv mutate* - the Senate Committee upon the comprehensive hearings it has been holding. They nevertheless expressed grave doubts whether committee hearings “valuable as they are as an expression of public opinion, can produce the objective record of factual mate rial which is needed at the pres-t ent time.” * ! “Committee hearing*,” the group stated, “must necessarily take place against the background of pending wage negotiations be tween several major Industries and (he unions representing their workers,' and cannot help reflect ing the pressures arising from this situation. Furthermore, the testimony heard will be directed at the bills under consideration, many of which seem punitive.'* The educators concluded: "We strongly oppose any leg* station which attempts to wipe out the gains made in the last decade granting jthe workers a somewhat mors equal bargaining position with industry, and which propose now to place workers at the mercy of their employers. "We hope that your comsrittep win realise that only a forward looking appronch to the problem of labor - management relation* mmm lead to any real solution o»d prevent reprisals, against workers which will endanger democratic rights." BARGAINING CURBS ASSAILED BY HERZOG AT HEARING Washington, D. C.—Any chance in the policy of encouraging col* lective bargaining would haw unhsppy ^onsccjiHHQCfM ^ Paul M. Htnof, chairman of the National Labor Relations Board, declared before the Senate Labor Relations Committee which b considering far-reaching prep sente far revision of labor legislation. “Successful collective bargain ing would be frustrated if any of the employe’s rights, guaran teed by the Wagner Act, were subtracted from that statute," he said. URGES WAGE-PRICE RISK Atlantic City, N. i.—The nS> tion’s economy be adjusted to n wage-price level 80 per float above pre-war standards, asserted Senator Taft of Ohio in u ad dryss before the American Asso ciation of Sfhwl Administrators
The Charlotte Labor Journal and Dixie Farm News (Charlotte, N.C.)
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March 20, 1947, edition 1
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