AFFILIATE
♦ WITH YOUR
CENTRAL LABOR
UNION
AND THE
N. C. FEDERATION
NOW!
VOL. VXI: NO. SI
Unionists, Do Everything Within Your Power To
Akl In the Southern A. F. L. Membership Drive
Working For A Better Understanding Between
North Carolina AFL Unions and Employers of Labor
Charlotte Labor Joumal
J . ^ fin
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.
CHARLOTTE. N. €., THURSDAY. APRIL 21. 1947
* “Were it not for the labor
pros*, the labor movement
would not be what it is to*
day. and any man who
tries to injure a labor pa
per is a traitor to tho
cause."—Samuel Gompers.
Subscription $2.00 Per Year
Anti-Labor Bill Is
Blasted By Meany
Before House Vote
Washington, D. C.—The position
of America’s workers as cham
pions of freedom against^ en
croachment by Communisn and
profit-greedy corporations, is ser
iously threatened by the Hartley
anti-labor bill.
, ' --
This was the blunt declaration
of George Meany, Secretary
Treasurer of the American Fed
eration of Labor, in a eoast-to
coast radio address carrying la
bor's vital Iegialatire message to
the American people.
In a blistering assault upon
House proposals to shackle Amer
t ican workers, carried over the
Mutual Broadcasting System, Mr.
Meany pulled no punches when
he declared tmphatically that
House Labor Chairman Hartley
of New Jersey, in drafting this
anti-labor bill, was merely taking
the dictation of the National As
sociation of Manufacturers.
I
"Throughout the 68 pages of
the Hartley bill,” Mr. Meany de
clared, "we find the ideas and the
very language of the NAM’s anti
labor program lifted bodily and
incorporated into the bill. . . .
The bill should be known as the
National Association of Manu
facturer’s bill, which in fact it
is.”
The AFL official lashed at the
NAM for not caring about any
thing except "profits, more prof
its and still more profits,” carry
(Ceatiaued on Pago 2)
70 Teachers Locals
Chartered During
Current School Year
New Haven, Conn. — Seventy
new locals have been chartered
* by the American Federation of
Teachers (AFL) since the start
of the current school year—30 of
them since January 1, the largest
number chartered in an compar
' able period in the history of the
AFT.
This disclosure highlighted an
address by Irvin R. Kuenzli, AFT
national secretary, before the
newly formed Connecticut State
Federations of Teachers at the
Yale Divinity School Auditorium.
The campaign of the National
Education Association to check
the rapid progress of the AFT,
Mr. Kuenzli declared, “rather
hindering its expansion, is serv
ing as a boomerang and acceler
ating the organisation of teach
ers.
“On March 22,” Mr. Kuenzli
said, “Willard Givens, national
executive secretary of the NEA,
gave an address to a group of
teachers in Cleveland, Ohio, in
which he emphatically condemned
the organisation of teachers in
unions affiliated with organised
labor. During the week following
Mr. Givens' address *ve new lo
cals of the AFT were organised.
'Since the NEA is controlled
largely by superintendents of
schools, most of whom occupy
political jobs and many of whom
have been imported by certain
organised groups for the purpose
of keeping teachers’ salaries
down, it is not surprising that
officials of the organisation should
feel that teachers should not or
ganise in groups which would give
them real power and the advan
tages of collective bargaining.
“Herein lies the basis of the
never-ending school crises which
have culminated in the present
critical situation in the schmis.
In a profession in which the em
ployer—who hires and fires the
• teachers—controls the employes1
organisation, it is not surprising
A that salaries and working eondi
V tions have been at such a low
professional level that teachers
am leaving the profession in s
mass exodus.
“In 1943, Mr. Givens, address
lag the samual convention of th<
NEA, described the weakness of
the NEA as follows:
u 'The Association’s chief weak
ness is in the field of teacher
welfare and in mustering legisla
tive pressure where rapid and in
tegrated action is demanded . .
Is it possible that teacher’s asso
ciations as now organized, with
small dues and limited welfare
program, can compete indefinitely
with the organized groups that
have expansive and powerful pur
poses?”
"This failure of non-union
groups to provide for the profes
sional welfare of teachers and to
muster legislative action when
needed is a basic cause of the
present school crisis. Our answer
is a clear-cut 'No’ to Mr. Givens’
query as to whether teachers’ as
sociations as now organized can
compete indefinitely with the or
ganised groups that have power
ful and expansive purposes. In
this question, asked by Mr. Givens
three years ago, lies the cause
of the present crisis in the
schools.
"Teachers arfi beginning to
realise this fact and are disre
garding the advice of the NEA
officials to stay out of tbs AFT.
The AFT now has locals in all
but one of the 25 largest cities
of the Nation. There are also
AFT locals in nearly three-fourths
of the cities of the Nation over
100,000 population and in hun
dreds of cities and towns under
100,900. Some of these locals are
still new and relatively small but
a large percentage of them are
strong organisations represent
ing ,a majority of the teachers
in the school system.”
Mr. Kuensli outlined the recom
mendations of the AFL in the
field of education and stated that
there would be no crisis in the
schools today if the teachers had
been organized with sufficient
strength to carry out these rec
ommendations.
“Inadequate education "is very
costly in the long run,” he added,
“since crime and delinquency are
costing several times the total
costs of education and most of the
arrests are in the field of school
age children.”
FLOOR DEBATE BEGINS; SEN
ATE MEASURE HIT BY
WAGNER, AIKEN
Washington. D. C.—In a Anal
plea on behalf of America's
toiling millions, AFL President
William Green addressed letters
to every member of the House
urging rejection of the. omnibus
anti-labor bill which would wipe
out gaind won by workers over
long years of heart-rending
struggle for a decent standard
of living.
Striking sharply at labor’s
foes who are sponsoring such
legislation, Mr. Green declared
in his letter:
“These millions of workers
who will be the victims of this
restrictive and oppressive legis
lation are the same workers
who served so patriotically dur
ing the recent war, and who
produced, the airplanes, ships,
tanks and guns and who serv
iced the transportation systems
of the Nation to win the war.
Is this to be their reward? Are
they to be punished, oppressed,
and their rights and liberties
restricted by vindictive, punitive
laws?
“Why this drive to weaken and
exploit labor? The men and
women of labor here in America
who cherish the blessing of free
dom and liberty cannot accept or
become reconciled to such drastic
legislation. No nation under the
sun has proposed or considered
the adoption of such legislation
as this since the close of the war.
“This earnest and sincere per
sonal appeal is based upon my
knowledge and understanding of
the heart and mind of the work
ing people of the Nation. In their
name I earnestly appeal to you
to vote against this bill.”
me appeal irom air. ureen
reached each member of the
House as the overall bill to par
alyse the union movement" ar
rived on the floor for debate:
The measure would ban the
closed shop, industry-wide bar
gaining, jurisdictional strikes, sec
ondary boycotts and mass picket
ing. ' It would make unions liable
to law suits and authorize use of
injunctions in strikes which were
held to threaten national health,
safety or welfare. It would go
far beyond these limits and its ef
fect, labor leaders agreed, would
be to render the union movement
impotent and block any* effort to
obtain wag* increases for workers
to meet sky-rocketing costa of
living.
As the House opened debate on
the measure, members of the Sen
at Labor Committee, drafting a
somewhat similar but less drastic
bill was rejecting some of the
more punitive proposals sponsored
by labor's foes.
The Senate r ~UP voted 8 to 5
against a suggestion by Senator
Taft of ‘Ohio to allow individual
employers to bring taw suits and
obtain injunctions against juris
dictional strikes, secondary boy
cotts, strikes in violation of con
tracts and strikes for recognition.
Tbs committee agreed to make
these items “unfair labor prac
tics” to be handled by the Na
tional Labor Relations Board.
The Senate group also voted
7 to 6 to strike out a section
restricting union welfare funds
and dues check-offs.
Sections approved by the Sen
ate Committee would:
1. Create an independent Fed
eral mediation service and a Fed
eral mediation director. The lat
ter would be aided by an advisory
panel composed of six labor and
six management members.
(C—tinned Os Page 4)
DUTY DEMANDS OF YOU THAT YOU VOTE!
Duty demands of every Charlottean that he or she go io
the polls Monday. April 28, and cast a vote in the primary
election. The right to vote is one of the sacred privileges
of all Americans. The right to vote, experience has shown,
maintains our political system free from dictatorships, the
like of which have sprung up in other nations. No patri
ot1* American desires to sit idly by and let the other fellow
select the public servants of the commuinty without having
a voice in the elections. But the real danger facing America
,«day is due to the indifference of millions of voters in tali*
ing an active interest in our elections. National, State, City
and CountyTJIections in our land fall far short of being
anywhere near fully represented at the polls on election
day. This laxity demands the honest and sincere attention
of our whole citizenry. (
Monday Charlotteans will be called upon to ballot for a
new Mayor, a new City Council, School Board members, and
others. It is deubtful if one-tenth of the population will be
sufficiently interested to vote. Do not be one of the nine
tenths who may fail to cast his ballot. You have a duty to
perform for yourself, your city and your Nation!
Text Of AFL Statement
I
Washington, D. C. — The full
text of the letter addressed by
AFI* President William Green jto
every member of the House, ap
pealing for defeat of the omni
bus anti-labor bill, follows:
I am making this last appeal
to you, ip behalf of the millions
of members of the American Fed
eration of Labor, to vote against
the highly objectionable anti-la
passage by the House Committee
on Education and Labor.
Please bear in mind that these
millions of workers who will be
the victims of this restrictive and
oppresive legislation are the same
workers who served so patrioti
cally during the recent World
War and who produced the air
planes, the ships, the tanks, the
guns, and served on the trans
portation system of the nation in
such a wonderful way in order
to win the war. Is this to be
their reward? Are they to be
punished, oppressed, and their
rights and liberties destricted by
vindictive, punitive laws?
Please consider this phase of
the question for a moment. I
cannot help but think if jron will
vote against H.R. 3020 as I have
herein requested. What is hack
of it all? Why this friea to
weaken labor and subvert jt to
exploitation ? ,
The men and women of iafror
hare in America who rheetsa tho
blessings of freedom and liberty
as a common heritage, can not
accept or become reconciled to
such drastic legislation. No na
tion under the sun has proposed
or considered the adoption of
such legislation as this since the
close of the war.
This earnest and sincere per
sonal appeal is based upon my
knowledge and understanding of
the heart and mind of the work
ing people of the nation. In their
name and for them I earnestly
appeal to you to vote against this
| measure.
Urges Restoration
Labor Dept. Funds
Washington, D. C.—Sharp pro
test against a trend in Congress
to “short-change” labor by slash
ing appropriations financing serv
ices invaluabli-fco American work
ers was registered by AFL Presi
dent William Green before the
Senate Appropriations Committee
considering the budget of the La
bor Department.
Reviewing the history of the
Labor Department, established in
the Cabinet after a long cam
paign by the AFL, Mr. Green
pointed out the necessity, recog
nised many years ago, of main
an efficient Federal labor sta
tistics bureau to determine the
progress of American workers.
Attacking the proposed cut of 43
per cent below the Bureau of
Labor Statistics budget estimate
as “unwise and wasteful,” Mr.
Green told the committee:
“The Bureau of Labor Statis
tics is providing the Nation with
more than half of the over-all
economic statistics outside the
field of finance and agriculture
necessary to the President's Coun
cil of Economic Advisors, to sound
legislative planning, to business
analysts, labor arbitrators, and
labor and management in nego
tiations. When you are figuring
in terms of the budget of more
than $30,000,000,000, a saving of
$3,000,000 is pitifully small and in
terms of value received is uneco
nomical.”
Mr. Green, commenting' upon a
$14,000,000 slash in the Labor
Department appropriation bill,
ironically called the attention of
Concrete to its plant for tpending
more “for the protection of migra
tory birds and other wild life"
than to “protect workers’ mini
mum wage standards.”
The labor leader said tome $5,
000. 000 was proposed to fid wild
life in the fiscal year ending July
1, while the House “has appro
! priated only 14.057,000 to protect
workers’ minimum wage stand
ards.”
Mr. Green did noff ask or res
toration of any specific amounts,
but urged "adequate” funds be
cause, he said, the “department’s
function is to promite the welfare
of more than 40,000,000 wage
earners and salaried workers.”
Terming the maintenance of
high production important at
this time, Mr. Green added:
“It is not economy to paralyse
the services that can assist man
agement and labor to effect wise
adjustments.”
He said funds for the Labor
Department “are pitifully small
when compared with the millions
of dollars Congress provides for
0,000,000 farmers through the
Agriculture Department funds.
*Tt amounts in all to much
more than * $100 per farmer per
year,” Mr. Green said, compared
with a proposed outlay under
House terms of “less than $2.25
per worker.”
“The American Federation of
Labor favors economy in govern
ment,” Mr. Green said, “but we
(CinthMMd Ftp Fage 1).
Cleveland Council
Attacks Coercive
Anti-Labor Bills
Cleveland. — Claims made by.
anti-labor lawmakers that they
have a “mandate” from the
“grass roots" to enact legislation
curbing workers rights were rid
dled in an unusual “emergency
resolution” adopted by the Cleve
land City Council.
Passed by a landslide 26-to-l
majority, the resolution memo
rialised both Congress and the
Ohio state legislature net to rash
through any measures “which will
make for industrial strife,” hut
instead to “give careful and de
liberate consideration of any
measures seeking to restrict eg
deny any of the inalienable rights
of the workingman.”
The resolution stressed that
“the progress and prosperity of
the nation and this state depend
upon the preservation of free
enterprise, which necessarily in
cludes a system of free labor,”
It also pointed out that "or
ganised labor is one of the mov
ing forces which have made
America groat, helped win two
rt world, wars, and achieved
America Ute highest standard
Of living in the entire world.”
Finally, the council insisted that
mace can od$ be
by "good labor-manage
relations rather than by a
legislative process.”
Sharp Conflict Marks
Radio Debiting On
House Labor Measure
Washington, D. C.—Sharp con
flict over the possible merits and
dangers of the newly drafted
House anti-labor bill marked the
latest nation-wide discussion by
business, labor, farm and legis
lative spokesmen on the “Amer
ica United” program, broadcast
over the facilities of the National
Broadcasting System.
A minority member of the
House Labor Committee, which
drafted the punitive, omnibus
menpure, Representative Lesinski,
of Michigan, declared:
“It is quite fair and accurate
to say that this bill has been de
signed to permit crippling, if
not total destruction, of the labor
movement, and at the same time
to guarantee that if the labor
movement survives stall it is to
survive solely ss a labor front,
controlled, operated and regulated
by the Government in the interest
of employers.”
In this position Mr. Lesinski
was supported by Boris Shishkin,
American Federation of Labor
economist, who charged that the
proposed legislation would outlaw
most unions and place the others
completely under Federal control.
"This bill.” Mr. Shishkin de
clared, “goes far beyond any
known precedent in any field in
peacetime Federal intervention.
It extends Federal control into
the very heart of collective bar
gaining. It allows Federal au
thority to cut across the binding
fibre * of private contracts. It
thrusts Federal jurisdiction into
the area now reserved, to State
and local jurisdiction. It writes
a detailed script for collective
bargaining negotiations, every
step of which must represent
Government ukase, and if any
body departs from those steps,
he is in violation of the law and
he is outlawed. It regiments the
active workers and employers. It
subjects organisation to all-em
bracing Government,.control.”
Granting that the rights of the
public should predominate in con
sideration of any legislation, Mr.
Shishkin observed:
“And yet today the public is
subjected to the worst fleecing we
have ever known because of the
runaway prices. All of the labor
disputes during the last year and
a half have been due to that
squeeze to which we are sub
jected, now worse than at any
time before. We have a situa
tion in which we must deal with
the causes of our present diffi
culties. The Government is dere
lict in failing to deal with them,
and Congress is not moving a
finger to protect the general pub
lic.”
Milton Smith, assistant counsel
of the U. S. Chamber of Com
merce, and Fred Bailey, of the
National Grange, took issue with
the positions of Representative
Lesinski and Mr. Shishkin. Mr.
Smith said the pending legisla
tion seems on some points to be
drectly in line with the Chamber
position but on other points does
not deal as effectively as that
group would desire with regard
to certain problems. Mr. Bailey
said his farm group believed labor
legislation passed in the last ten
or twelve years was lopsided and
that the farmers believed the tima
had come to strike a balance.
Declaring that the House bill
deprives labor of gains won over
a long period of years of struggle.
Representative Lesinski asserted
his belief that workers “should
be permitted the right to raise
living standards and to see that
everybody is paid a living wage.”
Such efforts, he said, would he
gravely jeopardised, if not wiped
out, by the pending legislation.
He added:
“Business has a right to organ
ise and labor should have the
same right/ the same protections.
This bill in its entirety given no
protection to any type of labor.
| It would drive labor leaders under
ground and would be a real bid
for communistic views,” he added.
AFL COUNCIL TO WEIGH
PUNITIVE LABOR BILLS
AT 8ES8ION MONDAY
Washington, D. C.—The Execu
tive Council ef the American Fed
eration of Labor will
here Monday, April 21, ..to ■■■
aider some of the gravest
loess posed before the «w»tam
meat in many years.