Newspapers / The Charlotte Labor Journal … / May 1, 1947, edition 1 / Page 1
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AFFILIATE WITH YOU* CENTRAL LABO* UNION AND THE N. C. FEDERATION NOW! A New* paper Interest* of Charlotte Central Labor Union and Affiliated Crafts—Endorsed Bp North of Labor and Approved By The American Federation of Labor UaioMUa, AM la Hi Within Your Power To F. L. Membership Drive Working For A Better Understanding Between North Carolina AFL Unions and Employers of Labor sen | rJ tte Labor J ournal "W«t it net (tr the labor press, the labor movement would not be what it is to day, aad any man wba triea to injure a labor pa per is a traitor to the eauae.**—Samuel Compere, Subscription $2.00 Per Year VOL. XVI; NO. 62 CHARLOTTE. N. C., THURSDAY. MAY I, 1047 CHARLOTTE AFL AND CIO COMMITTEES SPONSOR MASS MEETING. North Carolina Labor will gather here Sunday after noon at 2:30 o’clock in the Mecklenburg County Court house to hear speaker^ from the ranks of Labor and also “outsiders” discuss and an alyze the Labor measures now before the National Congress, and also to upon their fellow the necessity of opposing the anti-labor measures. n* meeting Sunday in Char* lotte will ba mom thing th*L has net occurred since the thbor split in 1937, which resulted in the formation of the Congress of Industrial Organisations under the leadership of John L, Lewis, president of the United Mine , Workers of America, who has j since returned to the ranks of; the American Federation of Labor. This meeting is being sponsored by the Charlotte Central Labor Union and a local committee of the CIO. Differences in thought which have kept Labor divided for 10 ye§rs will be laid aside and this gathering will have but; one aim in view, and that will be to meet again and discuss the j problems of each and to formu- j late workable plans for oo-operat- j ing in endeavors to defeat the! anti-labor legislation both in the! National Congress and in the various States where such meas ures have been enacted and also in others where bills are pending.! Notices for the gathering here Sunday have been sent out to un ionists throughout Carolina by both the AFL and CIO local com mittee and it is anticipated that a large crowd will be present. The public is cordially invited and unorganised and unaffiliated workers also are urged to be present. NEWSPRINT PROFITS CLIMB There is no shortage of prof its for newsprint manufacturers. Net income of International Paper Company in 1946 -was $31,179,048, more than triple its 1946 profits. MAYOR HERBERT H. BAXTER who was re-elected to serve as Mayor of Charlotte for another two year term. He received a clear majority over his two opponents John Ward and Manley R. Dunaway. Mayor Herbert H. Baxter was again elected to be Mayor of Charlotte for another two-year term in the primary election held last Tuesday, when he received a clean majority over his two opponents, Messrs. John S. Ward and Manley R. Dunaway, thus doing away with a run-off in the regular election which will be held next Tuesday, May 6, for all candidates who are running for the city council and the school board. The voters also by a landslide vote decided that Charlotte’s present city limits should be extended and as a result this will go into effect three years hence. AFL WORKERS GET RAISE Chicago, III. — Approximately 10,000 members of1 the American Federation ot, Labor employed in factories of the International Harvester Company have been of fered a pay increase of ll'M cents an hour and six holidays with pay. HOLD OH T0 YOUR SOCIAL SECURITYCARD SSSf'"**' 1 XXI MAY NEED IT AT I li/UCkJ VHII START WORK ON A NEW JOS' WntN TUUnuR*socialsecwMTyBaiEflTS.| for More, 'nformation Or1 S U I OR iLi Ccwiv tix ■ tu Office ■ 3 In the city council race the UI slate placed six candidates and have since added Nash McKee to their ticket as the seventh man, he having emerged from the pri mary in seventh place. Others whose names will re main on the ballots in the run off next Tuesday are: T. M. Shel ton and William C. Mclntire. Sev eral who were scheduled for the runoff have requested that their names be dropped from the bat runoff have have requested that In the school board race the top top three men were J. Murrey Atkins, Frank O. Roberts and James H. Glenn, while two others. Dr. Edson E. Blackman, promi nent Negro physician, and Rev. Leslie F. Frerking, will be the others on the ballot. Rev. Frerk ing has announced that he will not conduct an active campaign i in the run-off election. AFL GROUP WINS Bradford, Pa—AFL Pulp and Sulfite workers won an NLRB election here at the Northwest ern Container Corporation, by a vote of 733 to 33. f Text Of AFL Statement Washington, D. C. — The full text of the statement issued by the AFL Executive Council, rally* ing the entire gwmbership of the AFL in a Nation-wide battle against anti-labor legislation in the National Congress and the States, follows: At this moment Congress is iushing headlong into one of the worst legislative blunders in his* tory—tiie enactment of repressive and restrictive labor bills which would disrupt and demoralise la bor-management relations if .they become law. Tbs whole purpose of this Isg^ islation — regardless of the hy* pocrital claims of its sponsors— is to destroy the power of trade unions to serve the workers of America effectively. The American Federation of Labor hereby declares war against this legislation—an all-out war for the preservation of the life of free trade unionism in Amer ica. Whether thd proponents ef the pending legislation realize it or not, they are opening the door to Fascism in America by im pairing freedoms basic to the American way of life and they are likewise encouraging the sub versive enemies of democracy to foment a class struggle in our land which would weaken our na tion’s leadership on the interna tional front. To carry on the fight against1 this impending evil, the Executive Council is preparing to rally the entire membership of the Amer ican Federation of Labor and to mobilize a substantial portion of trade-union resources for a pro gram of concerted action. Details of this program, aimed at awak ening the American people to the dangers contained in this legis lation, will be announced latei. The sponsors of the House and Senate bills are trying to make labor the goat for all the ills which the nation has suffered since the war ended. They claim they have a mandate from the American people to enact laws which would place trade unions in a straitjacket. That is a false and specious assertion. Clever politicians tn Congress, aided and abetted by the power ful National Association of Man ufacturers and other special inter ests. have taken advantage of public impatience over high prices, scarcities of peacetime necessi ties and other postwar maladjust ments. They have tried to make the public believe that once the trade unions are stripped of the power to protect the interests of the nation's workers, all these economic problems will be solved. To justify the drive against or ganized labor, our opponents in Congress have sought to give the public a distorted picture of the state of Iab$r- management rela tions in this country by bringing in a few recalcitrant and spiteful employers to air their grievances at open hearings, while they have studiously ignored the many thou sands of American employers who enjoy satisfactory relations with unions. On this flimsy basis, relying on ballyhoo instead of a fact finding investigation, Congress is now about to cripple and rip apart the fabric and techniques of sue* cessful and effective collective bargaining, which is the only dom ocratic and fair machinery for the establishment and mainte nance of industrial peace and high production.' There is no question that the -pespls ad tide country east peace on the industrial frdht. Bqt they have too much good sense to hold the workers and their trade un ions responsible for every dis pute and strike that occurs. They know that it takes two to make a quarrel and that management is a least equality responsible for such strife as develops. And they know that the basic cause ff most of the strikes that have., taken place since V-J Day waq the re fusal of management to pay wages which would enable the masses of our people to maintain the American standard of living in the face of the ecenomic d's loeation and the inflated cost of living which we inherited from the war. Unfortunately, the American people have been kept ignorant of the fact that collective bargain ing is working successfully un der our present laws wherever and whenever management prac tices it sincerely with trade un ions and that there are a thou sands unpublicixed cases of agree ment between employers and un ions for each disagreement which is played up in the headlines. In the name of drastic treatment of these exceptional cases, Congress is voting legislation which would make agreements impossible in the vast majority of cases. If such legislation becomes law, it will wreck production in Amer ica and flood the nation with in dustrial strife. The workers of America will never submit to slavery, nor will they work against their will under conditions which are obnoxious to them. They have no intention of meekly acquiescing in legislative robbery of the gains they have won through their trade unions after long years of patient effort. Freedom is the most precious asset of the American people. Abrogation of the freedom of American workers by legislative action must lead inevitably, to the undermining of the freedoms of those in all other walks of life. Let businessmen! especially, keep in mind that the free enter prise system depends upon the fredom of labor and will be jeop ardized if labor is enslaved. The provisions in the pending legislation which would restore Government by injunction consti tute a ^direct invasion of funda mental American liberty. The black history of the abuses of the (Continued On Pag* 4) RAISING BATTLE FUND OF AT LEAST $1,500,000 FOR PRESERVATION OF UNIONISM IN AMERICA Washington, D. C.—The American Federation of Labor declared war—war to the fiinish—againstgthe vicious slave labor legislation pending in Congress and grafted the mem bership and resources of the Federation ‘i the all-cut fight to preserve free trade unionism In America. / As the first step, the Executive Council unanimously ap proved the raising of a $1,500,000 war chest by voluntary assessment on every AFL affiliate for carrying on a con certed nation-wide educational and publicity campaign. Immediately, a special committee of Council members began drafting a series of full-page newspaper advertise ments which will be published in every part of the coun try during the next six weeks to tell the American people the truth about the “hate-bills” aow being jammed through Congress. Simultaneously, time was being engaged on all radio aet erorks aad hundreds of local radio stations to broadcast a series of aggressive attacks on the legislation. Stars of radio, theater and screen, all members of AFL entertain ment unions, volunteered their services to aid in the radio campaign. The Council voted to open its Fall meeting in Chicago in September. Other outstanding developments as the Executive Council con cluded its Spring session included: 1—The first conference between AFL and CIO Peace Committees in more than five years was ar ranged to be held May 1 at the Statler Hotel in the nation’s cap ital in an attempt to form a united labor movement and solid ify labor’s ranks against the threat of destruction by legisla tion. , 2 — AFL President Willism Green, at a press conference, de nounced exorbitantly high prices and charged that the same forces which are trying vo rob th^ Amer ican people through inflated liv ing costa are the ones who are tryj.ng to hamstring labor unions through restrictive legislation. 3 — AFL Secretary-Treasurer George Meany launched the AFL’s radio campaign to defeat the Hartley and Taft bills with two network addresses warning la bor’s enemies that they are pro voking industrial warfare. “We, of labor, know how to fight,” Mr. Meany emphasised. 4—The Executive Council, in an official blast at the same legis lation, declared that it is Presi dent Truman’s duty to veto it. Within 24 hours after the Ex ecutive Council announced its pro gram for raising a war chest to fight the legislative attack against labor’s freedoms, the checks from international unions started pour ing in. The assessment, levied at the rate of IS cents per mem ber, is intended to cover an in tensified six weeks’ campaign, in tended to ’’awaken the American people to the dangers contained in this legislation.” The Executive Council empha sised in its formal statement that these dangers are aimed not only at labor but at the public gen erally and will "open the door to Fascism in America by impairing freedoms basic to the American way of life.” Joseph A. Padway, AFL Chief Counsel, spent four hours with the Executive Council analysing in detail the specific provisions of both the House and Senate bills. His conclusion, after the extended briefing session, was that enactment of either measure would deatrojr free trade unions in America “within a short time." Sponsors of the legislation, who have been engaging in a double talk campaign for months as a build-up for public support, be gan to lose their heads and let the cat out of the bag. Chairman Hartley of the House Labor Committee told the House the purpose of his bill was “to break unions down to the local level.” Chairman Taft of the Senate Labor Committee admitted to the Senate that the objective of his bill is to “weaken the pow er of labor unions.” He revealed even more in an address before the American Newspaper Publishers Associa tion in New York. Senator Taft told the publishers—and you can mark this—that the Senate labor bill was not a “milk-toast” bill, but covered about three-quarters of the matters “pressed on us very strenuously by employers.” This was direct confirmation of the charge made by Secretary Treasurer Meany and the Execu tive Council that the National Association of Manufacturers was the key force behind the legisla tion and, in fact, helped to write at least the House bill. The special committee desig nated by the Executive Council lost no time in getting busy on the campaign to defeat the legis lation. The committee, composed of President Green, Secretary Treasurer Meany and Vice Pres idents Woll, Harrison and Dubin sky, engaged the services of a top-notch advertising agency and an expert radio analyst. Confer ences were then arranged for drafting the series of newspaper advertisements, which will blanket ■ the country; for enlisting the services of star performers frees the radio, screen and stage and for obtaining every possible min ute of radio time. OHTER NATIONS PROVE HRAL' Before the war 'six had lower infant mortality than the U. S. Eighteen or notions had lower death among prson aged 35-64,
The Charlotte Labor Journal and Dixie Farm News (Charlotte, N.C.)
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May 1, 1947, edition 1
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