WIRE tr MITE te
Tnr Cngressaei it
Prated Agiiut Ml
MTI-LMOI Bifl*!
vm vvil- NO 3
CHARLOTTE, N. C„ THURSDAY, MAY 22, 1947
Subscription $2.00 Per Year
AFL President Asserts Labor
Now Is Facing Battle
for Survival
Cincinnati, O. — Grave
warning that “everyone who
works for a living today
faces a desperate fight for
self-preservation" under the
anti-labor bills pending in
Congress was sounded here
by AFL President William
Green in an appeal to all
workers to plead for a Pres
idential veto.
Addressing a convention
of the Railway and Steam
ship Clerks, Mr. Green em
phatically condemned both
the Hartley Bill, approved
by the House, and the Taft
Bill passed by the Senate.
Analyzing the bills in de
tail, Mr. Green told the con
vention :
“As we study these bills care
fully, we reach the inescapable
conclusion that they are the prod
uct of anger and hate, rather than
reason. In many instances, this
legislation would defeat the very
aims claimed for it. Instead of
promoting industrial peace, it
will unleash chaos upon America.
It will eventually prove oppres
sive to employers as well as to
labor. It will undermine and de
stroy the American standard of
living and lower the wages of
every man and woman who works
for a living. It will dry np pur
chasing power and lead to low
er production and mass unem
ployment. It will weaken the
structure of our social justice leg
islation and stifle economic**and
social progress in our land.
“For these reasons, as well as
because of the principles which
he has repeatedly enunciated, I
do not see how President Truman
can approve this legislation. The
bills adopted by the House and
Senate are now in conference. In
all probability the conference re
port will be a compromise between
the extreme Hartley Bill and the
only slightly milder Taft Bill.
There is no chance at all that the
legislation can be liberalised jn
the conference.
“Therefore, it behoove* every
working man and woman in Amer
ica today and all their frier.ds
and every advocate of the liberal
cause in our country to mak^
their individual and collective
voices heard in Washington now.
Tremendous pressure will be
brought to bear upon President
Truman to sign this legislation.
In the press and over the radio,
he will be warned constantly of
political reprisals if he vetres it.
“Now as never before it is up
to us, the great mass of the
American people, to make our
voice heard, to let the President
know that we want him to veto
this legislation in the best inter
ests of our country.”
The union scrapped a consti
tutional provision existing since
the founding of the union in 1893
by granting to Negroes the full
rights of membership.
“We are not trying to set up
social equality, we are trying to
establish economic equality,” said
George M. Harrison, president.
He urged the delegates to ap
prove a change in the constitution
removing the word “white” wher
ever it abrogated the full right of
members of any race to member
ship.
In the end the opposition voted
about 1,000 to 50 in favor of the
change.
Off the floor a high official in ■
union circles on the Missouri Pa-;
eific Railroad said that more than j
half of his delegation would
“tear up their union cards" if
they were forced to “sit in a
meeting, rubbing shoulders” with
Negroes.
J. B. Jesse of Louisville, Ky.,
chairman of a 54-man special
committee which studied the prob
lem prior to its presentation on
the floor, made no effort to de
(Please Tara Ur Page I)
Urge Labor to Act Now!
AFL President William Green and Secretary George Meaney call
upon ALL Labor to protest passage of anti-union bills by Congress.
---£ -
To All Union Members:
On April 17, 1947, the House of Representatives by a
vote of 308 to 107 adopted the Hartley Bill and on May 13,
1947, the Senate by a vote of 68 to 24 adopted the Taft Bill.
Both of these bills have been, are and will be opposed by
the Labor Movement and by all right-thinking Americans.
These two bills are now referred to a conference com
mittee of both Houses of Congress to attempt to har
monize the difference between the provisions thereof, and
report to both Houses one bill for adoption or rejectin and,
if adopted by both Houses by majority vote of each House,
then referred to the President who must within ten leg
islative days approve or veto the bill, or after ten such
days it becomes a law.
It is estimated the Conference Committee will report a
bill in about a week or about May 28, 1947.
The efforts of the proponents of the Taft-Hartley bills
now are to-get a biU reported out if conference and passed
by both Houses of Congress by such large majorities that
the President will fear a veto will be overridden. It is
the hope of the proponents that they can pass this legisla
tion over a veto of the President, should the final confer
ence bill be vetoed.
To defeat the conference report in the House a ma
jority must vote “No.” The membership of the House is
435 and if all members are present and voting at least
218 will have to vote “No.” Onlv 107 voted “No” on April
17, 1947.
If the President vetoes the bill that veto can be overrid
den in the House only if two-thirds of the membership
present and voting vote against the position taken by the
President, thus at least 16 members of the House must
vote to support the President’s veto.
In the Senate there are now 95 members and to defeat
the Conference Report 48 or more Senators must vote
“No,” and if there is a Presidential veto, same will be
overridden if 64 or more Senators vote to override such
veto. To sustain a veto at least 32 Senators must vote
to sustain.
In event of a Presidential veto, the bill is defeated unless
two-thirds or more of the members of both the House and
Senate present and voting vote to override the veto. If
either House fails by at least a two-third majority to vote
to override the veto, the bill is defeated.
To insure that a Presidential veto is sustained, at least
one-third of either House of Congress must vote to sustain
the veto, that is at least 32 Senators or at least 146 Rep
resentatives. Only 24 Senators and 107 Representatives
voted against this legislation on passage in each House.
This is the most important issue before the Trade Union
Movement. Those who are behind this legislation are de
feated they will succeed in inflicting serious injury, if not
practical destruction, on the Free Trade Union Movement
and untold damage on the people generally.
After fully considering the situation as it exists we
strongly recommend:
1. That all officers of all affiliated and co-operating or
ganizations be immediately assigned to and directed to
<ret each individual member to write a letter to his Sena
tors. Representatives, and the President stating in his own
words his views regarding defeating the Conference Re
(Please Turn to Page 2. Column* 1 A 2)
TAKE&4RE0F
You 0/ Your Family frill freed Your
Social Security Card to Apply
for Social Security Sene fits.
rOR MORE /^it/ff/N
INFORMATION {^OMUZAj
Your Union Social Security Committee,
Oft; the Nearest Social Security Office.
T
Secretary Tells Nation Pro
posed Legislation Menaces
United $tates Welfare
Washington, D. C.—Anti
labor legislation approved by
the House and Senate.' and
now in conference, would de
stroy trade unions and wipe
out the advantages workers,
through organization, have
struggled to build over a
long jfcriod of years.
This was the declaration
of George Meany, Secretary
Treasurer of the American
Federation of I.abor, in a
coast-to-coast discussion of
the pending bills over the Co
lumbia Broadcasting System.
“Free trade unions,” Mr.
Meany told the Nation, are
the only instruments by
which the workers of a dem
ocratic Nation, dedicated to
a system of free enterprise,
can exercise any control
whatsoever over the return
the yreceive for their labor.
Take away the trade union
as an instrument for the
workers’ protection and im
mediately you give the em
ployer a monopoly over
wages and every other con
dition of employment.
“When this happens—make no
mistake—wages will go down even
though there are thousands of
employers who are fully aware of
the folly of such action. Whether
they will it or not, the decent
employers will be compelled by
the rule of self-preservation to
come down to the level of their
chiselling competitors. What then
happens to purchasing powa-?
Who then buys the goods that our
country must produce if our dy
namic economy is to be main
tained? Can we sell our prod
ucts in quantity to the prosprate
nations of the Old World, or to
the starivng millions in Asia?
No, I think not.- - We either sell
to our own people heie at home
or we do not sell.
“This legislation planned for
our Nation by the representatives
of large greedy corporations and
thp:r Congressional collaborators
will affect everybody. There may
be some who feej that they can
sit back complacently and see the
trade unions destroyed .secure in
the belief that they will not be
affected adversely. Destruction
of the trade unions of America
means a return to the low-wage
economy of 60 years ago, when
only the so-called upper class
could afford the comforts of mod
(Continued on Page 2)
Charlotte Printers Elect New
Officers, Delegates Wednesday
Early Depression
Fear Discounted
Cincinnati — Recent forebodings
from various parts of the Nation
of an approaching depression were
discounted here by Ewan Clague.
U. S. Commissioner of Labor Sta
tistics, in an address before lead
ers of community groups in this
araa.
“Employment, incomes, wages,
profits, prices and many other
economic factors are at all-time
highs in the United States to
day,” he declared, “yet the air ia
full of talk of a new depression,
and some people seem to feel
that the downturn already has
begun.
“Perhaps we should not get too
upset about this possibility, be
cause we have heard of this de
pression several times since the
end of the war; but, so far, it
has not come through on sched
ule. Perhaps it is still a matter
of the longer future rather than
a problem for 1947.”
The labor force is growing more
rapidly than the population, Mr
Clague pointed out. Its increase
in - the present decade will be
nearly 20 per cent, compared to
a 10 per cent growth in total
population.'
Mr. Clague’s statement contin
ued :
Underlying the economic out
look are certain basic trends in
population and force growth. The
growth of our population is slow
ing down; our best present esti
mates are that it will reach a
peak of 165 million toward the
end of this century. From 1940
to 1950 it will increase by about
10 per cent, while in the next de
cade it will 'grow only half as
much.
To some extent the economic
health of this country in the past
has been dependent on the con
stant growth in demand arising
out of rapid population increase.
The decline in the rate of this
growth will therefore remove one
important dynamic factor in our
economic development. As pop
ulation growth slows down, the
(Pease Turn to Page 2)
t
Charlotte Typographical Union members elected J. T.
Priftim as president, C. J. Pridgen vice president, and Paul
Craft as secretary-treasurer in the regular annual election
held Wednesday. Mr. Primm succeeds Claude L. Albea, re
cently elected to the Charlotte City Council, who did not run
for re-election this year. Mr. Craft succeeds O. N. Burgess,
who has been secretary-treasurer for the past several years,
but who previously had announced that he would not run
for another term. Mr. Pridgen succeeded himself, he hav
| ing served as vice president for several terms.
I CAUTIONS AGAINST
NAM ‘PROPAGANDA’
Washington, D. C., — Warning
to workers throughout the United
States against falling for the
propaganda be:ng issued by the
1 National Association of Manufac
j turers, branded as a leading ad
vocate of the slave labor bill, was
j issued by the- American . Federa
tion of Labor in large advertise
ments spread in leading news- j
across the Nation.
“If you work for a living,
you’re Labor,” the message dc
declared in a vigorous attack up
on the NAM’s contention that it
seeks to protect the individual’s
“right to work” when it presses
for legislation to outlaw the
closed shop.
“The NAM gets its money for
newspaper advertisements and
lobkodng front, lpbor-hiding W
ployers,” the message of the APL
declared. “Since when is this
crew defending the rights of
workers ?
"Who wants the dosed shop!
That’s oasy! Millions of union
members who know they now are
able to provide some thing a little
better than a bare living for their
families as a result of the high
standards won by strong and se
cure unions—workers who know
their combined economic welfare
is bound up in the security of
their union.
“They know that the closed
shop, plus co'.Ie dive bargaining,
gave them that extra hour to play
with their kids, to flix the
screens, or dig a vegetable garden
in the back yard. Further, pro
gressive employers by ,the thou
sands accept and prefer the
closed shop because it helps to
stabilize industry and encourage
business enterprise afnd initia
tive.”
SERVES 26 YEARS.
Other officer* elected were How
ard L. Beatty as recording secre
tary, and H. B. Alexander, ser
geant at arms. Mr. Beatty is now
serving out his 25th term in the
recorder's post. Mr. Alexander
will soon be a veteran at the ser
geant at arms position, he having
already served several years.
O. N. Burgess, H. F. Carriker,
and H. M. Sykes were named as
the auditing committee to serve
for the coming year, while A. H.
Louthian and H. E. Surles were
selected as delegates to the I. T.
U. convention in Cleveland, Ohio,
iii August,
STATE DELEGATES.
Delegates named to represent
Charlotte at the State Federation
of Labor convention at Wilming
ton August 4, 6, and 6, were C.
L. Albea, H. B. Alexander, and
H. A. Stalls. C. L. Albea, H. A.
Stalls, and John P. White were
4 no* mecl n iWsnt CM w Itlr Ulll IIIII9
Central Labor Union.
ALLIED TRADES, ^
Delegates to the Charlotte Al
lied Printing Trades Council are
C. L. Albea, H. L. Beatty, E. G.
Cleaver, J. T. Primm and H. M.
Sykes. I
Named to the board of directors
of the Charlotte Typographical
union meeting hall and club were
C. L. Albea, H. B. Alexander, H.
L. Beatty, O. N. Burgess, P. E.
Craft, E. G. Cleaver, A. M. Far
ris', A. B. Furr, C. J. Pridgen, J.
T. Primm, H. E. Surles, J. P.
White, and W. P. Benton.
VA.-CAROL1NAS MEET.
President-elect Primm and Paul
White left today for Washington,
D. C.. where they will represent
Charlotte Typographical Union at
the annual meeting of the Virgin
ia-Carolinas-District of Columbia
Typographical conference.
VOTE TO RAISE SALARIES.
The Charlotte printers voted to
(Please Turn to Page 2)
CHAUFFEURS. TEAMSTERS A HELPERS LOCAL UNION No. 667 recently dedicated their beautiful new heme at
avenue, Mem phi*. Tennesm-e. to the memory of the late Secretary -T reaaurer of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Gillespie. Delefatee ot the Southern Conference of Teamsters from the ten Seothsm States attended the ferase! opening
• s —Southern