Newspapers / The Charlotte Labor Journal … / Sept. 11, 1947, edition 1 / Page 1
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■Ill or ttllTi to Yoar Ctogmiuri « Protest A'liist All MTI-LRBOI Bills! CHARLOTTE LABOR JOURNAL VOL. XVII; NO. 18 CHARLOTTE. N. C- THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER II. 1947 Subscription $2.00 Per Year Cost Of Living To Increase; Price Gouges Hit Public LABOR LAW HATRED “DEEP AND STRONG” afl executive council postpones decision ON NON-“REDr OATHS Chicago.—AFL President William Green announced that organized labor’s “hatred” of the Taft-Hartley Act has grown “deeper and stronger” since its enactment. His statement came after the opening session of the mid summer session of the AFL Executive Council, at which the oppressive administration of the Taft-Hartley Act was considered as the first order of business. At a press conference, Mr. Green revealed that members of the Executive Council had spent several hours in a gen eral discussion of the new law’s effects on labor unions and particularly on the regulations issued by Chief Counsel Denham of the National. Labor Relations Board. Under Mr. Denham’s directive, no union affiliated with the American Federation of Labor can bring complaint cases or petitions for elections before the NLRB unless every member of the AFL Executive Council signs non Communist affidavits. This requirement is in addition to the signing of such affidavits by officers of national and international unions and by the officers of their local un inns Mr. Green announced that the Executive Council had decided to defer its decision on whether to sign the required non-Communist affidavits until the final day of its meeting. The postponement, he said, was necessitated by re quests tor further legal advice and addition information from the NLRB with regard to the new regulations. Meanwhile, the1 Executive Coun cil plunged into other pressing business on its agenda. Pint, the council unanimously voted tq appoint Charles J. Mao* Gowan, president of the Inter national Brotherhood of Boiler makers to the vacant vice-presi dency of the ATL caused by the former secretary-treasurer of the International Brotherhood of Elec tical Workers. Mr. MaeGowan now becomes 13th vice-president of the AFL and a member of the Executive Council. He is expected to come here from Kansas City to attend, the current^ meeting. Then the Executive Council took, up consideration of the danger ous price situation and the con tinued inflationary trend. It is expected to issue a strong con demnation of the failure of the government’s efforts thus far to bring the cost of living down. The entire legislative program of the APL and a series of im portant recommendations to the forthcoming AFL convention will come up for consideration and ac tion later. Another proposal to be presented by Mr. Green is to make election day in 1048 a national holiday so that all workers can hare a fall opportunity to go to the polls and vote. He said that if this could not be obtained by enact ment of a national law, unions would try to reach agreements with employers to lay off work on that day. Transportation lines and public utilities vital to the pub lic welfare would not be affected, Mr. Green said. Labor is determined to get out the vote next year as never be fore, Mr. Green said, in order to defeat those candidates for Congress who voted for the Taft Hartley law and to elect a new Congress more responsible to hu man needs. The AFL chief revealed that Trygve Lie, secretary-general of the United Nations Organisation, had accepted an invitation to ap pear before the Executive Council later on at this meeting to ex plain the work of the UNO in the promotion of world peace and to relate the progress made to re lieve the postwar suffering of the distressed peoples of Eurdpe and Asia. SHIRT WORKERS GET RAISE Pottsville, Pa. — The AFL’s United Garment Workers * Union announced it had* obtained wage increases of 4 cents an hour for time workers and from 4 to 8 cents for piece workers for 2,000 employes of the Phillips Jones Corporation here. TESTIMONIAL DINNER TO DAVID DUDINSKY Chicago.—More than 1,000 res ervations have been received for the testimonial dinner to be ten dered David Dubinsky, president of the International Ladies Gar ment Workers Union, on Septem ber 9. This was revealed by Morris Bialis, ILGWU vice-president, and William A. Lee, president of the Chicago Federation If Labor, chairman and co-chainf** of the committee arranging » •« dinner. They stated: "Organised labor is payfttfc hrOP' ute to David Dubinsky for his la bor statesmanship, his wise lead ership and his humanitarian re sponse to the appeals of the less fortunate peoples throughout the world. The Chicago Federation of Labor, the Executive Council of the AFL, and the Jewish La bor Committee are jointly tender ing this dinner to David Dubin sky not only as a tribute to a great man, but also to show la bor’s complete support for the great humanitarian work being rendered by the Jewish Labor Committee^ at home and abroad." Money raised at the dinner will help promote and continue the ac tivities of the Jewish Labor Com mittee in the care of displaced persons abroad and in the fight at home to combat < all forms of intolerance and bigotry within the labor movement. GREEN TO TALK ON AFL RAOIO PROGRAM Washington, D. C.—AFL Pres ident William Green will speak on the AFL's radio program, “La bor, USA,” scheduled for Septem ber 9. Mr. Green will report to the nation on the action taken by the AFL Executive Council then in session in Chicago. 1 His remarks will be broadcast at 10:30 p. m. Eastern Daylight Time over the nationwide network of the Amer ican Broadcasting Company. Consult your local newspapers for the exact, time of the broad cast in your community. AFL ASBESTOS WORKERS EXTEND PACT, UP WAGES Waukegan, 111.—The AFL inter national Chemical Workers Union, representing about 1,800 Johns Manville workers, signed an amendment to their current con tract which calls for a 10c hourly basic wage increase, elective im mediately. The amendment also provided for extension of the present one year contract six months beyond the scheduled termination date, March 29, 1948, and stipulated that union dues would be checked off by \he company only upo^ written authorization by individual inion members. H6WU TO SET UP' POLITICAL DEPARTMENT Forest Perk, Pa.—The general executive board of the AFL’s International Ladies Garment Workers Union authorised the establishment of a political de partment withift the union and a fund of $600,000 to wage its light for the repeal of the Taft-Hart ley law. The action was taken by the board at its regular meeting here at Unity House, the union’s huge summer resort. David Dubinsky, president of the jnion. said the function of the new department would be political education and organisation among the ILGWU's 400,000 numbers for “more effective assertion of their rights ak citizens against the rising tide of reaction." He and other members of the executive board made it plain that “effective assertion" of rights by the .membership meant electing to public office “candidates pledged to progressive legislation in gen eral and the repeal of the iniqui tous Taft-Hartley law in particu lar." TIm $100,000 fund to supplement the new department's activities is to be raised by voluntary con tributions from union members. Tbe emcutive board said that it had "every reason to believe that our asasabership will respond eag .•*lr*Uibw*uir to »“• 'aiia ealTto'action* According to the board, the im mediate goal of the political de partment will be to “mobilise our full voting manpower or every state and community in every lo cal union and sub-division." “This means,” the board added, “a nationwide drive for registra tion of voters and for fu^l parti cipation in forthcoming elections by our members, their families and friends.’ Other action by the board in cluded approval of a proposal to petition the United States Gov -rnment to allow 10,000 displaced Europeans to enter this country andjOll, the need for experienced manpower in the cloak and suit industry. Mr. Dubinsky said the industry had been complaining for more than two years about the acute shortage of trained men, and “we are offering a solution to the problem." Members of the executive board said that the petition was based on a manpower report of the Na tional Cloak and Suit Industry Recovery Board and they were confident that none of the 10,000 would become public charges. According to the board, the shortage of trained workers re sulted from many experienced tailors retiring under the union’s retirement plan, death, and the fact that there were very few persons training to work in the industry. Mr. Dubinsky announced that the board had agreed further to establish a legal deepartment for the union and had named a* its director Morris P. Glusheim, for mer associate general counsel for the National Labor Relations Board. AFL PAPER MILL WORKERS GET WAGE HIKE, HOLIOAT Philadelphia—The AFL’s Broth erhood of Pulp, Sulphite, and Pa per Mill Workers announced the signing of a revised^ contract af fecting 1,100 emplqgres of 19 firms here. The revised agreement provides for extension of the no-strike and union shop clauses of the original contract and awards a 10 per cent wage increase. In addition, the union gained an additional paid holiday, bringing the total of such holidays to seven. RETAIL FOOD PRICES HIT NEW, HIGH. If* OVER 1946 Washington. D. C.—The food bill for workers’ families rose again by 1.4 per cent during the period from mid-June to mid-July, the Bureau of Labor Statistics re ported. The increase sent the BLS food price index up to a point 16 per cent above a year ago. 106 per .ent over August, 1939, and 193.1 n*r cent greater than the levels if the 1935-39 average. The over-all increase resulted from substantial jumps for some commodities and was not a re flection of price increases on all products. Prices of fats and oils, ruits and vegetables and coffee were lower during the period, while consumers paid more for neats, eggs, and dairy products. ALEXANDER 60MPEBS, SOI OF SAMUEL GOWERS, PISSES New York City.—Alexander J. Gompers, youngest and last sur viving son of Samuel Gompers, the labor leader, died in his home, 1146 79th Street, Brooklyn. His age was 69. He retired on June 2 as a referee of the Workmen’s Compensation Bureau of the New York State Department of Labor. Mr. Gompers was born in this city and educated here. He first adopted the trade of cigar-mak- j ing, which was his father’s origi nal trade. Later he went into cigar manufacturing. CHICA60 LABOR MY MILY H6 AFFAIR Chicago.—The Labor Day cele bration held in Soldier Field proved o be a more gigantic affair than most optimistic estimates predict d. Chicago police said that 2 75, 060 people were attracted to the rally with only 125,000 of that number gaining admission to Sol dier Field. Private cars, taxi cabs and public transportation units were tied up in traffic jams on all approaches to the Field. Shortly after 1 p. m. radio sta tion WCFL broadcast special mes sages at regular intervals an nouncing that the Field was full and urging people who had not yet started for the scene to re main at home or change their plans for the afternoon. The celebration was, the great est Labor Day rally in the history of the country, declared AFL1 President William Green who gave the principal address which was broadcast over the National Broadcasting Company nationwide network. Speeches were kept to a min imum and for a full afternoon the vast crowd was entertained by some of the nation's best circus performers, stage representatives and musicians. Midget auto races and runs over the Held by Capt. Bill Odom in his globe-circling “Bombshell” plane provided addi tional thrills and excitement for the throngs. The overwhelming success of the occasion reflected to the credit of the Chicago Federation of Labor, which sponsored the rally and made alb necessary ar rangements as part of the Fed eration’s celebration of -its fiftieth anniversary. NEGRO GROUP PROTEST LAW East Brookfield, Mass.—The Na tional Urban League, an associa tion which conducts social work among Negroes, coademned the Taft-Hartiey law. ' WFTU BRANDED AS RUSSIAN INSTRUMENT Southport. England.—George I. j Richardson. Secretary - Treasurer : of the AFL's International Asso | ciation of Fire Fighters, branded the World Federation of Trade Un* ions as an instrument used by the Soviet government to further ; its “expansionist and aggression ist policy.” In a forceful speech before the British Trades Union Congress, Mr. Richardson, in hi9 capacity of fraternal delegate from the American Federation of Labor, ■harmed the present differences ; between the Soviet government and America are due to the | “Kremlin’s violation of every | agreement it made to guarantee the independence and the demo cratic rights of its weak and poor neighboring states.” Reiterating the AFL’s opposi tion to the WFTU on the grounds that it is impossible to co-ordi nate the aims and activities of state-controlled worker groups on the one hand and free trade un ions «n the other, Mr. Richard son said: “The record of the World Fed eration of Trade Unions, the con tents of its publications, the ae [tivities of its general secretary, its consistently hostile attitude toward Groat Britain and the United States, its failure to level ■*ven the slightest criticism of any Soviet action, its continued glori fication of the state-controlled un ions behind the ‘Iron Curtain,' should compel every free trade union group connected with this organisation to re-examine the entire international labor situa tion and the • part being played in it by the so-called World Fed eration of Trade Unions. "What we actually have today is not an international federation of free trade unions, but an or ganization dedicated to confusion and discord with the ohviouq ob jective of undermining all of those nations where free and unfettered rade unionism is still possible. “The World Federation of Trade Union* today ia not an economic organisation of labor organised o protect the rights and interests of workers. It is primarily a po litical auxiliary of forces reflecting the foreign policies of certain governments — governments that are either satellite or dictatorial in nature and, therefore, in effect opposed to the existence of gen uine free trade unions in their own countries." Mr. Richardson criticised the Soviet government and asserted that differences have arisen with Russia because of her “determ ined expansionist course, her stubborn rejection of every at tempted effective international control of atomic energy." KHEEL GIVEN N. Y. CITY LABOR RELATIONS POST New York City—Mayor O'Dwy er named Theodore W. Kheel as director of this city's Labor Re lations Division to succeed Edward C. Maguire, who resigned to re sume the private practhre of law. Mr. Kheel was deputy director of the division prior to his pro motion. Before he entered city service he served as executive di rector of the National War La bor Board and as chairman of the New York Regional War La bor Board for New York and New Jersey. He also served as co chairman of the Steel Commis sion and was a member of the Mayor’s Transit Advisory Com mission named last year to settle a Board of Transportation labor dispute. • AFL BEGINS CAMPAIGN TO EXPOSE SITUATION ON THE PRICE FRONT Washington. D. C.—The American Federation of Labor launched a vigorous campaign against the rising cost of living as reports from all &ver the nation indicated that prices are soaring to new high levels. , AFL President William Green directed a letter to the local AFL affiliates in all cities and towns in which the l Senate-House Committee on the Economic Report is pre paring toehold hearings on the prices of consumer goods, urging the local groups to flood the committee with evi dence of exorbitant prices now gouging the consumer. NLRB DISMISSES 50 ELECTION CASES Washington, D. C.—The Nation al Labor Relations Board dis missed 50 representation election cases involving supervisory em ployes because the board has no authority to handle such cases -inder the Taft-Hartley law. The law amended the National Labor Relations Act so as to re move supervisors from the def inition of employes, and accord ingly from the jurisdiction of the board. The 50 election cases, which were awaiting action by the NLRB in Washington, involved about 5,400 supervisors in Id states. Unions affected by the action of the NLRB include the following AFL affiliates: District 50 of the United Mine Workers of America, International Union of Operating Engineers, Interna tinn ers, International Brotherhood of Papei' Makers, and the Insurance Supervisors* Union. BUILDING APPRENTICESHIPS AT RECORD HIGH IN JULY Washington, D. €. — Appren tices in the building trades reached an all-time high of 103, 640 during July, according to a report released by the Appren tice Training Service of the De partment of Labor. Establishment of the record in July is the culmination of a steady 26 per cent increase in ap prenticeship programs for build ing workers since the first of the year. in commenting upon tne joint sponsorship of thes« training pro* grams by labor and contractors, Mr. William F. Patterson, Direc tor, Apprentice Training Service, said, “It reflects the get-together spirit of contractors and labor in this all-important task.” AFL WULCONtTnUE GREEK RELIEF WORK Near York City. — The Labor League for Human Rights de clared it will proceed with plans to ship 2,500 food packages* to Greece for distribution. This announcement by the League, which is sponsored by the American Federation of Labor, came when the Co-operative for American Remittances to Europe (CARE) said it would terminate its Greek program due to differ ences with the Greek government over the manner in which CARE packages are distributed. The AFL food packages for Greece consist of 600 special par cels for babies and 2,000 for adults. They will be distributed to per sons selected by a joint commit tee of American and Greek trades unionists. No interference by the Greek government is expected. This action by the Labor League for Human Rights rep resents an extension of the aid program instituted to help the un fortunate peoples of Europe. Food packages have been donated by the League and already dis tributed to groups abroed includ ing German and Austrian trade ■aionists. Opinion of experts revealed that the cost of living is due to go up rather than down, as the profit-hungry interests boosted prices to maintain or increase their record take. In produce markets, dealers confidently predict retail prices of $1 a pound for butter and $1 a dozen for eggs. * In Chicago, prices of corn an 1 oats hit new highs for the second consecutive day, while wheat ad vanced several cents a bushel to a new peak for this time of year, at the height of the harvests The Bureau, of Labor Statistics reported an increase in the whole sale price index for 900 commod ities for the ninth straight week. The index now stands at a level 20.1 per cent above a year ago. The jump in corn price was blamed upon more bad weather reported from the corn belt. On top of this came the warning from John F. Frey, chairman of the American Meat Institute, that the corn crop may he damaged further hy fronts. ‘f? frost comes at Kwr average time this year, from one-third to one-half the corn crop will be in danger, Krey said. He forecast a drop in meat production this year, ”at a time when there is more need and de mand for meat than ever before." Meanwhile the Agriculture De partment told the world that farmers this year have averaged about 42 cents a doten for eggs, the highest price in history and about 7 cents above last year’s price. Aimougn egg production higher than a year ago, prices are expected to remain high be cauae of the shortage of red meat, the department said. Mr. Green, in his letter to all local AFL groups, urged them to present to the congressional com mittee the facts of the present price situation “in their true light.” He said: “Tne continually rising prices of the necessities of life is the single most important problem confronting America today. “Government figures, which can only partially measure the rise in the cost of living, show that I the prices of products purchased by an average family hit a new high during the month of June, when they were 56 per cent high er than in January, 1941. Food | and clothing, which require the .•bulk of the average worker’s wage, rose in price 95 and 84 per I cent, respectively. Preliminary figures for July and August are even higher. “The first session of the 86th Congress closed its eyes to this continually rising cost of living. Its only action was to authorize the present investigation of the high cost of living. Labor should take advantage of the oppor tunity to present the facts in their true light.” COAL COMPANIES FINED IN ANTI-TRUST ACTION Boston—The United States Dis trict Court fined 15 coal distribu tion organizations a toal of $24, 600 on charges of conspiracy to fix prices and to monopolize soft coal distribution in violation ot( the Sherman anti-trust law. The Department of Justice said the companies, which handle 95 per cent of thd soft coal sold in greater Boston, oonspired to elim inate competition among them selves.
The Charlotte Labor Journal and Dixie Farm News (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Sept. 11, 1947, edition 1
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