WIRE «r WRITE to
Tsar Ctigressnsa to
Pretest Ajtissl All
ARTI- LABOR Bills!
CHARLOTTE
LABOR JOURNAL
VOL. XCII; NO. 21
CHARLOTTE. N. C„ THURSDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1947
Subscription $2.00 Per Year
wide vunimoiis n
WORKING CONDITtONS
WAGES IRE REPORTED
Washington, D. C'The laundry
industry, historically among the
lowest paying for women work
ers, need1 not be “synonymous
with depressed wage and employ
ment standards" according to a
report released by the Women’s
Bureau of the Labor Department.
This conclusion is based upon
a study of 268 power laundry
establishments in 38 southern and
midwestern cities employing more
- than 21,000 workers, three-fourths
of whom were women.
The report states that progres
sive foundry managements, found
in city after city demonstrated
that decept wages and employ
ment standards are practicable.
Investigators found wide vari
ations in working conditions and
pay within cities and skill wider
variations in different parts of the
country, the report states.
Of the employes included in the
survey only 30 to 40 per cent
were working under terms of col
lective bargaining contracts in
effect between unions and the
managements, the survey disclosed.
Chicago was cited as having
“far and away" higher pay for
women laundry workers than any
of the other cities studied. The
averige there was 81 cents Is
hour. None earnpd less than 46
cents. Some earned as high as
$1.00. •-—
Kansas City, Terre Haute, Ind.,
and Raleigh, N. C., were cited as
showing that wage standardisa
tion within a city is possible. The
average hourly earnings of laun
dries in these cities differed by
no more than 3 cents.
Other findings of the report
were these:
In most of the cities surveyed,
workers in the highest-paying
plants earned 30 per cent to 60
per cent more than in the lowest
paying plant, yet retail prices
tended to be identical,
v About two thirds of the laun
dries were on a 45 to 50-hour
week. A 9-hour day or longer
was found >n two-thirds of the
laundries.
Facilities fcr the health and
ccmfort of the worker were pro
nounced “very unsatisfactory” on
the whole. Ms jet working con
dition items such as ventilation,
illumination and layout, however,
were generally adequate.
CATTLE RAISERS POCKET
70 CENTS OF MEAT DOLLAR
Washington, D. C. — Cattle
growers who raise beef cattle are
getting about 70 cents of every
dollar the consumer spends now
for meat, compared with 51 cents
in 1939, according to figures re
leased by the Department of Agri
culture.
The department said, however,
that it had little definite informa
tion as to how the other 30 cents
was divided among others who
share in the dollar, such as the
commission agents who handle
livestock sales, the packer, the
wholesaler and the retailer.
GOVERNMENT TO PROBE
INTO ILLEGAL EXPORTS
Washington, D. C.—The Com
merce Department announced a
drive against illegal exports of
scarce commodities by violators
of Federal export controls.
It said it will bear down par
ticularly on those who buy and
sell licenses required by such
shipments.
Officials said the drive was
prompted by ^nounting concern
over the effect of exports on do
mestic prices and also as a move
to channel more exports to the
needier countries of Westerrf Eu
rope.
UMW RELINQUISHES RIGHT
TO REPRESENT RAIL MEN
Washington, D. C.—The Nation
al Mediation Board announced that
District 50 of the AFL’s United
Mine Workers decided to “relin
quish its right of representation”
for 600 employees of the Western
Maryland Railway Company.
The board is considering peti
tions for an election to choose a
lew bargaining agent Submitted
Sy the Brotherhood of Locomo
tive Enginemen and the Railroad
industrial Union.
ADVISORY COUNCIL APPOINT
ED TO STUDY OPERATIONS
OF SOCIAL SECURITY PUN
Washington, D. C.—Proposals
for the expansion of the nation’s
Social Security system will be
studied by an advisory council
composed of 17 members named
by Senator Eugene D. Milliken,
chairman of the Senate Finance
Committee.
The council will make recom
mendations on “coverage, benefits,
and taxes” under the vast So
cial Security program which now
covers nearly 42,000,000 persons.
Nelson Cruikshank, Director of
Social Insurance Activities for the
AFL, was named to the advisory
group c (—prised of labor, busi
muff, And wtlfirc offkiftlft tad
headed by Edward R. Stettinius,
Jr.
The council was authorised by
the Senate when it provided $25,
000 “to make a full and complete
investigation” of Social Security
as proposed by Senators Millikin
and Walter F.. George, former
Senate Finance Committee chair
man.
Senator Millikin asked Stettin
ius to assemble the council” at
the earliest practicable date” to
“survey the existing programs un
der the Social Security Act and
lay out definite plans for the study
of Lheir operations and proposals
for their changes.”
Largest groups not now covered
by Social Security include farm
ers and agricultural workers,
domestic servants, State and Fed
eral governmental employes, self
employed such as small merchants,
and employes of charitable in
stitutions such as churches and
non-profit hospitals.
Named as associate chairman of
the advisory council is Dr. Sum
ner H. Slighter, Cambridge, Mass.,
Harvard professor and chairman
of the Research Advisory Board
of the Committee for Economic
Development.
6 BALL-BEARING FIRMS
FINED FOR PRICE-FIXING
Cleveland. — Federal Judge
Emerich B. Freed fined six ball
bearing firms a total of $30,000
for price-fixing violations of the
Sherman act.
Attorneys for the firms pleaded
nolo contendere. The firms were
General Motors Corp., Detroit;
S.KF Industries, Inc., Philadelphia;
Marlin-RockweH Corp., Jamestown,
N. Y.; Fafnir Bearing Co., New
Britain, Conn.; Federal Bearings
Co., Poughkeepsie, N. Y., and
Stamford, Conn. Each concern
was fined $5,000.
N. J. STATE FEDERATION
RE-ELECTS OFFICERS
Atlantic City.—Delegates to the
09th annual convention of the New
Jersey State Federation of Labor
re-elected Louis P. Marciante
president of the federation.
Other offices who were also re
elected without opposition are
Michael J. Condron, Orange, first
view president; William Carter,
Cranford, second viee-presiden*,
Sadie Reisch, Trenton, third vice
president, and Mayor Vincent J.
Murphy of Newark, secretary
treasurer.
URGES COMMON - SENSE
APPROACH IN FIGHT
ON LABOR LAW
San Francisco. — Delegates
to the 38th convention of the
AFL's Metal Trades Dfpart
ment in session here heard
John P. Frey, president of
the department, urge labor to
employ common sense in its
twin battles against the Taft
Hartley law and the menace
of Communist infiltration into
the labor movement.
In a comprehensive report
to the convention, Mr. Frey
reviewed the progress made
by the department during the
preceding year and declared
that to meet the problems
which lie ahead the organi
zation “was never in a more
satisfactory position than it
is today.”
Referring to the Master Ship
building Agreement on the Pacif
c Cosat, Mr. Frey said:
“During the past year the af
filiated and cooperating Interna
tional Unions have been able to
renew all their joint agreements,
and in doing so increase the wage
rate." V
Hr. Fray pointed to the lack of
experience under tfce Taft-Hartley
!**’• operation and the absence
of knowledge as to its adminis
tration and interpretation by the
courts. Ho said.4
“For thane practical and ob
mendations are presented here.
Instead the recommendation is of
fered that we continue to apply
trade union common sense to the
solution of the problems which
will arise under the operation of
the law. There is nothing sensa
tional, nothing capturing the
newspaper headlines, nothing
which savors of the heroic in ap
plying common sense to the solu
tion of our problems; yet, the
progress our trade union move
ment has made, the soundness of
the foundation upon which it
rests, is due more than anything
else to the use of common sense'
in the development and applica
tion of our trade union policy.
“Resentment against the Taft
Hartley Act should not lead us
to depart from a sane, well-bal
anced policy to protect our rights
as we Understand them to be.”
Looking back to the dark days
and dismal future- faced by labor
when confronted with the prob
lems of the injunction and the
yellow-dog contract, Mr. F.ney
drew an analogy to the present
situation in which labor is con
fronted with new repressive leg
islation. He said:
“Yet, labor did secure the Nor
ris-LaGuardia anti-injunction act,
labor did secure legislation de
claring yellow-dog contracts null
and void, and they accomplished
this by electing to the State Leg
islatures and to Congress those
whom they considered to be their
friends, and by defeaing those
wliom they considered to be their
enemies.
“The spirit which animated our
movement in its fight* against in
junctions and yellow-dog contracts
is not dead. It is not even sleep
ing. It is with us stronger to
day than ever before, and its must
now be our function to crystal
lize this spirit, to organize its
effectiveness, so that every unfair,
unjust legal handicap can be over
come."
Turning to the issue of Com
munism. Mr. Frey charged that
the attitude of the Soviet Gov
ernment “has made world peace
and world recovery more and more
difficult, if not impossible.”
“What seemed originally an ef
fort to capture our trade union
■ movement for the Moscow ideol
i ogy, has now become an effort by
the Moscow dictatorship to destroy
all existing free institutions
among the nations of the world.
It is not a pleasant or a re
assuring picture for the immediate
future, for* it has become evident
(Please Turn to Page 4)
Central Labor Union Notes
Charlotte Central Labor Union
was called to order Thursday night
by President Claude L. Albea with
Secretary Henry Eddins at his
post. The invocation was said by
Brother Rogers, followed by the
Salute to the Flag.
Reading of the minutes of the
previous meeting and their sub
sequent approval was followed by
the roll call of officers.
Communications were ordered
read and all bills were authorized
paid. A letter from President
Green was read regarding estab
lishing Labor Extension depart
ments in American colleges, a bill
’or which procedure is now pend
ing in Congress. Mr. Green re
quested that Labor provide all of
the necessary co-operation to se
cure this greatly needed depart
ment in our American colleges.
t A contest on “Why We Should
Establish Labor Extension Depart
ments in the Colleges" is being
held in connecion with the plan
and top prise for the best essay in
this contest will be $300. About
50 other prises are also offered.
The contest will close Oct. 15.
The Green communication was
turned over to the legislative com
mittee for future action and cop
ies of the pispposition were ordered
sent to each affiliated AFL union
in Charlotte.
Reports of local unions were
heard, some of them stating that
they are in need of skilled work
ers. The plumbers can use 75 or
100 good men, the carpenters also
can place finishers. Also many
new members were reported as be
ing received into the various
building trades locals.
BUILDING TRADES CONFRONT
LOCKOUT RT NLRB RIHJN6
San Francisco .— Thorny an
complex problems developing out
of the Taft-Hartley law faced the
annual convention of the AFL
Building and Construction Trades
Department as its sessions opened
here with President Richard J.
Gray presiding.
AnwaaMMOt Bp <tk> National
Labor Relations Board that it in*
tends to exercise jurisdiction over
most building traaes cases will
clamp the grip of government
rekulation for the first time over
these unions representing more
than 1,500,000 workers.. Even
during the war. the building
trades cases were not handled by
the National War Labor Board,
as other labor disputes were, but
by a special Board of Review
on which the building trader un
ions had representation.
The major problem confronting
the convention was the Denham
ruling, issued by the NLRB’s
chief counsel, which prevents any
unjon from bringing complaints
or election petitions before the
board unless all AFL officers sign
non-Communist affidavits. The
AFL Executive Council has an
nounced that it could not con
form to this ruling. Thus the ,
building trades, as well as all,
other affiliated unions, have been
locked out by the NLRB, unless
the Denham regulation is over
ruled by the board, itself.
Without recourse to the NLRB,
nany of the collective bargaining
gains and contractual standards
won by the building trades un
ions over the last three-quarters
of a century are threatened with
being wiped out.
Traditionally, for instance, the
building trades have operated un
der strict closed shop conditions,
but the Taft-Hartley law out
lawed the closed shop. To protect
union security, many of the build
ing trades organisations planned
to ask for employe elections
authorising the type of union
shop permitted under , the new
law, but the NLRB lockout now
I prevents them from obtaining
such elections.
Officers of the Building and
Construction Trades Department
have been conferring with NLRB
officials about thein special prob
|1ems and are expected to report
I the result of these conversations
to the convention.
The board’s attitude toward
^jurisdictional disputes will be of
special significance to the union
officials in attendance at the con
clave. In order to reduce juris
dictional strife, the Building and
Construction Trades Department
has worked out its own machinery
for settling sue If disputes. How
ever, the NLRB has been given
final authority over such disputes
by the Taft-Hartley law and the
question arises whether a depart- j
n.cnt decision in a jurisdiction
case will have any standing if
(Please Tara to Page 3)
STRONG UNION LABEL
CAMPAIGN URGED AS
MEANS BEATING FOES
San Francisco.—Officers of the
Union Label Trades Department
urged delefates to the depart
ments 39th convention to wage a
vigorous campaign to influence
American consumers to favor
goods bearing the Union LlMil nr
services designated by a Shop
Card or Service Button.
The report of the department’s
executive board stressed he need
for redoubled efforts in this di
rection to combat labor’s foes and
free the labor movement from thf
shackles of the Taft-Hartley law.
The report declared:
“If American labor desires to
repeal anti-union laws and obtain
the right kind of protective legis
lation, it must stop supporting
those who are making a profit on
non-union workers. These profits
tre used to employ high-priced
lawyers who write the bills for
our lobby-guided legislators and to
liire propagandists to promote
them. By spending their union
earned money for non-union goods,
free American workers help un
fair employers to make huge prof
its, part of which are used to
elect kept politicians who pass
law to enslave American toilers.
“By withholding their support
from unfair manufacturers and
merchandisers and by patroniz
ing only those Arms that display
the Union Label, Shop Card, and
Service Button, American work
ers have the best guarantee for
security of their jobs, wages, and
working conditions. They have
the best assurance of creating
higher labor standards now being
advocated by the American Feder
ation of Labor and which help to
make up what is known as "our
American way of life.”
“If we do not spend our high
wage purchasing power for union
made-in-America products and un
ion services, we cannot expect
fair employers to continue to pay
union wages and maintain the
working conditions that all our
members enjoy.”
The report gave an account of
the successful AFL Union Label
and Industrial .Exhibition held in
St. Louis in 1946 and announced
plans for a bigger and better
show in 1948 to be held in Mil
waukee.
Pointing out that the name of
future exhibitions has been
changed to “Union - Industries
Show” the report said:
“The 1948 Union - Industries
Show will be a glorious panorama
for all things union. It will be
a show window for union-made
goods and a dress parade for un
ion services. Our exhibitions have
been instituted for dramatizing
these facts to American consum
ers. They have proven profltable
*o both union workers end union
employers .'like.”
AFL's RAILWAY CLERKS WIN
REPRESENTATION OVER CIO
Washington, D. C.—The Na
tional Mediation Board author
ized the Brotherhood of Railway
Clerks, an AFL affiliate, as bar
gaining agent for clerical, office,
store, fleet and passenger em
ployes of Western Airlines, Inc.
The board's authorization fol
lowed an election in which the
AFL union was chosen by the
employees over a rival CIO union.
The tally of ballots showed 215
for the AFL group as against 151
for the CIO units.
CHICAGO TEACHERS TO
RECEIVE BONUSES; CITY
APPROVES UNION PLAN
Chicago.— The drive on the part
‘ft the AFL’s American Federa
tion of Teachers met with at least
partial success here when the
Board of Education agreed to pay
a- bonus totaling $1,879,559 to
teachers in the Chicago schools.
John M. Fewkes, president of
the Chicago Teachers Union, said
that nearly 155,000 public school
teachers and school executives
will share in the bonus to be dis
tributed in November. Mr.
Fewkes, acting for the union,
urged the Board of Education to
authorise the bonus payment*.
M $aw limit was sot Sn pay
ments to the board's highest sal
aried executive personnel.
The money, made available by
the State Legislature for emer
gency distribution to teachers,
will be paid to all eligible em
ployes, said Charles J. Whipple,
president of the board. The plan
provides for each teacher aoout
41.4 per cent of the salary earned
from September 29 to October 24.
The $200 limit set for princi
pals, assistant superintendents
and other educational personnel
will increase amounts available
for payments to teachers, but the
differential has not yet been de
termined.
On the basis of a percentage of
a month’s pay,, grade school
teachers at the bottom salary lev
el of $220 a month will receive
a bonus of $91.08. Those at the
top grade school pay will receive
$132.48. High school teachers
will receive $107.64 to $173.80.
Every teacher who holds a reg
ular or temporary certificate will
receive a payment depending on
the time worked in the month
ending October 24. Civil service
employes, including those who
may have teaching certificates,
were* ruled out.
The money available for the
bonus is part of tfie additional
state aid voted by the legislature.
The assembly made most of the
sum available this year, but re
fused to grant the great increase
sought in state aid by educational
organisations. Chicago alone
sought enough to pay top salaries
of $4,000 in grade and $4,80^ in
high schools.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS TOPIC
FOR AFL RADIO PROGRAM
Washington, D. C.—The AFL’s
radio program. “Labor, USA,”
scheduled for September 30th, will
be devoted to a discussion of in
ternational developments and for
eign policy.
Participants in the discussion
will be Irving Brown, the AFL’s
European representative, Joseph
D. Keenan, secretary of thef Chi
cago Federation of Labor and
Philip Pearl, the AFL's publicity
director.
“Labor, USA” originates in
Washington and is brodacast each
Tuesday evening at 10:30 P. M.
Eastern Daylight Time over the
nation-wide network of the Amer
ican Broadcasting Company. Con
sult your local newspapers for the
exact time of the broadcast in
your community.
110 TO WAGE CONTINUING
CAMPAIGN TOWARD WORLD
UNITY ON LAROR MATTERS
Montreal. Canada.-—The Inter
national Labor Organization
pledged that it would continue to
do everything in its power to
contribute to “widening and deep
ening the unity of effort" of the
United Nations and the special
ized international agencies asso
ciated with the UN.
The pledge was contained in
the first report prepared by the
ILO and submitted to the United
Nations for consideration at the
current session of the United Na
tions General Assembly at Lake
Success, N. Yj
The ILO, which was established
in 1919, is the oldest of the spec
ialized agencies which now form
part of the United Nations frame
work. It was brought into rela
tionship with the United Nations
last year with the approval by the
General Assembly of the UN and
the General Conference of the
ILO of an agreement establishing
methods of co-operation between
the organizations.
Covering the period between the
establishment of the United Na
tions and July 16 of this year,
the report surveys the postwar
activities of the ILO, with par
ticular emphasis on a number of
Mg*, appear
terest to the
United Nations at the present
time. These are employment and
unemployment, social security, the
protection of children and young
persons, women’s work, maritime
labor, social policy in nonmetro
politan territories, and migration.
Pointing out that 86 Interna
tional Labor Conventions, or
treaties, and 82 Recommendations
have been adopted by the Organ
ization to date, the report de
Clares that the obligations and
standards embodied in these in
struments “have been one of the
main formative influences upon
the development of social legis
lation in many countries during
the last three decades." The
total number of ratifications of
the Conventions is given at 948.
In the field of social security,
the report says, the emphasis of
the ILO’» work has shifted from
the establishment of social insur
ance standards to a broader con
ception which seeks the exten
sion of social security measures
to provide “a basic income to all
in need of such protection and
comprehensive medical care.” This
new conception, it declares, now
forms the foundation of the Or
ganization’s work in the social se
curity sphere.
The report traces a similar
shift of emphasis in the Organi
zation’s work in behalf of women.
Its earlier work, it shows, was
designed primarily to -protect ma
ternity, while in recent years in
creasing stress has been laid in
ensuring for women equal treat
ment- with men workera.
The growing importance of the
ILO’s work in advising govern
ments on social questions is em
phasised by the report. The mem
bed countries, it points out, have
come increasingly to recognize the
value of the information and ex
perience amassed by the Interna
tional Labor Office, the Organiza
tion’s permanent secretariat, and
to call upon the Office for infor
mation and advice on the ques
tions with which the Organiza
tion deals.
to be of special
WILLIAMS RESIGNS FROM
PA. STATE LABOR POSITION
Harrisburg. Pa. — David Wil
liams, Deputy Secretary of Labor
and Industry since 1943, resigned.
Williams will leave the state
service to accept a post as labor
relations adviser to Schenly Dis
tillers, Inc., New York. A former
secretary-treasurer of the Penn
sylvania Federation of T-^r
(AFL), Williams has had a »ong
career in the labor relations field.