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CHARLOTTE
LABOR JOURNAL
CHARLOTTE. N. C.. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1947
VOL. XVII; NO. 27
Subscription $2.00 Per Year
KENTUCKY ELECTION VICTORY FOR LABOR
COURT DENIES NLRB INJUNCTION AGAINST CARPENTERS
TAFT-HARTLEY BACKER SOUNDLY WHIPPED BY A
THREE-TO-ONE MAJORITY
Washington, D. C.—AFL President William Green hailed
the results of the recent gubernatorial election in Ken
tucky as a clear-cut victory for labor over the supporters
of the Taft-Hartley law.
In a statement commenting upon the election results,
Mr. Green said:
“In the election, the Taft-Hartley law was subjected
to its first test as a campaign issue.
“In Kentucky, the Republican
candidate for Governor, Eldon
S. Dummit, made the Taft-Hart
ley law his chief battle cry and
asked for election on the ground
that his Democratic opponent,
Representative Earle C. Clements,
had voted in Congress to uphold
President Truman’s veto of that
law.
"Faced with this challenger the
Kentucky State Federation of
Labor presented the facts to the
workers of Kentucky and made
special efforts to bring out the
labor vote on election day. The
result was the overwhelming de
feat of the proponent of the
Taft-Hartley law and the elec
tion of Representative Clements
by an estimated three to one mar
gin.
“This is exactly what the
American Federation of Labor is
determined to do on a national
scale in the 1948 elections and
we hail the results in Kentucky
as a happy augury of the suc
cess of our efforts.”
Senator Robert A. Taft, un
happily for his own political ad
vancement, said on October 15
that the outcome in Kentucky
would "reflect to a large degree
which party will select a Presi
dent in 1948.”
Backing up Mr. Green with an
on-the-spot report, Edward H.
Weyler, secretary-treasurer of the
Kentucky Federation of Labor,
told of the activities of the AFL
units in Kentucky which helped
get out the vote ttf roll up the
80,000 majority serving “to ex
pode the fallacy that the public
desired Restrictive labor legis
lation.”
In the city of Louisville, con
sidered in advance to be a weak
spot for the Democrats, Mr. Wey
ler said the work of the AFL’s
unions there resulted in a Dem
ocratic victory by a majority of
nearly 8,000. He continued:
“In the coal fields of Kentucky,
in many districts traditionally
Republican, the AFL - supported
Democratic candidate carried a
majority. In fact, our cand-date
for governor carried his oppon
ent’s county by more than 300
majority.
“All of which, in my opinion,
proves profoundly that the citi
zens of Kentucky, industrial,
agricultural, and small business,
want and intend to have progres
sive government of the people,
by the people, and for the peo
ple.
“This election surely is a cri
teria of the results whiA will be
attained in the 1948 election which
will free our nation from its re
actionary leadership.”
In other election contests
throughout the nation, the AFL
scored additional successes. In
Detroit, Edward J. Jeffries was
defeated for re-election as mayor,
when the AFL withdrew its sup
port previously given to Jeffries
in three earlier mayoralty con
tests. The CIO support of Jeff
ries, given this year for the first
time, proved inadequate to coun
teract the AFL’s announced inten
tion to work for his defeat.
In Philadelphia, the AFL-sup
ported mayor was re-elected,
proving once again the ineffec
tiveness of the CIO, which cam
paigned against him.
ZANDER CALLS FOR
CC-OPS TO ACT AS A
DISCIPLINARY FORCE
San Francisco. — Arnold S.
Zander, president of the AFL’s
State, County, and Municipal Em
ployes Union, in an address to
the AFL convention character
ised the consumers cooperative
movement as a “sleeping giant”
which, if aroused, could wield a
great source of power for social
good.
Mr. Zander, chairman of the
AFL’s Committee on Consumer
Co-operatives, spoke to the con
vention following the adoption Q.f
a declaration stating that “con
sumers co-operatives and credit
unions will promote higher stan
dards of living for wage earn
ers.”
Mr. Zander urged unions to
give ever-increasing support to
co-operatives and emphasised the
importance of the co-operative
movement as a disciplinary force
upon industry which, if properly
guided, could serve as a potent
weapon against the reactionary
forces that brought about passage
of the Taft-Hartley law. He
said:
“I want to refer to the discip
linary aspects of the consumer
co-operative movement. I offered
to you the fact that if we had a
strong, well organized consumers
co-operative movement, we could
cut into the principalities of the
opposition.
Lei me oner, xur insiamc,
this, that if we were distributing
in this country more than one
third of the total amount of milk
distributed in the country, as is
the case in Great Britain, we
would then not have standing
against us that segment of our
industrial empire fighting us and
giving us Taft-Hartley laws.
“Or if we had opposition in
the last Congress from the em
ployers, from the manufacturers
of boots and shoes, let me say to
you that in some of the countries
where co-operatives are strong,
they are in position to control
that industry and the people in
it, so they will not take anti
social positions."
Mr. Zander told of the out
standing success achieved by con
sumer co-operatives in European
countries, particularly Sweden
and Great Britain, and asserted
that there is close association
between the co-operative move
ment and the labor movement in
those countries. Of Great Brit
ain, he declared:
“It is a requirement, a condi
tion of employment in the con
sumers co-operative movement of
Great Britain that every employe
of that movement must be a
member of his trade union. And
so in case after case we have
these people forming the bulwark
of the membership, the spear
head of organizing drives, and a
disciplinary force on the economy
of the country. It is a move
ment there with 10.000,000 mem
bers out of a population of 48,
000,000. It is rich, it is power
ful.
“In one industry after another
it is dominant, in one place after
another it is controlling. It is
able to supply every need of the
households, and all the way
(Please Turn to Page X)
9
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* Mllli IN AVI
(rotaht btfow yew •■Brt
Th# U, S. Air Force offer* thousand!
o{ young men a golden opportunity
to make a lifetime career of aviation.
A high school graduate who can
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years, can select his schooling before
he enlists and be guaranteed that
schooling after he has been accepted
by the Air Force. The finest aviation
training in the world in top-flight Air
Force Specialist Schools. Men who
have had two or more years of col
lege education or equivalent may
pilot training aa Avia
tion Cadets. Get all the
facts at your U. S. Army
and Air Force Recruit
ing Station.
Small Taxpayers Not
Helped By Committee’s
Intentions, Says Woll
Washington, D. C. — Matthew
Woll, chairman of the AFL’s
Committee on Taxation and a
member of the Special Tax Study
Committee appointed by Repre
sentative Knutson, expressed
gratification at the concern shown
by the majority of the committee
for the welfare of the small tax
payer.
Mr. Woll. who filed a minority
report dissenting from the con
clusions reached by the commit
tee, declared, however, that the
majority report should be judged
by its specific recommendations,
rather than by pious statements
of good intentions.
“If the major concern of the
majority of the committee is to
relieve the small taxpayer, then
the majority recommendations
can only be termed an insult to
our intelligeiice," Mr. Woll said.
“Their report is based on the
assumption that the across-the
board tax cuts of four billion
dollars, as proposed by Repre
sentative Knutson, will be made.
The majority is aware that these
reductions will only partially
ease the tax load of millions of
taxpayers at below subsistence
income levels.
“On the other hand, upper
bracket taxpayers would be re
lieved of a substantial portion of
their tax bill. Knowing this, the
majority make specific recommen
dations in their report for further
tax changes that! will involve the
loss of additional billions of dol
lars which will accrue mainly as
savings to these same upper
bracket income taxpayers.”
Mr. Woll charged that the
Knutson proposal, plus the spe
cific tax revisions favored by a
majority of the committee, would
involve a total revenue loss to
the Federal government of six
to seven billion dollars.
“I submit that such a proposal
is fantastic because it so com
pletely disregards our Federal
revenue and our probable com
mitments under the Marshall
Plan,” Mr. Woll declared. -
“Furthermore, this proposal
would result in shifting a great
er share of the tax burden from
those more able to those less
able to bear the tax load. Such
a program Is not only inequitable.
r but dangerous to the economy.”
“Finally,” declared Mr. Woll,
“the proof of the utter insinceri
ty of the majority’s professed
interest in the low income groups
is found in their1 recommendation
that excise taxes be increased
and extended. Obviously, they
hope to collect additional revenue
either through taxes on luxuries
or through taxes on necessities
in common use.
“Taxes on luxuries rarely yield
any considerable revenue and fre
quently defeat their purpose by
discouraging consumption. Taxes
on necessities, on the other hand,
might yield additional revenue
but would cut into the purchasing
power apd living standards of
the low income groups.
“Anyone interested in tax
equity or our social and economic
welfare," concluded Mr. WoH,
“can be either amused or out
raged at Mr. Magill’s attempts to
promote bigger and better taxes
on cinsumers, while expressing
concern for the small taxpayer.”
•47 COLLEGE ENROLLMENT
MILLION ABOVE PREWAR
Washington, D. C.—The U. S.
Office of Education announced
that college and university en
rollment in the fall of 1947 hit
a new high level of nearly 2,
300,000 students.
Figures on enrollment submit
ted by the nation’s 1,778 insti
I tutions of higher learning showed
| the number of students to be ap
proximately 1,000,000 above the
peak prewar registration.
Dt. John W. Studebaker, U. S.
Commissioner of Education, said,
“The continued increase in high
er education enrollments, up 11
per cent this fall over the fall
of 1946, means that our colleges
and universities are going a long
way toward making up the na
tional deficit in trained manpower
caused by the drawing off of
college-age youth during the per
iod of the war."
Some of the largest enroll
ments reported are: New York
University, 46,312; University of
California, 43,000; University of
Minnesota, 28,312;* University of
Illinois, 26,769; Ohio State Uni
versity, 26,418; and Northwest
ern University, 24,264.
IBEW LOCAL WILL VOTE
ON DI ES REDCCTION PLAN
New York City.—Local 3 of th*
AFL’s International Brotherhood
•>f Elect Heal Worker* awnwiLJl
that its membership will be asked
to vote on a proposal to reduce
the amount of union dues at a
fortcoming meeting.
Because of the healthy state of
union’s treasury, its officers de
cided to recommend a reduction
from $42 to $34 in the semi-an
nual dues for the local’s 6,500
Class A members.
The union also announced that
it had concluded an agreement
with the New York Electrical
Contractois Association liberaliz
ing pension and health insurance
benefits for its members. Chil
dren, as well as wives of mem
bers. will receive hospital care
under the new program.
-SEPT. AUTO PRODUCTION
3RD HIGHEST FOR YEAR
Detroit.—Factory sales of pas
senger cars in September hit a
total of 307,879 units, or the sec
ond highest month in 1947, 4he
Automobile Manufacturers Asso
ciation announced.
September passenger car sales
were up 18 per cent over August,
and September sales of 112,420
trucks and coaches represented
a 27 per cent rise over the prev
ious month’s total of 88,274 com
mercial units.
Total factory sales in the first
nine months of 1947 amounted to
3,497,811 vehicles, the AMA re
port showed. Passenger canf ac
counted for 2,570,059 .of the total,
while truck and coach sales
reached 927,752 units.
X. Y. CAFETERIA EMPLOYES
GIVEN I#% JUMP IN WAGE8
New York City.—Joseph Fox,
secretary-treasurer of Local 302
of the AFL’s Cafeteria Employes
Union, announced a strike of 4,
500 workers here was averted
through the efforts of Arthur S.
Meyer, chairman of the State
Board of Mediation.
An agreement was reached with
the employers under which the
union members receive a 10 per
cent general wage increase and
an increase of 15 per cent in
minimum wage scales. New
minimum scales range from $32
to $135 weekly.
The union retained the 40
hour week in the new agreement
when the employes agreed to
drop their demand for extension
ef the workweek to 45 hoars.
I
RULING SETS FORTH THAT ALL OF ALLEGED VIO
LATIONS BY CARPENTERS PRIOR TO PASSAGE
OF THE TAFT-HARTLEY ACT
Chattanooga. Tenn.—Efforts of the National Labor Re
lations Board to sustain charges of seeondarv boycotting
and illegal picketing against a union fell flat when a'Federal
Court refused to grant an injunction requested bv the
NLRB.
The court denied the application for an injunction against
the Ignited Brotherhood of Carpetners and Joiners, ruling
that all of the alleged violations on the part of the union
took place prior to the effective date of the Taft-Hartley
law.
TRl'MAN URGES HIRING
DISABLED; COMMITTEE
ADOPTS DRIVE PROGRAM
Washington, D. C.—President
Truman stressed the need for
st mutation of the employment
of the nation's handicapped work
ers and declared their rehabilita
tion is “one of the most impor
tant things I can think of.”
Mr. Truman made his state- i
Trent to h's committee on “Na
tional Employ the Physically
Handicapped Week” which met
at the White House and agreed
upon the following 8-point pro
gram to spark the campaign:
(1) Managemer.t-labor insti
tutes throughout the country to
secure employer acceptance of
handicapped workers, emphas'se
availability and advantages of
Federal-States Employment Serv
ice facilities, prepare a typical
“in-planft” plan tot employment
of disabled and secure increased
employe interest from disabled
and nondisabled alike;
(2) Investigation of and as
sistance to present and future
community rehabilitation centers,
formed to rehabilitate and employ
the disabled at community level;
(3) Collaboration with Gover
nors’ Committees in the States;
(4) Local. State and national
essay contests “to stimulate the
thinking of students, parents and
teachers;”
(5) Exposition showing the
handicapped at work “to arouse
public interest and knowledge”
while educating employers to the
“value and variety of talents pos
sessed by handicapped workers;”
(6) Awarding of certificates of
merit to individuals and organi
sations who have co-operated in
the employment of handicapped;
(7) Study of workmen’s com
pensation laws, and
(8) Study of schools for hand
icapped in order that curricula
might bear a direct relationship
upon future employment possi
bilities.
COURT RULES LIQUOR
SHUTDOWN IS INVALID
Louisville, Ky.—The Citizens’
Food Committee lacks necessary
authority to order a halt in the
production of whiskey, a Louis
ville court ruled.
Judge W. Scott Miller ordered
a distillery to resume operations
and to fulfill its contracts to sales
companies.
The jurist held that the only
time the government, without
law, can “impair” a contract is
during a national emergency.
Unions representing distillery
worker plan to challenge the two
months shutdown order unless
they obtain satisfactory adjust
ments for lost wages. It is esti
mated that more than 40,000 have
been made idle by the closing
of the plants.
NAMED RESEARCH DIRECTOR
Cincinnati, Ohio. — Robert L.
Davis, recently director of re
search for the Brotherhood at
Railway Clerks (AFL) has been
named head of the research and
education department of the Ho
tel and Restaurant Employes and
Bartenders International Ifaion
(AFL).
Judge Leslie K. uarr rejected
the NLRB’s contentioji that al
though the union's action took
place the day before the statute
became effective, they still con
stitute a violation because they
hud a “continuing effect” and
future unlawful conduct could t>e
expected.
The judge held that since the
acts of the union were lawful
at the time they took place, there
could be no inference drawn that
such lawful acts would indicate
unlawful conduct in the future.
The court did not rule or.' mo
tions made by the union's at
torneys to dismiss the applica
tion suit on the ground that the
Taft-Hart ley law was unconsti
tutional.
The ease took on special sig
nificance since the court’s ruling
was made on the same aet of
facts preu^tad More an NLRB
trfaf ’ ttwon conducting hear
ings on the charge that the car
penters union was guilty of an
unfair labor practice- Under t*-s
Taft-Hartley law it was manda
tory for the NLRB to request a
temprrary injunction agains; the
union pending processing of t!>c
unfair labor practice case
The NLRB charged thaty last
February the union demanded a
closed shop contract with Watson’s
Specialty Store in this city. The
store refused to sign since none
of its employes were union mem
bers.
Subsequently, the store was
picketed until August 30, eight
days after the Taft-Hartley law
went into effect, when there was
no labor dispute, was an attempt
to coerce the store’s employes
into joining the union.
On August 21, the carpenters
refused to continue work on a
house when the specialty store’s
non-union employes arrived to in- •
stal floor covering. The walkout
was a secondary boycott against
the store, the NLRB said, and
failure of the union later to re
scind its' action gave the walk
out a “continuing effect.”
CORNELL PUBLISHES FIRST
LABOR RELATIONS REVIEW
Ithaca, N. Y.—The Industrial
and Labor Relations Review,
published for the New York State
School of Industrial and Labor
Relations at Cornell University,
ihade it its initial appearance
recently.
The new quarterly is described
as the first journal of its kind
in the field of labor-management
relations.
In a foreword. Edmund E. Day.
president of Cornell, called the
publication “a logical extension
of the function which higher
education is assuming in the area
of labor-management relations.”
The first issue includes a dis
cussion of “Labor and American
Foreign Policy," by David A.
Morse, Under-Secretary of Labor,
and contributions from such oth
ers in the industrial and labor
relations fields as 0. C. Prince,
rice president of General Motors,
Charles Luckman, president of
Lever Brothers, and William Gom
berg, director of the management
tngineering department. Interna
tional l adies’ Garment Workers
Union, AFL.
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