CHARIOTT E
LABOR JOURNAL
VOL. Will; no. 1.
CHARLOTTE. N. C.. THURSDAY. SEPTEMBER 9. 1948
Subscription Per Year
AFL GALLS ON LABOR TO
QUIT WFTU; HAILS OEAKIN'S
POSITION ON COMMUNISTS
Washington. —• The American
Federation of Labor called upon
all other labor organizations to
ouit the Soviet-domipated World
Federation qf Trade Unions.
Hailing the recent stand taken
by Arthur Deakin. British union
leader and president of the WFTU
who declared the organization had
been “captured” by the Commun
ists. a statement issued by the
AFL said:
“There is no longer any rea
son for any self-respectmg free
trade union organization in the
Old or New World to continue its
affiliation with or contribute one
cent to support the WFTU."
In this hemisphere, the CIO is
the principal affiliate of the in
ternational labor body which also
numbers as its members the Ca
nadian Congress of Labor and
several Latin-American organiza
tions. The AFL refused tf> be
come affiliated and has fought
consistently to undermine the
WFTU’s influence in world af
fairs.
“The AFL welcomes the crush
ing defeat administered to the
Communist totalitarian* by the
British Trade Union Congress in
session st Margate,” the state
ment said. “By overwhelmingly
rejecting all proposals to have
the TUC reaffirm its support of
the WFTU, British labor has
rendered a signal service to the
canse of true international labor
solidarity, human ;~#r«et*eb*e and
world reconstruction and peace.
“The sound and scathing in
dictment of the WFTU, made by
its president, Arthur Deakin, as
a Cominform (Communist Infor
mation Bureau) fomentor of so
cial disorder and promoter of ec
onomic chaos in the interest of
Russian imperialist aggression
will prove of inestimable aid in
fostering a fundamental align
ment in the ranks of internation
al labor. Such realignment is an
essential prerequisite for attain
ing the effective labor support
ao indispensable to the success
of the European Recovery Pro
gram.”
The AFL statement expressed
the hope that “this authoritative
declaration by one of the outstand
ing and most influential spokes
men of the powerful and forward
looking British labor movement
will finally dissipate all illusions
that the Russians have been
stopped in their use of the WFTU
as a sounding board against the
ERP and have been deprived of
their best weapon in the ideologi
cal battle for European labor
• * * »
“The AFL,” it continued, “ha3
always stood for welding the firm
est world bonds of democratic la
bor in a well-knit international
federation of genuine free trade
unions, unions free from domina
tion by employers, governments
and political parties. We have
from the very inception warned
against the role of the WFTU as
an enormous obstacle to inter
national labor solidarity and to
the effective mobilization of the
■working people for sound econom
ic reconstruction, social justice
and lasting peace.
“The AFL has redoubled its ef
forts and greatly extended its
undertakings in behalf of inter
national free trade unionism as
a bulwark of democracy, equita
ble standards of life, decent con
ditions of work and international
harmony.
“It is in this spirit that the
heartily welcomes the his
toric decision of the Margate con
gress against tha W FTU. We
hail this decision which unties
the hands of the TUC leadership
and enables the great British
trade union movement to take its
rightful place in the front ranks
of international labor, dedicated
to the attainment of a world free
from the fear of poverty and dic
tatorship and secure against the
menace and horrors of war.
1
NORTH DAKOTA LAW FOR
BIDS CLOSED SHOP; RE
STRICTIVE LA. LAW OUT
I
Washington. — North Dakota
voters in a referendum held on
June 29 approved two industrial
relations laws passed by the leg
islature in 1947.
One of these measures bans
the closed shop; the other is a
general regulatory law forbidding
boycotts, requiring a strike vote
and cooling-off period before a j
strike may be called, and also re
quiring the registration of un
ions. This is revealed in an arti
cle appearing in the September
issue of Labor Information Bui- *
letrfn, publication of the U. S. |
; Department of Labor.
However, in Louisiana, the gen-(
' eral trend toward restrictive la
: bor legislation was reversed when
a regulatory law passed in 1946
was repealed. The effect of the
repeal is to restore to full effect
i the state anti-injunction law. The
i 1946 law had permitted the is
suance of injunctions against un-!
I authorized strikes in violation of |
I contracts, against violence or,
I threats of violence, and against!
combinations with employers in
restraint of trade.
An act was also passed in
Louisiana which prohibits the
transportation of strikebreakers
into the state.
In three other states the voters
I will pass upon closed-shop pro
i posals at the November election.
I The states include Arizona, Mas
sachusetts, and New Mexico.
Federal action in the labor field
was highlighted by the passage
by Congress of amendments to
the Longshoremen’s and Harbor
Workers’ Compensation Act. The
amended act Increases benefits
payable to workmen and to their
1 dependents in case of death—the
! only improvement from the stand
i point of compensation or payment
j to the workers or their families
: since the act was passed in 1927.
“More dishes, Annie?” called
Mr*. Brown.
“No,” came the faint answer,
“less.”
NIHON NEEDS WELL-BUILT
S6.000 HOUSE, SITS FOLEY,
HEIO OF HOUSING IGENGY
Saranac Lake, N. Y. — Wide*
scale production of a good $6,000
house is a crying need of this na
tion, Raymond M. Foley, Admin
istrator of the Housing and Home
Finance' Agency, told members
of the New York State Savings
and Loan League at a meeting
here.
To achieve that goal, Mr. Foley
urged closer co-operation be
tween government and private in
dustry to make the most of new
financing incentives contained in
recent legislation.
In substantiation of his state
ment on the need for lower-priced
homes. Mr. Foley pointed out
that about one-half of the fam
ilies of the United States have
incomes of less than $3,000 a year
and cannot well afford to pay
more than $6,000 for their homey
For families in that income
bracket who cannot buy homes,
he declared the $6,000 figure still
obtained, for mo3t of such fam
ilies ought not to be required to
pay rents higher than needed to
support that sort of cost figure.
‘Another very large gronp of
our families,” Mr. Foley contin
ued., “have regular incomes that
car.not properly support houses
costing more than $8,000 to $0,
000, but there is a relatively lim
ited proportion Of the population
that can afford to go to the $10,
000 and highercost levels.
“Yet in many areas of the
United States, especially in the
northern half oi this country,
relatively little new housing for
families needing two or more bed
rooms is being built to sell below
$a,000. Most of it in some areas
is in the $10,0000 and-up brack
et.”
Mr. Foley said that the Hous
ing and Home Finance Agency
has as one of its major objec
tives active co-operation with in
dustry in expansion of research
for improvement of construction
techniques and the lowering of
housing costs.
Truman, Dewey
State Labor Views
The following messages from President Harry S. Tru
man and Governor of New York Thomas E. Dewey, Dem
ocratic and Republican candidates, respectively, f r Presi
dent of the United States, were prepared especially for the
“American Federationist,” and appear in the current is
sue of that official organ of the American Federation of
Labor:
By HARRY S. TRI M AN.
President of (he United States
The party that pressed tht
j Taft - Hartley Art upon working
I people over my veto, and is re
| sponsible for the high cost ol
living, is asking labor to vote
for its candidates in November.
Having inaugurated in the Re
publican-controlled 80th Congress
a blue print for tearing down 18
years of progress under the Dem
ocratic party. Republicans are now
asking labor’s support for their
antilabor policies.
The 80th Congress was guided
by Republican policies and was
completely under the thumb of
the Republican party. The Re
publican candidates cannot dis
avow the party leadership which
dictated these policies. Neither
are these policies repudiated in
the Republican platform to which
candidates are committed.
The Republicans are asking
workers to forget the gains made
under a program of broad social
and labor legislation that was
started in 1933 by the Democrat
ic party when Republican unem
ployment, hunger, despair and
bankruptcy stalked the land.
The Republicans would like the
people to forget that under their
administration we had the world’s
worst depression and that Demo
cratic policies, starting at the
very bottom of that depression,
brought the United States from
the shadows of despair toward
prosperity and human rights, wel
fare and understanding.
In 1933, after 12 years of Re
publican administration, union
membership had dwmdled to i,,
857,000. Today, union member
ship exceeds 15,500,000, the high
est in our history. The Republi
can reaction to growing union
strength was to force the Taft
Hartlev Act through the Con
greas.
In 1933 only 38.760,000 persons
were employed and 12,830,000
workers were jobless.
Today employment exceeds 61,
000,000, a record high, and un
employment is only 2,227,000,
mostly accounted for by workers
changing from one job to an
other. ,
In 1933 average earnings ol
workers employed in manufactur
ing was $16.72 a week. By June
of this year the average weekly
earnings had reached $52.81, al
though Republican scuttling ol
the OPA cut deeply into the pur
chasing power of the weekly pay
envelope.
Millions of workers, thrown oul
of their joi>s by the Republicar
depression which started in Oc
tober. 1929, had little or no sav
ings, inadequate relief, and soup
kitchens and bread lines to feec
many of them.
Today large numbers of work
ers are protected by insurance
provided by' the Social Security
Act against unemployment ami
old age. Under such insurance
workers and their widows anc
families have received payments
of $2,041,000,000 to cushion then
against economic privations.
One of the big lessons taught
by the depression was the need
of minimum wage a«d overtime
legislation. The Fair Labor Stan
dards Act met this need by plac
ing a floor under wages, a ceiling
over straight-time hours and
banning oppressive child labor
The Wagner-Peyser Act set up
a nation-wide system of free em
ployment offices. Under its pro
visions the U. S. Employment
Service made some 100,000 jol
placements without cost to work
(Continued On Page 2)
B> THOMAS K. DKWEY.
Governor of the State of Ne»
A ork
Representative leaders of Amer
ican Federation of Labor unions
have assured me tnat the Dewey
Wan en ticket will have substan
' tial labor support at the polls
November 2. I find this very
gratifying, and 1 welcome such
support. 1 interpret it to mean
that the great teachings of the
founder of the American labor
movement, Samuel Gompers, still
i live and have meaning for those
who have inherited his mission.
Gompers laid down a political
axiom for labor which has en
dured the test of time when he
said. “Reward jour friends and
punish your enemies. ” I am pre
pared to rest my case with tabor
on that basis.
Gomperg was against the So
cialist experimenter* and Com
munist wrecker* of his day, and
I believe he would be against
j them in their modern guise of
I reformers and collectivists. With
I sharp insight, he recognised
j them as the greatest menace to
! free trade unionism.
In the last five yean the state
of New York has had no place
in -its government for “party
liners” or fellow-travelers. And
your next administration in
Washington will not make them
an>' more welcome. The new na
tional administration which takes
office next January will never
make the mistake of assuming
that men like Lee Pressman
i speak for the American working
i man. Nor will that administra
tion play into the hands of such
1 elements by so far forgelting the
| rights of all our citizens as to I
j purpose that strikes be broken by
I drafting men into the Army.
in contrast wun sucn policies,
(there is the record of adminsitra
j tion in the largest industrial state
| in the nation during the past six
years. have always taken
| pride in the fact that the Amer
| ican labor movement was born in
I New Vork and has now been ac
| corded a life-size place ;n the
I community. We have got along
well with the AFL people in our
state and, as the annual reports
of the New York State Federation
of Labor will show, they have
I got along well with us. More
than once in these recent years
I they have found occasion to point
out that New York State has led
the country in fields of social
progress in which labor has an
abiding interest. This progress
has been a co-operative under
taking in which we all had com
mon objectives.
In achieving this progress, we
have been ever mindful that if
any advance was worth fighting
for it had to meet the test of the
public interest. There is no class
legislation on the statute hooks
;of New York. An advantage for
management over labor or for la
bor over the public does not meet
that test.
When labor is adequately in
sured against the threat of un
employment and against the haz
ards of the job, the whole com
munity is stronger. When labor
relations are handled in a fair,
impartial way, with a minimum
of coercion and a maximum of co
operation, and the result is fewer
strikes and industrial disputes,
all the people benefit. Measures
to achieve these ends are labor
policies only in a technical sense.
They are, in fa$t, matters of the
broadest public interest.
It ig not only labor which ben
efits in New York from the fact
(Continued On Page 3)
' I ;
THOMAS E DEWEY
X
AFL Issues Call
For Convention
To All Affiliated Unions,
GrMtiajs:
Washington. D. C.
August 1*5, 1948
You are hereby notified that,
in pursuance of the Constitution
of the American Federation of
Labor, the Sixty-seventh Conven
tion of the American Federation
of Labor w ill be held in the Hall
of Mirrors, Netherland-Plaxa Ho
tel, Cincinnati, Ohio, beginning at
t6 o’clock Monday morning, No
vember 15, 1948, and will con
tinue in session from day to day
until the business of the Conven
tion shall have been completed.
World War II w-as ended on
V-J Day, August 14, 1945. Hit
ler, Mu,ssotini and their allies
were decisively and definitely de- j
feated. The governments they
represented surrendered uncondi
tionally. When this took place
working people throughout the
world shared with all other class
es of people their happiness over
the great victory which was won.
We thought we saw the dawn of
a new day—the termination of ^
wars and the establishment of in- |
ternational peace and security.
We felt sure that the United
States and its allies, who had
fought together and sacrificed to
gether, would quickly unite r.t
reaching agreement upon terms
which the defeated nations would
be required to meet and in estab
lishing peace and security
throughout the world.
As wv look at the pfeture now,
three years after the end of
World War II. we realise how
keen is our disappointment over
the failure of those who won the
war to agree upon terms of in
ternational peace and security.
Failure to reach agreement dur
| ing the period of three years is
; well-nigh tragic. The hopes with
in the breasts of the masses of
the people which ascended high
when the war was won have de
scended low because of failure on
the part of the United Nations
to settle one single question with
in a three-year period. The ques
tion is now being asked whether,
instead of universal peace, we
are facing World War III. The
members of the American Federa
tion of Labor insist and demand
now as they have at each con
vention held since the conclusion
of World War II, that an agree
ment shall be promptly reached
which will definitely and irrevoc
ably provide for international
peace and guaranteed security.
The enemies of labor have con
tinued their aggressive drive
against us through the enact
ment of anti-labor legislation dur-!
ing the past year. We have met
this challenge through the mobil
isation of our resources, our col
lective strength, and an unyield
ing determination to fight with
alt the power at our command
against the attacks which have
been made upon us. We are
challenging the validity of much
of this legislation in the courts.
We are refusing to acquiesce in
the acceptance of this destructive,
hostile legislation. We can and
we must bring: about the defeat
of members of Congress and the
State Legislators who voted to
place the legal yoke of bondage
around the necks of the working
man and women of the nation.
The problem of inflation has
become more intensified. It ta
become more itensifled. It is
worse than it was when we met
in our Sixty-sixth Convention a
year ago. Prices for the necessi
ties of life have risen beyond the
point of toleration. Congress hss
failed to deal with the serious
housing problem, minimum wage
legislation, social security and
health insurance, support to edu
cation. and legislation for the
enjoyment of civil rights by all
classes of people.
All this makes it clear that
this convention will be called upon
to deal with most difficult and
serious problems. We must face
them heroically and courageously.
We must speak directly for tho
millions of working men and
women whom we directly repre
sent and for millions of others
whom we will truthfully speak
for indirectly. The history of
the American Federation of La
bor and the record which it has
made justifies the conclusion that
all of the problems, national and
international, economic and social,
which will be presented to the
convention will be dealt with in
a constructive, courageous and in
spiring way.
REPRESENTATION
Representation in the Conven
tion will be on the following ba
sis: From National or Interna
tional Unions, for less than 4,000
members, one delegate; 4,000 or
more, two delegates; 8,000 or
more, three delegates; 16,000 or
more, four delegates; 32,000 or
more, five delegates; 64,000 or
more, six delegates; 128,000 or
more, seven delegates; 256,000 or
more, eight delegates; and so
on; and from Central Bodies and
1 State Federations, and from lo
I cal trade unions not having a
' National or International Union,
and from Federal Labor Unions,
one delegate.
Only bona fide wage workan
who are not members of, or eli
gible to membersrip in, other
Trade Unions shall be eligible as
delegates from Federal Labor
Unions. Only those parson
whose Local Unions are afWHnhH
with Central Bodies or with State
Branches and who are delegates
to said Central Bodies or
Branches shall be eligible to rep
resent City Central Bodies or
State Branches in the Conventions
of the American Federation of
Labor.
Organization to be entitled to
representation must have o!-J
(Continued an Pago 4)
ftcwrmojf