THE CHARLOTTE LABOR JOURNAL
AND DIXIE FARM NEWS
Published at Charlotte, North Carolina __ _
H. A. Stella, Editor and Publisher W. M. Witter, Associate Editor
Entered as second-class mail matter September 11, 1981, at the
Tost Office at Charlotte, N. C., under the Act of Congress of
March 3, 1879._________
Oldest Bona Fide AFL Newspaper in North Carolina, consistently
serving the American Federation of Labor and its members since it
was founded, May 12, 1931, Approved by the American Federation
of Labor in 1931. ____
Endorsed by Charlotte Typographical Union, Number 838, An Af
filiate of Charlotte Central Labor Union and the North Carolina Fed
eration of Labor. ___
News Services: American Federation of Labor, U. S. and North
Carolina Departments of Labor, and Southern Labor Press Associa
tion. ._;_
MEMBER SOUTHERN LABOR PRESS ASSOCIATION
The Labor Journal will not be responsible for the opinions of cor
respondents, but any erroneous reflection upon the character, stand
ing or reputation of any person, firm or corporation which may ap
pear in the columns of The Labor Journal will be corrected when
called to the attention of the publisher. Correspondence and Open
Forum opinions solicited, but The Journal reserves the right to reject
objectionable reading matter and advertising at all times. In order
to correct any misunderstanding that may have existed ir. the past
or that may exist now relative to The Labor Journals relationship
to the North Carolina Federationist the publisher wishes to state
that the Federationist is the official organ of the North Carolina
Federation of Labor and that The Journal is not now and has never
been the Federation’s 'official organ. Anyone whether on our
staff or otherwise, who claims The Journal is.the official organ is
stating an untruth. However. The Labor Journal has i“
advertising and subscriptions state-wide in cities and h»n>let» where
“ Labor‘paper exists since it first began doing business in 1981 and
sees no just reason why it should not continue to do so. It is our
ITm T serve „ many of our brother member, a. is humanly pos
sible. and let no one fool you by telling you that The '* *»
illegitimate publication, so far a. Laboris ^
iword, for more than 18 years, disproves Una ‘fifth column props
This newspaper has during the years endeavored l° Pro™0^*
a better understanding between Capital and Labor. Ita effort* •»*
borne much fruit. Our ®nly regret is
it carry on in a bigger and better way. This, the publisher pledges
you, he will strive to do henceforth. ____ .
P. O. Box 1061
Address All Communications to
CHARLOTTE LABOR JOURNAL
Charlotte, North Carolina
GREAT injustice needs correcting
While the North Carolina General Assembly is in a more
settled and conciliatory mood, seemingly, than it was two
years ago, its members should give due and just consider
ation to that ill-advised piece of legislation it enacted into
law two years atfo which put undue restrictions on both
employers and union workers alike. We refer to North Caro
lina’s so-called “right-to-work" law. The Labor Journal
believes that House Bill No. 229 was enacted into law a?
the direct resut of the “anti-labor phobia” which wa*
sweeping the Nation at that time. Two years later certain
ly the legislators who took part in the 1949 proceedings,
and the new lawmakers as well, have had time to study
the results of their handiwork and after meditating the re
suits of the law’s application and effects on collective bat;
gaining agreements must have concluded to some degree aj
least that the law is entirely too stringent a measure to tx
further imposed upon the workers of North Carolina.
In reflecting upon the proceedings of two years ago Th<
Journal wonders if some of the members of that Genera
Assembly do not remember the words of that great South
ern statesman and newspaper publisher, the late Hon. Jo
sephus Daniels, when he plead with them not to shackh
North Carolina management and Labor with the anti-closec
shop bill which was stampeded through that session. Mr
Daniels, in addressing the committee on Labor and Manu
facturing, related his relationship with the unions in th<
printing trades represented In his newspaper plant as ar
example of good labor-management relations. He said thal
for a half century his experiences with his union employes
had been marvelously pleasant. And he also said that n«
one should interfere with his right to make an agreement
with his employes in which he recognized the closed shor
if he so desired. Publisher Jefferies of the Greensboro
Daily News and Record also presented a wonderful argu
ment against passage of the measure.
The present law has cost North Carolina Labor thou
sands of dollars. Labor in this State has sent a test cast
on the bill up through the courts of the State, and on to the
Supreme Court of the U. S. The final ruling on the North
Carolina law by the higher court was to the effect that
North Carolina has a right to legislate such a bill, but con
stitutionality of the law’s provisions was not passed upon,
if our information is correct.
Not only coating thousand* of dollars to find out how the
law affects Labor, management has lost in both time and
money, while lawyers have been called in and consulted
on matters that have been settled directly between Labor
and Management from time immemorial. Perhaps the in
stigators had in mind destroying Labor when it concocted
this vicious bill, but we have both Management and Labor
with us yet. Both have made progress, but the cost has
been much greater than in the many years Labor and Man
agement carried on minus the deadweight tacked upon
them.
Gentlemen, of the Legislature, it’s time to do something
about this matter!
; RALEIGH NEWS & OBSERVER SEES CLEARLY
In an editorial in last Thursday’s Raleigh News & Obser
ver that newspaper expressed itself as being in favor of out
right repeal of the (torth Carolina Labor legislation which
was enacted two years ago and which denies both employers
and workers the right to bargain for closed shops in this
State. The News & Observer’s’ remarks were made in con
nection with the introduction last week in the House of the
Shreve bill, which, although not what North Carolina Labor
desires and deserves, is far better than the present law.
The Shreve amendments allow both the closed shop and
check-off of union dues for almost all of the unions, but
its provisions do not allow sufficient time for the holding of
elections to determine bargaining agents and units for the
building crafts, due to the fact that several weeks or
months may lapse before an election date can be set. This
lapse of time would allow sufficient time for many jobs to
be completed before the Building Trades Unions employed
thereon could get closed shop recognition.
Now, if an amendment can be made to the Shreve meas
ure in which the buiding tradesmen may receive full recog
nition of their rights to bargain with their employes look
ing toward a closed shop contract provision along with the
other unions, it may be that the Shreve measure will re
ceive the support of North Carolina Labor at this session,
although outright repeal of the . present law is wholly de
sirable.
The Labor Journal is heartily in accord with the senti
ments expressed by The News & Observer and joins that
great newspaper in calling for outright repeal or else a
satisfactory modification of the measure which will meet
the needs of both employers and workers in arriving at
harmonious working agreements.
FREE SPEECH OUTLAWED BY T-H ACT
On George Washington's birthday, February 22, free
speech for trade unionists was outlawed “reluctantly” by
an NLRB decision. The Board found that the secondary
boycott provision of the act prohibits a union from peaceful
picketing and even using “we do not patronize lists” if
they are vaguely connected wth a so-called secondary boy
cott. This decision was made in spite of the fact that
Section 8c of the Act says that uncoercive expression of
“any views, arguments or opinions,” or their dissemination
is not an unfair labor practice “under any of the provisions
of the act.”
This decision means that now an employer can contract
out most of his work to scab shops, and his own union em
ployes are prohibited from so much as objecting verbally.
This decision was made against the AFL Carpenters Coun
cil in Kansas City. Yet just five days before this decision
when Richard Gray, president of the AFL Building Trades
Department, was appearing as a witness before the Senate
Labor Committee, the Washington Post reported the reac
tions of Senator Taft, author of the bill, as follows: “Sen
ator Taft, Republican of Ohio, said he agreed with Gray
that it never was contemplated that the (Building Trades)
industry was in interstate commerce and under the act.”
This is an amazing statement from the man who lent his
name to the Act since it is obvious that the prohibitions
against the secondary boycott, the closed shop, and the ju
risdictional dispute were directed 99 per cent against the
Building Trades. Last week Senator Taft said that he ad
vocated 68 changes to the act. It appears that even the
author of the Act has now repudiated his own brain child.
THE 81ST CONGRESS IS ON TIME
The Taft filibuster on the Labor bill and the newspaper
magazine agreement not to criticize the 80th (The Worst)
Congress are creating the impression that the 81st Con
gress Is slow In getting results. .
This is not the case. The 80th (The Worst) Congress
working closely with lobbyists carefully refrained from de
> ciding many important issues. The method used was to
I provide that laws should expire in a year or less. The 80th
• (The Worst) Congress thus accomplished two purposes.
First, it brought the lobbyists back for another round of
entertainment on the same subject and secondly it made it
I extremely difficult to enforce the laws. The 80th Congress
, was controlled by men who are opposed to law enforcement
. —they went on strike against O. P. A. and killed price con
trol by extending it for a few months at a time.
Consequently, the 81st Congress before taking up any
of its regular work had to renew the law which gives the
President the power to ration scarce materials. The 80th
Congress provided that this law should expire March 1,
1949.
Second, the 81st Congress had to extend the President’s
power over export controls, which the 80th Congress had
>rdered to expire on February 28, 1949.
Third, the 81st Congress had to take up immediately the
Reciprocal Trade Program which the 80th Congress had
Tippled and had ordered to expire June 30, 1949.
Fourth, the 81st Congress had to extend Rent Control
jvhich the 80th Congress had ordered to expire March 31,
1949.
There are other less important measures which have to
be taken care of before the new Congress can take up its
own work.
Otherwise the Truman program of Health Insurance, in
creased Social Security, repeal of the Taft-Hartley Act and
increased minimum wage, are all going along as fast as
can be expected, in view of the Taft-Martin filibuster tactics.
TUCK-BYRD FIGHT EDUCATION, MINIMUM WAGE
Virginia’s Governor Tuck, who has pubiicly admitted be
ing completely subservient to anti-labor Senator Byrd, was
reported by the Washington Post, February 19, as speaking
out “against extention of Federal grants in aid.” Tuck
was quoted as saying, “The bait of government largess has
had a tendency to weaken the moral fiber of the individual
citizen and undermine the strength of the national char
acter.” Obviously his attack was against Federal Aid pro
grams for health, education, social security, and housing.
Yet Virginia has less than three hospital beds per 1,000
population and spends only $92.29 per child on education as
compared to $215.44 in Montana. Only four States in the
Union pay lower old age assistance benefits than Virginia,
and 63.8 per cent of Virginia’s homes are so inadequate
they don’t even have bathrooms. The voters of Virginia
have every reason to vote out of power the present reac
tionary political machine which so obviously misrepresents
them
Because of such actions by the present reactionary po
litical rulers, the Virginia LLPE is mobilizing the working
people of Virginia to break the stranglehold of the Tuck
Byrd machine in the August State election this year.
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Letter-Press
Printing
Letter press printing in the graphic arts
means the direct application of inked type
and engravings or other type material to
paper.
It is the simplest of all graphic methods
of reproduction and at the same time the
most lasting. It was the method employed
by the medieval craftsmen who first ap
plied type to paper and it has persisted
throughout the centuries over all innova
tions, until today, when the best of crafts
manship is sought in a job, there is no al
ternative to letter press printing, along
with high grade paper and typographic
good taste.
We suggest that if you have some print
ing in view that you want well done, you
consult us. Simply telephone 5-1776 or
else call at the office, 118 East Sixth St.,
Charlotte, N. C.
H. A. Stalls Printing Co,
PRINTERS AND PUBLISHERS
40 YEARS EXPERIENCE AT YOUR DISPOSAL
P. O. Box 1061 CHARLOTTE, N. C.