ITU Demands NLRB Ban
Denham’s Injuction Club
WASHINGTON—Attorneys for the AFL’s International
Typographical Union urged the National Labor Relations
Board to withdraw from Robert N. Denham, its general
counsel, authority to ask for court injunctions in unfair
practice cases brought under the Taft-Hartley law because
he had abused his discretion.
They criticized the 5-man board
too, asserting that it had put the
union through a needlessly long
and expensive trial.
Henry Kaiser, delivering the
union’s final arguments in the
Taft-Hartley Act case brought by
the American Newspaper Publish
ers Association, said that Mr.
Denham was guilty of “contemp
tible, craven, knuckling down ta
the pressure" of the newspaper
industry.
The ANPA case was started
in the fall of 1947, and the union
was enjoined by a federal court
in Indianapolis in March, 1948.
pending the board’s disposition
of the publisher charges. The
main accusation against the union
is violation of the law’s anti
t-losed shop section.
Mr. Denham, who is independ
ent of the board, does not concede
that his discretionary authority
to seek injunctions is a grant
from the board. He holds that
the authority is conferred by law.
Gerhard P. Van Arkel, associ
ate of Mr. Kaiser, accused the
board of “shoddy treatment’’ of
the union’s motion early in the
case to dismiss one of the charges
in the complaint. This referred
to a charge that the ITU had
coerced or restrained employes in
their rights by refusing to bar
gain or causing local unions to
refuse to bargain.
When trial of the case started
in December. 1947, the union
moved for dismissal of this
charge. The board directed that
testimony be taken on this point j
and said it would rule later
whether the law intended that a
refusal to bargain coerced or re
strained employes. Since then
the board held in a National Mar
itime Union case that this section
of the law was aimed at physical
and violent coercion.
Mr. Van Arkel said the ITU
would have been spared many
weeks of hearing and thousands
of dollars if the board had heard
its motion and made a ruling
when the ITU first raised the is
sue.
BUILDING TRADES TO
RECOMMEND LABOR POLI
CIES OF APPRENTICESHIP
WASHINGTON, D. C.—Official
recognition has been given to
five national joint management
labor apprenticeship committees
in the building trades by Secre
tary of Labor Maurice J. Tobin.
He has appointed them as the
policy-recommending bodies to the
Bureau of Apprenticeship on all
matters relating to apprentice
training in their respective
trades.
These trades are electrical,
painting* and decorating, sheet
metal *ork, bricklaying, and
stained glass work.
It is anticipated that the ma
jority of the other national trade
apprenticeship committees which
have been established to date
will request this Federal recog
nition. At the present time na
tional joint apprenticeship com
mittees are established in 15
skilled trades, including the five
meriticmed.
The other 10 trades in which
these committees are organised
are: Plumbing, steamfitting, car
pentry, plastering cement, as
phalt and composition finishing,
roofiing, tile setting, terraszo
work, photoengraving, machinists
and tool and die making.
?
VICTOR REUTHER, A
BROTHER OF WALTER,
SHOT IN DETROIT
DETROIT—Surgeons today re
moved the right eye of Victor
Reuther, 37-year-old CIO United
Auto Workers official and broth
er of UAW President Walter
Reuther, who was shot and ser
iously wounded last night by an
unknown assailant.
Reuther's general condition was
reported as “satisfactory” at
Henry Ford hospital after the
operation. Dr. Janies Olson
said he had to “abandon hope of
saving the eye” because a great
deal of tissue was destroyed.
Meanwhile, FBI intervention to
solve the attempted slaying of
Victor and Walter Reuther was
asked by CIO President Philip
Murray. Walter was a victim
of a would-be-assassin under sim
ilar circumstances a year ago.
As in the shooting of Walter,
there was suspicion that the at
tempted slaying of Victor might
be part of a Communist plot.
Victor is educational director of
the UAW.
The Communists have attacked
the Reuthers’ union leadership in
the past.
Others to ask FBI help were
Senator Homer Ferguson (R
Mich.) and Michigan Governor
G. Mennen Williams.
QUOTE FROM COA —
LOBBIES ARE LOVELY
The House Rules Committee
this week reported out a bill pro
viding for investigation of Wash
ington’s 8 million dollar a year
highpressure lobbies. Number
one Dixiecrat Eugene Cox of
Georgia proceeded to pass judg
ment without waiting for the in
vestigation. He said
“I have never seen any evidence
of lobbying that I thought was
detrimental to the public wel
fare.”
LABOR VOTES WILL BEAT
SENATOR TAFT IN 1950
Every vote counts.
Whenever a Trade Unionist
starts thinking that his lone vote
is unimportant, he should remem
ber the election of Senator Rob
ert A. Taft (R., Ohio) in 1944.
If only 3.1 voters in each pre
cinct in Ohio had switched their
votes from Taft to his Democratic
opponent, the Laibor-Hating Ohio
an would have been defeated.
In 1944, Tart received 1,500,
609 votes. His Democratic op
ponent, William G. Pickrel. got
1,482,610 votes, only 17,999 less
than Taft.
And Jhere are 5,710 precincts
in Ohio. It's as simple as that!
Every Unionist in every state
should vote against Labor’s En
emies!
Polio Precautions
w •
A good health rule for parents to
Impreaa upon children In infantile
paralyaia epidemic areae ia to avoid
crowds and places where close con*
tpct with other persons ie likely.
E| THE RATIONAL F00MATI0I
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PATENTS INSPIRE INVENTIONS . . INVENTIONS BUILD AMERICA!
Southern 'Cheap Labor'
Said Not To Be Cause
Of Industrial Movement
Claims by our Southern “Re
publicrats” that cheap labor is
essential to the industrial expan
sion of the South have been dis
proved—disproved by industrial
ists themselves.
A report by the National Plan-!
rung Association says that plants
locating: in the South are inter- j
ested in, first, the goyd markets '
offered by the region; second/
available raw materials in the j
area; and third, the Labor Sup
ply
The report comments:
“Labor came up third—which
may be a surprise to many. But
the Committee turned up even
more surprising information: New
plants were usually not after
cheap Labor; they wanted Labor
supply itself and low Labor costs
—quite a different thing.” i
The report, “New Industry
Comes to the South,” .was made
by the Association’s Committee
of the South. It is based on
painstaking research, not emotion
al appeals which most Southern
[ Congressmen use in opposition to
Wage Hour Measures.
The Committee studied 88 ‘
plants built in the South since!
the end of World War II. They;
are in 13 states: Alabama, Ark
ansas. Florida. Georgia, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Mississippi, North
Carolina, Oklahoma, South Caro
lina, Tennessee. Texas and Vir
ginia.
The study was published as
most Southern Congressmen and
Senators continued their attack
oh the expansion of wage-hour
legislation.
meir arguments run nice tnis:
Southern Businessmen cannot af
ford to pay such "high” minimum
wages as 75 cents or $1 an hour.
(That amounts to the “luxury”
rate of pay of $30 to $40 a week
for 40 hours work.) To attract
industry from the Northeast, the {
South must hold down its pay1
scales.
But the report says, “ . . .
Available Labor and satisfactory
Labor attitudes were more im
portant to these companies than1
the South’s alleged cheap Labor.
“This survey indicates that1
companies operating plants in
both the North and South pay
roughly the same wage rates in
towns of equivalent size. . . .
“With few exceptions, those
companies that are paying lower
wages in their Southern than in
their Northern plants told the
Committee that they would not
have risked their funds in a new
Southern location simply because
of the wage-scale differences.
They considered these differences
only temporary. . . .
‘‘Many . . . companies knew
their plants would be Unionized,
and therefore were anxious to lo
cate in a town that had a history
of good Labor-Management rela
tionships . . .
“A few apparel, shoe, and tex
tile plants were located in certain
communities in order to try to
avoid Labor Unions. . . . But, on
the whole, the companies with
Unionized plants elsewhere placed
little or no stress on avoiding
Unions.”
- »
CHICAGO PUBLISHERS
STILL PREFER REAL TYPE
Graphic-arts technicians meet
ing in Detroit late in June, the
Wall Street Journal said on June
30, “admitted major dailies aren’t
impressed” with “new develop
ments like typewriter contrap
tions marketed substitutes for
typecasting machines.”
“Speed must be ‘set above
costs, in big-newspaper opera
tions,” continued the Journal,
which quoted one of the techni
cians as saying that the standard
“multi-stepped printing operation
satisfies split-second newspaper
edition schedules—and the new
streamlined developments just
don’t do this.”
Another paragraph, of interest
to members of No. 16 particularly
and to ITU members generally,
is this: “Chicago newspapers,
strike-bound over a year and a
half, have been able to get by
with the type-like machines. But
they look forward to the day
when then can go back to the
old typecasting operation.”
Italics are the Picket’s. The
Wall Street Journal merely re
cited the plain facts about erstaz
newspaper methods.
NLRB HANDICAPS
LEWIS’ DEMAND
FOR A UNION SHOP
W ASHINGTON. — Coal indus
try sources said today the recent
National Labor Relations board
decision forbidding John L. Lewis
to demand a union shop gives
them a potent weapon in nego
tiating a new contract. The
NLRB ordered Lewis and his
United Mine Workers union to
refrain from demanding a union
shop as part of any new coal
agreement. He was directed to
give his promise to comply by
June 13.
988 1LGWU Members Get
First Pension Payments
By Arnold Beichman, New York
Correspondent for AFL News
Servie*
NEW YORK. —The employer
Ananced old age pension system
of this city’s largest industry,
dress manufacturing, went into
effect last week with the retire
ment of 988 aged dressmakers.
Henceforth, the 85.000 mem
bers of the Dressmakers Joint
Board of the International Ladies
Garment Workers Union will be
assured of a lifetime pension of
$50 a month supplementing the
Federal old age pension.
At special ceremonies here,
I L G W U President Dubinsky
pointed out that “if you look back
upon the benefits won through
collective bargaining in our in
dustry, what appeared first as
an additional cost has turned out
shortly thereafter to be a factor
in reducing industry costs.’*
The pension system is admin
istered, under a collective liar
gaining agreement with employer
association, by a joint union-in
dustry committee, the head of
which is the dress industry’s im
partial chairman, Harry Uviller,
who is empowered to break any
deadlock.
The financing of the retire
ment fund is through a 1 per
cent tax on payrolls and as of
May 1, a sum of $3,368,836 had
been accumulated.
To be eligible for the the pen
sion, a member must have been
in good standing for 11 years
since 1933 and consecutively for
the last 5 years. To continue re
ceiving the allotment, the work
er is barred from working in the
dress industry or if he takes em
ployment in another industry his
earnings may not exceed the
amount prescribed under the So
cial Security Act pension eligi
bility rules.
Julius Hochman, Dress Joint
Board manager and treasurer of
the retirement fund of the dress
industry, pointed out that the
outstanding fact thus far is the
unwillingness of most eligible
workers to retire not because of
the size of the pension but be
cause of a desire to remain ac
tive.
The first pension check went to
Ike Simon, 70, a cutter and mem
ber in good standing for the past
48 years. He was one of 607 men
and 381 women who will now.
that they are 65 years or over,
receive pension checks each
month.
VACATION’S INO
If you don’t wont your vacation to end like this,
remember this: Spaed kills! One out of every
three fatal motor vehicle accidents involves ex*
cessive speed. Ikke it easy and lire!
•e Careful—Hi* life you save may be your own I
1,259,081 Killed Or Injured
In Past Nineteen Years
WASHINGTON—John L. Lewis roared a demand today
for a Federal safety law to prevent coal miners from being
“mained, mangled and killed." The nation’s coal is stained
with blood, he said, citing figures to show that 1,259,081
miners were injured or killed in the past 19 years.
GREEN SUPPORTS NEW
HOUSING MEASURE PRO
VIDING LOW-RENT
HOMES FOR WORKERS
Washington. — AFL President
William Green appealed to Con
gress to approve pending legisla- j
tion which would enable “mod
erate income” workers’ families
to obtain decent housing at rea
sonable rents.
Mr. 'Green testified before the
Senate Banking and Currency
Committee’s housing subcommit
tee in behalf of the Sparkman
bill which would make possible
low-interest government loans to
building co-operatives.
The measure, he said, would be1
only an “experiment” toward j
helping families with an annual
income between the $2,000 and
$3,750 annual income brackets to j
obtain satisfactory living quar-1
ters. About 40 per cent of the
nation’s families fall within this
income bracket, Mr. Green testi-t
fied.
This would be a non-subsidized
program, he emphasized, one
which would not cost one cent
of the taxpayers’ money yet
would provide acutely needed as
sistance to families who cannot
qualify for the low-income pub
lic housing program but are too,
poor to buy or rent the high
priced housing now being con
structed by private real estate
interests.
I
“We think that a solution has
been reached,” Mr. Green told
the Senate committee, “in the
provisions of this bill which
would make possible large-scale
rental housing projects by co
operative und other nonprofit cor
porations. These projects would be
financed by direct loans from the
federal government at the going
federal rate of interest (now 2Va
per cent), plus Vt of 1 per cent
for administration, for an amorti
zation period of up to 60 years,
but not to exceed the useful life
of the project.
“We firmly believe that this co
operative housing program will
meet the practical test of pro
viding decent housing that mod
erate income families can afford.
Under this program total month
ly payment or rents can be re
duced to as low as $50-$60 by
savings which would be achieved
m at least 4 ways: (1) reduced
monthly financing costs through
the lower interest rate and the
longer amortization period; (2)
saving through the non-profit fea
ture; (3) savings because of an
extremely low vacancy rate com
parable to the experience in pub
lic housing; and (4) reduced op
erating and maintenance expenses
made possible by avoiding luxury
services to tenants and arrang
ing for a certain amount of ten
ant maintenance. In addition,
states and localities could make
major contributions toward the
achievement of additional savings
by granting partial or complete
tax exemption to co-operative
and non-profit housing groups set
up under this program.
“The bill wisely provides for a
new separate constituent unit
within the Housing and Home ,
Finance Agency, the Co-operative ,
Housing Admiinstration, the head ,
of which will 1ms appointed by j ]
the President with the advice and | ,
consent of the Senate. We lie- !
lieve that this is a most signifi- ,
cant feature of the bill, because ]
without a separate constituent',
unit we are convinced that this s
pioneer program would never re- j
:eive the recognition and inde- j
wndenee so necessary for its sue- j
Me spoke betore a senate laoor
subcommittee in support of a bill
that would give Federal mine in
apectors the right to close mines
they think dangerous.
At present, the states handle
safety enforcement. Lewis con
tends they fall down completely
on their jab. . « . , t . %
Lewis, referring to a magician
in King Arthur's court said:
“If I had the power of a Mer
lin, I would march that million
and a quarter men past the Con
gress of the United States—the
quick and the dead.
“I would have the ambulatory
injured drag the dead after them.”
“I would have the concourse
flanked by , five weeping members
of each man's family, six and a
quarter million people, waiiing
and lamenting."
During the course of the hear
ing the leader of the United Mine
Workers:
1. Sneered at mme operators
and the men they hire to repre
sent them, especially the men
they hire, since they have ap
peared here to oppose this bill.
At one time or another, he re
ferred to them as “lobbyists.”
“human leeches” and “polecats.”
2. Made a 36-minute, extempo
raneous speech during which he
glowered, roared, whispered, re
minisced, banged the table. Part
of the time he sat with his legs
crossed sideways in Mb chair
and lectured the senators like a
college professor talking to a sem
inar.
3. Made but one reference—
and that was indirect—to con
tract talks with operators (Their
contract expires June 30.)
“They’re fat," said Lewis of
the mine owners. "In 1948 the
industry exceeded all other years.
And the first quarter of 1949 ex
ceeded a similar period of last
year—by millions and millions.”
Mostly, Lewis developed this
theme: that the states have failed
to enforce safety regulations, and
that the operators are not going
to pay any heed to safety unless
the Federal government forces
them to.
NOTICE
The reason this issue of The
Journal is late is due to an ex
tensive job of remodeling which
has been going on in our plant
■ince the first of May which put
jur facilities out of order until
it was completed.
The back wall on our building
was ready to topple over and the
andlord was compelled to rebuild
he wall at once. The need was
10 urgent that only little notice
'ould be given us. While this
vork was underway we asked the
andlord to make other improve
nents and from now on we will
iave The Journal to you on time
ach week.
For this delay we are deeply
ipologetic and thank our sub
cribers and advertisers for their
atience. All back issues of The
burnal will be coming to yon
» short order.
THE PUBLISHER.