Bona Fid*
AFL
Newspaper
North Carolina
CHARLOTTE LABOR JOURNAL
Give Your
Loyal Support
to
Your
Labor
Publics tious
VOJU XIX; NO. 22
CHARLOTTE. N. C„ THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6. 1949
Subscription Price $2.00 Year
ECONOMIC POWER HELD A MAJOR BASIS FOR
LABOR PROGRESS
St. Paul.—The menace of a totalitarian Communist party
and the trend toward regimentation of the lives of indi
viduals were singled cut as the chief threats to the princi
ples of the American Federation of Labor in the Executive
Council’s report to tRF'BSth AFL convention meeting here.
The council called for a resurgence of “devotion and ded
ication to the cause of labor that characterized the work
of the pioneers who founded our movement” as the best
defense against these twin evils.
Urging: greater •elf-reliance
and initiative, the report declared
that the basis for all labor prog
ress “rests on organized, disci
plined economic power.” The
Union Benefit Payments
Up 2 1-2 Times In Decade
council said:
Sometimes in our eagerness for
results' we forget that some
achievements can only grow out
of our own initiative and re
sourcefulness in using our eco
nomic power. The larger the
number in our labor movement as
will as in the nation that remain
self-directing and responsible, the
more dynamic and constructive
we become.
“During the past two years a
considerable body of labor legis
lation has been enacted which
was intended to underwrite and
supplement economic organisation
and collective bargaining. We
believe it would be arise to con
sider the effects of this legislation
upon trade pnions and their re
sponsibilities and functions, as a
“We‘ 'shoSld^e^ftrteMr *e£
perience to distinguish between
the type of problems which lend
themselvee to legislative action
and those problems for which
economic action is best.
“We should review Our various
objections to determine whether
they are outdated or unwise. Our
guide in this study should be the
effect of the method or objective
and its administration on human
character, and progress.”
In the introduction to its de
tailed report on legislative and
economic affairs at home and
abroad, the .council summed up
the situation as follows:
“Nationally as well as inter
nationally the past year has been
one of important struggles for
standards without immediate de
cisive gains. At home, labor’s
major struggle has been to re
peal the Taft-Hartley Act with
its u n-American discrimination
against wage earners as a group
of citizens and its restrictions
upon their right of free contract
to promote their economic wel
fare.
“Although the party whose
platform committed it to repeaf
of the Taft-Hartley Act, won the
election, members of that party
joined with the Republican party
to defeat the Democratic party’s
pledge to make good on its com
mitment.
“Our economy is only now ad
justing to more normal produc
tion orders with competition de
veloping in buyers’ markets be
cause buyers refuse to buy over
priced commodities. The process
of reducing costs to facilitate
price declines makes for better
management and more economical
production with co-operation be
tween management and labor.
« “Profits are still at high levels,
some prices have dropped; wages,
rates and earnings have remained
at high levels and the employed
labor force is still close to 60,000,
000. Our union membership is at
peak levels and a new aggres
siveness promises to regain free
dom of contract There is every
where a deeper realization of the
need to rely primarily on econom
ic power and to seek information
on how to use that power most
effectively.
“In the internat:onal field the
ideological conflict continues una
bated. To territorial and eco
nomic aggression has been added
war on religion aimed primarily
(Continued On Page 4)
St. Paul.—Organised labor's ac
tive interest in welfare programs
for workers was highlighted by
the AFL Executive Council’s re
port of benefits to their members
during 1948. i
Benefits paid included those for
death, sickness, unemployment,
old age, disability, and for other
I miscellaneous purposes according
to the specific provisions of the
benefit plans adopted by the va
rious unions.
The total payments for 1948
reflected the rapid growth of ben
efit plans over the years. The
figure, which would have been
| larger had all unions submitted
! complete data, was aoout $8,000,
1000 more than was disbursed in
1947, and roughly $18,000,000
greater than $he payments nude
JaiJiMli. h
Over a decade benefits paid by
AFL unions have increased more
i than two and one-half times,
j" Back in 1938 the council reported
| a total of $25,586,288 In various
I welfare payments.
The council report for the year
1948 showed that miscellaneous
benefits, death benefits and old
age payments ranked in that
order in terms of the total dollar
value paid out to union members
or beneficiaries. Unemployment
benefits represented the smallest
share of the total disbursed.
The International Ladies Gar
ment Workers Union and the In
ternational Typographical Union
ran neck and neck in the amount
of funds paid to their members
for various benefits. Both unions
topped the $16,000,000-mark. The
next highest payment reported
was by the Brotherhood of Rail
road Trainmen which distributed
a total of $9,168,918. Nine unions
reported that they had spent more
than $1,000,000 during 1948 for
various welfare services.
Twenty-eight of the reporting
union declared that they had paid
no international benefits during
the year.
IATSE LOCAL WINS PACT
PROVIDING BIG WAGE RISE
New York — The International
Alliance of Theatrical Stage Em
ployes announced the signing of
3-year contracts, retroactive to
August 6, 1948, for 1,{>00 Philadel
phia movie theater workers who
last spring rejected a bid to jump
to District 50, United Mine Work
ers of America. That decision
had been generally regarded as
a choice of peaceful collective
bargaining in preference to a
strike aimed at closing the city’s
chief entertainment centers.
Under the new agreements,
cashiers, doormen, ushers, porters
and cleaners collect 10 cents an
hour increased back pay for the
year ended the 6th of last month,
with the boosts rising to 12 1-2
cents during the second year and
17 1-2 during the third. The
scales for ushers, many of whom
are pupils working part time,
have been stepped up over the
same periods—with raises starting
at 7 1-2 cents and then going to
10 cents and finally to 12 1-2
cents.
The contracts provide a week’s
vacation with pay for all em
ployed over a year who work 18
or more hours per week. All em
ployed over 5 years get two
weeks’ paid vacation.
Meany Urges 3-Point Action Program
To Counteract Drive of Labor’s Foes
St. Paul. — AFL Secretary
Treasurer George Meany called
upon organised labor to adopt a
three-point program to safeguard
»U freedom, its standards and its
very existence from the concen
trated onslaughts of the enemies
of progress.
In a stirring address before the
annual convention here of the
I AFL Building and Construction
I Trades Department, Mr. Meany
purged:
1. Intensified effort by labor in
the political field with victory in
the 1960 congressional elections
as its immediate objective, but
with permanent political power
for labor as an essential long
range goal.
« 2. Broadened educational and
publicity programs by labor to
counteract and offset tne vicious
propaganda campaign, nationwide
in extent, which big business is
carrying on against labor and
against everything for which la
bar stands.
i J> Organisation of all unor
ganised workers so that labor’s
Strength will be able to prevail
oyer any employer opposition.
Highlighting the deportment’s
' plete co-operation in the political
; field from a group which in the
past has been reructant to get
I too deeply involved in politics,
j "Remember, the purpose of our
■ enemies is to defeat us in the
j political field and then to > damp
even more restrictive legislation
1 upon us. We must meet that chal
I lenge. The building trades are
j the most important group in or
...'-v - -
ganized labor and they are the
rroit Important target of these
attacks. Already, the building
trades have felt the injurious
effect of the Ta:t-Hartley Act.
You must join in the tight to re
peal it through political action.
I urge your complete co-operation
with Labor's League for political
Education both nationally and lo
cally."
Lashing out against newspaper,
radio and magazine campaigns
against labor. Mr. aeany charged
tnat the current attack against
'statists" and the “welfare state”
are thinly disguised and indi
rect attempts to break down pro
gressive programs operating in
ueh&lf of the nation’s workers.
“What would they do away
with!” ho asked. Social Sec un
ity ? Federal aid to education?
The GI biU of rights? They
don’t explain. They don’t dare
get specific'.
“They forget that our democ
racy is baaed upon our constitu
tion which set forth plainly that
jos of the basic purposes of our
government is to promote the
general welfare of the people."
Mr. Moagy pointed out that tho
opponents or the “welfare stats”
never mention the huge amounts
of federal aid extended to tho
nations railroads, the airlines,
the shipping industry and the
farmers.
“But the minute the govern
ment steps in and spend govern
ment money to help the workers,
■ve immediately hear protests and
cries about the welfare state,”
Mr. Meany charged.
At the opening of the conven
tion, Richard J. Gray, presiden
of the department, declared tha
housing: construction, already pro
ending at a record rate, must b<
stepped U£ to an average of a
least a million and a half units i
year for the next ten years i
the nation’s acute need for nev
homes is to be met adequately
Rent controls are being under
mined tar and wide, he charged
Increases of as high as 380 per
cent have been imposed on tea
ants in some states and commun
i ities where all pretexts at con
tinuing controls have been aban
doned. he reported.
Mr. Gray also criticised th
Amy Engineering Corps for at
tempting to evade the Bacon
Davis Act provisions for paymen
of prevailing wage rates on mil
itary construction projects. Wide
spread wage-cutting has resulted
he said.
William P. Patterson, directoi
of the Labor Department’s Bureat
of Apprenticeship Training, tol<
the convention that despite wrai
expansion of apprenticeship train
ing in the past few years, Ameri
can industry “is replenishing it
skilled forces at a nlte of onl;
50 per cent of its future needs.'
Jess Larson, head of the Gen
era! Services Administration, re
ported to the convention that tin
government has a backlog of IKK
billion dollars worth of oeedec
public works projects which could
be put into operation to avert sr
economic collapse, but only a
small percentage of these have a:
yet reached the blue-print stage
AFL Council Says Trend Of Business
Depends On Lifting Of Buying Power
St. Paul.—The AFL Executive
Council declared that the future
trend of economic activity “will
depend primarily on steady in
creases in wages without turning
I prices upward again.”
The lifting of consumer buying
power is essential to sustain max
imum production and employment,
the council said in its report to
\ the 68th AFL convention.
Reviewing economic develop
ments during the past year, the
report asserted that the recent
i business slump “has been a cor
| rective process, not an industrial
' depression. The report said in
part:
“During 1949, the American
economy has been going through a
period or readjustment accom
| panied by declines in prices, pro
duction and employment. This has
I teen a difficult period for all con
| cerned.
' “For more than four million
workers it has meant unemploy
ment, and several hundred thou
sand of them have been out of
work longer than the unemploy
ment benefit period so 'that their
benefits have been exhausted,
i Many of those employed have had
i their incomes cut by part-time
| work.
“For business, the recession
has meant a 14 per cent reduc
tion in total profits (after taxes)
for the second quarter of 1949
compared to the peak 1948 levels,
and an 80 per cent increase in
business failures. Price declines
reduced sales income, returning
competition have brought difficul
| ties for employers and made them
I resist granting wage increases.
“The recession, however, has
been a corrective process, not an
industrial depression. Various
economic maladjustments had
arisen during the postwar busi
ness boom.
“During the recession, important
progress has been made in cor
recting these maladjustments. The
downturn in prices, which started
with farm products about mid
1948. as the world food shortage
was overcome, extended to indus
trial products late last year. Since
then a general downward price
I adjustment has been under way
throughout the economy.
“Beside the price decline, other
important economic adjustments
have taken place since midsum*
mer of 1948. With the return
of competition and the decline in
prices and sale income, manage
ment is showing new interest in
cutting costs and increasing pro
; ductivity. Since the first half of
1948, productivity has been rising
again at the rate of 2.3 per cent
a year, a figure which is close to
normal.
“The recession has also brought
drastic cuts in inventories, so
that over a large part of industry
inventories are in much better
balance. This will permit new low
cost goods to flow through quick
, ly to the market.
“Since the end of the general
consumer price rise (August,
1948). wage increases are, no long
er offset by price rises and work
ers’ ‘real’ wage or buying power
has been rising gradually, and
reached $1.35 per hour in June,
1949. Wage increases woa by
affiliated unions in 1949 have for
the most part been between 5
cents and 15 cents per hour, but
even if these increases have been
smaller than in previous postwar
years, they have brought more
benefit to our members because
they have been real and not can
celled by price rises.
“The federation recognizes that
the corrective process now going
on is essential to restore economic
health, and that as it is completed
economic activity will of itself re
turn to normal relationships kept
sound by competition.”
SENATE GROUP INCREASES
AID FOR DISABLED VETS
Washington. — The Senate Fi
nance Committee approved a bil
which would increase payment
to disabled war veterans, and t<
widows and children of veterans
The increases, already approve*
by the House, are estimated U
cost $112,000,000 a year.
Major changes made in the
present benefits would:
1. Give World War I voter
ans 100 per cent disability pay
ments for disability presumed tc
be connected with their wartime
service. The present payment ii
76 per cent.
2. Increase payments to veter
ans suffering from tuberculosis.
3. Give war widows with one
child increased compensation from
$100 to $106 a month plus $25
for each additional child. The
present payment for each child is
$16.
In reference to Point 2, at pres
sent the law provides 100 per
cent disability payments to vet
erans for six months after the
tuberculosis is arrested. A 60
per cent rating is provided for
the next 4 1-2 years, and 30 per
cent for the next 6 years. The
bill would give 100 per cent pay
ments in such cases for 2 years,
60 per cent for the next 6 years. .
1950 ELECTION CAMPAIGN, LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM
TO BE WEIGHED
St. Paul.—Resolved to carry on labor's fight for repeal
\ of the Taft-Hartley lav^ and to press for enactment of a
broad, progressive legislative program, delegates to the
68th convention of the American Federation of Labor gath
ered here.
As the sessions opened, representatives of the AFL’s 107
national and international unions, state federations of labor,
; and city central bodies were determined to intensify their
, efforts in combatting, the gigantic propaganda campaign
| waged against labor by private special interests groups.
Metal Trades Dept Votes
Vigorous T-H Repeal Drive
St. Paul.—An all-out campaign
for repeal of the Taft-Hartley
Act was enthusiastically voted by
the delegates at the annual con
vention of the AFT- I$etal Trades
Department just concluded here.
‘ “This buszsaw has just begun
to cut into the flesh of labor,”
t said President John P. Prey. “It
- will dig much deeper ymd hurt a
’ great deal mere unlees it is re
> pealed soon.”
Whole-hearted support from the
t Truman Administration in the re
I peal fight was pledged by Aa
(' sistant Secretary of L*bor Ralph
' Wright. He told the delegates:
“President Truman and Secre
i tary of Labor Tobin are resolute
' ly determined to continue to week
’ for Taft-Hartley repeal until that
law is erased from the statute
books.”
Wright charged that enemies
of labor have spent $100,000,000
on propaganda first to enact the
Taft-Hartley law and then to pro-*
vent its repeal.
The convention went on record
in favor of a long-range ship
building program to strengthen
national defenses. It demanded
that a fair share of the govern
ment’s existing construction con
tracts be alloted to West Coast
shipyards.
President Charles J. McGowan
of the International Brotherhood
of Boilermakers charged that the
steel trust, which dominates the
Atlantic yards is responsible for
the present discrimination against
Pacific yards.
“Monopoly rules the roost in
the shipbuilding industry,” he
declared.
Other resolutions adopted by
the delegates urged improvements
in working conditions in the navy
yards, adjustment of inequities
suffered by workers in the Canal
1 Zone, enactment of legislation
providing unemployment insur
ance for laid-off federal workers
and the inclusion of disability
benefits in the social security
1 laws.
I
All incumbent officers of the
i department were re-elected with
out opposition, including President
Frey, Secretary-Treasurer James
A. Brownlow and the members
of the executive council.
LABOR DEPT. READY TO AID
RESERVES REGAIN OLD JOBS
Washington. — The Labor De
partment said it will make every
effort to regain civilian jobs for
the 12,000 reserve officers soon
to fall under the Defense Depart
ment’s economy axe.
Secretary of Labor Maurice J.
Tobin wrote the Reserve Officers
Association that the discharged
officers will have the “full co-J
operation” of the 17 field officers
of the department's Bureau of
Veterans Re-employment rights.
Brig. Gen. E. A. Evans, ROA
[executive director, had asked Sec- l
retar Tobin to help the reservists i
return to their former jobs. Gen
eral Evans said many are not 1
aware they have reemployment <
rights to the jobs they left to •
enter service.
i
i
Mora than 600 delegate*, rep
resenting the some 7,200,000 mem
bers of the AFL Used hotel fa
cilities to the limit, and. together
with their guests, filled the spa
cious civic auditorium where the
convention is being held.
AFL President William Green
rapped the gavel calling the first
session to order following cur
tain-raising conventions held by
the AFL’s Metal Trades, Build
'ing and Construction Trades, and
Union Label Trades Departments.
| High upon the list of impor
tant national and international
problems to come before the con
vention is the strategy for the
coming important 1960 congres
sional elections. It is expected
that the convention will authorize
Labor's League for Political Ed
ucation, the AFL’s political arm,
to step up its campaign to elim
inate the reactionary Republican
Southern Dhtiecrat coalition which
tbts caused the logj*ta ,of labor
legislation in the current session
of the 81st Congress. Campaign
plans will be considered at a spe
cial meeting of LLPE.
The delegates are also expected
to approve a liberal legislative
program calling once again for re
peal of the obnoxious Taft-Harfc
ley law, economic safeguards to
ward off depression, effective
housing legislation for the nar
tion’s middle-income families, im
provements in the social security
system, national health insurance,
a civil rights program, and con
tinued foreign aid to rebuild the
economy of Europe, combat the
Communist menace, and promote
peace throughout the world.
While details of this program
are ironed out by the proper
committee for submission to the
convention, the delegates will
hear, during the first week, prom
inent speakers who are expected
to throw the spotlight on out
standing foreign and domestic
problems.
It was announced that Presi
dent Truman will send a special
message to the convention.
Secretary of Defense Louis A.
"Johnson will give the convention
a report on the latest develop
ments affecting national defense
and world peace. Other distin
guished speakers scheduled to ad
dress the delegates include Sec
retary of Labor Maurice J. Tobin;
ECA Director Paul Hoffman;
General Fleming, chairman of the
U. S. Maritime Commission; Os
car R. Ewing, Federal Social Se
curity Administrator; David A.
Morse, director of the Interna
tion Labor Orgonization; George
N. Craig, national commander of
the American Legion; and Sena
tors Hubert Humphrey, of ! Min
nesota; James E. Murray, of
Montana; George W. Malone, of
Nevada; and John J. Sparkman,
of Alabama; and Joseph Heath,
deputy director of labor and man
power division of the ECA Mis
sion to Greece.
Aside from the invited speak
ers, members of the AFL's staff
who have been stationed in Eu
rope, Asia and South America
ire going to make reports to the
convention, as will the two fra
ternal delegates from the British
rrades Union Congress and the
'raternal delegate from the Can
idian Trades and Labor Congress.
It is also expected that a group,
►f seven Danish trade union lead
irs, now visiting the United
States to study industrial meth
(Continued On Page 4)