Derated t*~
the Interests
of the
A. P. sf l*
and the
Working Man
VOL. XIX; New 44
State-wide Labor W&kly, Presenting Labor News and Views Without Fear and Without Favor
_ wf ' ; • • i |\ ‘
- CHARLOTTE, N. C„ THURSDAY, MARCH 9. 1050
Dedicated
to the
Continued
Industrial
Growth of
North Carolina
Subscription Price $2.00 Year
Teamsters Sign
Welfare Contract
New York—An employer-financ
ed welfare program, said to be the
most comprehensive in the general
trucking industry, was signed
March 13 by 45 wholesale liquor
. distributors and Local 815, Inter
national Brotherhood of Teamst
ers, AFL.
The program is a major step
in a campaign for welfare benefits
for the 1.000,000 members of the
union across the country. The pro
ject covers 495 drivers and their
families.
Life insurance, disability bene
fits, hospitalization and surgical
aid will be provided through em
ployer contributions of 3 percent
of payroll, an estimated expendi
ture of $50,000 annually. The sys
tem, retroactive to March 1, will
•cost the employes nothing.
Martin T. Lacey, business man
ager of Local 810, said each driver
would be eligible for $1,500 life
insurance, $1,500 accidental death
and dismemberment insurance,
weekly disability bnefits from $30
to $40, surgical reimbursements up
' to $200 and Blue Cross hospitali
* zation for himself and his family.
The accident and sickness, benefits
exceed the minimum benefits under
the New York State Disability
Benefit law.
The plan is to be operated
through the Teamsters Union Lo
cal 816 Welfare Fund and admin
istered by three union and three
employer trustees. The union rep
resentatives include Mr. Lacey,
Harry C. Martin and Lester S. Con
nell. Representing the company are
Edward P. McDermott, Raymond
E. Reitman and Joseph A. Tspee.
As part of the national drive,
the union recently signed pacts
for Midwestern locale representing
Details of tliBM martase pwgKil—u
are being completed.
Similar negotiations are under-1
stood to be under way with 150
milk companies in New York, New |
Jersey and Connecticut and with j
meat and hotel supply dealers here. |
Lost Coll Issued |
To Enter Big Show
Washington.—Time is short for :
officials of AFL national and inter-1
national unions and management j
of qualified business firms and j
other industries, which have col
lective bargaining agreements with
AFL unions, to make arrange
ments for display booths to exhibit
at the 1950 Union Industries Show
° —the only one of its kind in the
world—to be held May 0-13 in
Philadelphia.
Show Director Matthew Woll
said:
“Directly every branch of the
American Federation of Labor
should be represented in tbs show
but, in addition, we desire full
participation by fair manufactur
ers, other unionised industries, and
fair employers of service establish
ments. . s
“Tills is the last call for pros
pective exhibitors in our sensa
tional show to obtain the desired
amount of exhibit space in one
block to display their union-made
wares and demonstrate their union
manned services.
“Let’s make the fifth Union
Industries Show the greatest event
of its kind in all history. It is the
biggest. Let’s fill it with live ex
hibits and make it the best,"
Winslow Hoods
Washington ILO
Washington.—ThatelW Winslow,
special assistant to Undersecre
tary of Labor, has been named di
rector of the Washington branch
of the International Labor Office
by ILO Director-General David A.
Morse.
He succeeded Mrs. Elizabeth
Rowe, who resigned. Mrs. Rowe,
was the executive secretary in
charge of the Washington branch
of the ILO since 1943.
Mr. Winslow has been in govern
ment service in Washington for
the past 15 years. He was the Unit
ed States Government representa
tive at the 1947 and 1948 sessions
of the ILO Governing Body, and
substitute United States represen
tative at several other sessions. He
ws government adviser in the Unit
ed States delegation to the 1946
and 1948 sessions of the Interna
tional Labor Conference.
Mr. Winslow was bom in New
ton, Mass., Sept. 16, 1907. He grad
uated from Harvard in 1929 cum
laude and did graduate work there
in history in 1930.
Coll Conference
In Pennsylvonio
Harrisburg.—The Pennslyvania
Federation of Labor will hold a
state-wide educational conference
April 4.
President James L. McDevitt
said:'
“We are most enthusiastic at
this time about the possibilities
of promoting extensive educational
activities throughout the state and
have been much encouraged by the
response of so many affiliated
unions to our questionnaire.
“To help us properly initiate our
educational program we have se
cured the commitment of a num
ber of outstanding educators in the
labor field who will participate in
this conference. They include such
eminent educators as Dr. George
|LJTaxtef_j»f JkkMKmltLM
Pennsylvania and former chairman
of the War Labor Board; John D.
Connors, director Workers’ Educa
tion Bureau of America, AFL, and
Prof. Anthony Luchek, head of
Labor Education Service, Pennsyl
vania State College.
“There will also be in attendance
representatives of leading colleges
and universities who will join us in
helping formulate a real Workers’
Education Program for our move
ment in the commonwealth. The
session will be highlighted with a
forum debate on the. question of
‘National Compulsory Health In
surance,’ with Nelson Cruiksh&nk,
director Social Insurance Activities
of thri AFL, speaking for the af
firmative and Dr. Louis H. Bauer,
chairman Board of Trustees of the
American Medical Association, for
the negative."
Edward Arnold Stars
In Gompers Role
New York. — Edward Arnold,
screen and radio star, acts the
role of Samuel Gompers in a new
radio play based on the career of
the founder and first president of
the AFL.
The play is one of a series en
titled “Turning Points” depicting
decisive moments in the lives of
great Americans. It was written
and produced by Nathan Zatfcki
and will be heard on many local
radio stations.
- “Turning Points” is the second
radio dramatisation of Gompers’
life broadcast this year. The first,
entitled “The Education of-a Labor
Leader,” was presented by The
Eternal Light program over the
NBC network.
HOLD OU TO yOUR
5ocial securittcard
W MW NEED IT AT ONCE
U/UCII vnil START WORK ON A NEW J08<
WrltN iUUtu rk social ssawryiaens.
for More information
Crisult yom union 5ow'aI Security Committee
OR. the N’t’pre<it Soc;a Sccu'.tu Ofjicvi
Dates of 1950 Primary Elections
I Pint MNMnT jf. CZ3
Urges U. S. Ratify
Genocide Treaty
Miami, Fla.—The AFL executive
council urged the U. S. Senate “to
ratify promptly the Genocide Con
vention” of the United Nations
prohibiting the crime of mass de
struction of national, racial and re
ligious groups.
"The AFL, which took the intia
tive in placing the slave labor j
problem before the UN, considers
this convention as an important
first step towards providing in
ternational sanctions against the
destruction of life through slave
labor,** the council said..
the crime of genocide*
yean been most
perpetrated by the
is not limited to any par
or nation. It is a
of world-wide un
committed
Baltic lands.
"Behind the iron curtain—and
particularly in Soyjr. Russia—
governmental authorities have de
veloped a fiendish plan based on
‘cultural grounds’ and have launch
ed a terrific campaign to wipe out
entire groups of their population.
The new drive to make impossible
the continoed existence of Jews in
Rhssia and in its satellite areas is
going on under the flag of a sav
age war against so-called cosmo
politanism.
"Here is terrifying confirmation
of the Tact that prompt interna
tional action to check the spread
and stop the perpetration of this
heinous crime is most urgent. Oth
erwise humanity is likely to be con
fronted by still more new manifes
tations and variants of genocide
in various parts of the world.”
Alaska, Honolulu
To Honor Gompars
New York.—AFL organisations
in the two territories approved by
the Bouse of Representatives for
statehood will honor Samuel Gomp
ers, founder and first president of
the AFL.
A. S. Reile, secretary of the
Central Labor Council of Honolulu,
reports that its present plana call
for a Gompers Centennial dinner
on the evening of Labor Day.
T. B. Erieksen, executive secre
tary of the Alaska Territorial Fed
eration of Labor, has Informed
the Gompers Centennial Commit
tee that his organisation has de
cided tentatively to "honor the
memory of Samuel Gompers at its
convention banquet in Ketchikan
during the last week in October.”
Chomicol Union
Goins Bonofits
Partin, N. J.—Hercules Powder
Co. workers won a pay raise of 6
cents aa hour and welfare bene
fits totaling another 4 to 7 cents
aa hour.
Local 271 of the AFL Interna
tional Chemical Workers repre
sents the employes. About MOO
| workers affected by the 2-year
contract were granted double-time
pay for work over 12 hours, 2V6
times pay for holiday work.
The union also accepted a com
pany proposal for certain increased
benefits under an existing com
pany-financed pension plan.
Truman Program At Glance
Washington..--President Tniman asked major legislation to achieve
many goals r'svored by the AFL in his annual state of the union
message. Following are highlights:
REPEAL T*E TAFT-HARTLEY LAW^Replace it with a fair
law. Establish a labor extension service.
SOCIAL SECURITY—Expand the program to provide higher
benefits an I greater coverage.. .'!'
HEALTH—Establish a system of medical insurance which will
enable alt Americans to afford good medical care.
EDUCATION—Provide federal assistance to states for educa
tional purposes.
HOUSING—Extend rent controls another year. Assist coopera
tives an! other nonprofit groups to build dwellings which middle
income famHiep can afford.
RESOURCES—Approve St. Lawrence seaway and power project
and the Columbia Valley Administration.
MILITARY—Continue selective service in this country. Support
Atlantic defenag plans.
ECONOMIC—Keep the European Recovery Program going with
out “crippling? cuts in funds. Pass pending masures to put into
effect tne Font Pour program of American technical and financial
aid to underdeveloped nations. Approve United States membership
in international trade organization.
moderate amount of additional revenue.” Specific suggestions will
bo made shortly.
BUSINESS—“Close the loopholes” in the antitrust laws so as
to bar “monopolistic mergers.* Promised prr -oasis to assist small
business and encourage new enterprise.
FARM—Pass the Brannan plan with its system of production
payments; provide mandatory price supports for products which
are major sources of farm income and are not adequately covered.
TO STUDY SLAVERY
Lake Success, N. Y.—The United
Nation# Economic and SocialXoun
cii voted at its wind-up meeting of
this session to query all countries
on slavery and other practices of
human bondage still existing in
various parts of the world.
The council’s decision, passed in
a 13 to 0 vote, with Peru and
China abstaining, authorised a
special committee on slavery to
transmit ita proposed question
naire to both member and non
member nations after the commit
tee, a 4-member group of experts,
revises and current draft to omit
any mention of forced labor and
trade union rights.
This omission was requested by
the council because the question of
forced labor was felt by the major
ity to be in a different category
from slavery, and in any event al
ready was under separate examina
tion.
The council previously shelved
until 1951 an American Federation
of Labor plea for a study of slave
labor in Russia and other coutnries
behind the Iron Curtain.
Labor Editors
To Study 3 'Rs'
Campaign-Urbena, I1L — Labor
editors will study the “Three Rs”
of the labor press—its rote, respon
sibility and readability—at a con
ference April Z8 and 29.
Many AFL editors will be among
those attending this fourth annual
labor journal editors’ conference
at the University of Illinois. The
chairman will be Dorothy Dowell
of the university’s Institute of La
bor and Industrial Relations.
Miss Dowell said that labor
newspapers that are easier to read
and understand, and more effec
tively tell labor’s lory, are the goal
of the conference. The program is
built around specific subjects re
quested by labor editors but com
mon to editors of all types of labor
P*P«*v _
CAINS AVERAGE S CENTS.
San Francisco.—The California
Federation of Labor reports that
wage and other gains won by AFL
anions during December 1949 aver
aged 3 cents an hour for 19.900
workers covered. The average gain
for 9,000 of the total was 6 cents
hourly.
COMMUNIST AGGRESSION ENGULFS CHINA
nooucnoN decline bios, hmn workers' myim doner nuts uftiirn.
Byrd-Crats Defeat
Co Op Housing Bill
Washington.—The Senate coali
tion of reactionary Republicans and
Byrd Dixiecrats narrowly defeated
the bill which would have provided
APL and other middle-income fam
ilies with the chance to build their
own descent housing.
Jhe setback by 43-38 on March
15 threw the issue into the House
where chances of winning a satis
factory bill appeared less bright
than in the Senate.
Nevertheless the AFL drew lines
to make the stiffest possible fight
for the kind of a bill that middle
income famines need to get the
housing which profit-greedy pri
vate interests refused to provide.
The AFL regarded the roll call
as one of the most important tests
of this session of Congress in dis-'
closing labor’s friends. A switch
of 3 votes would have meant vic
tory in the ftght. Unfortunately, 9
senators committed to support the
measure were absent campaigning
for reelection or were ill.
Thirty Republicans and 14 Demo
crats—10 from the South, 2 from
border states and 1 from th» Mid
west—contributed to the stinging
setback for the Truman forces.
Long-term, low-inerest loans for
coperative and other nonprofit or-,
ganisations had been sought upon
the recommendation of President
Truman not only in the interest
of helping alleviate the housing
shortage, but also, as some frank
ly admitted the interest of prim
ing employment throughout the
nation.
Whit'} House pressure for the
bill, and particularly for the co
operative feature, had been sup
plemented by a barrage of tele
grams from the Democratic Na
tional Committee to party leaders
around thf country asking that
they, in turn, try te string their
After killing the provision in
which labor was most interested,
the Senate on voice vote piSSed
a bill approving 92,500,000,000 in
incentives for construction of mid*
dle-inconv? housing but these are
expected to provide only a piddl
ing amount of housing because of
the limitations imposed.
California Asks
Stale Aid On Jobs
San Francisco.—An urgent ap
peal that Governor Warren call a
special session of the California
state legislature to consider grow
ing unemployment, rising rents,
and pension problems was made by
the executive council of the Cali
fornia State Federation of Labor.
The council announced that the
preprimary convention of the Cali
fornia Labor League for Political
Education would be held in San
Francisco, April 17, 18 and It.
In other important actions the
council voted full moral and fi
nancial support to the present or
ganising campaign of the AFL
Warehousemen in the San Francis
co Bay area; intense opposition to
the importing of Mexican farm
labor at a time when there are 66,
000 unemployed agricultural work
er* in California ’ and more than
470,000 unemployed throughout the
state; full support to the Screen
Actors Guild, AFL, in its drive
against talent racketeers in the
motion picture industry; condem
nation of the motion picture in
dustry practice of rereloaaing old
films without stipulating date of
original release and original title
when there has been a change in
billing.
OBTAIN PENSIONS
Detroit — A Nash-Kelvinator
Corporation pension and health in
surance program was announced
here.
Unions that will share in the
benefits include the AFL Inter
national Brotherhood of Tfeaauters.
The pact assures 9190 monthly
pensions, including social security
for workers at age <9 with tl
years of service.
Nash will contribute 10 cents an
hour for each worker'into a pen
sion and insurance fund. Seven
cents wilt go for pensions. Tbs
unions have agreed to contribute ,
1.7 cents toward the cost of the
insurance program.