40,000,000 Non-Union
Workers, Says Meany
Washington.—The nation has
• 40,000,000 unorganised workers who
should be in unions.
They are losing |2 to $3 a day in
wages by not being in an AFL
union.
AFL Secretary-Treasurer George
Meany gave these estimates on the
size of the union organizing job
to be done in this country and the
cost of nonunion membership to the
unorganized workers.
“We don’t have tt.e help of the
columnists or the newspapers,” Mr..
Meany told the AFL organisers’
conference. “They’re all talking
I about initiation fees and what it
~ costs to belong to a union.
“You don’t see anything in the
papers about what it costs to stay
out of the union. It costs $2 to $3
a day, the difference in wages paid
to nonunion and union members.
“Organized labor,” Mr. Meany
said, “is the greatest force in mak
ing this nation the wealthiest in
the world. And the real wealth of
the nation is not in its buildings,
or highways—not in the material
things—but is measured by the liv
ing standards of its workers.”
He said the principal message of
Samuel Gompers, founder and first
president of the AFL, was:
“Organize. Organize. Organize.”
“This is still the important ac
tivity,” Mr. Meany said.
He said that the success of or
ganized labor’s political activity
this year and in the years to come
will depend to a large extent on
w&at union organising is done,
“A great part of the success or
failure of organized labor in the
future is going to be decided on
Capitol Hill and in the state legis
latures.” Mr. Meany said./*We have
the potential political Tower to
defend ourselves. We must get the
votes. The best guarantee that
these votes will be cast on election
day is to get the workers into
unions.”
V
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 Ix>cal 816, Inter
national Brotherhood of Teamst
ers, AFL.
The program is a major step
in a campaign for welfare benefits
for the 1000,000 member* of the
union across the country. The pro
ject covers 405 • drivers and their
families.
Life insurance, disability bene
fits, hospitalisation and surgical
aid will be provided through em
ployer contribution! of 3 percent
of payroll, an estimated expendi
ture ef $60,000 annually. The sys
tem, retroactive to March 1, will
cost the employes nothing.
Martin T. Lacey, business man
*ger of Local 816, said each driver
would be eligible for $1,500 life
insurance, $1,500 accidental death
dismemberment insurance,
weekly disability bnefits from $30
to $40, surgical reimbursements up
to $200 and Blue Cross hospitali
sation for himself and his family.
The accident and sickness benefits
_exceed the minimum benefit* under
the New York State Disability
Benefit law.
Ilf plan IS vO ve vpri mm*
through the Teamsters Union Lo
cal 916 Welfare Fund .and admin
is be red 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. Taper.
As part of the national drive,
the union recently signed npcts
' for Midwestern locals representing
20,000 members. The employers
pay $1 a week for each employe.
Details of these welfare programs
are being completed.
Similar negotiations are under
stood to bo under way with 150
milk companies in New York, New
Jersey and Connecticut and with
meat and hotel supply dealers here.
FIND CHILD LABOR.
Washington. — About 160 chil
dren in 8 Alabama counties were
found picking cotton in violation of
the child labor provisions of the
Fair Labor Standards Act during
the 1848 cotton-picking season.
Many of these boys and girls were
returned to their classrooms as a
result of a series of investigations
by the U. S. Labor Department’s
Wage and Hour and Public Con
tracts Divisions.
An yen listening to Frank
Edwards?
HAILS ICFTU
New York.—President Max Zar
•tsky of the AFL United Hatter*, j
Cap and Millinery Worker* hailed
the International Confederation of
Free Trade Unions as a world bul
wark for democracy and freedom.
Mr. Zaritsky praised the new in
ternational labor organisation
created by the AFL and other free
unions last December in London in
an interview for “Voice of Ameri
Cm.
The interview was conducted by
Listen Oak, labor director for
“Voice of America,” and broadcast
in many languages around the
world.
Mr. Zaritsky recalled the early
struggles of the hatters, cap mak
ers and millinery workers. told of
the advances in wages, hours,
working conditions and socal wel
fare programs achieved by his
union, and discussed the role of
free labor in a peaceful world.
Coll conference
In Pennsylvania
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
W, Taylor of the ^University of
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 Cruikshank,
director Social Insurance Activities
of the AFL, speaking for the af
firmative and Dr. Louis H. Bauer,
chairman Board of Trustees of the
American Medical Association, for
the negative.”
Lost Coll Issuod
To Enter Big Show
Washington.—Time is short for
officials of AFL national and inter
national anions and management
of qualified business firms and
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 6-13 in
Philadelphia. -H—
Show Director Matthew Woll
said:
“Directly every branch of the
American Federation of Labor
should be represented in thn show
but, in addition, we desire full j
participation by fair manufactor- j
era, other unionized industries, and |
fair employers of service establish
ments.
“This 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 Servians.
“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.”
Chemical Union
Goins Bonoffifs
Partin, N. J.—Hercules Powder
Co. workers won a pay raise of 6
cents an hour and welfare bene
fits totaling another 4 to 7 cents
an hour.
Local 271 of the AFL Interna
tional Chemical Workers repre
sents the employes. About MM
workers affected by the 2-jear
contract were granted double-time
pay for work ever 12 hours, 214
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.
TO STUDY SLAVERY
Lake Success, N. Y.—The United
Nations Economic and Social Coun
cil 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’)} decision, passed in
a 13 to 0 vote, with Peru end
China abstaining, authorized a
special committee on slavery to
transmit its proposed question
naire to both member and non
member nations after the commit
toe, 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 ia Russia and other coutnries
behind the Iron Curtain.
t *
Labor Editors
To Study 3 'Its'
Campaign-Urban*, 111. — Labor
editors will study the “Three Rs”
of the labor press—its role, respon
sibility and readability—at a con
ference April 28 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 tory, 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
papers.
hAAAAAAAAAAAA
8TUDY U. S. UNIONS
Ithaca, . Y.—Twenty-nine Ger
man labor, Industry and govern
ment specialists spent t weeks
studying the American labor move
ment at the ew York State School
of Industrial and Labor Relations
at Cornell University under U. S.
government sponsorship.
Some of the anion representa
tives among the group were In
concentration camps during the
war and others had suffered heavi
ly under the Nasi regime.
*
A ' i (Political Advertimmoot)
Are You Worth 40c An Hour?
4 Willis Smith said that 40c an hour for tha working poo pis was "harsh, unreasonable, and nnnacsssary," whan
4 ha fought and helped beat tha 40c an hour minimum wage bill in the 1947 State Legislature.
A BUT—-Look at the value a certain corporation lawyar places on HIS services, even while en|oyiitg the ocean
1 breezes at a choice beech spat.—.
j Mr. Smith WENT to Morehead City!
A jh* recant offer of Candidate Willis Smith to swap his annual In coma for that of another Individual,'like so many
A other of hla campaign statements, doesn't check very well with hla record.
< MR. SMITH SEEMS TO HAVE FORGOTTEN
1 MADIX ASPHALT ROOFING CORPORATION
4 Th* 127 unsecured creditors end the 39 common stockholders of the Madix Corporation are not likely ever to fdrget the I
4 $23,137.77 Mr. Smith collected for serving in 1949 as attorney for the receivership trustee for th.s ''broke" ecmpeny. |
A Tha unsecured creditors were wiped out to the tun* of $172,377.77 and
4 the common stockholders to tha tuna of $193,221.51. They got NOTHING;
4 MR. SMITH GOT $23,137.77!
Admitting In court records that he limited his activities in the Madix case to only 98 days, and on thosa days enly a port
A s ‘' » of tha day at timas, Mr. Smith collected a fee of $21,500.00, plua personal axpcnses for his son, his sacrotery and
A- himself amounting to $1,637.77.
His rate of pay was $219 28 a day, evan when he worked only part of a day' Thar* is a j
lot ef difference between $219.28 a day and the wage rale ef 46* an beer, which Mr Smith
A Mid "WOULD WRECK THE ECONOMY OF OUR STATE" If mad* the minimum wage for
A the working men and women of North Carolina.
4 And, during those 98 days he was drawing $219.28 a day. phn expenses me* days, ext ef the assets of a bankrupt eee>
4 ■■ration. Mr. Smith spent, by his own admission in court, 48 days In Morehead City, where he maintains • summer er
beach horns.
! Yaa, Mr. Smith WENT to Morahaad City, and he stayed and he wont end he stayed, and
1 he went and he stayed and ha stayed!
On one Of the days Mr. Smith worked far Madix In Raleigh, the official
record thews the $219.28 daily charge wee made for "CONFERENCE WITH
WILLIS SMITH, JR."
These same court records show that when in Morehead City, for as long as 10 days without leaving, Mr. Smith made a \ *
4 daily charge of 10c a mile for his automobile, end on each and every day drove It Just exactly 10 Milan (Kb V
4 20-mile-a-dey-ten-cents-a-mile charge wee made far Sunday driving just as for weekdays.
The beeches ef Mereheed City are pleasant In tbn summertime, an 'week*
m A Mi* (nndsne »1aLs mlaaSnm n^n gmgdg
^ Wjrl W MWWjif ORg RROiWj RtgRT wVRRi WWW RRRgtRtRv SfVli •■RRMf
STSTThTfS k
a In fairness to Mr. Smith, attention Is called to the feet that he reported officially to the court that on two Sundays durtnf •
^ . his long stays In Morehead City he worked "until late at night, once "until 11:00 P. M."
4 The court records from which the above facts were obtained are on file in the office of thp
< Deputy Clerk of the United States District Court In New Bern. These records are vof
4 uminous end tell e strange story. For instance: -
* Mr Smith shows on his swam to expense statement or account four separate
< items for the period of June 9 through the 15th, 1949. He charges as
4 follows against the bankrupt Madix Corporation assets: /
'To Willb Smith, Jr., refund expenses, June 9-15, .
4 at Morehead City. ...$35.00
4 "Willb Smith, refund axpanaaa, trip to Morehead City, - .
4 June 9# 445 miles, and $49 for meal* hotel, etc.$93.50
4 "Willb Smith, Jr., refund axpanaaa, balance, trip to
< Morohoad City, June 9-15..,.. $15.00
, "Willb Smith—June 9*15, at Morehead City, preparing
report, etc., Haarino before Judge (WS and WS Jr.) __ —-~±J....j
' —7 days @$5 ($2.50 each)—mileage, 304 milea . $35.00
* -— and 20 milea par day for 7 days .. . . .$44.00"
i -j— . . ■■■**- — - ' ' ■
u"-r . ..
If theae various sums charged in four separate items for the period of JUNI9 TO IS ere added together the total comae
* out at $222.50 in axpanses, which then added to the dally $219.28 fee far seven days gives a grand total of $1,757.44^
.8 (ether tidy sum far seven days spent nt Memhend City hunch during the bet month ef June.
fbrafy Candidate Smith Must Hare Forgotten The Media Cam Wham Ha Offered To Do A Uttla Income Swapping.
- r- ' > |
4 Last December 21, it was ordered by the court that the assets of the Madix Corporation be distributed. The secured }
4 creditors, such as the banks end holders of certain mortgage bends, got thairs—amounting to $124,106.11. That waa |
afl there waa in Mm kilty attar Mr. Smith had drawn an admHmml $37a. 93 in "exp suss money."
1 Mr. Smith GOT $23416.72 . . . the 127 uneecurod creditor*
1 with claims amounting to $17247747, got NOTHING .. . the
< common stocbboMora LOST ALL tbo $193421.51 they bad lu
. Wwm' wBHBp '
9 - • *
d * ^
1 m mr. urn REALLY WENT to morbsad ml
< —.■■in——..
< T~ *
j ROMAN S. WILUI, Safer Rath, N. C. -
j _ ONI af tfca trockhoMara Wfe Wat W1RSP OUT
4 SENATOR FRANK P. GRAHAM WENT TO WASHINGTON TO SERVE IN THE SENATE FOR ALL THE PEO
< PLE, AND NOT ANY SPECIAL INTEREST, CLASS, OR GROUP. LET US KEEP GRAHAM THERE.
VOTE FOR GRAHAM MAT 27th
4 CORNBBEAD AND COLLARD6 COMMITTEE, ML H. CALVIN REA, CMInma.