CHARLOTTE, N. C., THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1950
VOL. XX; NO. S3
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Subscription Price, $2.00 Per Ye«r
U. S. LABOR BACKS ALL-OUT WORLD MOBILIZATION EFFORTS
AFL, CIO, Machinists and
Railroad unions are joining in an
•
unofficial committee on defense
mobilization. The labor groups
are not satisfied with the way
controls are going and want to
<make their collective voice heard.
Layoffs hit industries through
out the country this week, as
unions had warned they would.
The main cause was shortages,
and it was aggravated labor
leaflerf^say, by uncoordinated gov
ernment rulings on stockpiling
and priorities for strategic ma
terials. Such developments were
stirring labor to action.
Labor already had three rep
resentatives (AFL President Wil
liam Green, CIO President Philip
Murray, and I AM President A1
Hayes) on the official committee
which advises mobilisation direc
tor W. Stuart Symington. Agri
culture, business and public are
also represented on the commit
tee, which discusses general pol
icy. Union spokesmen feel, how
ever, that they do not exert
enough influence on actual deci
sions through their participation
in the group.
Earlier in the game, a much
larger labor delegation met with
Symington to express labor’s con
cern for an active role in the de
fense effort. It was from this
group that the idea for a per
manent labor mobilization com
mittee grew.
AFL del "(fates to the proposed
14-man panel include President
William Green -rvi- BeWufeiy>
Treasurer George Meany, it was
learned. Joseph Keenan, head of
Labors League for Political Edu
cation. who served on the World
War II War Production Board,
will act as the AFL expert on
production. President Harry
Bates of the Bricklayers, who is
slated to be on the government’s |
Stabilisation Board, will
be the wage expert. The fifth
man, in charge of manpower, is
expected to be either Lewis Hines,
or Walter Mason, both of the
AFL legislative department.
CIO President Philip Murray
will be on the committee, United
Auto Workers President Walter
Reuther will act as the CIO’s
production expert. President
Jacob Potofsky of Amalgamated
Clothing Workers will represent
CIO on manpower, President L.
S. Buckmaster of the Rubber
Workers on prices, and President
Emil Rieve of the Textile Work
ers on wages. Rieve is also sla
ted for membership on the Wage
Stabilization Board.
From the International Asso
ciation of Machinists, President
Al Hayes and Vice President El
mer Walker, both of whom have
taken an active part in previous j
mobilisation meetings, will be in
the group.
George E. Leighty, president
of the Railway Labor Executives
Association took part in the July
meetings with Symington. He,
and possibly another delegate,
will most likely represent the
rail unions.
It has not been made clear yet
whether John L. Lewis has been
asked to participate. The United
Mine Workers are noted or their
opposition to official government
boards. This, however, would be
an unofficial board, and the un
ion’s Secretary-Treasurer, John
Owens, participated in the origi
nal meeting with Symington list j
July.
Except for the Wage Stabiliza
tion Board, no labor people have
been named yet for definite posi
tions in the new defense setup.
Union representatives are expect
ed to get advisory positions in
the Office of Defense Manpower,
and unionists have been promised
a spot on the National Produc
tion Authority.
The unofficial mobliration com
mittee is expected to meet some
time after the CIO convention Is
over.
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V
By ANDREW C. BOSS, 8. J.
Assistant Director University of
San Francisco Labor-Management
School
(From the U.S.F. Labor
Management Panel)
If we wish to find the man
most responsible for making oar
capitalistic system acceptable to
the rank and file of the American
people we don’t turn to business
or politics but to labor. Samuel
Gompers did more for America
than any industrialist, such as
Carnegie, Gould, Hanna, Rocke
feller, or any politician, such as
Roosevelt, Hoover, Coolidge or
Wilson.
Throughout history every grass
root protest against a corrupt
political power or unjust econom
ic system has usually ended in
bloodshed and tyranny. Most re
formers have been either ideal
ists or men of violence. In
America we have been more for
tunate than the rest of the world.
At the end of the 19th century
the workers were growing rest
less and threatening under an
obviously ruthless industrial sys
tem, but this mass movement was
not to end in bloodshed and vio
lence. In America this move
ment came under the influence
of a man endowed with a hatred
for violence in all its forma.
Sam Gompers was not hypo
tized by any pie-in-the-sky so
cialism. Mr. Gompers was an In
dividualist, ready to meet the
rugged individuals of industry
in thehr own bailiwick — wages
and profits.
Gompers formulated a bread
and butter philosophy of labor.
He would not throw out capital
ism but like a hardheaded busi
ness man would use capitalism
for the best interest of the work
ers.
He sold the free enterprise
system to the American work*
er. He taught labor a way of
life within that system. It is
difficult to And anyone in the
20th century who has done more
to preserve and foster the Amer
ican way of living than Samuel
Gompers,
This is America’s first great
indebtedness to Mr. Gompers.
Business should take warning
that organised labor is not to
be fought as an enemy. The
American business • managerial
class can thank Gompers for be
ing instrumental in preserving
our mixed-cspitalistie-free-enter>
prise system of economics.
And every union man ought to
give thanks not only for higher
wages, shorter hours and greater
security, but for the fact that all
these were achieved without sac
rificing freedom or human dig
nity to a regimented economy.
In 1924, the year he died. Gom
pers said: “I have been jealous
that the American labor move
ment should retain the character
of a crusade for human justice.”
EMPLOYMENT FIGURE
CONTINUES TO RISE
WASHINGTON—With employ
ment in the nation’s factories
continuing to rise, nonfarm
wages and salary employment set
a new all-time high of almost
45.3 million in mid-October.
The U. S. Department of La
bor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics
announced that the gain of 89,
000 over * mid-September was
much smaller, however, thou the
sharp increases which occurred
between July and September.
Moderate gains in manufacturing,
trade and government were part
ly offset by minor seasonal reduc
tions in construction and some
of the service industries.
As a result of the rising de
mand for goods and services by
business, more than 1.8 million
employes were added to the pay
rolls of non-farm establishments
from June to October, 1950.