WILLIAM GREEN
PRESIDENT
AMERICAN FEDERATION of LABOR
President Green On Labor Day
On this Labor Day, the 8 million members of the Amer
ican Federation cf Labor would do well to take stock of
the status of our trade union movement in the community,
in the nation, and in the world.
Our first consideration must be given to security—the
security of peace, the security of our precious freedom,
and the security of our standards of work and living.
Events have proved beyond question that the only seri
ous threat to world peace stems from the Kremlin. Be
cause of Soviet Russia’s aggressive imperialism, we were
forced to intervene as the agent of the United Nations to
•defend Korea. Because of the Communists’ far-flung prep
arations for further aggressions against peaceful na
tions of Europe and Asia, we were compelled to initiate a
'vast national defense program, supplemented by military
and economic assistance to our allies.
As we take inventory of these basic policies and pro
grams, we are justified by the results in reaching the con
clusion that America followed a wise and courageous
course. Labor should be proud of the fact that it consist
ently supported, firm resistance against Soviet aggression
and full collaboration with the free nations of the world.
, Moreover, from the beginning, The American Federation
^ (Continued On Png* 4)
J
GEORGE MEANY
SECRETARY-TREASURER
AMERICAN FEDERATION of LABOR
Gebrge Meany’s Labor Day Address
On this Labor Day of 1961, one thing should be clear
to all of us in the Trade Union movement. As trade un
ionists, and as citizens of our great country, we have an
even greater responsibility to our nation and to our mem
bers, We must fight as never before, to defend human
freedom from the ominous threat of totalitarian aggres
sion. To do this, we«must keep our country strong, and
we must maintain our freedom here at home.
We are the strongest and richest nation on earth be*
cause the standard of living of the great mass of the
American people, generally, is higher than the standard
of living of any other people. And our standard of living
is so high because of the never-ending fight of our free
trade union movement over the past 100 years, for
progress.
Back in the early days, our prime method was organiza
tion. In those days, Gompers closed his speeches with
one word, repeated three times — “Organize! Organize!
Organize!” Of course, organizing the unorganized still
remains a major objective of the AFL.. But in order to
preserve the things we have gained, and make further
advances, we have got to think of new methods.
We have got to think in terms of methods that we, to
some extent, shied away from in the past.
(Continued On Pag* 4)
A SALUTE TO PETER McGUIRE •
Let American Labor on this Labor Day salute the humble carpenter,
Peter J. McGuire, who in May, 1882, stood before the newly organised
Central Labor Union in New York City and proposed that one day of
the year be set aside as a general holiday for the working masses. He
asked that this day be set for the first Monday in September. His idea
was enthusiastically embraced by delegates present and a committee
was named and preparations begun for the initial celebration of Labor Day.
This beginning_bore fruit two years later when the delegates to the
fourth annual convention of the American Federation of Labor in Chicago
adopted the following resolution:
“Resolved, That the first Monday in September of each year be set
aside as a laborers’ national holiday, and that we recommend its observ
ance by all wage workers, irrespective of sex, calling or nationality.”
During the next few years organized labor set about the task of
securing state and national legislation designed to make the Labor Day
a legal holiday. Oregon enacted the first law in 1887 and ultimately 23
states proclaimed Labor Day a legal holiday. The labor committee of the
House of Representatives presented a favorable report on a bill in May
of 1894 making Labor Day a legal public holiday. In June of that year
congressional action was completed and President Grover Cleveland
signed the measure.
One sees in national recognition through congressional action the
guiding spirit and hand of Samuel Gompers, American Labor’s great
leader, to whom the "pen used in signing the bill into law, was later pre
f sented. _ •
ft
y'r'WW'W'WWWW'^W'T'WW'W'rW'W'WWW
180,000 Southern Workers
Share jin Wage Increases
Approximately 180,000 workers shared in more than 175
wage settlements which were made in the South during the
past month, according to Brunswick A. Bagdon, Southern
Regional Director of the U. S. Department of Labor’s Bu
reau of Labor Statistics. The number of wage changes
levelled off after a continuous decline during the preceding
six months. In July, however, the number increased
about 5 per cent over the low point reached in the preceding
30-day period.
Over 80 per cent of these set
tlements involved wage increases
only: less than 16 per cent in
cluded both wage and fringe bene
fits; and about 6 per cent provid
ed for additional fringe benefits
only. Agreement extensions with
no changes in wages or supple
mentary benefits were made in
less than one per cent of the set
tlements.
Wage increases of 5 cents to 10
cents an hour accounted for more
than 46 per cent of the changes.
Increases of over 10 cents to 30
cents an hour acounted for about
35 per ent while increases of less
than 5 cents were granted in less
than 15 per cent of the settle
ments. No attempt has been made
to determine whether these wage
changes are permissible under ex
isting Wage Stabilisation Board .
regulations. ,
The greatest wage activity dor- <
ing this period occurred in Cheat*
ic&Js. Construction, Foods, Gee*
eminent (non-federal), Metal Pro
ducts, end Public Utilities. There
was no single settlement in the
South, however, which set n pat
tern for an industry and-or area.
State, county and municipal em
ployes continued to receive sub
stantial wage increases during the
month. Increases of 910 a month
to $425 a year were granted in
50 settlements affecting more than
10,000 non - federal government
workers.
It is anticipated that there will
>e a large number of demands
from labor for additional paid
vacations and shift differentials
low that the Wage Stabilisation
Board has announced that such
fringe benefits can be obtained by
workers without being offset
igainst the permissible . 10 per
sent general wage hike.
A DISCUSSION—LABOR
LAWS AND THEIR
ABMMSTRATIOI
Proceedings of the thirty-third
convention of the International
Association of Governmental La
bor Officials, Boston, Mass., Sep
tember 18-20, 1960, are now avail
able in “A Discussion — Labor
Laws and Their Administration,"
recently published by the U. S.
Department of Labor’s Bureau of
Labor Standards as its Bulletin
No. 146.
Copies of this publication may be
obtained from the U. S. Depart
ment of Labor, Bureau of Labor
Standards, Washington 26, D. C.,
as long as the limited free sup
ply lasts. Additional copies may
be purchased from the Superin
tendent of Documents, Govern
ment Printing Office, Washington
26, D. C.. at 60 cents each, -v
FOUR DECADES OF PUBLIC
EMPLOYMENT TRACED
WASHINGTON, D. C. — From
1909 to 1948 Government employ
ment in the United States rose
from 186 public employees for
every 10,000 in population to 371
for every 10,000, according to an
article in the July Monthly Labor
Review, official publication of the
U. 8. Labor Department’* Bureau
of Labor Statistics.
Payrolls increased from $18 par
LET'S STURT SOMETHING—
UNION LABEL WEEK ...!!
By RAY F. LEHENEY,
; Secretary-Treasurer AFL Union
Labe! Trades Department
If one person tells something
to ten persons and, in turn, those
! ten each tell the same thing to
ten other persons — and so on
j down the line—by the time that
the sixth series of individuals is
reached, then a million people
will have heard the original storpc
Mathematicians call this ‘arith
metrical progression’—it is just
plain common sense for union
workers to orally broadcast in
this person-to-person manner and
spread the gpspel by word of
mouth. It’s legal There is no
money involved. It is the work*
ing man’s TV. We call this
word-of-mouth broadcasting, Tell
a-Person—you see. It beats ev
erything in advertising.
When one asks a friend or
neighbor to do a personal favor
for him it is far more effective
than a squawking commercial
over radio and television which
costs the sponsors over a billion
dollars annually.
Let’s not be self-conscious!
Let’s be Union-Label-conscious
and spread the message about
going Union and buying Label.
It is the best guarantee for un
ion wages and our very jobs. It
is important to others also. If
each union-minded man or wom
an will sell this union-buying idea
to ten other consumers, ten mil
lion members of AFL unions and
j auxiliaries can reach a million
people every ten days. That
would be the greatest publicity
drive that ever took place for any
product or service. It would pay
off in good dividends to every in
dividual who plays a part In this
unique Tell-a-Person broadcast.
It will help to maintain our unex
celled labor standards, stabilise
American prosperity and bring
greater security to your land and
mine.
Let’s not talk to ourselves about
jit. Let’s do something about itt
| Let’s go out and “broadcast” over
I the fence to our neighbors or
| call our friends on the telephone
and ask them to demand the Union
Label, Shop Card or Union But
ton every time they patronise any
business firm! That is a practi
cal way to get definite results.
Let’s all try out this system for
the seven days during Union
Label Week — September 2nd
through 8th. Let’s start some
thing. Let's go!
capita of total population to |61.
The article, by Carol P. Brain
erd, says the greatest share of
this expansion occurred in State
and local governments, with educa
tion the chief contributing factor.
In 1948, education absorbed 43
per cent of State and local em
ployment and payroll and ac
counted for 102 employees per
10,000 from a total of 138 for aU
functions.
BUNION
HIM LABELS
SUP CUDS A
UNION LABEL WEEK
S<pfan/&t 2-Z/95/