Council Working For
ATLANTIC CITY. — Formation
of a united AFL front to fight
for replacement of the Taft
Hartley Act by a more equitable
labor-management relations act
in the next Congress was voted
by the federation’s Executive
Council.
Recommendation for each; ac
tion was made by Richard Gra*,
president of the Building and
Construction Trades Department,
in a report to the council.
Gray also urged’ that specific
111 l vi'
ries be prepared for the
information of Congress showing
how the operation of the Taft
Harftiey Act has injured many
unions. \
The Executive Council agreed
with Gray that a unified AFL ap
to the solution of the
Hartley Act
able to
ial
he far
drives for
exempting indi
hardships they now suffer from
the - law*
A subcommittee of the council,
consisting of Vice Presidents Woll
and Doherty and Secretary-Treas
urer Meany will direct efforts to
form the united front, along with
several other officials of repre
sentative unions to be added to
the committee.
Cam History Given
Gray made public one shocking:
cAse history showing how irapos- i
sible it is for building trades un
ions to function effectively under
the restrictions imposed by the
Taft-Ifartley Act.
The story, published in the Au
gust issue of the Building and
Construction Trades Bulletin, in
volves the case of the huge Bull
Shoals Pam project in which the
Arm of Brown and Root was the
main contractor.
Gray explained that the build
ing trades, like other unions, arf
required to obtain certification
from the National Labor Rela
tions Board to gain official bar
gaining status under the Tnft
' (Continued On Page 2)
Adlai And Ike Be-Invited Tci
Speak To AFL Convention
ATLANTIC CITY — The AFL
Executive Council, in session here,
voted to invite hath Presidential
candidates, Gov. Adlai Stevenson
and Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower,
to address the national convention
when it meets in New York City,
September 15.
in all probability, alter the
candidates nave spoken, the Ex
ecutive Council will recommend
to the convention that it endorse
one or the other of the two Presl
t ■- i
aential candidates.
President Harry S. Truman
also will be invited to address the
convention. m
If the AFL decides to endorse
a Presidential candidate this will
oreak a long tradition against
such action by the federation. The
only exception was 1924, when
nob La FoUette was endorsed.
Previously, the administrative
committee of Labor’s League for
Political Education had decided
to lay the groundwork for the
decision of the convention, v I
| Officials of the league were d$*|
rected to prepare factual analy
ses of the party platforms, of
the records of both the Presiden
tial and Vice Presidential nomi
nees of both parties, and of their
campaign speeches as given up
to the time of the convention.
Considerable discussion o f
whether or not to break the tra
dition of not endorsing a Presi
dential candidate took place in
the meeting/
At the suggestion of Richard
Walsh, president of the Interna
tional Alliance of Theatrical Stage
Employes, George Meany, secre
tary-treasurer of the AFL, re*!
ported to the meeting on the po
litical conventions held hi Chica
go. Meany. said William Green,
APT* President, with a committee
of Executive Council members,j
presented the AFL platform pro
posals to both parties.
Meany said that the Republi
cans held their meeting in a small
room, with a subcommittee receiv
ing the AFL proposals, and State
Sen. Laird of Wisconsin as chair
man. No comment was made on
the statement by the committee,
no questions were asked, and
there was no discussion. How
ever, Lard said that he would
recommend the proposals to the
jfuU platform committee.
Laird Impressed
Meany declared that Laird was
apparently impressed and recom
mended to the full committee that
it call for a Labor-Management
Committee session to consider
proposals for changes in the Taft
Hartley Act. However, this was
opposed by Sen. Eugene Milliken
(Colo.), so that the Republican
plank on labor was announced as
folly endorsing the Taft-Hartley
Act.‘S' ; :
* The APL secretary-treasurer
said the situation was different at
the Democratic national conven
tion. There, the APL witnesses
were heard by the full committee,
William Lee, president of the Chi
cago Federation of Labor, was
made chairman while the APL del
egates were testifying, and tne
platform agreed with. AFL recom
mendations on almost every i§»
sue.
Ki'iTW7im^ '0m • \ i
••'“i
iSb
*7 ■' r 7 >Jt ” w '^1.
LtnfcnrrtTn- • ‘-nm
I —i... ■
mgw
9
Labor Should Know
These Congfesonen
A total of 176 Representatives
supported each of the 8 amend
ments to the Defense Production
Act which were opposed most
strongly by organised labor and
ether consumer groups.
3*2$
Fifty-three Democrats and 123 '
Republicans backed the Talle (R.,
Iowa) amendment to end price
controls; the Lucas (D., Tex.)
amendment t to reorganise the
Wage Stabilisation Board with a
majority of public members and
to give it only advisory powers;
and the Smith (D., Va.) amend
ment to request the President to
force striking steelworkers back
into the . mills through use of the
Taft-Hartley Act.
Here are 'the names of the
members of the House who voted
for all three provisions (Demo
crats in black type, Republicans
in light):
t ALABAMA—Andrews, Bey Ida,
Grant. ■ ■ ■ >
ARIZONA—Patten.
ARKANSAS — Gathings, Nor
refl. .. v . f r^ri
■ CALIFORNIA — Allen, Ander
son, Braxnblettr Hillings, Hunter,
Jackson, Johnson, McDonough,
Phillips, Poulson, Scudder, Wer
deL r.
Kggjj
*.c>4
i*
COLORADO—Chenoweth. Hill.
CONNECTICUT—Sadlak.
DELAWARE—Bores.
FLORIDA—Hertong, Rogers.
•i GEORGIA—Cox, Dtiis, ^Pnr
rester, Wheeler, Wood.
IDAHO—Wood.' r
ILLINOIS—Allen, Arends,
bey, Chiperfield, Church, Hoffman,
Jenison, ' Jonas, Mason, t MeVey,
Read, Simpson, Springer, Vail,
VeMe, Vursell. :
INDIANA—Adair Halleck, Har
vey.
IOWA — Cunningham, Hoevatt,
LeCompte, Martin, Talle.
KANSAS—Colt, Hope, Raw,
Smith. #
KENTUCKY—Gregory.
LOUISIANA—Brooks,
Willis.
MAINE—Mclntire.
MARYLAND—Devereux, Mill
(Con tinned On Page 3)
Wit