Newspapers / The Charlotte Labor Journal … / Aug. 21, 1952, edition 1 / Page 2
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..— —.■ Published each week, on Thursday, at 1733 Statesville Avenue, Charlotte, North Carolina. H. A. STALLS. Editor »nd Publiaher Entered as second-class mail matter September 11, 1931, at the post office at Charlotte, North Carolina, under act of Congress at Marcfe 3, 1879. Endorsed by Charlotte Typographical Union No. 338, an affiliate of Charlotte Central Labor Union and the North Carolina Federation of Labor. Subscription price $2,00 per year. Advertising rates made known application. Special rates on legal notices. Careful attention upon given The Charlotee Labor Journal welcomes Open Forum opinions and other correspondence, but reserves the right to edit and/or reject libelous reading matter and questionable advertising. THE CHARLOTTE LABOR JOURNAL P. O. Box 1061 Charlotte, N* C AFL WARNS OF DANGER OF RUNAWAY INFLATION The coat of living, already at an all-time high, is continuing to rise, with the future most alarm ing, the Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor declared in it* meeting In Atlan tic City. . Blame for the situation, said the council, rests with Big Busi ness, “which prevailed upon Con gress to weaken price controls.** It is also due “to profiteering right down the line, from the wholesale to the retail level. The President was not asked to call a special session, but to “take whatever steps the facts make necessary to protect the publie interests in the price cri sis.” The text of the statement fol lows: "The cost of living, already at an all-time high, is climbing at an alarming rate. There is graVe danger again of runaway price inflation. Big business which pre vailed upon Congress to weaken price controls must hear the re sponsibility for ‘the criticah trend. -■ “The worst situation is in food prices. The 82d Congress made it virtually impossible to keep food prices in check by removing ceil ings from processed fruits and vegetables. . "There is no justification what soever for attributing the present pr^ce spiral to wage adjustments. All the evidence available proves that it is doe to profiteering right down the line, from the wholesale to the retail level — profiteering made possible by $he special in terest amendments voted into the price controls law by Congress. “Due to the lag in official re porting of price changes, the cur rent government figures do not reflect the sharp upturn in prices during the past few weeks. The public already has felt the change in the markets, but it won’t know the full story of the bad news until the figures for the period up to July 15 are made public later this month by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. ' “In the months ahead, the pros pect is even more forbidding. Prices of manufactured articles are bound to rise, due to the huge and unjustifiable increase in steel prices extorted from the govern ment by the steel industry. “The problem of inflation con cerns all Americans—wage earn ers particularly. As living costs increase, the purchasing power of the wage dollar shrinks. Every broad rise in price represents a cut in the real earnings of the workers of this nation. Only a comparative few are receiving be lated compensatory wage adjust ments for the upward march of the price index. “The Executive Council is con vinced that unless prompt action is taken to halt and control the present! inflationary trend, eco nomic hardships will be suffered by millions of our people.' .v. “Economic imbalances will be created that may pose a threat to our free enterprise system. In the long run, business and agricul ture will be hurt just as severely as labor by inflation. “The President of the United States has all these facts before — f Mg 0 1L him. We urge him to take what ever steps theflkets sary to protec| the' est in the price crisis.”. William Green, AFL president, asked whether the President should inter call a special session of Congress, said: “He can do that if he thinks it is the thing to do but we are not enthusiastic about that because the Southern Democrats and the Northern Republicans control Congress.” COUNCIL ASKS* UNITED FRONT IN FIGHT FOR NEW LABOR ACT (Continued From Page 1) Hartley Act and that a represen tation election must be held be fore the NLRB -will grant certifi cation. This Was 4-Year Job As most building projects are completed in from 3 to 6 months, this process is ordinarily too slow and cumbersome for the buliding trades. But the Bull Shoals Dam project was a 4-year construction job and so, for the first time, the Building and Construction Trades Department authorised its local councils to ask the NLRB for a representation election. Back • petition waa flled March 4, 1948, 9 months after work was started on the project in Arkan sas. On Jane 11, the NLRB di rected that an elect km be held. It took place July 28 and the AFL Building Trades Unions won an overwhelming victory. In August the NLRB eertifled the BniMteg Trades Council as the bargaining representative of the workers on thpjofc ■ ' ' The contractors. Brown and Root, then entered into negotia tion with the unions, but reserved the right to contest the validity of the certification. The talks dragged on and on and in Octo ber the unions filed unfair labor practice charges with the NLRB against the firm. A strike was called the following month. V Case Dragged 3 Tears more than 3 years the case on before the NLRB and The unions won every but never actually got by the company as the of this long action is anticipated. ‘Here we see a , I: IssKssrxyj hosen niter » . who WU twice found g«iKy i by tho NLRB of »efn»»l to b,r' * gain, who still refused to bar gain even after tho Federal We | trict Court of Appeals h8t Loots I the NLRB order.” Gray noted that tho Senate had I unanimously adopted a bill last [session to exempt building trade* unions from the requirement of going through representation elec tion* but that the House Labor 1 Committee, under Chairman Bar den of North Carolina, had re even to hold hearing* on it. I afl to invite adlai and [ike TO 8PEAK AT I NEW YORK CONVENTION (Continued From Page 1) LLPE, reported to the meeting on the outcome of primary con tests held to date, on the collec tion of funds for the political activities of the league, including the $1 voluntary contributions, and on the plans for future par ticipation in the Senatorial and Congressional contests this fall. The meeting voted to urge all national and international presi dents to keep a constant check on their local unions to make certain a real effort is made to get voluntary contributions from members. McDevitt said that the goal this year is at least $?50,000, and that since 1960 collections for political activities have been over $600,000. LOAN LEAGUE HEAD ATTACKS HOUSING PLAN Palo Alto, Calif*—The possibili ty that, leaders of the building industry and of businessmen as sociated with it do not really want to fill America’s full hous-. ing needs arose in an address by Ben H. Hazen, president of the United States Savings and Loan League*^ ^ Be UNION and buy LABEL to maintain American labor stand ards at home. If*.., • ...
The Charlotte Labor Journal and Dixie Farm News (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Aug. 21, 1952, edition 1
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