North Carolina Newspapers

L.P.A. Poses Questions to Nation’s Labor Leaders (Coatianei from Pace 3) niquc-s in iwuucai «n»n win go hand in hand with the membership push. At the same time, the Guild will take its first steps toward estab ’ lishing .in the Heywood Broun Memorial Foundation a perma nent-home of its own, a Newspaper Hall of Fame, a Broun Museum and Library, and a.Special Projects Division, all intended as long-time objectives that will contribute to the (elevation of the newspaper in» dustry as a medium of service to the public and will enhance the prestige of both the Guild and the trsrie union movement as a whole. .A small union numerically, the Guild has nevertheless set its sights on an ambitious program intended to achieve the maximum of benefits both -to its members and to the .Labor movement. The Guild also intends to carry its full share of the load looking toward .correction of tbe country’s incle ment political atmosphere of the moment. i ORGANIC UNITY OF LABOR MOVEMENT PAPER MAKER8’ HOPE BY PAUL L. PHILLIPS, President, International Brotherhood of Paper Maker*, AFL. The aoat pressing task confront ing the Labor movement in the mopths ahead is the achievement of organic labor unity. The urgency of this task becomes more and more apparent as the current Ad ministration in Washington con tinues to cater to elements hostile to organised labor. The first big step toward achiev ing this long-sought goal has al ready been taken. It came some months ago when the aptly named AFL-CIO unity committee drew up a no-raiding agreement and decided ho Jay it before the fall conventions of the two federations. I for one hope that the delegates at both these conventions see fit to ratify the pad, to help eliminate this most wasteful, most divisive GREETINGS TO LABOR SPENCOUtHYNE BOOK COMPANY OFFICE OUTFITTERS — PRINTERS "Over 32 Yean of Service" "257 W. Mam St. Photic 5-2356 GASTONIA, N. C. ITERCHrS AT' % Batter Tour Hama — Batter Yaar Living with Furniture fram Stare hi's m-180 Snath St. TeL 5-1266 GASTONIA, N. C. JL E. McLEAN TANK MAINTENANCE SPECIALISTS Raafef Building P. O. Box 1062 Phone 5-4361 Gastonia, North Carolina GREETINGS TO LABOR STOWE MERCANTILE COMPANY 6 North Main St. Tolophoaa 321 BELMONT, N. C. Herman Sipe & Co. Incorporated GENERAL CONTRACTING •12 ' CONOVER, N. C 2247 practiat .in th« Labor movement. 1 am also optimistic enough to be lieve that affirmative action by the two conventions will be fol lowed by ratification on the part af member unions. , But that’s only the beginning. A no-raiding pact must be implement ed, it is up to the leaders as well as the rank and file of individual APL and CIO unions to support the joint unity committee in the months ahead when—and if—that committee sits down to iron out the problems of jurisdiction. This task will be complicated by the fact that jurisdictional squab bles exist not only between com peting AFL and CIO unions, but between AFL unions themselves. It is good to know that the unity committee has already signified its intention to study the vexing prob lem of craft raids. If we can solve the problem of jurisdiction, well be well on the way toward the organic unity we so badly need in these difficult days. The 70,000 member? of the In ternational Brotherhood of Paper Makers are ready, I am sure, to do their part in promoting labor unity. Our union supports and will continue to support the ratifica tion of a no-raiding agreement and the elimination of all of the costly wasteful and futile raiding, re gardless of who does it. Our union will also support—-In the months ahead—the efforts of the AFL CIO joint unity committee to achieve total and complete unity within the North American labor movement. EDUCATE AND ORGANIZE WHITE COLLAR AND RURAL WORKERS, WASHBURN URGES BY LESTER WASHBURN. Pres„ United Automobile Workers, AFL The most pressing task for the Labor movement in the year ahead, in ay opinion, is the unit as it has been since the time of Samuel Gompers. That task is to “organise the unorganised”—a task which, despite ail efforts in the past, con tinues to remain as a major chal lenge to oor unions today. Al though we are proud of the great progress made since the time of Gompers, and although we recog nise that there are close to 15,000, 000 union members in the country today, that figure becomes far less impressive when we consider that •ur total American working force now substantially ekceeds 60,000, 000. This means that for every union man or woman in our ranks, there are three workers who claim no affiliation nor nudee any con tribution toward our objectives. The lack of unionisation in cer tain fields is apparent to all of us and certainly the white collar groups , are particularly in dire need of suck organisation. Because of their comparatively poor eco nomic position, many of them dis play a hostility toward unions, rather than a desire to join with them. Therefore, we suffer not only from a lack of this member ship but are faced with a definite antagonism which we can ill-afford from so substantial a segment of our American working force. But even in those fields which are commonly thought to be well organised, there exist many oppor tunities. for farther unionisation. This is particularly true in rural mna hi smaiier plants which « 7*t hive not been brought Into the fold. Bore, too, in small com munities, we generally find an un fo^nate aif of suspicion toward ganisation in these isolated Jbc tions, we can accomplish a Arable purpose. First, we can organise the unorganised and second, we ■hall have a first-hand opportuni ty to demonstrate to thi workers and the communities that are not the irresponsible, reckless organisation which the newspapers all too freuently paint than. In other words, an inmritable ac companiment to organising is the fostering ef a public relations pro ram. The two go hand in hand. All other facets at the labor movement revolve around Its continued growth. Therefore, I believe that accelerated organisation continues to remain the most pressing task in the year ahead. Insofar as the UAW-AFL is, concerned, we have never deviated from our “organise the unorgan iaed- objective. In IMS, we have added many thousands of new members and have chartered at least «0 more locals. We expect to intensify our drive in the months ahead and have been particularly gratified at the progress we are making in the southern states and on the West Coast. Much of our particular Industry' is still not unionised and are pledge our own personal efforts in our own particu lar field to continue to swell the ii» gnswtng ranks of those work ers who carry and who ere proud of their union card. REACTIONARY FORCES WOULD UNDERMINE DEMOCRACY INDIRECTLY PROMOTE COMMUNISM BY A. 1. HAYES. President. International Association of Machinists, AFL. Organised Labor in the United States, with all of its faults and weaknesses, has made a great and significant contribution toward the betterment of life for our kind of | people and the country as a whole | throughout our history. Since we, of the working force, j formed our labor organizations and asserted our rights, we have caus ed gain for ^everyone. Our society has benefited by the tremendous flow of goods and services we pro duce; employers have benefited by the increased profits they have re ceived; and we have benefited by the shorter hours, higher .wages, better working conditions, and an ever increasing standard of living which we enjoy. We have acted ss a gead ^nd stimulus to progress; we have achieved greater recogni tion of human rights; we have se cured respect for the dignity of labor, we have assorted the dignity of man; we have Insisted on respect for the aspirations of man; and we have seen to It that the products of human inventiveness have been ex tended to all men instead of a chosen few; we have fought for and helped to secure free public education; we have fought for and helped to secure freedom from im prisonment for debt; we have se cured a shorter work week, we have fought for the abolishment of child labor, we have fought for and secured unemployment compen sation and old-age security benefits to relieve the insecurities which prevailed; and we have contributed to the securing of many other benefits. e.very segment of our society has benefited by our accomplishments. We hare helped substantially to our country a better place in which to lhre. The arguments which we have heard so much from our opposition and many of their political friends, which maintain that the further improvement of economic, social, educational and health opportuni ties is socialism and that we must again restore the type of individual freedom which prevailed in the old days of exploitation andHtar Yellow Dog contract, is nothing less than self-serving propaganda of minds bgeoming more and more warped ♦oward Fascism. The propaganda of these forces and their emissaries in Congress that the improvements we seek in our general standards of living, including education and health, are not possible under our form of government is not only utterly false but actually under mines the very foundation of our Democracy and plays into the hands of the Communists. This and more we must add to OW already crowded schedule in the forthcoming year. We have ma tured into greater responsibilities than were ever carried by Organ ised Labor before. The manner in which we carry out these responsi bilities will not only influence our own economic, social and cultural life but may well influence the eco nomic and cultural life of other peoples who are still struggling to be free. Such is the importance of the Organised Labor Movement hi the United States today. While our obstacles arc many, they are not unconquerable. STAND TOGETHER; REPU McCARTHYISM; REGAIN POLITICAL INIATIVE By Hugo Brest, President Hotel ui RMtawut Worker* AFL In my opinion the moot pressing task facing organised labor Airing the next IS months is the Job of regaining the political initiative which lias now in the hands of the moot anti-labor elements in the country. * There are many storm sigimls already flying which should warn os of serious trouble ahead. Among these are the "deflation steps** be ing taken by the Administration, like raising the. interest rats, and which include the philosophy ex pressed in some quarter* that "the country needs a little unemploy ment.’* Another is the utter failure of the Administration to deliver on its campaign pledge to make cer tain amendments in the Tbit-Hart ley Act. A third is the ominous trend to ward wrecking the system of Fed eral supports for the nation's standard of living built up over the last 20 years. Public housing, pub lic power, health measures. Serial Security, natural resources, unem ployment insurance, ail these and more are already threatened. A fourth is the continued attack an dvil liberties led by McCarthy A Co. which must have as a prime goal the silencing of all voices, including those giving tongue to organised labor’s demands, which wish to dissent from the reaction* ary trend of the times. How can labor regain the initia tive? One way is to refuse to be fright ened out of our wits by those who want the public to think you’re un American when you speak out for a return to the ways of social jus tice. Another way is to redouble our efforts to organise the unorgan ised. A third way is to put up a vig orous battle at the bargaining table, and on the picket line when necessary, in order to win for working people the pay scales they must have to earn not just a living wage, but a saving wage. A fourth way is to get down to cases in political action. 1954 is ait enormous challenge to us to prove that we are willing to work, yes, and to contribute our dollars. We must build the kind of com munity political campaigns that will send to the showers those worthies in Congress who are bent < on turning back the clock. But it seems to me the most important single thing we can do is to restore labor’s old-time mili tant solidarity. When one union, be they cooks or steelworkers or ^miners, be they AFL or CIO or Independent, is engaged in a strug gle with the bosses, then every union within reach should be lend ing every possible kind of support within its means. This kind of working, day-to-day solidarity, onk the economic and political battle fronts, strikes me as the only sure way to move to ward real, effective labor unity. And it is only through such soli darity of rank-and-file working people that Jabor can win again the political initiative which is the ] sole instrument to defend our living standards from those who are now seeking to weaken them. ^ioa^l Sound hA^Mto^potoo^if ^ ^k B ^k BBBBBB^Bfl ^KbbJbb U/bbb^ . m Annual soring way# ; Spread Hie Work By Charles J. MaeGowan, Free. Iitcnutioul Brotherhood of Boilermaker*, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers sad Helpers, AFL The most important task before the American labor movement Is the policy now being formulated by the federal government which may determine the course of world affairs as between war and peace. The economic policy being drawn will decide if are in America are to continue to enjoy prosperity or be forced into an economic depres sion. To enjoy continued prosperity the full partnership of labor must be recognised and admitted, and labor must assume its responsibil ity by selecting their chosen rep resentatives to give expression to the workers’ viewpoint at the di rectors' table. Inefficiency or dis honesty of management is even more the concern of the workers than it is of the stockholders; sta bility of employment at good wages can only follow sound management. Industry must eventually be so ordered that It will pay the work ers an annual saving wage, thus permitting them to maintain their families in keeping with decent American standards, and by the application of thrift enable them to pass their declining years in com fort and security. Hours of labor can no longer be determined upon the endurance of the workers, but must be predicat ed upon the available supply of , man-power and the requirements of the population; the inarch of science and invention and the cre ative genius of our people has so im renwa me worKer I prooucuTlvy that we are confronted with a per manent army of unemployed. This army will either he maintained in idleness by taxation heaped upon the backs of the poor, or available work must he equitably distributed by a reduction of hours—society cannot escape this responsibility. As to the manner in which Ibis organisation Is going to tackle its share of the task referred to above: The International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron* Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers and Helpers shall consolidate its forces and in tensify its efforts on the domestic, labor, and political fronts to pro tact our national security and the free labor movement. Unity, Not Raiding, Oraonite the Unoraanized W»mW**«*w U ww^p wnwiwwnWuV| Will lUpo! Anti-Union Forces By Anthony Valent*. Preeidsut United Textile Workers of America AFL Labor’s great task in the months that lio ahead is to bring about (Cantinned en Page •) L. G. JONES COTTON CO. COTTON WOKE KS C. L. Patterson, Mgr. Gaston to. North Carolina GREETINGS CAROLINA CLEANERS* All Articles Insured Against Eire and; Theft ONE DAY SERVICE «■ Dial 5-5041 209 S. Firestone S». GASTONIA, N. C V FRANKLIN HARDWARE CO. COMPLETE HARDWARE LINES ladders Hardware — Paint Took — Glass . GARDEN TOOLS — SEED Sporting Goads — Fishing Supplies 1225 W. Franklin Street Phono 7011 GASTONIA, N. C. Greetings To Label Superior Stone Company Kings Mountain, N. C. -- GREETINGS D. W. DAWN MINTING CONTRACTOR INTERIOR DECORATING 1330 Franklin Avt. Gastonia, N. C. A. B. CARTER, INCORPORATED MIU, DEVICES COMPANY BOYCE WEAVERS KNOTTERS CARTER TRAVELER CO. RING TRAVELERS GASTONIA. N. C. v — ■II. Ill . ■ —■ t LABOR DAY GREETINGS * * Kivett Electric Co. • • ELECTRICAL CONTRACTING Telephone 3237 .• ASHEBORO, N. C.