ST re ene teeter Teme eth
_ For the past three weeks UE’s National Office boys have been running
frantically about telling anyone who would listen to them that, “In TUE-CIO
you will lose your Seniority.” ‘That was the only argument UE had that came,
close to being a Trade Union issue. The only other things it has been able
to talk about are smears and mud-slinging stories directed at the leaders of
Local 301. But the seniority lic is just as unfounded-as the smear-attacks on
the leadership of our Local. There is no truth to either of them:
Proof of this is provided
by a simple examination of
IUE-CIO Local Supple-
ments with GE plants
throughout the country.
These supplements (repro-
duced here and on the back
of this page) show that
where IUH-CIO Locals ne-
gotiated supplements with
GE and wanted plant-wide
Seniority, they made it -a
part of their Contract guar-
antees..
That is true in™such im-
portant GE Locals as. Holy-
oke, Mass. .. . Philadelphia,
Pa... . Tell City, Indiana
.. . . Cleveland, Ohio. .
Fitchburg, Mass. .. . War-
ren, Ohio ... . and ‘other
Locals throughout the
country.
And in every case these
Locals saw to it that “Total
length of continuous serv-
ice is considered the major
factor.”
The IUE-C1O National
Contract with GE provides
for Local Supplements on
Seniority to govern. the lay-
~off- and-rehiring: procedure. -
The ‘supplements then im-
plement that National Con-
tract allowance,
The way UE has rushed to
spread these lies in order to
scare GE workers proves just
how bankrupt that outfit is.
If it had truth on its side. . .
if it had the majority of GE
workers on its side... if it
had any. Trade Union argu-
ments whatsoever .. . it
would not have to drum up
these dishonest accusations. _
Only a bankrupt organi-
zation has to lie.
Those lies have no re-
lation whatsoever to the
issue. The issue is simply -
how .to unite GE. workers
in order to do a real job in
negotiations this summer.
That is the issue, because
that is what is going to de-
cide whether Schenectady
Sample clause in IUE-CIO“ Local Supplement
‘ providing plant-wide seniority. |
GE workers win a substan-
tial wage increase and oth-
er important Contract im-
provements this year...
OR ... whether they con-
tinue the record of no ma-
jor gains that has marked
UE’s national negotiations
for the entire past five
years,
Important gains can be
won if Local 301 is united
with 78,000 other GE work-
ers in IUE-CIO plants in
Lynn... Pittsfield...
Holyoke ... Fitchburg...
Fort Wayne ... Cleveland
... Philadelphia... Louis-
ville... Anniston... Lin-
ton... Tell City... New
Kensington... . ‘and more
than 40 other locations
throughout the country. -
If UE could do some-
thing to unite GE workers
it would be able to argue
the issue on a Trade Union
basis; it ‘would not have to
lie and throw mud at the
respected leaders of Local
301. ;
_ These lies. and smears
“prove. just how: bankrupt
Eis. -«
TH.
GRE
poy
Se pan ee
-. either
1UE
: The | “vice of
April 9, 1954
We should have our election May 14 —f
That shapes up as the most likely
The petitioning is out of the
way.
The Informal Conference is.
over,
The formal hearings are over.
The deadline has been set for
final_appeals,
Now the only thing that remains is
for the NLRB in Washington to hand
down its order for an election. That
should be done within a week after
April 17, the final date for filing briefs.
Between now and the 17th the Board
should complete its study of the entire
record of testimony.
That record undeniably established
the fact that a “schism” exists—that is,
that GE workers are demanding a
change in ‘their Union. affiliation. Once
the Board is satisfied as to ‘that, it will
then hand down its election order.
Such orders provide that an election
“be held within 30 days.” It can either be
one week, two weeks or three’or four weeks”
after the order is issued that the election
is held. It is usually three weeks,
Three weeks after the 24th would put
Election Day as May 14.
This gives UE more than enough
time to present its case. UE succeeded
in getting that much time simply by
dragging out the Court House Hearings
over a period of two weeks and then
asking additional time for extra briefs.
This, too, was granted.
Now there need be no further delay.
ive weeks from today.
date, because 2...
An election on May 14 will give every
party plenty of time to present its. case.
Any delay by UE after that time will
only show just how low that outfit has
stooped to do the company’s dirty work. «
UE is responsible for the delay and
the company is taking full advantage of
it. But_UE tries to twist this fact and.
blame. TUE-CIO Local 301. for it,
However, people can see through this
shoddy trick, ‘
And when this thing is over and the
local people are still on the job doing
the work and handling the grievances
{And the outsiders have gone back to
Rome and Boston and Chicago and
California) we are going to see to it
that the company makes corrections
for the advantages it took of GE work-
ers during this UE stall. 5
F-L-O-P Goes
VE's Phony
Legal Stunts
During the past week the
trickery and phony legal gim-
micks of the National UE —
were fully exposed,
All their “injunctions” ... .
“court orders”... “vestrain-
ers”... “citations”... “di-
rectives” ... and other legal-
tic hogwash have been
tossed out by the
Courts or transferred to the
CIO.
‘urea where the people were
actually involved.
The . “restraining order”
ugainst use of Local 301 by
LUE-CIG- was vacated last
Friday... The “contempt” cause
against the Oflicers was also from
followed the lead of Local 301
and are moving to join IUE-
Erie GE Moves To Join IUE-CIO
GE workers in Erie have .end-street leadership of UR, Krie
Erie GE workers filed their
Workers agree that
UE is through in GE. Jt is
practically through in the en-
Rome,
Following a
rebellion against the dead-
whe
rank-and-file
Mikes Fiminows lie aritsicer
is punning
exposed as a phony when the: around Schenectady asking for
New York judge refused to
let wool be pulled over his
eves by Scribner,
ige
weehance to run Laval 301. See
Wher Ais own local thinks of
hint. Story on Ps
_ signed
petition for an NLRB election
in Pittsburgh yesterday. The
petition was accompanied by
membership cards
showing that. Erie workers
want to get cut of the weak,
incompetent UE and unite
with the vast majority of GE
workers in IUE-CIO,
T-V TONIGHT
Local 301 Teaders will
‘continue their series of 2-V
shows tonight onthe issues
involved in the election. Be,
the — latest’ developmeiits
throughout the plant, :
Time. 115 pam.
WROBL. Channel 6
) Sure to--see: this show “for:}:
tire electrical industry.
Because UE has no
strength, it cannot do a job
for its members, As that was
the main reason for Local 301
quitting UE, it was also the
main reason for the Erie
workers deciding to get out’
eat UE. and-into TUR-CIO,
More than 400,000 workers
have quit UKaind joined HUE-
ClO in the past four years,
More than 30,000 workers
have done that in the past six
weeks, They. are in GI’ plants’
in Sehenectady, New York. -
‘City, Newark. and Bloomfield,
N. J.) Tung-Sol Eleectrie in
Hoboken,.N. d.: Monroe Cale -
_culator in Orange, N. J: Wil-
colator in Elizabeth, N. Ja
‘and. Vickers in Detroit, Mich.
DR NNN OOO.
Members of UE Local 331, General
Cable, at Rome, N. Y., are in rebellion
against UE and the mis-leadership of
Mike Jiminez, UE’s ace strong-arm boy
who is now in Schenectady. .
Last week .a petition was circulated
through the plant condemning Jiminez.
The petition, signed by hundreds of
General Cablé workers, states that...
“Jiminez has no business in Schenec-
tady trying to tell people how to run
their Local. . He can't even take care of
“his own Local here in Rome, let alone
manage a big Local like 30]. Jiminez
is mainly responsible for the wrecked
contract, the messed-up seniority and -
the tragic state of affairs in Local 331 in
. general. We condemn Jiminez for spend-
ing his. time in Schenectady trying to
bust up a Local that has done a good
job for its members.”
The petition was circulated by people
in the shop-after they read. a Schenee-
tady paper in which Jiminez was mak-
ing statements aimed at destroying the
solidarity of Local 301.
People in Rome have strong feelings
about Jiminez. ‘They don’t like the way
he operates. But he has managed. to
scare some of them with his rough-
house tactics.
General Cable workers are particu-
larly disgusted with the futile 26-week
strike Jiminez took them out: on last
year. They not only stayed out for 26
weeks, they also went. back to work for
less than what they were offered before
. Jiminez started his. strike.
At a meeting of General Cable work-
ers last Saturday, a resolution blasting
Jiminez was unanimously adopted. That
resolution stated in part:
“We employees ‘of General’ Cable,
Rome, .N. Y., have seen our conditions
grow worse, our seniority wrecked, and
our Union weakened to the point where
it is unbearable... . The person. pri-
marily responsible for our: worsening
conditions is Mike Jiminez, who took
us ouf on a 26-week strike that failed
tee ee el el
What Rome
Wo
’
LON LON LOS ONS SN ON SLO ON ff pr, pln, LOO RN OAS SL ASA NP AP NOLEN LN Nf NSN LN,
inez Denounced By Own Local
and then made us go back to work for
less. than we were offered before we‘
walked out.... :
“We therefore condemn Jiminez for
his efforts in Schenectady aimed at
Union-busting and disruption.”
Conditions are so bad ‘in. General
Cable now that less than half the people
in the plant belong to the Union. For
the past year, Local 331 has been able
Lo get by only because of a subsidy from °
District 5, mest of which was. from 301.
Now that the subsidy has been cut
oil, Local 331 is on the rocks.. It is
about to be run out of its Local Hall
because it can’t pay the rent.
leaders have had to sell “raffle tickets”
“in order to pay the rent, Arbitration
costs and other expenses.
Local
Seniority is soomessed up that work-
ers in more than 80 job classifications
have practically no.seniority at all. -
The contract is completely wrecked.
And Jiminez, who is responsible, is now
trying to tell Local 301 members that they
should let him run their Union!
kers T hink of ‘Mike ,
¢
= € Printed below are statements made by some General Cable workers denouncing Jiminez.
Dozens of similar statements
usé of more of them in
“Jiminez ought to keep out of
Local 301’s affairs. The only thing
he could do
would be to
r wreck the Union
and the Con-
tract like he did
. in’ Rome. - And
that shouldn't
happen to any-
one! Most. of
our trouble in
Rome was the
result of the
mis - leadership
of Jiminez. He
was always
“dimines c:
Local 331. Hy
John
Montana
~ Donald
Darling
were made, but the press
ivi even fake care of
yw could he ever hope
to be ‘able to pny
take care of
such a big local
as . Schenectady
GE? Jimines is
the one who
led us oul. on
strike for’ 26
weeks, He did
the negotiating.
When - we went
back we ‘aetu-
ally. had less
than what we
were offered
before we Fusco -
has
ane
of other news would not permit
this edition of the Local 301 News.)
“Fhe main reason we have only
about 40% in the Union is Jiminez.
on . He has disgust-
ed so many peo-
ple with his lies
and
ship (hat people
want no part of
the © Union,
made such
mess of sen-
jority’
General
that
knows where he
stands,
can’t
whether
“Our local is in such bad shape
we can’t even pay the rent on our
, Hall.
that already we
have received
word. we'll be
thrown . out.
When it comes
to such a- state
that. Local Of-
ficers. have (o
“go around sell-
ing ‘Raffle tick-
‘ets’ in order to
pay the cost of
Arbitration
cases, that’s
misteader-
He
here at
Cable
never
~ Steve
Hojnacki
You:
be sure
T hear
us, telling us one thing and doing
another, Don't fall) for his bal-
double -crossiny:
R
walked. out on the strike. Half of
our own plant has practically no
you
have Seniority 6} not. Is that what
‘Jiminez is’ trying . to. repeat iv
pretty bad. Jim-
inez has no business in Schenee-
tady. No good ‘ean come of his
oney.”
i EN x
y¥-furnished. home
aerorass
seniority protection.”
Scheneetady?”
UE Organize
presence there.”
.. Another GE
Plant Votes
or IUE-CIO
TUE-CIO’s crusade to or-
ganize all GE workers in one
Union continued during the
past week as employees of
another GE shop voted’ un-
animously to be represented
by IVE-CIO.
The NLRB election held at
Cleveland GE. warehouse on
April 2 saw GE workers cast
ballots 100° in favor of IUE-
CIO. The shop had been un.
organized for 12. years. UE
had never succeeded in union-
izing the people, despite the
fact that it once represented
many GI workers in Cleve-
land. _ *§
The Cleveland victory isa
small but nevertheless impor-
tant landmark along TUE-
CIO's trail that has seen more
than 10,000 new GE workers
come into our Union’ during
the_past year. The. most. im-
eo portant of these plants were
attempts by GE to run-away
from: unionized rates and con-
_¢ Mitions..° ‘The plants are in
Louisville, Ky; Anniston,
* Ala; Linton, Ind.; Cambridge,
' Mass.; Philadelphia, Pa.; Au-
burn, N. ¥.; Montreal, Que.
In addition to those plants
previously unorganized, GE
How NOT To
| Run A Union |
UE is awfully hard up.
About the only way it.was
able to get any officers was
by drawing names out of a
hat. Or just about that.
This proved to be the case
on Wednesday when Mark
Burnham announced
“appointed” a Trustee of the
paper local “without my
knowledge or consent.”
First Burnham had_ been
named Sergeant-at-arms. He
objected to this and told thé
had to have ‘some ‘
they used Burnhani’s “name
anyway. As a result he had
to, repudiate UE publicly to
get it off his neck.
This is one more example of
just how bankrupt an outtfit
UE is.
in. the:
Union-Star that he had been
Women Leaders Pledge ;
kighting Future In CIO
At a meeting at Union Head-
quarters last Wednesday night,
: Local 301. women leaders laid
plans for continuing improve-
ments for GE women workers.
More than a _ hundred
women leaders from the
plant participated in the
meeting — the largest and
most. successful woman's
meeting in recent Local 301
history.
The women pledged contin-
ued Local 301 leadership in
the.. fight for constant ad-
PS: They still haven't found -
-anyvbody to serve as Business
. Agent’ or Chief Shop Steward,
the two most itmpartant jobs in
the. Unton, —
workers in UE plants in New-
ark and Bloomfield, N. J.:
Long Island City, N, Y.;‘Sche-
nectady and other cities have
voted by overwhelming mar-,
gins to get out of UE and
unite in one Union—TUE-CIO.
I BOY, WOULDAIT
(IT BE FUN To
| LOUSE
SNARES NASA hate bdllctitenasneninny
Ethel Furman
vancement of gains for wom-
en workers under the -new
banner of IUE-CIO. :
To lead the fight the women
elected Ethel Furman, a GE
worker with more than 13
‘ years service, as Women’s
Executive Board Member at
Large. Sister Furman who
has four years’ experience as
a Shop Steward, works: in
Building 10-C,-A4 & O.
In recounting the militant
leadership of Local 301 in the
bitter fight against GE to put:
women’s rates on a par with
men,. the women agreed tha
the most important. mil
stones in this fight were:
4.The first plant survey —
Aug. 1943—that launched
the fight to end discrimin-
“ation against women.
2. The second plant survey—
Dec. of 1944. Local 301
again led the battle and it
ended in vietory with an
order from the War Labor
Board to GE_ instructing
the company to end dis-
crimination against women.
3. The 1946 strike. Many
women participated active-
ly in the strike. It resulted
in company agreements to”
further reduce inequities.
4, The women’s rally ‘at: the
Subway gate, May 7, 1952.
5. The 1953 survey of wom-
en's rates. GE finally gave
‘in to the continuing pres-
sure of Local 301: The re-
sult was: that more than
1,300 women received up-
- ward adjustments, some as
‘high as 22 cents an hour.
He Represents Nobody
“Treasurer” of UE'S paper
local is Coleman O’Neil, sec-
ond shift, Turbine.
O'Neil doesn’t even repre-
sent his own paint gang, let .
alone’ any broader group.
This was proved last week.
when «the paint gang on
O'Neill's job unanimously
signed a petition -exposing
him. The petition stated:
' “Any statements Coleman
O'Nei! makes in papers distrib-’-
uted from 20114 Broadway are
his. own and he is speaking for
himself and not for our painters’
grotip.” ;
2G
ard J. Christopher's group-is
performing work of Special
Labor. Union demands prop-
er reclassification and in-
crease in rate.
Bldg. 16: D. Jutton in Stew-
ard G. Fagal’s section has-not
received proper paymerit for
work done. on. S.O, .43866-
3135A, drwg. 8605771-1.. Un-
ion demands increase in price
~to'cover work performed.
os... Bldg... 2692.8... Rodgers-in-«.|. +
Steward B. Martin’s group. is
“performing work of. ‘Test-.. |.
_ characteristic. - diversified”,
‘Union demands that she be
‘paid: job. rate. . .
oe «Bldg. 66: Foreman. Houck. of.
Bldg. 107: B. Dare in Stew-.-
is attempting to violate the
. contract by refusing to allow
authorized Steward P. Donato
to be presént.when W. Crogs-
ley is called into Gen. Fore-
man’s office to to discuss his
work, Union demands man-
agement correct this. situa-
tion, . Pads
IVE-C!IO LOCAL 301 NEWS
OFFICIAL ORGAN OF LOCAL 301,:
REPRESENTING SCHENECTADY.
GE- WORKERS,
=i a
8 Ji Cognatta,
: -- -Alols
‘Treasurer...
» Recording. Secretary
., Ass"t’ Recording Secretar
Chief. Shop: Steward
‘Business’ Agont--
© 301 LIBERTY: ST."
sMLAner ee Uw te Ann aetna adaastntpet min hansen emir Wein nth bie hm a nef
eva a Anes MAE RR EG MNS TACHA RM ant
_. How National UE Permitted Seniority Sellout
_ That Resulted in Harm to a Member of 3OI
The National Office boys .
brag about what they say UE
a
, . . ; _ a,
has accomplished on Seni United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America
“. ority.
But the truth is that they
“have accomplished nothing.
They are only trying to take
credit for what the members
. of Local 301-have won.
Local 301 did an outstand-
ing job of winning and enfore-
ing good Seniority rules over
the years..This was concluded
by our Local Supplement,.
which, UE had to admit was
the best in its entire chain.
The Supplement is so good
that it has meant hundreds of
additional benefits to the mem-
bers of Local 301 that members
of other UE locals never got.
. The National Contract, ‘on
the other hand, has been so
weak that it has hurt all GE
workers represented by, UE.
One Local 301 member
learned this the hard way,
He was Fred Allen of 1817
‘Central Ave., Albany. Brother
Allen -was told by his doctor
he must leave this climate.
He was told that California
would be ideal for him.
. Because Brother Allen knew
he had a good deal in Sche-
' neetady, he. figured he could
get just as good a deal in-a
California GE shop. So he
picked out the San Jose. plant
of GE, a UE shop.
He applied for a job at the
San Jose plant, figuring he
" would be able to keep all:his
Seniority accumulated in 301,
plus. pension rights, . service
credits and all other benefits,
He wrote to the GE plant:
manager at San Jose on July
18 of last year. A week later
came’ the reply. oo,
Brother Allen was shocked
-by'what he learned. He found |
out that he could not carry ~
— WANTED |...
sme “CO: serve! ins impor
hief Steward. and
: rent acs Masy jobs.
rerionce .necessary. Ape
ply. Mey Matlés or Mrs Jimineg,'
2014 Broadway. uo
ELEVEN EAST FIFTY-FirST STREETI M Ag wEwW yorK 22, N.Y. © PLAZA 3-1960
AUBERT J. FITZGERALD
General Pessidont
Fred 7. Sheshan
JULIUS LMSPAK
General Secretory Treasurer
Ostober
Asst. to Business Agent
‘UE Looal 301°
301 Liberty Street
Sohenectady 5, N. Y.
Deer Brother Sheshen:
In regard to-your letter of September 30,
of small Locals have arrangements w
(s} +
JAMES J. MATLES.
Director of Organization
1, 1953
6
1963, it is true that a number
here the senior ty dccumilated outsidS
aS ERNE YER LG MERE AEN “A Tah HEMMER TERNS Drauss AKA mpegs : Only the Ben ee
bdo OR ALOR, HOMES 0 ‘OE AR LOSS OL, Ryeortss only the service
accumulated in the plant propere This may vary in
I have heard of arrangements where this holds true
year and then "the complete company service is taken into account for all
Purposase
the several plants,
for a period of a
This is ospscially true on the westcoast, where during the years between.
‘1948 and 1960 thera seemed to be a large influx of people from the oaste
coast into California and most of the California Locals set up these
barriers for the protestion of their. om employeess -
The National Union has no agreement with the Natio
ooncerning the above situatione The only agreemen
has is contained in the Agreemont between UE and G
I hope this anawers your questions
JP eat
foul
Fraternal]
WOSEP.
nte
nal Company of any kind
t the National Union
Ea
y yours,
——
TURKOWSKI, ;
tional Representative
as I Ur PeuraRe
his Seniority Rights with him.
In this letter to Brother Al-:
len, the plant manager stated:
“We are unable to grant you
. full Seniority rights because of
an-arrangement with the Union,
and in case of lay-off you would:
‘be considered the same as anew
employee.”
Immediately Local 301 took
“this: up with the UB National
‘Office in New York to see if
' these. -much-ballyhooed eRe
ports. on.everything: could ‘bb-
‘tain a-simple. seniority trans.»
fer for this member; orif they
had let. expediency ‘be the sub-
stitute for principle in regard
to Local seniority rights.
Back came the reply from
Joe Turkowski, UE représen-
tative assigned to the GE
Conference Board,
‘Wt is true,” he wrote, that
the UE National Office could
‘do nothing for Brother Allen.
(See letter above.) ,
That is the difference: be-
tween Seniority Local 301-
style and Seniority as applied
by the boys-f
the. ottice. boys: from New York
‘now. running around Schenec-
tady telling people they should...
let him handle their seniority,
rom New York, | |i
PS: Joe :Turkowski is one of,"
Mea SAALL
(SOLATEO UNITS
NER
1. Sent telegram from N.Y, firing local
@ officers who were elected by members,
Had a N.Y, Judg
against the lecalUnion in an attempt
_ _. to confiscate our a
an -| take over our property,
NMRA cpa,
THAT IS WHA HAPPENED. To
SAM BARBER AT CAP II.
Sam has been going to 2013 Broadway. and as as.
~oresult ‘of making, dcals with the Out-of-Town -
_ Organizers, he-is being paid for his time,
The National UE, sold Sam a bill of goods —-=
that UE, will bring more work to CAP,
They did not show Sam that the GB. plant in
Erie, va,, U.E, Local 506, laid off 50% of the
workers because the refrigerator work was trans-
ferred to Louisville, Ky, i, uae
They did not let Sam know that the U.E, lost the
NLRB. election in Louisville and it is now
represented by IUE-CIO,, oi
Sam Barber did not explain the undemocratic
procedures carried on by the New York: Nat ional
Officers for the past 4 weeks, .
Ask Sam how he can justify the:following to the
Local Schenectady Gli, workers>
4g They notified the GE. not) to:
recognize the elected officers,
in order to stop the settlement
rant an injunction
erievances,
.
al treasury and
They: appoint temporary officers. with.
out” consideration of member ship.
“workers «— THEY ARE VERY SIMPLES) ~
“"o9 Sant Barbe did not’ éibiain the deaucs to the GAP
THE SCHENECTADY GR, WORKERS WANT TO UNITE WITH THER
Li“ BE100,,000"AFTER THIS”? *
“MAJORITY OF HE GLE, WORKERS THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY,
OUR. UNITED STRENGTH wr
-NALAR.B, ELECTION,
|THE MATIONAL NEW YORK OFFICERS ‘ARE TRYING TO STOP
“THIS UNITY BECAUSE IT MRANS A LOSS OF ¥j200,000
' A-YWAR IN PER CAPITA. TAX,
tssued by IUE-CIO Looal 301
301 Liberty St, Phone: 3=1384,
Executive Board members and stewards.
