dy of Pact Modification Proposals _
: “ The UE General Electric Conference Board, which groups
together UE locals in GE plants throughout the country, has
dri afted a series of contract modification proposals which are
SCHENECTADY REPRESENTATIVES. Board Member Fred Pacelli, Pres-
ident James Cognetta and Business Agent Leo Jandreauare the UE
Local 301 representatives on the union’s GE Conference Board: which
drafted the proposals analyzed he board page. Cognetta is chairman of
the board
Wage Increase Propos
Heads. Contract Demands
Topping the list of demands to_be made on General Elec-
tric by. UE in the forthcoming negotiations for contract modifi-
cation will be one for a 15 cents- an-hour wage increase to all
workers.
This demand is being made, not
just because a demand for more:
money looks good on paper but be-
‘uuse continuously rising living
costs have made larger paychecks
a necessity for everybody.
At the same time as the
prices of everything and the
profits of the big corporations
have been mounting, the wage
freeze has been holding down
the wages of the American
“working pople. .However, the
UE and other unions have
demonstrated that the best
way to beat the wage freeze,
which, in effeet, is the product
of the unity of the big corpor-
ations, is through unity in the —
shops. and strength in collec-
tive bargaining. ;
However, the wage demands do
not stop with the 15 cent demand.
They include special provisions for
women and skilled workers, In the
case of women workers, the pro-
posals are: aimed at eliminating
onee and for all the practice of
paying women less for the same or
similar work:
The demands on behalf of the
skilled workers are keyed to bring-
ing into effect the recommenda-
tions of the Wage Stabilization
Board Skilled Trades Panel, which
declared that “these “warket's ~de- ~~
“ite increases,
served substantial
4 ®@ Friday, July 25, 1952
Job Evaluation
Seen As Needed
In addition to the problems
which were worked out nationally
by the UE-GE Conference Board,
there are several items which have
special application, to individual
plants and will have to be worked
out Ideally.
Among these problems will be
the need for a works-wide job eval-
uation for the Schenectady works.
This evaluation would be nimed at
eliminating, they many pay inequi-
ties now in existence.
This need has been under-
lined by an analysis of griev-
ances reaching the union offiee
made by Business Agent Leo
Jandreau. This study showed
that well over half of the cas-
es processed by the UE Local
301 grievanee machinery in-
volved either improper job
classification or improper wage ~
rates in one form or another.
UE has long pressed for such ac-
tion on either a national or local
level but the company has always
resisted taking it..
In recent months supervision has
been using the so-called “decen-
tralization” of management au-
thority: as a dodge to make the
handling of grievances an even
longer and more coniplicated’ pro-
cess, :
designed to be submitted to man-
ngement for negotiation.
Because these important pro-
posals will be submitted to Local
301’s membership for approval at
the August 4 membership meeting,
the EU News devotes this entire
page to an analysis of their con-
tents.
These proposals are in the full-
est sense the product of the demo-
cratic thinking of every UE mem-
ber working for GE. Many of them
‘originated with Local 301 mem-
hers at meetings held by shop
stewards and board. members
throughout the Schenectady works.
‘These proposals were then
brought to the July General Mem-
bership meeting and incorpora ated
into. one set of. suggestions sub-
mitted by the three 3801 members
on the Conference Board, James
Coxnetta, Fred Pacelli, and Leo
Jundreau. A similar procedure
was followed in other locals.
The union must serye notice of
its intention to’ modify the con-
tract before August 15. Within 15
days of the receipt of this notice -
by GE management, negotiations
will begin for the entire chain...
Bargaining will continue until
the anniversary date of the con-
tract, September 15. If no agree-
ment is reached by then, the union
will have the right to take strike
action.” Such action, of course,
would require appro
membership through a secret bal-
lot conducted in the works.
val by the.
Aim to Improve Holiday
And Vacation Clauses
Improvement in both vacation
“and ,holiday clauses will be de-
manded of GE management in the ,
forthcoming negotiations.
The Local 301 vacation proposal -
was incorporated into the: Confer-
ence Board proposals, This calls
- for starting vacation credits im-
mediately upon employment of a
worker with one day of vacation
nilowed for every two months
worked up to one year.
The proposal also calls for two
‘weeks vacation after, one year,
three weeks after ten years and’
four weeks after 20 years.
A considerable ‘portion of the
proposed holiday clause also orig-
inated with 801. This clause pro-
vides for eight paid holidays for
all workers with no strings at-
tached. The. guaranteeing of eight »
holidays would eliminate the pracs:
=tice by which the- company has
been able to get out of paying holi-
day benefits in cases where holi-
days fall either on workers’ day
off or during vacations. _
The suggested modifications
would also eliminate the discrim-
ination against continuous opera--
tion employees: in holiday benefits.
These employees would get the
with triple time pay for those they
have to work.’
eS
same holidays as other workers,
Pension, Seniority and Lost
Time Modifica
tions Proposed
.Among the many important questions to be taken up in
the contract modification talks will be that of pensions. The -
UE-GE Conference Board has drafted a new pension plan
which would provide -pensioners
with an income of $100 a month in
nddition to social security. The
present plan provides $125 a month
including social security.
Tightening of seniority protec-
tions is also on the list. One of
the proposals calls for application
of seniority to. upgrading in much
the same way as it is applied to
layofts.. A national agreement
providing plantwide seniority is al-
so suggested as is giving full
weight to seniority in granting
shift preferences. |
The question. of lost time for un-
ion work is dealt with in a pro-
“=posal tofully compute lost time in
pension credits .and .deductions.
Ask Union Shop
The UE negotiators will go
into contract modification bar-
gaining with GE determined to
i the union shop.
This demand is based on the
knowledge that the union shop
will mean a stronger union to
win better contracts and to han-
dle everyday problems in the
shop.
UE members also know tha
. the union shop will.end the fre
riding racket by which a small
minority escapes the ‘responsi-
pit of paying dues to main-
tain the union, but at the same
time (takes all of the. benefits
.won..through..the. efforts. of m=.
ion members,
* Conductors
ELECTRICAL UNION NEWS
Vol. 10 — No. 30.
Friday, August 1, 1952
Brooklyn — the seven-week-old
strike at the .American: Safety
tazor Corp. plant ended last week
when management agreed to a new
contract with UL Local 475 pro-
viding a four cent an hour wage
increase retroactive to May 1, a
completely company-financed wel-
fare’ and: insurance plan and vaca-
tion improvements. But perhaps
the most important aspect of the
victory for the 1,200 workers was
ASR’s management’s agreement to
respect seniority, job security and
anti-speedup provisions in the con-
tract. The company’s’ attack. on -
these clauses was the chief cause
of the walkout.
kok ook
Washington—The- United Mine
Workers have served a 60-day-con-
teact termination notice on soft
1 mine operators. If a new con-
fact is not reached by then, the
UMW will be free to strike under
its traditional “no contract, no
work” policy.
kK kK O*
Orange, N. J.—United action by
_ UE Loeal 407 has forced the Edi-
son company to reinstate Mrs.
Lucille Webster, the first Negro
skilled worker in the instrument di-
vision of the Orange plant, with
eight months back pay. The fight
was won after the local member-
ship had heard the facts in ‘the
case, decided the firing “for poor
work” was a frameup and ousted
a shop steward who had testified
for the company in an arbitration
hearing. The arbitrator’s decision
completely supported this position,
xk k *
San Franciseo=s; AFL window
cleaners won a new contract with
a 10 cent hourly wage increase for
all workers.
kok OF
Mt. Clemens, Mich-—-UE Local
982 has forced the Ironrite Co. to
stute with back pay of $850 a.
‘Yer who was fired for refusing
te'work without safety gear.
xk kK OK
Chicago—The Order of Railway
called off ‘a strike
“against the “Pullman Co. last week
after it won a new contract call-
ing for a wage inerease of 12%
cents.an hour retroactive to Jan-
uary 1, 1951. The strike had been
scheduled for July 29.
.. Vote Monday
CABLE STRIKERS. This pieture of the UE Local 331 picket lines around
the General Cable plant in Rome emphasizes the solidarity,o£ the
strikers,
UE Local 301 is ¢ireulating a petition for - ‘support and
making a: collection to bolster the strikers.
Launch Petition Backing .
General Cable Strikers
A petition of support for the 1,300 UE Local 331 mem-
._ bers who have been out on strike against the General Cable
Co. in Rome since June 1 will be circulated throughout the
UE Urges GE Increase
Payment to Pensioners
Raises of from five dollars to
$8.60 a month in pensions to re-
tired workers have been urged on
GE and other companies having
contracts with UE throughout the
country. These raises would be
designed to conform with the re-
cent inereuses in social security
benefits voted by-Congress.
The present Ul contract with
GE. provides for a pension of $125
a month including social security.
A contract modification demand
would establish a new pension of
$100, not including social security.
Rejoining Union
A number of requests have
been received by the business
office of the union and by board
members and shop stewards on
the part of people who have
dropped out. of the union, and
now want to resume member-
ship,
Under the Local 301. consti-
tution, all such persons must
pay full back dues for the per-
iod during which they were out
of the union, The . Executive
Board has -no power to waive
. this rule which could only be
changed by a two-thirds vote of
the membership. 6
Schencetudy works during the
coming week,
The petition will be accompanied
by a financial collection for the
strikers. This action is in lne
with meusures approved by the
Executive Board and the last Gen-
‘ral Memberships meeting. It is
also in response to the personal
uppeal for aid made by a commit-
tee of three strikers who visited.
the Schenectady local last month.
The General Cable workers
hit the bricks two months ago
after the company had sought
to jam 60 contract changes
down their throats. These
changes would have ended
schiority protections, given
the company a clear road for
unlimited..speedup and actu-
ally cut wages and prices in 41
different ways.
Since walking out, the Cable
Workers, who are united with 700
striking employees in the com-
pany’s two California plants, have
vecelvell wide support from. the
other unions in Rome, as well as
from the community, as.a whole.
Locals of the AFL machinists, the -
CIO autoworkers and the inde.
pendent Mechanics Edueational So-
“ciety of America have backed them —
with collections and picket line
delegations. Almost all of the
city’s small merchants: joined to-
gether to buy a newspaper ad
backing the strikers.
On Contract
_UE Local 301’s membership Will
have the opportunity to make final
changes and to put their-seal of
approval on contract modification
proposals at the General Member-
ship meeting Monday. ‘
The meeting will be held in two
sessions, with the second shift get-
ting together at 1:30, p.m. and the
first and third shifts:at 7:80 p.m.,
in the union hall. The agenda at
both sessions will be headed by a
report on the proposals drafted by’
UE General .Electric Conference
Board, | A
The proposa, § inelude a demand
fora 15 cent} hourly wage in-
crease, the “union shop, improved
vacation and holiday provisions
and pension increases. Tf an agrec-
ment is not reached ‘on. the pro-_
posals before the anniversary date
of the contract, September 15, then
the union will have the right to
take strike action. : is
Two proposals not original-
ly adopted by the conference
board will be placed before thee
Monday membership meeting.
One would give workers who
are forced out of work due to
compensation cases the same>
bump rights. as laid off work-
ers, and the other would pro-
vide for paid sick leave. Both
of these proposals were
brought into the last General
Membership meeting when
contract proposals were orig-
inally discussed, but were ac-
cidentally omitted from the
suggestions sent to the con-
ference board. :
The omission was called to the
attention of the Bxeeutive Board
_ Monday night, and it was decided
there to present them to the mem-
bership for approval.
Reject Carpet Pact
“The strike of employees of
the Mohawk and Bigelow-San-
ford carpet mills in Amsterdam
continued through its eighth
week after Mohawk workers
overwhelmingly rejected a pro-
posed settlement which would
have provided only a seven cent
ware increase,
The CIO: textile workers: turm=
ed down the contraét recom-
mended by their leaders. by a
vote of 1,628 to 676.. The work-
ers are ‘demanding a 25 cent
hourly increase and proteetion
against speedup.
der’
eats Up Laid Off Man
Unable to answer the workers’ demands to stop layoffs
at the Pittsfield General Electric works in any other way, IUE-
CIO leadership has turned to outright hoodlumism.
Two incidents of TUE-provoked
nad executed violence marked the
past week in Pittsfield. In one
tense, nv 150-pound, 52-year-old fnid-
off man was beaten while handing
pout UR leaflets. His assailant,
IUE-CIO local View President
Litano, weighs 250 pounds.
Litunoe and other TUE pic-eards
attempted to stop a group of UE
people from handing out leaflets
t
UE LOCAL 301
JOINT
hMEETENG
Members & Stewards
2nd SHIFT
Monday, Aug. 4, 1952
1:30 P.M. (before work)
Ast and 3rd SHIFTS
Monday, Aug. 4, 1952
7:30 P.M.
Local 301 Hall
Erie Blvd. & Liberty St.
Bldg. 462 1. Tighthall has been
performing his insti a ent assem-
hly joh satisfactorily for the past
10 years. His knowledge and skill
necumulated aver this period rate
more than tl ‘Jossification he
has. Uperadin ification
with proper wage ir rite adjustment
is demanded,
Charles MeBride has spent: six
of the 11 years during which he
has been in GE. employ on instru-
“mont assembly. His work has ale
witys, been completely sitislactory,
He correc tly feels that upgrading
from B oto A classification and a
proper} rate adjustment is on order,
Such action is: demanded. .
Bide. 49: V.-Augugliaro, A, K.
Naylor, Re Beach and A, Klymkow
helieve that the work they are per-
foming has A élassification in as-
sembly. erection. ‘hey therefore
demand this upgrading and proper
rite adjustment,
© Bldgs 52: dohn Winorski, a crane
follower still on Class B progres-
sion was sent home after refusing
to work under a Class A crane, His
refusal was based on the belief’
that he was not yet qualified to
handle the work he was asked to
do, and also was in conformity with
- company--paliey--in— rey, and. to. ome.
dangering the safety of other
workers.
2 ©° Friday, August 1, 1952.
_ porary?
ote work, Saturday, da
The supervision action
which annpletely exposed the co
unions role in collaborating with
management to lay off close to
3,000 GI workers. Litano started
making a series of obscene anti-
Semitic remarks directed at Harry
Green, who is Jewish. p
Green, 2 veteran of two World
Wars, was finally provoked and he
and Litano went around the eorn-
er. After several minutes of stand-
up fighting, Green slipped to the
ground on a gravel incline. Litano
promptly fell on Green, kicking
and punching him ‘uround the face
and bodyswith a-heavy brass ring.
Before disgusted GE workers
were ble to pull the TUE “leader” .
off, he had broken Green’s nose
nnd severely injured him. around
the eyes.
These outbreaks of violence em-
phisized the ‘growing sentiment on
the part’ of Pittsfield workers to
throw out the organization which
has condoned the designation of
layoffs of up to 13 weeks as “tem-
By calling. long-term layoffs
temporary, the company dees away
with seniority: and. tfansfer pro-
isions and written notice. .
BETTER HURRY UP AND ORDER BEFORE OUR,
_ PRICES Go UP AGAIN...
Cost of Living Reaches
All-Time High on Index
The cost of living for American
families’ reached a new high in
June according to the index of the
U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The BLS index, which UE has
shown greatly underestimates ac-
tual living costs, mounted to 189.6
per-cent of the 1935-1939 average
The new figure was three-tenths |
of one per cent above the May fig-
ure and a shade higher than. the
previous mark, set. last December.
Right on the heels of the. publi-
cation of this new figure came the
news that the governinent was up-
ping price ceilings on* almost all
ham and pork cuts by as much as
eight cents a pound. @
Wages remain frozen. ,
Dems Again
Vote on Pact
The Democratic Party is still for
repeal of the Taft-Hartley, at least
as far as their 1952 election cam-
paign is concerned.
_ The labor plank adopted by 0”)
Chicago convention was virtuall
“identien] with that on which Presi-
dent Truman won election in 1948.
Since then, the Democrats have
been in power for four years, dur-
ing which they controlled Congress
as well as the White House, but
nothing has been done about doing
away with the T-H law.
. The new. Democratic plat-
form speaks of new labor leg-
islation in general terms,
abandoning the goal of out-
right return to the ,Wagner
Act. Such a return is gener-
ally reeognized -by labor
spokesmen as the only. prac-
tical way of restoring the New
Deal, policy of encouraging
free union organization and
collective bargaining.
On the issue of civil rights, the
Democrats adopted a compromise
obviously designed to please the
Dixiecrat wing of the: party, At_
the same time as it® condemned
discrimination with words, the
platform made a low bow to: the |
states righters’ contention that the
issue of fair employment practie(.”
and Jim Crow was one which ha
to be settled on a local level.
“Thousands of grievances ure nanaled by UE Locai 3U1
each year at ail levels from the steward up to final appeal
in New York City. To keep members posted, we shail
each week list some of the grievances that have not been
settled .at the steward-foraman level and have been re.
ferred to the executive board-management level.
was Lherefore completely unreas-
onable and erbitrary. Payment for
time loxtas a tesult is demanded,
Henry Krywy and Martin Egan
protest the price for shearing
points one-half inch by 35 inches
hy ‘1 inches on SO 214-6784,
drawing 168-1D-782-2. They have
found fia it is imposible toa cut
these for 25%% cents since only two
pieces are cut Prom at stock ‘size
sheet 84 inches by M44 inches, A
proper price adjustment is de-
manded, . :
Bldg. 60: Rébert Kerley per-
formed 85 hours of work in one
week, 10 hours of which was ex-
tra work. THis foreman offered to
pay Only 10's howrs extra work.
Shop steward R. Svhaffer notified
the ane that this would be, ace
cepted only under protest anda
written grievance docket demand-
ine the other -five and_ one-half
hours would be filed.
nian immediately reversed his de-
sion and refused to pay any ex-
“tra work, Full payment of the 16
hours extra work is demanded.
Bide. kson is classified
as on set-up man on spot welding.
It hag heen’ the practice that when
one or more. operators are asked
en.is also
asked to do ‘this overtime. Hows
ever, on July 19, several operators
The fore-:
were asked to work but Jackson
was not and the foreman instead
used a lower celassifiention man
who was not familiar with the
set-ups. The union regards this
as outright discrimination and de-
mands this practice be stoped im-
mediately,
The present job wit for. wire
and bench assembly is 1.29:
ever the. union feels. that
lawing: jobs require mutéh preater
skill than is paid for in’ the ‘rate:
7006, 7008, 7009, 7010, 7107 and
F108 size 0 und 1 miscellaneous
forms. A job evaluation and rate
adjustment is démanded.
.Bldg. 77: The group working
under Foreman Palmatier charges
Chemical’ supervision with “trying
to introduce new depirtures in job
ELECTRICAL UNION NEWS
UNITED ELECTRICAL, RADIO & MACHINE
WORKERS OF AMERICA (UE)
local 301
= OA SH no
Published by the Editortal Commiltee
Prasident. James J. Cognetta
Vico+Prusident ff
-Frank D'Amico
Willian Mastriani
Lea -Jandreau
Ass't Recording Secretary,
Chief Shop Steward-.
. Susiness Agent=
301 LIBERTY ST.
SCHENECTADY 5, N. Y.
classifications by assigning addi-
tional duties to various occupa-
tions, increasing work loads, and
compelling men to work on jobs
outside their classifications solely,
for the purpose of cutting groups
to half their work force. In this
particular case, there is an attempt
to eliminate three of the six work-
ers in'the group, This is deliberate
speedup and we demand it be
stopped immediately. Further-
more, in order to put its speedup
program into effect, supervision
has been caling “informative meet-
ings” of various groups during
which deliberate attempts to cre-
ate confusion among the workers
_ are being made. This is a contract
violation under Article VI (2). The
_union demands an end to this prac-
tice us well as to the actual speed-
up.
The paint and glyptal section de-
mands that city v water be supplied
in their wash room since the na-
ture of the work makes a daily
shower necessary.
“Bldg. 89: A, Shear believes that
the work he is required to do is
beyond that defined under common
labor-inside. He therefore de-
minds upgrading with a pro
fate adjustment,
Bldg. 269: Walter Madelone is
classified as a welder-hand are and
gas with a job rate of $1.875. The
union contends that his: work re-
quires a higher clasification, speci-
_fieally that.of special hand are.and
gas welder,
is demanded.
ELECTRICAL UNION NEWS
A proper adjustment
Executive Board in Meeting
With Male on Speedup Drive
The problem of management’s new speedup campaign
was brought to a head Wednesday afternoon when the entire
ig Steel Forces Price
Boosts Through Strike
The settlement in the 53-day-old
steel strike announced this week
conclusively proved that the near-
record, walkout was provoked, by
the- big steel corporations us a
method of blackjucking the Amer-
ican people into higher steel prices.
However, the 600,000 CIO steel-
workers © won some substantial
gains through their solidarity. In-
cluded were a 16 cent hourly pay
boost retrouctive to March 1, six
paid holidays with doubletime for
holidays worked, shift premiums
of six and nine cents an hour for
second and third shifts, halving of
the dime North-South pay differen-
tial, and what the*newspupers have -
been calling a modified union shop,
but whieh actually is nothing more
than: maintenance of -membership.
The so-called union shop
provision provides that all cur-
rent union members must re--
main in the USW-CIO for the
Plife of the contract except for
a 15. day eseape period at the
end of the contract term, This
is virtually-the same‘as under
the old contract. However, in
addition new employees must
sign union membership appli-
cations, which they: then may
cancel in from 15 to: 30 days
after they start working by
writing a letter to manage-
ment. . ‘
In so far as the economic gains
won, the new contract enables the
steelworkers to catch up with a
good part of organized labor, UE
any many other unions have had
almost all ofthe benefits won by
this strike for the past five or six
years. |
- UE Local 301 Executive Board met with GE Schenectady
Works Manager Lewis Male in
Building 45.
The meeting was held too late
for details to be ineluded in this
issue of the EU News. However,
au complete report will be made to
the Monday General Membership
meeting and will be carried in next
week’s paper.
_ ‘This get-together was danauded
by the union after evidence piled
up that a speedup was being insti-
tuted in many areas of the Works.
This ‘speedup involved combining
of jobs, forcing people to work
outside their normal job classifiea-
tions and changing methods - on
some jobs.
Departmental meetings of
UE’ members have been held
throughout the works to dis-
cuss the problem. During
these meetings, the over-
whelming majority of the
workers voted to adopt the
recommendation of the Execu-
live Board, which was that no
one work outside ofthe limits
of his-job as clearly’ defined |
under the contract.
One of the purposes of Wedifies-
day’s meeting with Male was to
inform supervision of the strict
policy adopted by the Local 301
membership. and to warn GE that
no speedup attempts would be tol-
erated by the union.
The speedup problem was brought
to the attention of- the union
through numerous grievance dock-.
ets which indicated a clear works-
wide pattern was developing. The ;
problem was parti¢ularly. sharp in
Building 77, where many layoffs
have resulted from combining of
jobs in recent months. Manage-
-ment pleas of lack of work were
refuted by figures which showed
that production levels had been
maintained despite the reduced
working force.
day night.
appeal from the strike
The GHR workers
with an TUE.CIO raid.
Board Votes Aid to GHR Strikers
A contribution of $100 to help striking mer-bers of UL-Local
768, who have been picketing the GHR Found:
since May, was voted’ by the UE Local 301 Haveullys Board Mon-
The aid to the GHR workers was decided on following an
sent to the Schenectady local,
were foreed to hit the brieks after the
company had sought. to use contract: negotiations for union-bust-
ing. This attenipt to destroy UE at GHR was actually
ation of the effort made earlier in the spring to split (he workers
Despite the fact that Carey poured everything he could muster
inte the raid, sending a personal aide to conduet the disruptive
campaign, the GHR workers remained solid in their loyalty to UB,
‘They voted for their union 501-215 in-an NLRB election.
‘Dayton, Ohio,
a continu.
ELECTRICAL UNION NEWS:
ec ancven tence ninth
rd Nailor of Control makes his contribution
to tite blood bank established to assure residents of this area of an
adequate supply of free blood for emergencies.
Nurse Mary Garcia
makes the donation completely painless while Activities Committee
Chairman Bucky Philips waits to give his pint. °
Change Field Day Date,
Plan $1,500 in Prizes
A new date has been set for the UE Local 301 Field Day,
_and plans are-being made to award approximately $1,500 in
prizes to persons buying tickets for the big event.
“The new date is Sunday,--Sep-
tember 28, Originally the Field
Day had been set for Labor Day,
September 1, but many persons
had objected to the selection of a
holiday. The field day will be held
at the Columbian Park.
Among the proposed prizes dis-
cussed ut Monday night’s Execu-
tive Board were refrigerators, tele-
vision sets, deep freeze units and
‘washing machines, At least 10
such prizes wil be given away. to
ticket holders, according to present
plans: a
Tickets are to be sold at 50 wont
each. This will cover admission to
the field day, as well as making
the holder eligible for a prize. Per-
sons who buy .tickets but do not
attend field day will still be able
to win any of the awards.
The Activities Committee which .
is,planing the event needs more
help. in its work. Union members
who. are interested should contact
Chairman Bucky Philips through
the union office.
Liberties Group Meets
The continuations committee of
the Tri-Cities Civil Liberties Com-
mittee met Tuesday night at UE
Local 301 Hall. Professor Arthur
“Levy of Rensselaer Polytechnic In-
stitute acted as chairman. The
. group was set up-at a conference
on~ Labor and.-Givil Rights - this
spring.
Cut-Differential
in Women’s Rate
After a 15 months battle, Ul
Local 301 has won a major victory
in the direction of gaining equal
pay for equal work for women
workers,
The victory was gained in a
long grievance fight involving
women wirers ‘working on elee-
tronic panels in Building SL. These
women had been receiving up to 32
cents per job less than men doing
similar work, The prevailing dif-
ferential on the job was about 22
cents. The grievance vietory re-
duces the differential to about a
dime,
The womem involved had a top
base rate of 57 cents in 1946. A
War Labor Bound decision and
negotiations increased this to 70
cents, with men doing closely re-
lated work receiving”: base of 92
cents.
The. new price established as a
result of the grievance moves the
women’s rate to 82 cents. Local
Treasurer Helen Qpivini, who was
the’ steward handling the case,
pointed out’ that even this new
price did not satisfy the -union
since it was determined to wipe
out all pay differentials based on
However, she deseribed the
new classification as: 2 long step
forward.
Friday, August 1, 1952 ® 3
