Electrical Union News, 1946 July 18

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4

ELECTRICAL UNION NEWS

July 11, 1946

Jandreau Urges Committeemen Busy Officers

Organize Shops 100 Per Cent

Many non-members have never been asked to jcin Local 301, Leo
Jandreau, business agent, told shop committcemen in a letter which he

recently sent to them.

“In checking our membership record
against the eligible workers in our bar-
gaining unit,” he said, “we find there
are approximately 3,500 General Elec-
tric workers who are not members of
our Union. ;

“This is a serious situation and should
be a major concern to every officer and
representative of our union. We-have
found that many of these non-members
have not been requested to join the

__Union,. ——!

He pointed out that the recent wage

increase. won by UE and the new con-

‘should. -be-sufficient- reasons -for--
all General Electric workers to join our
union,”

Jandreau asked each committeeman_
to check his group to make sure it is
100 per cent union. :

“You will find that a 100 per ‘cent
union group places. you in a much more
favorable position in settling griev-
ances,” he reminded them,

Instead..of being contacted in their
shops, many GI workers go to union
heavquarters to apply for membership
in the local, | ; ;

Office Paper
Slaps Kearney

The second issue of “Office Digest”,
the paper published by the Office Work-
ers Organizing Committee, appeared re-
cently, =~

Here’s a quote from it:

“Gerald L. K. Smith, America’s. No.
1 fascist, recently published a list of
Congressmen and Senators he would like
to see reelected. Among such names
as Bilbo and Rankin we found Kearney.
Kearney is recognized at last.”

(In case anyone has forgotten, Ber.
nard Kearney of Gloversville “repre-
sents’ Schenectady in the House of
Representatives).

Support Peace Group

The recent committeemen’s meeting ap-
proved a recommendation of the Exec-
utive Board that Local 301 donate $50
to the Schenectady Win-the-Peace Com-
mittee. The Board also recommended
that William Kelly and William Mas-
triani be named as thy local’s. delegates
on the committee.

Tedisco Breaks Ankle
In Baseball Accident

Michael Tedisco, Local 801 Board:

member, broke his left ankle recently
while sliding base in
a softball game at

-the GE field. He

was. playing on a
team from Bldg. 17,
It is the third time
he has broken the
same ankle.

A. tool.-maker—in-
Bldg. “17, Tedisco
has been a commit.
teeman for years
and is Board mem- ‘
ber representing . .
Bldg. 14, 15, 16, 17 Michael Tedisco
and 19, He has. served on many com-
mittees of the local.

oh

Two New Committeemen
New shop committeemen who were

sworn in at the July 2 committeemen’s

meeting were Joseph Kelly, Bidg. 16,
and John Pas querella, Bldg. 288,

Marshall White George Farrell

Marshall White, treasurer of Local
801, and George Farrell, assistant re-
cording secretary, both-served as com-
mitteemen and Board members before
election to their present offices.

Among White’s many duties is signing

_avery.check issued..by.the-local...

* Farrell is “assistant” recoraing sec-
retary in name only, because since the
illness of Mrs. Billie Rogers, he has been
acting as recording secretary. 7

To Combine Meetings

Shop committeemen have voted in
favor of having only one meeting a
month during August and September.
Both sessions will-be joint méetings of
committeemen and membership, The
first will be Aug. 20.

This procedure has been followed for
several years.

Schedule of Meetings for Shop Committeemen

Buildings

OD

Time of Meetings

2, 5, 6, 7, 8 9, 10, 11, 12, 22, 23, 24
25, 26, 27, 28, 37

Monday, July 15
9 a.m. to noon,

14,°15,.16, 17-18,184, 19, 40, 40B, 44

Moneay, July 15
1 p.m, to 4 p.m.

42, 46, 48, 50, 52, Gd, 66

Tuesday, July 16
9 am, to noon,

49, 58, 60, 65, 69, Smith St.,
Troy Warehouse

Tuesday, July 16
lpm, to 4 p.m.

57, 68, 70J, 72, 76, 80, S4, 87, 91, 95,
984A, B, C, D, 99A, B, 101, 105, 107,
227, 238, 241

Wednesday, July 17
9 am. to noon

29, (G4 Front End), 67, 71, 73, 75, 77,
79, Si, 85, 89, CAP, 98, 97, 109 234

Wednesday, July 17
1 pam, to 4 pm.

13, 59, 61, 63, 259, 265, 260, 273, 285,
(58 Patrol)

Thursday, July 18
9 am. to noon

All Second Shift Representatives

Thursday, July 18
7:30 to 10:30 p.m,

THE VOICE OF THE UNITED ELECTRICAL, RADIO & MACHINE WORKERS OF AMERICA—LOCAL 301 ClO

Vol. {Il——-No, 27

SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK

July 18, 1946

Union Opens Its Deors and Books to ‘Interne’ Cornell Sends

John C, Agathon, left, student from the
New York State School of Industria!
and Labor Relations, Cornell Univer-
sity, is shown the books of Local 301 by
Herbert Gurewitz, right, aucitor from
the office of the certified public ac-
_ countant, Bernard Ades, who examines

#| the union’s accounts four times a year.

Union Protests GE
Slash in Overtime

Loeals at General Electrie plants in
various parts of the country have re-
ported to the national UE office that
GE made arbitrary changes in the hours
of many maintenance and service work-
ers after the strike. ;

Employes who for many years had
worked more than eight hours a day and
had collected time and a half overtime
pay for the extra hours were limited
to eight hours work. This sudden cut
reduced their weekly earnings sharply.

The union will take up all such cases
with management,

Union Calendar

Today, Thursday, July 18—
Final meetings of series for ‘shop
committeemen at Union Hall.

9 am. to noon. Committeemen
from Bldgs. 29, (64 Front End),
67, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, 85, 89,
CAP, 98, 97, 109, 234.

7:30 pm. to 10:30 pm All
second shift representatives.

Tuesday, July 23—Supper meet-
ing of Office Workers’ Organiz-
ing Committee,

Thursday, July 25—Blde. 98
Shop Meeting.

Labor Student
To Local 301

A World War II veteran from the
new industrial relations college at
Ithaca is learning the ABC’s of union
lite in the Local 801 office for 10 weeks
this summer,

He is John C. Agathon, 22, of Sunny-

- side; L.-L;-who served-as-first-leutenant ~~

in.the Army Air Force during the Ital-
ian campaign in his three years of ac-
tive military duty. =

Arholder of the purple heart, he also
won the distinguished flying cross, the
air medal with’ four oak leaf clusters
anc seven battle stars,

Under the GI bill of rights he en-
rolled Inst fall in the first class at the
New York State School of Industrial
and Labor Relations, Cornell University.
The school is the first of its kind in the
country. It trains students for profés-
sional service in the field of industrial
and labor relations, in government, la-
bor or industry,

Arrived July 1

Agathon came to Schenectady July 1
to start a supervised internship at Lo-
cal 301 as part of his required course.
Later he will have to get practical ex-
perience in an industrial management

office and with a government agency.
~~" Loéal 801 is one of the first unions in

the state to cooperate with the college
by accepting an industrial relations in-
terne.

“We told the college the doors of the
union would be wide open,” Leo Jan-
dreau, Local 301 business agent, said.

“Agathon will have the chance to be-
come thoroughly acquainted with every
angle of our union life and activity,—-
business meetings, grievance sessions,
financial records, PAC and all the rest.’

No Strings Attached

Local 301 attached no strings to its
agreement to cooperate with the col-
lege,

“We didn’t ask for a pro-labor stu-
dent,” Jandreau said. “It would be all
right with ug if he expected to become

(Continued on 'Page 3)

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ELECTRICAL UNION NEWS

July 18, 1946

ELECTRICAL UNION NEWS

Unirep Execrricay, Rapio & Macuing
Workers or America, CIO

Scuenecrapy GE Loca 301
Ai
Published by the Editorial Committee
Dewey Brashear Ray Flanigan
Milo Lathrop William Mastriani
Editorial Office ~ Electrical Union News

301 Liberty St. - Schenectady, N. Y. |

SCHENECTADY PRINTING COw INC.

AFL Says Rivoli
Unfair to Labor

Leaflets declaring the Rivoli Theatre
is unfair to organized labor have been
issued by the Schenectady Federation of
Labor, the Schenectady Building Trades
and Motion Picture Projectionists, Lo-
cal 314.

..The. AFL has.asked CIO. members and
the general public not to patronize the
Rivoli.

“The following theatres are suggest-
ed for your amusement,” the leaflet
states. ‘Colony, Lincoln, American,
Plaza, Proctors, Strand, Erie, --State,
Crane, Cameo, Mohawk Drive-In (Al-
bany Rd.) and Drive-In Lathams Cir-
ele.” c

Officers of Local 801 assured . the
ABL leaders that UE members will co-

“operate with them.

‘Join CIO Council

Local 59, Amalgamated Lithographers
of America, consisting of employes of
the Maqua Co. in Schenectady, voted to
join the Capitol District Industrial Un-
ion Council CIO. The international
union recently affiliated with the CIO.

Still on Strike

The two UL ‘strikes’ at~ Tonawanda ~

are still in progress. ° The workers at
Buffalo Bolt and the Spaulding Fibre
Co. have been on the picket line for over
18 weeks.

Union Members ‘Speak
Against Cleminshaw
Report on Property

Several Local 301 members criticized
the J. M. Cleminshaw Co. revaluation of
property in Schenectady at a public
hearing called by the City Council last
week at Mont Pleasant High School.

Joseph Krone of the Ninth Ward at-
tacked the Council for bringing an out-
side organization into the city while
there are firms here capable of doing the
work.

Sydney Webb of the Fourteenth
Ward said the administration should
have given Assessor Jay De Forest the
necessary help so that the city’s assess-
ors office could make the revaluation,

Roy Lash, also of Local 801, and for-
mer secretary-treasurer of the Capitol
District Industrial Union Council, CIO,

declared..that. taxes. should be levied_on

the basis of ability to pay. He charged
that small homeowners and owners of
small business properties. would have to
bear too much of the assessment burden
under the revaluation.

The City Council voted Monday night
against. accepting the Cleminshaw re-
port as the basis for the 1947 tax rolls.
Instead it accepted the report for study
and investigation .

Jandreau Pays Tribute
To Record of Hillman

On behalf of Local 301, Leo Jandreau
sent a telegram to the Amalgamated
Clothing -Workers of America express-
ing deep regret at the death of Sidney
Hillman, Amalgamated president and

National CIO-PAC director.

In a newspaper statement, Jandreau
sald Hillman made great contributions,

not-only-to-the labor movement -but- to:

his country and to the world in helping
achieve full wartime production,

“It will be difficult to replace Sidney
Hillman,” he declared. ‘He was a pion-
eer advocate of the need of working
people to become not anly economically
conscious, but politically conscious in
order to elect responsible people to meet
the needs of the country.”

Poughkeepsie Progresses

The UF organizing campaign at the
Poughkeepsie GE plant picked up speed
with the assignment of James Green,
new international organizer, to the job.

Green was a UE leader at Standard
Gage in Poughkeepsie where the union
won a union. shop and the first upstate
contract with the 18% cent raise.

Bank Workers
Win $10 Plus

After winning a State Labor Rela-
tions Board’ election at the National
Savings Bank, Albany, the United Of-
fice and Professional Workers, CIO, has
obtained a. contract giving all employes
at least a $10 a week raise.

In addition to the across-the-board
increase, the bank granted raises to ad-
just inequities. These brought some
individual increases up to $16.

Other provisions of the contract in-
cluded: maintenance of membership,
check-off, insurance and_ hospitaliz-
tion policies, improved vacations rang-
ing to four weeks after 20 years service
and overtime pay.

The contract covers all employes ex-

“cept bank officers and maintenance

men. It includes guards.
“Othe? banks in Albany “hurried to
give $10 raises as the news of the con-
tract negotiations spread.
plans to organize them too.

Westinghouse Drive Gains
The UE organizing drive at the new
Westinghouse plant in Buffalo ‘is mak-
ing excellent progress, Charles Rivers,
UE international representative, re-
ported. . S

This plant will be one of the largest -

Westinghouse units in the country when
it is in full production,

Saturday Is Deadline

For Veterans to Enroll

Veterans who couldn’t enroll in
a political party last year because
ithey were away in military service

must. enroll--today,- ‘tomorrow or
Saturday in order to vote in the
August primaries.

They can make out their affi-
davits at the Board of Elections
or mail the forms to their Board.
The envelopes must be postmarked
before midnight Saturday. The
Schenectady Board of Elections
closes at noon Saturday,

A veteran who enrolls now can
tun for county or state committec-
man in his party. Tf he isn't en-
rolled he isn’t eligible for these
posts. ,

Drop in atthe PAG office at
391 Liberty ér ,telaphone Milo
Lathrop at the office, 2-1809, if
you need help in oo special en-

~ypollment, ae

UOPWA

July 18, 1946

ELECTRICAL UNION NEWS

3

Office Group Plans
Series of Suppers

The first of a series of supper-busi-
ness meetings is scheduled by the Of-
fice Workers Organizing Committee for
Tuesday night, July 23, at the American
Gardens Restaurant.

Tillie Skrocki, Bldg. 77, a runner-up
in the Queen contest at the recent Local
301 Field Day, is chairman of arrange-
ments.

All GE office workers interested in
aiding the white collar organizing drive
or in meeting the union leadership are
invited to attend.

Office workers wishing to attend
should notify Tillie Skrocki at the UE
office, 301 Liberty St.

The suppers will be Dutch treat,

Grievance Session

Cornell Sends

Labor Student

To Lecal 301 for Ten Weeks

(Continued from Page 1)

personnel director of General Electric
some day. At least he’ll have first-hand
knowledge of a strong, honest, progres-
sive union and how it functions.”

Agathon’s first assignment was to
work with Ray Flanigan, assistant bus-
iness agent. From the day he entered
the office he has been kept hopping, an-
swering telephones, taking messages,
watching Flanigan handle grievance
cases and doing various jobs around the
office. He has spent long sessions with
the book-keeping department.

“T am trying to stay very objective
about this whole problem of industrial
and labor relations,” hedeclared.

Agathon said he wants to learn all the
facts he can about unions and about in-
dustrial managements and to under

stand both viewpoints. Later he’ll make
up his mind in what field "he wants to
use his training.

“As I see it,” he said, “you can’t be
much use settling a labor dispute, no
matter which side you are on, if you're

going to be emotional instead of reason-

able. And if you enter government
mediation service, it’s absolutely neces-

sary to be fair- -minded and have
thorough background of facts.”

Comments on Union

Here are'a few comments Agathon
made on his brief experience so far at
Local 3801,

The union office handles a large
amount of work and “gets things done
fast.”

iMembers seem to be cooperative
about clearing their grievances through
the right channels, the committeemen,—
instead of descending in droves on the
union. office,

There’s no red tape or delay about
seeing union officers.

The union contributes to the effic-
iency of the GE plant by speedy and or-
dérly ‘processing “of grievances ~ which
otherwise might accumulate until a
crisis developed.

‘Agathon | has found some of the griev-
ance sessions puzzling because he
doesn’t know machine-shop language.

Gloversville Strike

Local 202, Fur and Leather Workers
Union, CIO, has*gone on strike at the
Modern Glove Co., Gloversville. Ap-
proximately 125 workers are involved.

The labor college interne, John C. Agathon, sits in on a
grievance discussion between Ray Flanigan, center, assist-
ant business agent of Local 301, and Lucy Swatling, shop

committeeman. He will spend the first four weeks of his
Schenectady training working with Flanigan and later wilt
study other parts of the union activities.