Electrical Union News, 1951 November 23

ELECTRICAL UNION NEWS” Friday, Bergrter ‘16, 1951

tl letin — Reports from Board Members reveal that

“Date Set for UE Election Bull for adoption of the Union's plan of action calling for a

Balloting for UE Local 301 officers will begin Thursday, December
13, starting at noon and continuing thasueh Eriday, December 14,

6:00 P.M.

Votes will be cast in voting roachines at Tnton Hall, 301 Liberty ‘St.
The anhouncement was made by the Election Committee, John Sac-
cocio, Chairman; Michael Rakvica, Secretary. °

The voting machines will. be op-
ened and checked by the City’ Eleée
tion Commissioner.

In accordance with the local con-
stitution, the eligibility’ of nomin-
ees has been checked and they have
been notified by registered: mail to

"state whether. they accept or de-:

cline. The following have accept- °

ed their nomination and are can-
« didates:
. For President
James “Cognetta ..: : 62
John: Green 66
For Vice-President -
Dewey Brashear. Bldg. 89°

Joe Kelly ..... 16 :

Marvin Rumrill
Roy Schaeffer
For Recordi Secretary
Rudy Rissland..... Bldg.
For Asst. Recording Sec.
Frank D’Amico .........
Antoinette Restina ......c:.
For Treasurer
Larry. Gebo
Henry Kaminski .
Helen Quirihi ....
: For Business Agent
Leo Jandreau
For Chief Shop Steward
Joe Alois Idg. 2738
William Christman
Arthur Dieshner
William Mastriani
For Trustees
Nick Fioritti
William Garrison .
Edward Luberda ©
William J. McCall...
Miles Moon
Harold Simpson ...
. Julius: Weisman Bldg. 278
Joseph Witheck .. Bldg. 69
For Set. at Arms
Joseph Saccocio ... .Bldg. 52
Owen -B,. Phillips . wo Bldg. 285
“For Guide
*Mario Bagnetto Bldg. 52
Declined for Following Offices
Dewey Brashear declined the
nomination for president. Helen
Quirini, Joseph Kernaghan, Fay
Hildreth, Al Riechert and Fred
Pacelli declined the vice-presiden-
tial nomination. William Christ-
-man, Esther Portes and Helen
Quirini declined for recording sec-
retary.
for assistant recording secretary.
Joseph Witbeeck and William
Garrison declined the nomination
for treasurer. James.J. White. de-
clined for Set, at Arms. Tom Me-
Grath and Floyd Thomas declined
for trustees,

Be ra

Bldg. ‘el

..Bldg.. 28.

schedule of work stoppages is running 85 percent and better. These ‘
reports are based on meetings and ‘votes already taken on the day

starting on November 26 and increased pressure until management
recognizes the grievances and needs of its id cats a

Marvin Rumrill. declined :

What is a Sale? A chance to’ pay more this week for. foods that sold for less
» last week, |

bdeat

The. price” of meat, processed food and
candy is:going Up——up—up under a week-

ald OPS* order. Last week ‘‘Life'' maga-
zine featured an- article on “How To
Stretch Your Food Dollar.”’ The same OPS
order permits the price of rubber products
to go up. Even so, there's not much stretch
in the food dollar, now worth about 44c.

Household
Appliances

Hardware prices, as well as the price of

household appliances, will be pyramided

by wholesalers’ and retailers’ mark-ups as
“a result of the OPS order,

Furniture

See above. "hi

Automobile Parts

Now that the recent tax measure shot up
the price of automobiles, the OPS has in-
creased the price of automobile parts. Gas-
oline went up, too. “ Happy metering!

THE OPS ORDER PERMITS PRICE RISES ON |
ONE-FOURTH OF THE NATION'S GOODS

It's only a matter’of time before all consumer goads follow the upward march.

°

e

BUT WHAT ABOUT WAGES? Take @ hint roti pricest

RU AGERE GUN TR SEAN NTN

and night shifts. “ The plan calls for weekly one-day stoppage §

THE VOICE OF THE UNITED ELECTRICAL, RADIO’ & MACHINE WORKERS OF AMERICA _ LOCAL 301, ‘UE.

Vol. 7 — No. 27

SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK

PRESS UNFAIR
LABOR CHARGE
IN RIGGI CASE

UE Local 301 has informed: the
Labor Board that-it will not with-

draw its charge of’an unfair labor

practice aguinst GE in the case of

Shop Steward Josephine Riggi who

was laid off for union aetivity. :
Although ‘Steward’ Riggi ‘has

‘ been compensated for the time lost,.

the company has not admitted to

‘the unfair labor practice, one of -

the worst in. the book. ‘ ;
The union. has told the Labor
Board that it intends to press the
case. According to NLRB: rega-
lations, a company found guilty of

Ch: unfair labor practice must:

rominently post a statement that
it will not repeat the offense,

Purpose of this notice is to free
the, air of the tensions caused by
the particular case in question.

The Riggi case was the immed-
iate cause of the breaking off of
grievance meetings between the
union and the company.

NOTICE — Joint meeting of
Members and Stewards Monday,
Dee. 3, Local 301 Hall. Second
Shift 1:30 P.M. First and Third
Shifts 7:30 P.M.

ve
Y

Action On

GE officials told the UE Negotiating Committee. on Movenber 15 and 16
that it would give.the union some 48 hours to accept or reject the company’s
2’ percent wage offer. The UE negotiators said they would take the outrage-

Members To Answer The.

Take-it or Leave-it Offer
Board Votes To Postpone Stoppage

The UE 301 executive poard voted on Nov. 20 to refer
to the members the company’s “take it or leave it” wage offer,
which GE has said it, would withdraw if it is not accepted :

by a Dec. 3 deadline agreed ‘to by the UE-GE conference -

board and the company. The membership will have an op-
portunity to express its will before the. deadline.
The board also voted to postpone for another week the

‘plant-wide stoppage scheduled for this Monday in view of

some improvement in the settlement of grievances. :
The company’s 24% Be ercent proposition has officially been

before the vuiun since

ept. 19.
‘ssions the company agreed to drap the escalator provision but

In recent negotiation ses-

to include the.cost of living adjustment in the wage offer,:
bringing it to 344 percent. In’money this is the same as the
original offer of approximately five to eight cents an hour, °
the lower-paid getting the smaller increase.

Face Big Layoffs In Industrial Control

“The prospect of. taking a
week or more off without pay
between now and Christmas
faces hundreds of workers in
Industrial Control. Up to 50
percent in some groups were
notified on Monday that. they
would. have to lose a weeli’s

y as the company moved to
rotate jobs.

layoffs. . e

‘Management says it is all.

because of high inventory, In
other words, Management has
_ over-produced -in: relation to
- sales and is demanding that

Low seniority:
people are threatened with

“the workers pay for what Leo ©
‘Jandreau, UE 301 Business

Agent, calls “poor adminis-
tration.””

No concern for a “dreary
Christmas” is being “voted by

-as before.

at the gates, eliminate over-:

time in the division and find
jobs for people in which they
can make out at least as: well
The cgmpany was
told that no one’ should be

Management in: this. pre-holi--—-subjected to a long schedule

day crisis. But it- will be felt .
in the Christmas stockings of ©

many children and on the

tables of many homes,
Management notified - the

union on: Monday that be-

cause of high inventory, it

proposed to'lay off low senior-
ity people and rotate the work
among the rest. The union
countered ‘with the, demand
that the company stop, hiring

of rotation.
As management moved to.

«make up. for. “poor. adminis-

tration” at the expense of its
employees, many Ditterly re-
called that in its propaganda
against the strike vote, the
company had pretended con-

cern. for a “dreary. Chirist-
‘mas.’”

We can see just how nypo. ;

critical’ that was!

-» Friday, Novaniber 23, 1951

. ous ultimatum, back to the membership and give tie menibers’ ‘answer to the

‘company on. December 3 fol-’
‘lowing a meeting of the UE-
GE Conferencé Board on. the
same day.

The company | indicated that
-ifdts°effer is turned down, it
would be withdrawn... This
would ‘not materially change
the picture.

“With the approval of the
members, the union has been
asking for a 15 cents:straight
hourly increase, five cents .
for inequities, improced vaca-
tions, pensions, insurance.

Increases Inequities

«Not: only. does 214 percent
fail to meet the situation pos-
ed by rising prices and taxes,
the UE Negotiating Commit-
tees again pointed out last
week, but the percentage
form of the offer makes wage
inequities worse than ever.

“Those who earn less get
less under the percentage sys-
.tem. Management displayed
an even tougher insistence, if
possible, on a percentage in-
crease." Management also re-
fused to admit that wage in-
equities of women, skilled
trades and day workers were
part of the wage re-opener.

“The UE negotiators felt
there was. no use in continu.
ing the talks which started

“September 19. A meeting of

the UE-GE Conference Board
last Saturday confirmed this
view and set December 3 as
the date for a final answer to
the: company on: its, ultima... -
tum. Union members ‘here -
and throughout the chain will

_be consulted before that date.

Friday, November 23, 1951

A SURVEY

Grievance Picture Much Better,

ut—

Plenty of Room Left for improvement |

A.week ago Tuesday, the UE 301 Executive Board met with Works Manager Lewis J.
Male and won from him a number of promises to settle grievances..,

Grievances, climaxed by the laying off-of a steward for union activity, were at an all-
time high when the meeting | took place. The union had broken off negotiations en the Thurs-

day before the meeting.

Also leading up to the session with Male.was the 3- day stoppage in Turbine, the anndunce-
ment of a series of plant-wide | stoppages and the threat of a general strike in.the GE chain.

Conditional upon the carrying out of Management’s promises, the Executive Board post-:
poned for one week the stoppage scheduled for last Monday. The Electrical Union News has
made a partial survey. of Board Members to get ‘their opinion on progress, ifany. The views
of Board Members on the current griévance picture follows: :

ORS oe

Bill Christman, Bldgs. 11, 18—

“We are again able to talk to fore-
men, ‘assistant foremen and settle

the general run of grievances, al-.

though wage rates still have to go
‘to Bldg. 41.
“couldn't settle anything, how we're
making ‘some progress. I credit
our -plan of’ weekly stoppages. for
the change.”
Lae *

Larry Gebo (3rd ¥Shitt)— “Cases
-I've gone in on are coming out
satisfactorily. Where .before a
general night” foreman: wouldn't
: spend tinie going over cases, some
now stay us late as 10:00 A.
11:00 A.M. going ‘Over grievances.
The Turbine stoppage and our
‘plan of action’ has a. lot to do
with it, We must still hold a club,
still make a fight.”

ah, a aD
Fay Hildreth; Bldgs. 269, 50-—"I

would say we are still getting:

something of a run-around. In my
‘book, foremen still don’t
enough authority to give definite
answers, I’m. able to get a -fair
amount of satisfaction from top

supervision in Bldg. 269.. But the,

company still refuses to move on a
case, for example, involving wom-

en in the Lighthouse Tube Section

who perform skilled work at $1.29,
less than the rate for common la-
bor. 'There’s been’ no change, at all
in Bldg. 59.”
x ke o* .
"Ralph, Vitallo, Bldg. 273-—-"A
change for. the better. ..Foremen
and general foremen are taking a
more reasonable tack. - We had
heen trying to get the “A” rate for
tivo men for six months. The other
_day it came through.

We got it for him in one day. I
“‘aecotint for this by the walkout
and: solidarity of Turbine, the
meeting Hetween Male and the

Executive Board following ‘the an-"°
~-nouncement ofa plan of stoppage.”

a
Bik Stewart, Bldg. 273—"So far
it’s pretty good, Tf it doesn’t con-

For three months I -

and

have ,

Somebody _
else was entitled to the “A” rate. |

tinue that way, there will be trou-
ble.” « _ :
Ln a
Jim De Masseo, Bldgs. 43, 49, 61
—"Higher supervision seems to
know the score better but can’t
seem to settle’ grievances at fore-
man level. Still.get the run-around
from‘féremen. Settledia few cases

including equal’ distribution’ of ov-

ertime but welders’ rates and. a

job rate cut are still hanging fire.”
rk *

Fred Pacélli, Bldgs. 46, 89 —

“We're getting a little more decent

treatment but I’m not satisfied. In

Bldgs. 46 people who do “B” work «
(Continued ¢ on Page 4) ‘

trades and women.

time we were settling

“ting at a stone wall.

report progress.

mostly.” -

the lack of work situation.

making it worse.”

Better Settlements At
Management Level, Say
Asst. Business. Agents

William Templeton, UE -301 Assistant -Business,
Agent, sees a marked improvement in the processing of
grievances at management level but: finds the company
won't move on rate cases involving day workers, s
Templeton said:

“We seem to be back where we were before the IUE-
CIO disrupted our grievance procedure in 1949. At that
about fifty percent of the griev-
ancees in Bldg. 41 and roughly two-thirds of total griev-
ances were being settled in the shops. That’s about where
we are today. We can’t say the company has loosened up.
It still won’t move on women’s rates and continues to be
tough on job rates in general.”

- Fred Sheehan, Assistant Business Agent, also. finds ©
; definite improvement at management level,

: “We're not getting an arbitrary turn-down on cases -
‘atthe present time, whereas for 18 months we were bat-
Where we used to get an automatic
{no" on the: cases we brought in, we are now getting
some through. An example. is upgrading. We couldn't
get anywhere with them.in recent months; now we can |
But, at that, the company isn’t giving -|°
anything away. It’s slowed down on contract violations,

Serafim Pita, Assistant Business ‘Agent, says that
- not. all promises made by. management are being kept: -
‘He cited as an example company promises ‘concerning

“In Bldg. 40 motor genérator division,” he noted,
“the company has been sending people home these past
months but had promised to clear up the situation by the
end of the month. * Meanwhile, we find management
_ bringing new. people into motor génerators while sending af:
old people home. ,That’ s not clearing up a situation; it’s

skilled °

UE LOCAL
WINS 19/2c

XMAS PACKAGE ¢

Workers at Dahlstrom . Metalie™
Doors, represented by* UE Local

. 807, have just won a.19% cents

settlement following strike action.
The agreement, ratified by. ‘the
membership on November 16, is
completely above the Wage Stabil-
“ization Board wage ceiling.

‘The package well in time for
Christmas includes,.a10e an- hour
wage increase, a Xmas bonus in

the amount of four percent of each

worker's . earnings for last year,
and an upward cost of living .ad-

justment in four months, The cost .

of living clause, by agreement, can
go, only one. way — up.

’ For the. first time, workers with
20 years’ Service are. to receive
three weeks vacation, The strik-

ers get their full vacation pay this”

year despite time lost in the strike
and the company agrees. that the
strike will not,.affect next year’s
vacation schedule. - ‘
Contract: provides for improved
grievance and arbitration proced-
ure and additional protection to

workers in case of layoffs, ° ( 5)
Last year’s wage  increase~*:

brought the Dahlstrom workers up
to the wage ceiling and all of the

"19% cents is above the ceiling.

CALL FOR FIGHT
ON WOMEN’S
RATES

UE 301 Executive Board Mem-
bers are instructing stewards to

make a special drive against “dis-,
especially, in” °

criminatory rates,
_ those cases where women perform

“the same work as. inen but at a.

a lower rate,: "ye «
GE's obnoxious’ practice of iow:
rating women, has been condemned
by the U. S. Government’ as well
as -by the. union., - Correction “of
this inequity is a major demand in

the current fight on the wage re- -

opener.

Throughout the - Schenectady
‘Works and in the GE. chain, -wom-
en. are performing skilled ‘work at
9 vetits below the rate for coxf”
- mon labor.” UE is asking that ths
“vate for common labor be the floor
for women’s rates. A nickel for
the torr ection of other inequities is
a justified demand. ©

The union holds that ‘some in-

equities in women’s rates, day
workers’ and skilled trades’ rates —
can be corrected locally.

aoa yereemnaneemng nn aA RRA ANA APERGLIEIENAMD RAINES
Zan ww A te

ELECTRICAL

UNION NEWS

"Friday, November 23, 1951

| |

Profit per Worker per Hour $1.05

195

CASE OH DEPT OF COMMERCE FIGURES

UE Bookkeeper Exposes
Rackets of Carey Clique

_ Mildred Fondant? for " feaneda
years the office bookkeeper in Lo-
cal 202, Springfield Westinghouse

“last: week blew the lid off the not

so pretty racketeering of IUE-
CIO ‘officials who took over ths
Local in 1949.

Mrs. Jordan was fired — her
job four weeks ago by:IUE Presi-
dent Hartley. She took her case
to the membership, and the mem-
bership called a Special Meeting.
All the IUE officers were. there

«plus Leo Benoit, IUE big shot ap- .

pointed by Governor Dever to re-
place Al.Coulthard as .Massachus
etts Labor Relations. Commission-

“er during the.1949 and’ 1950 dis-
ruption by IUE. .

Mildred Jordan told how Benoit,
a Carey lieutenant, had used her
time, the funds and facilities. of

Tool makers throughout the
country are putting on so much
heat for higher. wages that
even the Wage Freeze Board is
listening, according to the Oc-

ber 15 issue of the American

Aachinist. | ;

‘The management viewpoint,
the magazine says, is that “if
higher rates are authorized for
the craftsmen,: the movement
will trickle. right, down the
line” ; _

-Nothing wrong with that!

Especially in Schenectady!

the Local Union and his own time

- eampaigning with politicians to get

the commissionership. She told
how Benoit had taken $6,000.00 of
the Local’s money and*put' it in a
teapot in his home, She told how

Benoit had ordered her to record

herself as working overtime in the
Union’ office. in order to provide
money to: pay newspaper reporters.
She told how. Benoit had forced
her to contribute: money to make

up for “shortages”. in the Local’s,
She told of being forced’

funds.
to pay money out of the Local’s
funds to’ package store for parties
for CIO officials.

‘Dirty Linen

When Mrs. Jordan had finished,

Benoit stood up and denied every-
thing. He said that Mrs, Jordan
was not a very good bookkeeper.
One of Benoit’s gang, Francis

Bellerive, stood .up and ,said that.

“T spent many..hours in Benoit’s
cellar in order’ to get this Local to
go IUE-CIO, If there’s any dirty
linen, I want to be*washed too.” -

Over three hours of: the, meet- |
ing was: taken up with the expos-_

ure of the corruption engendered
by IUH-CIO, The membership re-
placed Hartley as chairman ‘half-

~ way through the meeting, And at
“the “end they” reinstated Mrs.“Jor-

dan by -a vote of five to one with
all back pay fox the time that
Hartley had :fired’ her.

plants,

“ejoyse~

GE Expands At Expense
Of Wages, Conditions —

General Electric has. announced
that it will’ spend $450 million on
new plants and equipment in the
coming year. At the start of
World War II, GE had 43 plants.
It came out of the war with 107
Nice profiteering!

Last week, GE was granted $50
million in tax coneessions by the
Federal Government to build a
plant.in Louisville, Ky., where the
company plans to move its refrig-
erator production. These tax’con-
cessions to big business result ‘in
higher taxes for working people.
We. not only make GE’s profits but
help pay with our taxes for GE ex-
pansion into lap wage, open shop
areas.

The pattern of GE expansion
tends to undermine the wage struc-

ture and the. livelihood of the
workers itt organized shops,

A major UE demand in negotia-
tions is for the abolition of pay
differences as between plants. Un-
til this. demand is met or the net-
work of open shops is organized,
the only way to protect our wage
standards is by.adjusting our wag-
es to thé real cost of living (in-
cluding taxes) and by improving

“our standards of living.

It is not enough to say that the
company is not yielding on wages
and*related issues. It-is attacking
all the time, by building runaway
plants, by cutting rates and‘con- ,.
ditions in union plants. ..In such a
situation you either fight back: or
get pushed buck. . TE believes in.
answering attack with counter-
attack, 8 7

“INTERWORKS DRIVERS

COMING HOME TO UE

Tnterworks truck -drivers who
left the UE fold last September
1950 and joined the AFL..Team-
sters union have -petitioned for a
new NLRB election so that they
can come hack to UE.

The truck men learned in one
year with. the teamsters that only
a union which represents GE work-
ers regardless of craft. can give
them the protection they need.

We're glad they’re coming back!

PAY FREEZE
UNDER FIRE

There is general agreement
among union officials, government,
authorities and: the press that
wage controls could not survive a
determined onslaught by unions, in
major industries, An all-out wage
fight around the first of the year,
according to the New York Times
of last Sunday, could set “a new
wage pattern” in the nation,

* In the post-war period, UE set
the pace for labor with three
rounds of wage
called for a concerted drive by all

unions against the wage freeze at

its last national convention. One
million organized steelworkers and
a majority of the UE locals in the
electrical industry are among those

“who say they are ready, The irony ¢

of the situation is, that the CIO was
“instrumental in handing the Wage
- Freeze Board the powers, it en-

vention, Murray still has three .
representatives on the Board.

increases. UE .

While forced to -denounce
- the Board at ‘the recent CIO con-

THE N.Y. TIMES
_ STATES THE CASE

UE's arguments against the
employer-rigged cost of living .in-
dex, the wage freeze and for sub-
stantial wage increases have been
taken up by: the country’s labor,
unions, as the New York Times of
last Sunday bears witness,

“The unions gave.clear warning
that they were prepared for bat-
tle,” an editorial «article stated.
“Labor's dissatisfaction involves
the course of wages and prices.”

In an almost word for word re-
statement of UE’s arguments for
a real pay hike from General Elee-
tric, the article goes on to say that
“labor... argues that the Govern-
ment’s gauge’of living costs, the
consumer price index, does not. re-
flect the full increase in living
costs; that no allowance is made
for labor's increased productivity ;
that unions, organized to improve
the workers’, standard of living, .
cannot accept a long-term freeze’
in the. relationship between wages
and ‘living costs.” :

As a concise statement of the
UL’s position, that’s not bad~ at
Ble i

ELECTRICAL UNION NEWS’
unt rey ELMCTRICAL,, RADIO. &

MACHINE? WORKERS OF AMERICA
Sehenvetady GE Local 300 UK

— Ge
Published by the Editorial Com.

Aas't Racording Secratary.—-.Frank ‘D'Amico
Treasurar . Henry ‘Kaminskl
Vico-Présidont 2... Josepti Mangino
Rocording dacaay § John P. “Greon
° Prastdent’ coo ~ William Relly
Chiof Shop Stoward James Cagnetta
-Businass Agent q. - loo Jandroau

301 LIBERTY ST." SCHENECTADY, N.Y.