MEMBERSHIP VOTES FOR *'
CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES
GE'S DOUBLE STANDARD: .
RUNAWAY. SHOPS “= HIGH PROFITS
An example of General Electric's ' The membership of Local 301, IUE-AFL~
double standard is their callous attitude CIO, voted unanimously to change two
toward the unemployed workers wo are amencnents to our Constitution, The vote
currently on the street becauss.of ‘| was teen at the meetings of the 2nd and
General Electric! s prostam of runaway | Ist cind 3rd shifts after a report was read
shops. for higher profits, by Wijliam Kelly and David Stockheim of .
the Constitutional Committee, May 18,1959,
The representatives of GE when. they “ .
wish to break written arreements use The changes provide more protection
Phrases like "not pertinent to this case | for Shop Stewards and a financial saving
-at this time", and "doesn't make sense in| for thé Union in case a Union Office
terms of. current operating conditions", becomes vacant,
When Union representatives tel] the
Company that they have caused the "times!! Heretofore, Shop Stewards were
and the "operating conditions" » the subject to removal because the Steward
Company representatives accuse the Union may have taken a firm position upholding
of being unreasonable, Union policy, whenever 51% of a group
tayo) . Signed a petition, The Amendment compels
But let's look at what happens to an/ the petitioner to have justifiable reasons
employee who breaks one of the company's | in order to obtain an selection, .
"rules", . An‘ employee who was laid off in
Dec. of 1958, had been meeting the pay- The Constitution before amended
- ments for his life insurance and hospital- required an election if any of the 12
.ization for his family on time, As being j offices in the Local Union became vacant,
on unemployment insurance is not living This woud require an election committee
but just existing, it is a struggle to with all the election machinery utilized °-
meet these payments, but he did, until and a terrific cost to the Local, Moreover,
May of 1959, For the month of May, his several vacancies could occur during a
‘payment. was 9 days late -~ this infraction term office requiring several separate
of’one of GE's "rules! was quickly pounced elections, The Executive Board is now
on, and the employee's payment was sent - | vested with the authority to fill ‘the
back with a-letter saying, in many words, | vacancy for the unexpired term of office,
you broke our "rule! on life insurance - ee ‘
and hospitalization payments; therefore,
your policy is caneelled,, There was no
consideration given this employee on his
"case at this time" or "terms of current
operating conditions" —- just a flat you The latest incident in the Insulated
broke the rule so you must be punished as | Products Department's attemp to intro~
quickly and as harshly as we ean make it, | duce a “Jack:of ‘All Trade ecupation in
: their division went ‘down to": resounding
The Union is currently checking the | defeat this week, #
State Insurance Dept. to find out if therd aT
is anything in the State insurance laws Last Friday, Board Member De Lorenzo
giving a period of grace on payments that | called Union Hall and informed them that ~
are not paid in advance, the Insulated Products Division was going’.
a to install a blower in Bldg. 64 on Monday,
This ia a factual example of the of this week using maintenance men from ‘“
Company's attitude of "double standards", Bldgs, 67 and 70J, under Foreman Pugliese,
- , , to. do thia work, This work has always —
sermons belonged to the Steelworkers group of the
Building Trades, However, the Union was
not surprised to hear'this as Pugliese
has.a long record of using anybody, whether
‘they held the classification’ or not, to do
A case of discrimination was’ un= the various trades jobs in the past, In
‘covered and corrected by an alert » con= fact, 90% of all the Union cases in the
sclentious. steward in the Large Steam past few years on this subject have been
Turbine Generator Department, directed at Pugliese!s activities in viol--
7 ating the various trades! agreements, .
mee sreracentomcaes f= no
"JACK OF ALL TRADES" OCCUPATION
GOES DOWN TO RESOUNDING DEFEAT!
v
. ALERT STEWARD. UNCOVERS
.. AND CORRECTS DISCRIMINATION
The operators on the first and second a a a
shifts were rated at an AER of 42,625 on.a ‘Due to the extreme emergency of this
Bullard machine while the third shift ease, it was decided to send the Building
operatornwas rated at an AER of 2,45, Trades representative, Dave Stockheim;
Shop Steward Arthur Branahl contacted his {Board Member De Lorenzo, Chief Steward
foreman asking that he correct this Mangino and Steward George Griffith of
obvious injustice, the Steelworkers over to the scene of the
work in Bidg, 64 on Monday morning. to see
After receiving the usual un 4 if they could talk them out of doing this
answer to the complaint, the’ grievance was|work, -After:some negotiations, the’ —
processed to’ the second step level. of the | Company decided they were. wrong and with
grievance procedure, At.the second Step ..j drew the maintenance men fromthe job,
level the grievance was successfully giving the. job back to the Steelworkers,
resolved by Shop Steward Branahl, Board. Be
Member Cornicelli and Coordinator Vitalio !
and the employee is now rated at 2,625,
the same as the other two shifts,
AFL-CIO.
« Vol. 5— No. 50° The Voice of GE Workers, Local 301, ‘Schenectady, N. Y. June 5, 1959
“Tron Hand” Methods Resented By LM&G Employees
Building Tradesmen
United Despite GE
Decentralization
In'a display of unusual solidar-
ity, well over 100 rhembers of the
Building. Trades Groups : met’ ‘at
the Union Headquarters last Mon-
day evening. * i
The militant. gathering, repre-
sented by Local 301,. IUE, dis-
cussed their convern about the
current problems connected with
the Go Decentralization Program,
THE TRADE MEMBERS vot:
ed unanimously to restore the
Building Trades Committee which
existed in 1941. This committee
will keep in close: contact with
the Officers and Executive Board
in combating othe, “Jack-of-all-
trades” program being fostered
» by. the GE Company.
~The members also voiced their
approval of pronouncements by
John Shambo, President; Joseph
Mangino; Chief Steward; and
representatives of the building
trades that the Union's policy will
be to fight the “Jack-of-all-
Trades't classification of the com-
pany. os
DESPITE THE COMPANY'S
PROGRAM OF DECENTRALIZ-
_ ATION the [uilding Trades
Groups voted for 2 program of
unity and preparedness for the
months: ahead, j
ATTENTION
- ALL STEWARDS!
ALL VACATION.. GIVE. A -
WAY ‘RAFFLE MONEY must!
be turned in to Union Head.
quarters’ not later than:
JUNE 10th, 1959.
-..The cause of the recent work ‘stoppage in the LM&G
Dept. is.a repeat of other similar reasons which have
caused labor. trouble in the Schenectady C.E. plant during
the past few years..
Department ‘supervisors, stimulated under the De-
centralization of Management, trying to reach out for
higher goals’ of achievement and lacking inventive genius,
relegate themselves to “Tron Hand” methods. as the result
of frustration which results in violation of contract and
coercive demands upon the employees.
Titles of authority bestowed on men. represents certain
responsibility that is related to the organization and insti-
tution that~the man represents, However, in order for
the supervising exectitive to be successful in properly ful-
filling his job requirements, he must have the respect and
confidence of those his powers-supersede or all his efforts
to do a successful job will be in vain... This is the case of
Foreman Gizzi who, when he was a Shear Operator in the
Industrial Control Department, resented and was vocally
loud with his voice in expressing resentment to “Lron
Hand” methods of any of his supervisors.
My, Gizzi issued an order to a Crane Follower to carry
or drag a 64 Ib. heavy clamp that needed repairs, to the
stockroom, The Crane Follower, whose job. re
Vacation Pay
Due to the current lack of
work, a case that the Union
Won in 1958 again becomes im-
) portant, ‘This case involves the
payment of an’ extra day's
pay if you are laid off for lack
of work and if a holiday falls
into the vacation period you
have conting,
of work was May 22,1959, and
you had one week of vacation
coming, instead of receiving
just 40 hours of pay, you, bo-
cause of May 30, 1959, falling
in the week of your vacation,
For oxantple: If your last day |:
lant recognition of safety, ob=
dected to the method of trans-
portation demanded by the fore-
yyman, Likewise, the Crane Fol-
lower with service of IL years
(employment record exceéllunt--no
complaints) resented the demand-
Jing and threatening attitude of
Foreman Gigzi when he issued
the order to participate in an
unsafe operation. Mr. Glezi must
have forgotten the episode that
enused him a lost time aceident.
When operating a power brake in
Bulg. 52 Gallery, when a foreman
tripped a machine, not thinking
of the operator's safety. Mr, Ghazi
was the complainant at that time!
Foremen are’ supposed to be,
first, men with understanding and.
respect jof their. subordinates' in- .
togrity ty, and, second,
supery 5 .
Mr. (Gi iS:- bestowed with ..
slightly more’ muscular develop.”
(Continued on, Page 4)
dune 5, 1959.
Carey Addresses GE Conference Board
Comments on Mr. Cordiner’'s Remarks
New York, N.¥.—James B. Carey, President of the International Union of Elee-
trical Workers,
New York Hast week, to comment on the “inaccuracies
made by Mr, Cordiner, Chairman of. the Board of Directors, GE, while rppearing be-
fore the: Senate Anti Monopoly Subcommittee in Washington, D. C.
Mr. Carey read from a written statement which he had forwarded to the’ Senate
Sub-committee. “He Stated:
“Because J was not able to appear in’ person to testify before your Committee on
Bill S. 215, I-should like to take this opportunity of making some observations con-
“cerning it,
Board of Directors
curacies and misrepresentations,©
I feel that, the responsibility to
our membership and.to the pub-
lie requires that IT make com-
ments on them!”
We endorse the pineiples: of
this Bill as being a constructive
step toward, bringing the search-
light of public serutiny into the
whole fiela of administered and
monopolistic prices.
We would suggest, however,
that the scope be limited to basic
coiimodities and to the giant
torporation and controls substan-
tia! segments of thelr industries
or products, ‘
* Business, Labor, Cons
We would prefer
longer period of no ]
days be provided before a’ price
increase is made effective—that
the Administration be in’ the
hands of a separate agency on
which. business,” labor and con-
sumel's are all represented,
1, As. I understand 8. 215, it
docs ‘not prohibit increases. in
prices. Producers would be’ re-
quired to give notice of a price
increase, to appear at any hear-
ing called by the administrative
agency and to justify the price
increase,, I see nothing in the
Bill that would prevent any such
price increase from going into
effect,
It was a matter of considerable
discouragement to. me, in review-
ing Mr, Cordiner's, statement, to
find echoed agatn: the old hack-
neyed cries of .doom.‘that: eman-
ated from big business: 20 years
ago whenever Government at-
tempted to do anything for “the
“common welfare.” We all remem-
ber, when the Government at-
tempted {a vescue this nation
from the great depression and to
provide a floor under purchasing
wower in the form of Unemploy-
ment Compensation, Social Secur-
ity, minimum wages, ete, big bus-
‘mess predicted that the’ nation
‘would go to rack and ruin. And
aven when the 8-hour day was
‘proposed as a substitute for a 10-
‘hour’ day in industry, manufac-
AFL-CIO, appeared before delegates at the GE Conference Board in
and ‘nris-representations”
Furthermore, since the testimony of Mr, Ralph Cordiner, Chairman of the
appeared before your Committee on May 5, was so full of inac-
turers proclaimed ‘that this nation
would become completely desti-
tute, that it would- fall apart,
that the moral fiber of people
would be undermined:
There ig nothing .in the Bill that
remotcly suggests any of the con-
sequences predicted by Mr, Cor-
diner, If big business is genu-
inely free of the charge that it
has gouged. the public by admin-
istered--pricés, it has nothing to
‘fear,
. Mr. Cordiner may fee] that the
shining light of publicity thrown
on price increases may arouse the
public so that unjustified price
increases will not be put into ef-
fect. There is nothing in the Bill
which avouid freeze prices or make
them! rigid. All that is required
is that the producers of basic ma-
terials: who wish to raise prices
eome into court with clean hands.
High Pricing?
2, What is particularly signifi-
cant. in. Mr. Cordiner’s statement
is his philosophy .on pricing, In
the first place; he declared that
costs must be covered and a profit
made on all products, But over
and above that, he refers contin-
ually to pricing on the basis of
the “value to-the consumer.” This
is part of the “value analysis"
concept of Generai Blectric on
pricing, In its most simple terms,
prices will be, adjusted on the
basis of how much the consumer
needs the goods in ‘question, If
he needs the goods more, the
price will be higher. If the con-
sumer needs the goods less, the
price will.-be lower, always as-
suming that a profit will be made
on every item. This bears a close
resemblance to the concept of
prices on. the basis of "what the
traffic will bear.” One could im-
agine this concept applied to a
place where water or food were
Very scdree, If General Electric
were in charge, prices would be
raised quite high because ‘the
“value to the consumer” would
be very -high,
This policy: finds practical ex-
pression in the prices charged by
GE on the sale of large steam
turbine generators to the Govern-
ment,
Since three companies—General
Electric, Westinghouse and A)lis-
Chalmers—have had a virtual
monolopy on this: market, in the
last seven years the price of
steam turbine generators has
risen 81% while the prices of
other electrical equipment such as
transformers, motors, switchgear,
ete., and of Al] Electrical Machin-
ery have risen somewhere between
25% and 30%. ,
Here was the working out of
Mr. Cordiner’s policy of “value
to the consumer,” Prior to 1958,
our Government did not buy this
equipment abroad but limited its
bids to domestic producers. Three
companies had a virtual monopoly
and, as can be seen, the prices
charged the government skyrocii-
eted.
This matter is of serious con-
cern to our membership, many of
whom are unemployed as the re-
sult of the failure of these cor-
porations to submit realistic bids
and obtain the work. They now
have a.new opportunity since TVA
has requested bids on 6 million
kilowatts for 16 huge turbine gen-
erators, ta submit realistic bids.
Attached is a copy of the letter
sent to Mr. Ralph Cordiner and
to Mr. Mark Cresap, President of
Westinghouse on this matter at-
tempting to solicit an attitude of
realism in the new bids. Attached
also are replies from Mr. Cresap
and ‘Mr, Moore of Mr. Cordiner’s
staff which we deem very unsat-
isfactory.
Brice Index
In connection with this matter
of price, we are informed that the
U. 8. Department of Labor does
adjust its wholesale prices when
there is a change fin quality, In
other words, it does not change
the price index where the price
change is simply due to a change
in quality. There, we must con-
elude that the price changes that © “~~
ae oe ad me nel eg os ee
: June 5, 1959
é.
LOCAL. 201 NEWS
have. taken “place, contrary. to
what Mr. Moore, states in‘ his let-
ter to us, are actual inereases in
prices and are not related to in-
“ereases in quality,
3.. Mr. Cordiner seems to ob-
ject to the fact that under S, 215
companies would have to justify
prices on the basis of cost. rather
than. as he says “the mere im-
portant ‘but less tangible element
of value tu the consumer.” The
“end result, he says, would be “cost-
-plus Pricing, cost-plus thinking
wae
Here he attempts to equate the
idea of making a profit over and
above costs with cost-plus govern-
ment contracts. Certainly, there
is no similarity to the two and
comparison is completely unjus-
tified.
4, In outlining GE pricing poli-
cies, Mr. Cordiner made the- fol-
lowing statement about: “... an
_ Incandescent lamp in your home
which twenty years ago cost
about a dollar for a 60-watt lamp
‘that your wife can now buy in
sore stores in Washington -for
12¢, presently retail...”
: Facts in Error
His facts are entirely, in error,
The lowest price we have been
able to find in a retail store in
Washington is 21¢ and not 12¢
for a 60-watt lamp.
Furthermore, his * statement
ahout the $1.60 cost twenty years
ago js not accurate.
Testifying before the Subedm-
mittee on Economic Stabilization
of the Joint Committee on the
Economic Report on October 26,
1955, Mr. Cordiner said: “We re-
duced the price to where a 60-watt
light bulb was 40¢ in 1922 and it
went dawn to 10c in 1942.”
In answer to a further question
he declared: “Presently it is 19¢.”
Therefore, on the basis of his
. previous statements, the price of
the light bulb -has gone from 10c
to 21e or an inerease of 110%
since 1942,
“fhe light bulb is an essential
for the American people. The
production of it is controlled by
three companies—General Electric,
Westinghouse and Sylvania—who
sell these light bulbs at exachy
the same price. We are now in-
formed from California that the
price of light bulbs will be in-
ereased by General Hlectric on
July 1 by 20% from 2le to 25e.
This will make a 160% increase in
the price of light bulbs since 1942,
Mv, T. K, Quinn, a former Vice
President of GH, declared recently
that: “Glt’s not profit in the lamp
department at times approximated
50% on investment...”
omnes:
Automated Productivity
time that there has been ‘a’ tre-
mendous increase in productivity
in the production of light bulbs.
For example, General Electric has
automated the production and:as
a result of this” automation, the
production per employee has: more,
than doubled,
6. Myr. Cordiner sees as. a. re-
sult of the: Bill that “the great
momentum,” that “serious unem-
-ployment would ensue.”
There is.nothing to suggest that
this is true. The fact.of the mat-
ter is that inereases in labor and
other costs have not slowed down
research and. development. In
fact, on the contrary, research
lated by the increase in costs to
find ways to produce cheaper and
more efficiently, And there is nc
reason why intelligent business-
men would not continue even more
intensively their research and de-
velopment to find ways to cut
costs,
However, ‘he treads on danger-
cus ground avhen he says that un-
der this Bill the economy would
lose momentum. and serious unem-
ployment would ensue.
‘© ‘Keonomy Lagging
Our econamy has been losing
momentum for the last five years.
The rate of Brawl has slowed
dewn from 5% a year, to 3% a
year, to a standstill and in 1958
he even lost ground and serious
unemployment -resulted. There
was no Bill like S, 215, the great
corporations had the most friendly
administration in a generation,
they had complete freedom to
raise prices and had received only
a few. years ago-important tax
concessions. Yet the dangers Mr,
Cordiner foresees under S, 215 act-
ually were realized in the last few
years under the best atmosphere
business could ask for, Those
things took place preciscly be-
cause the great corporations were
raising prices right and left, forc-
ing up the cost-of-living and
pricing people out. of the market.
And the testimony before your
Committee on the profits being
Since 1955, average GIC prices
rose by 16129, corporation. profits,
increased by 20%, while total Em-
ployment declined.
% My, Cordiner wishes the
Government “to fight inflation by
saving money on such things as
housing, education, aid to air-
ports, assistance to depressed
areas, community facilities, How-
ever, he wants the Government
to revise the tax structure to per-
mit higher depreciation allow-
ances and reduced corporate
taxes. ;
This is taking place .at the same |
and development has been stimu- |-
made ‘is eloquent proof of this.,
Executive Board. Position.,
The. Executive Board of Local
301 has.on. many occasions taken
‘a-posilioton Openings. that’ gece :
in the plant. . This positlarys
as follows: ir
If--an opening | should ‘occur,
thére. are $ possible candidates’
forthe, opening. One would he.
an employee who has a change
of shift request in; one would
be’ an employee whose normal up-
grade this opening would be. Of
the three seeking the opening,
it is the Union's position that
the longest service of the three
possible candidates should = get
the job. #
: 0
IUE Summer School.
The IVE Summer Activities
Planning Institute will take place
at Rutgers University, New Brun-
swick, N. J., this year from June -
21-27,
Practical workshops will be
held on the following subjects:
Incentive Problems
Elementary and advanced work-
shops on how to make a time
study. how to: collect data to
make an effective, case in time
study grievances; how to handle
problems. involving data, Work
Factors, MTS, MTM.
Organizing Professional, Techni-
eal, and Salaried Workers
Workshops in problems and
techniques involved. in organizing
professional, technical and. salari-
personnel.
Civil Rights
Political Education
How to make your COPE ‘coms
mittee an effective force.
Leadership Training In Local
Union Administration
How to improve training of
local union officers and shop
stewards,
eo %
This program is jointly spon-
sored by Districts 3 & 4, IUD in
cooperation with Rutgers and
Cornell Universities.
4
This, of course, would mean
that the government would’ have
less revenue, In effect, he pro-
‘poses that the money being spent
for “the common’ welfare” be re-
duced and great. bonuses or wind--
falls be made to the larger cor-
porations,
. Invan unabashed way, ‘this is.
certainly the “trickle down. the-
ory” stated in as flagrant a man-
ner as we have ever seen,
(THis article will be continued in. the
nent disve of the Bulletin.)
