4
ELECTRICAL UNION NEWS
October 31, 1946
ClO-PAC Workers
Busy through Nov. 5
Schenectady ‘CIO-PAC activities wil!
be-concentrated. between_now_and_elec:
tion Day on.strect meetings and house-'
to-house canvassing. The!.climax will
be Nov. 6, next Tuesday, when squads
of union members will watch at the
‘polls, check on registered voters who
haven't. yet appeared and.call at their
homes in the get-dut-the-vote drive.
Democratic and ALP candidates back-
ed by PAC will speak at the neighbor-_
hood rallies. Two meetings are sched-
uled for 8 p.m. tonight, Thursday in
Ward 12, one of them at the carbarns,
Eastern Ave. and McClellan St, and
the other at Becker and Furman Sts. ‘
Two meetings are planned for to-
morrow, Friday at 8 p.m., a Ward 7
rally at Craig and. Albany Sts. and a
Ward 18 rally. at Grant and Hulett Sts.
The PAC committee is arranging for
two Ward 10 meetings Saturday night.
The places were not. selected by the
time EU News went to press.
‘Two meetings will be-conducted Mon-
day in Ward 8, lages to be announced
later.
‘Ernest Herman, CIO-PAC chairman,
and’ Fay ‘Marvin, assistant, have called
for additional volunteers for last-minute
canvassing and for Election Day work.
Volunteers should telephone PAC head-
quarters, 2-1809, or contact their ward
chairmen.
-Roy Lash has been named the third
section head for the PAC campaign, in
charge of Wards, 7, 8, 12, 18 and 14.
The other two, previously announced,
are Joseph Dominelli and Joseph Kra-
wieki, also of Local 301.
All wards in the city of Schenectady
now have PAC chairmen, with the ap-
‘pointrents of John Krawieki to the
Ward 6 post; Fred Schauffler, Ward 8;
Rudy Ellis, Ward 18, and Sydney Webb,
“Ward. 14. All four are local 301 mem-
bers.
Stop the Drive
by the
GE - Dunn - Cushing
Machine
AGAINST THE UNION
VOTE
the whole PAC slate
Labor Candidates
’ Thomas Fyvie, left, and Lewis Bene-
dict, right, Schenectady CIO leaders
running for office with CIO-PAC en-
dorsement. Brother Fyvie is secretary-
treasurer of Local 2054, United Steel-
workers of America, and Brother Béene- -
dict is president of Local 150, Transport
Workers Union. . Both “are candidates.
on the ALP ticket.
Local 301 to Ask
Toolmakers’ Raise
Plans for submitting a case to the
GE management for a general wage
. increase for toolmakers were approved
by the Executive Board Monday.
The following proposed four-point
program will be presented for discussion
and approval today (Thursday) to a
meeting of a toolmakers’ committee.
1. Wage incrense of 20 cents an
hour. ,
2. Progression to the top rate of their
respective classifications.
3. Reclassification of too! room me-
chanics to tool making.
4. Comparable wage increases for all
other tool room employees,
Since the last wage adjustment for
toolmakers, which was ordered by the
War Labor Board, many changes have
taken place affecting this occupation.
The proposals would bring Schenectady
toolmakers in line with those in com-
parable industries.
Union Prepares Case
On Machinists' Pay
A‘case for a 10-cent raise for machin-
ists is being prepared by the wnion.:
The demand, which will be presented
as a wage grievance, is based on the
relationship which existed between the
toolmakers’ and machinists’ rates up to
1944, before the union won a 10-cent
increase for the toolmakers through a-
War Labor Board case.
Complaint Filed
On Welders Pay
et a mesalt fa dissatisfaction BER
Flanigan, assistant to the business
agent, has filed a complaint for the un-
ion with GE management. ,
The union told GE that. the welding
work involved has carried a job rate’
lower than other trades of the same re-
quired skill,
The union also pointed out that on
first class day work rates of $1.28% to
$1.48% an hour are being paid. - for
welding. Adding the regular 15. per
eent differential, which is: used to ar-
tive at an AER rate, would result in
an AER rate higher than is being paid
at the present time.
Since the establishment "of this pres-
ent job rate, the union stated, there. -
have been many changes in the oper-
‘ ations which require considerable more
skill than originally.
Likewise the quality requirements
have stiffened and the company now
makes welders take tests at intervals to
show they retain the required skill on
the job. Responsibilities of these weld-
ers have also increased. 7
To Address Farmers
Leo Jandreau, Local 801 business
agent, will speak Saturday at the an-
nual convention,in Utica of the North-
eastern Division, Farmers Union.
we
-Profits Reach .
All-Time High
Corporation profits for the year
1946 will reach an all-time high of
$14 billion at the rate of profits
‘are now relling in, according to a
study in the CIO News.
This would be $4 billion above
the annual average in the wartime
years and 250 per cent above the
average for the 1986-1939 peace-
time period. Food, textile and
beverage industries, with no recon-
version problem, are leading the
profits parade.
The figures prove the truth of
the CIO’s claims that wage in-
creases could be paid out of in-
ereased profits, without boosting
prices. :
| eon THE-VOIGE-OF-THE-UNITED- ELECTRICAL; RADIO-&-MACHINE W.
MORKERS-OF AMERICA-=LOCAL 301°CIO-
YOL, IIl—No. 30
SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK
November 7, 1946
UE Calls Conference Job Values in Welded Products
Studied by Shop Committeemen
A committee of shop committeemen, representing welded products workers in
Bldgs. 52 and 66, opened a series of discussions on job values in the various
occupations in the welded products division, and other problems, at a meeting
at the union hall Monday, Leo Jandreau, business agent, met with the group.
On Wage Program
New wage demands will be discussed
at a joint conference of the union's GE,
Westinghouse, General Motors,Sylvania,
RCA and General Cable Conference
'‘Boaras next Monday in New York City.
The 18% cents an hour wage increase
of UE was initiated in such a joint
conference last year.
More than 250,000 _— will be
represented at the conference by dele- :
‘gates from 189 plants in 22 states. The
Local: 3801 delegates will be Leo Jan-
dreau, Andvew Peterson and Edward
Wallingford. ; .
The conference will have before it
results of a recent UI survey showing
the sharp decline of the standard of liv-
ing in: the electrical industry since OPA
controls were removed last June 30.
Schenectady was one of the eight cities
in which the 508 cost-of-living question-
naires were distributed.
Workers Buy Less
_ The survey revealed that workers re-
duced their purchases of milk by three
quarts a week on the average, since
June. They reduced their purchases of
(Continued on Page 3)
LOCAL 301
COMMITTEEMEN’S
MEETING
Tuesday, Nov. 12
_ at 7:30 p.m.
ClO HALL, Erie Blyd. and
Liberty St., Schenectady
.
Special Order of Business
To nominate candidates for gen-
eral offices, subject to approval of
Nov. 17 special membership meet-
ing. ‘6
To appoint tellers and an election
committee,
Occupations discussed were assem-
bling, welding, layout, burning and chip- -
ping. The committee expressed the
general feeling that on all jobs in the
GE ‘Efficiency’
Bogs Down Again
The General Electric Company is do-
“ing such a sloppy job in its check-off of
union dues that the Local 301 office re-
ported 811 cases of alrears last week.
Adam Boss, in charge of 301 records,
sent the list to GE with a warning that
it is the last time the union will do the
work which the company is supposed to
do, under the contract, and for which
the company is paid.
“There is no excuse for such care-
lessness and delay on the part-of GE”,
Brother Boss said. “The company has
exactly the same information we have.
Time after time we, have complained
about the backlog of dues payments.
“As a result of the GE inefficiency,
hundreds of 801 members will have
double dedwétions of dues from their
wages this week,”
Grievance Session
Today in New York
A two-day meeting with national GE
officials on 24 Schenectady grievances
will start today in New York City. |
Leo Jandreau, Local . 801 business
agent, and two other Board members,
William <A, Stewart of Turbine and
‘Charles Ferris, Heat, Light and Power,
went to New York, tonight for the ses-
sions. i
Deadlocked in ‘local grievance dis-
cussions, the cases had to be taken up
with GE on a national level. They in-
volve a wide number of jobs, depart«
ments and problems.
welded products department the come |
pany now requires more skill than when
the jobs were originally evaluated.
Other subjects taken up included
shortages .and rates paid to welders
while in school for their annual test,
The committee decided that the make-
up rate for shortages should be based
on average earnings instead of on the
job rate as at present.
Tn connection with the annual test of
skill required of welders, the committee
took the position that.the welder should
get average, earnings for the day he
loses from the shop each year while in
the company school. At present he gets
a special date rate for this time lost
from the shop. This day rate is less
than average earnings.
Representatives attending the first
meeting were Harry Bayless, Martin S.
‘Burgess, James Cognetta, Hugh Mackey,
President Andrew Peterson, Ivan
Shultes, Ralph D. Pipe, John Carruthers,
Raymond De Wire, ‘Harvey Giaquinto,
J. L. Ohlidal and Albert Schneider,
“LOCAL 301
SPECIAL
MEMBERSHIP
MEETING
Sunday, Nov. 17
at 2:30 p.m.
CIO HALL, Erie Blyd. and
Liberty St., Schenectady
e
Special Order of Business |
To approve, reject, change or add
to the list of candidates for gen-
eral offices nominated by Nov, 12
committeemen’s meeting.
rt =
ELECTRICAL UNION NEWS.
November 7, 1948
= =
ELECTRICAL UNION. NEWS
Unrrup Evzorgroa,, Rapio & Maagins
Worxers or Amerioa, CIC es
Somenezcrapy GE Looat 301
<p
Map New Drive to Sign Up GE Office Workers.
. Published by the Editorial Committee
Dewey Brashear Ray Flanigan
Milo Lathrop William Mastriani
Editorial Office - Electrical Union News
301 Liberty St. » Schenectady, N. ¥.
BCHENRCTADY PRINTING CO. ING, =n
Building Trades
Firm in Demands
GE Building trades workers, indig-
nant at the company’s attitude toward
their problems and wage". inequities, .
gathered in a big meeting at the Local
301 hall Monday night and voted un-
animously to demand a raise of 10 cents
an hour, retroactive to May 381, for all
the building tradesmen and their. help-
ers. The only exceptions to the new
demand are the steamfitters and elec-
tricians who won their 10-cent raise
through union action before the War
Labor Board.
Demands Increased
The meeting action represented an
increase over previous demands. It
“ represented the members’ resentment at
the company’s offer, in one month of
bargaining, of only five cents an hour
for some crafts, nothing for others, and
minor raises for the helpers conditioned
on the union’s dropping its apprentice-
ship proposal, —
The meeting also voted unanimously
to press the fight for an apprenticeship
course in all the building crafts. Speak-
ers stressed the importance of such a
system to the helpers, and particularly
the returned veterans, / + a
A number of members declared from
the floor that the tradesmen were ready
to go “all the way” to win their wage
and apprenticeship demands.
The meeting also voted to back up
the ‘Steamfitters’ union in their de-
mands for pay for time lost by some
of their members recently when steam-
fitting work was given to an outside
contractor,
Aid for Blind Veteran
Shop committeemen have been noti-
‘fied by the Executive Board that all
money collected for the Donald Weekes’
fund should be turned in at the union
office to be presented in a lump sum in
the name of the local, The Board at a
previous meeting voted $50 for the
fund-being raised in Schenectady to aid
this blind World War iI veteran.
Leaders of the Office Workers Organizing Committee who conferred with Presi-
dent Andrew Peterson and -Leo Jandreau, business agent of. Local 301 on new
plans for the organizing campaign. Left to right, Thomas Herkenham, George
Bason, Dorothy Fernandez and George Katz, Jerry Steinberg, field organizer, was
also on the committee talking with the 301 officers. —
GE Still Manages
To Keep Running
You can tell your friends not to waste
any sympathy on the General Electric
Co. for its newspaper claims about mak-
ing only $404,109 profits during the
nine months ended Sept. 80.
For the real background on GE fi-
nances, look over this information, from
the national UE office.
_Profits of GE for the six months end-
ed Sept, 830 were $14,800,000.
. Strike Loss Subtracted
In arriving at the misleading figure
of $404,109 for January through Sep-
tember profits, GE subtracted the loss
it suffered as the result of the nine-
week strike which it forced on the union,
a loss of $28,000,000 in the first quarter
of the year.
GE didn’t include in its figure the
huge credit for tax refunds it will re-
ceive under the income tax laws. The
company has ‘admitted this refund is
expected to be at least $19,000,000.
In estimating profits, GE, like other
corporations, can make the figure suit
itself by putting too high values on the
supplies and materials used in produc-
ing goods. :
Another favorite business trick is to
list “capital items”, like permanent im-
provements and expansions, as ordinary
Election News — Later
Polls were ‘still open when EU News
went to press this week so the paper
can’t contain any news or comment
about election results.. There was a
big turnout of PAC volunteers to round .
up voters and serve as watchers.
301 on Radio
Remember, Local 301 presents its
radio program at 7:15 p.m. every Mon-
day over Station WSNY.
expenses in figuring the year's record.
Naturally such book-keeping can make
profits look smaller,
16% Profit Guaranteed
The latest OPA bill gives GE plenty
of profit-guarantee. This bill, effective
as of last summer, gives any industry
enough price increase to cover all costs
plus the same percentage of profit it
made on sales in 1940. In the year
1940 the electrical industry had a pre-
fit rate of 16 per cent. That means GE
can clear 16 per cent on 1946 sales,
with government blessing. The 1946
sales are now running at the annual
rate of $725,000,000, a nice healthy
amount.
But you don’t find any of these facts
mentioned in the GE newspaper com-
plaint about “low” earnings,
oO oO
November 7, 1946
ELECTRICAL UNION: NEWS
Lists Under Preparation
In Membership Campaign.
Lists of non-members for the fifth
and sixth sections of the Local 301 mem-
bership drive are now being made up.
The fifth section consists of Bldgs. 86,
“93,97 and=109;—represented—on—the—
The. Board member for the sixth sec-
Activities Chairman
as a % semnareanasente
tion, Bldgs..81 and 89, is Dewey Brash- -
ear. ;
Adam Boss, in charge of the check-
up on records and lists in the union of-
fice, said lists of non-members are com-
plete for the second section, Bldgs. 53,
65 and 69, and for Bldgs. 49 and 60
in the third section. Some work still
remains to be done on these lists in the
fourth section, Bldgs. 68, 70-J, 72, 76,
80, 227, 238 and 241,
.Committeemen who have not yet
turned in their lists of department em-
ployees in any of these buildings are
asked by the Organization Committee to
do so promptly. -
Application cards are coming in daily, —
Brother Boss reported.
UE Calls Conference
On Wage Program
(Continued from Page 1)
butter by one-and-a-half pounds a week.
‘Ninety per cent or 455 workers cut
down on buying clothing.
Almost half the workers.- questioned
have been forced to dig into their sav-
ings. In many cases they had to use
savings to get along even after reduc-
ing the amount of food and clothing
bought.
“Nor could savings be expected. to
finance the living expenses of these
workers except for the shortest period
of time,” the analysis of the survey
states. ,
Savings Are Small
“Even with the peak of wartime earn-
ings behind them, only 135 workers re-
ported savings of more than $300. These
workers certainly could not be counted
upon to purchase the tremendous quan-
tities of electrical appliances and radios
presently coming off the ‘production
line.” * .
The wage conference will follow the
UE system of basing discussions and
recommendations on concrete figures
gathered throughout the industry. All
actions of the conference will be re-
«ferred to the locals_for approval before
any proposal is made to the manage-
~ment,
—————
Lanson L, Cole, who is the new chair-
“man of the Local-301 Activities Com-
mittee, recently married a member of
the committee, the former Edith Bame,
Bldg. 89. They went to Florida on'their
honeymoon.’ Brother Cole works out
of Bldg. 68, Maintenance and Repair.
He succeeded Foster Campbell as Ac-
tivities chairman,
CIO Radio Program
To Discuss Strikes
“Why People Strike” will be the sub-
ject of the Capital District CIO Coun-
cil radio broadcast next week. Watch
the papers for time and date.
Speakers will be Anne Mehalick, a
striker and. shop steward of Local 36,
United Furniture Workers of America,
at Granville, and three veterans of re-
cent Capital District strikes: William
Mastriani, Local 801; William Hyatt,
_Local.410, International Fur and Leath-
er Workers, at Ballston Spa, and Mich-
ael Busziewski, Local 2312, United
Steelworkers of America, Albany.
Last week’s speakers were Leo Jan-
dreau, Local 801; ..Sylvester Cunning-
ham, president Local 814, Amalgamated
Clothing Workers, Troy,~and: Anthony
Barbieri, president of Local 2054, USA.
Toolmakers' Case .
A four-point proposal for a general
increase in wages of toolmakers has been
sent.:to/ the GE management, after ap-
proval by a committee of toolmakers
and the 801 Bxecutive Board.
GE Carries Out
Nov. 5 Closing
In the face of warnings on violating
the UE contract.and the intent of the
State Election Law, the General Elec. --
tric Co. closed down the plant Election
Day at noon, Without afternoon” pay,
for first shift workers.
Workers who handed in, written re-
quests for two hours off with pay were
assigned two hours in the morning. The
company said they would be paid for
these two hours, but would not be paid
for the afternoon.
The morning hours were assigned
without system, some people getting
the first two hours, some the last two
and some in-between,
“The entire proceeding showed the
General Electric's utter disregard of
the intention of the law,'‘ Leo Jandreau,
union business agent, said.
“The company wasn’t interested in
maintaining production. or efficiency, _-_.
We don’t hear the company shouting
about lost man-hours in this situation.
It arranged the schedule, to be incon-
venient and costly to itself, and to the
workers.”
Local 801 is pressing a charge of
contract violation and demanding pay
for the time lost through the company’s
action,
How Do They Ever
Dig Them All Up?
The Socialist Party of Schenectady
joined the attack on Local 301 last
week by presenting as a speaker a Soc-
jalist organizer, Joseph Massidda, with a
bad labor background.
Schenectady newspapers headlined
Massidda as “anti-red” and gave plenty
of space to his attack on UE.
They. didn’t mention, of course, that
Massidda was fired by the CIO Leather
Workers as an organizer after he ad-
mitted stealing union funds and other
charges, .
Later he joined the UB local at Lynn.
The local had to ask for his resignation
as.a shop steward. He spoke on the
. platform in Schenectady with Norman
Thomas, Socialist leader.
ah
No White Pa per Yet
For the next few weeks TU News will
have to continue being printed on can-
ary. color -paper, - No. white paper. in.
sight —- not even newsprint.
