HELPING HAND. Art Swanson drops a;can of fruit into one of the
collection boxes set up ‘Tuesday and Wednesday to help striking mem-
bers of UE Local 601 at the Nuttall Plant of Westinghouse near Pitts-
burgh, Phil Cognetta.and Bill Mastriani are in charge of this box.
Humphrey Committee Aims to“Do Job”
On Union, Local 301 Observer Reports
The Humphrey Committee is just “another part of the
extended IUE-CIO plan to do a job on UE,” Dewey Brashear
told the UE 301 Executive Board on Monday night.
Brashear, made this statement
after returning from. a trip ~ to
Washington where he had_sat in,
as a 801 representative, on hear-
ings of the Senate group which ‘i
allegedly investigating labor-man-
agement relations.”
The board member pointed out
that IUE President Jim Carey had
been given a full day to testify
before the Humphrey group, GE
Vice President L. R. Boulware had”
been given five hours, but two UE
representatives, Organizational. Di-
rector James Matles and National
Legislative Representative - Russ
Nixon,. had been given a total of
only two hours.
Brashear also noted that’ Sen-
ator Humphrey had repeatedly de-
fended Carey, even when Boulware
took cracks at him.
resentative further said that Boul-
ware had told the committee that
Curey had personally: askéd him
for help in replacing CIO Presi-.
dent Philip Murray when Murray
retired.
Brashear reported on another
exchange between the committee
and Boulware, In which the GE:
executive said there was a need
for legislation to ban political
strikes. Asked by the committee
to name any such strikes which
had oecurred in the past, Boul-
ware admitted that he could think
of none, He finally asserted that
there was a need for legislation to
“outlaw rabble rousing.”
Both Matles and Nixon, spealk-
ing on behalf’of UE, asserted that
the union was proud of: its record
‘and that it opposed all attémpts at
4 © Friday, July 18, 1952
The 801 rep- .
establishing political. controls. over
organized. labor.’ They charged
that the [UE leaders were seeking
‘through law to break UE because
they knew that’ they could never
accomplish this through demo-
cratic union elections.
. Anti-Reuther Oath?
Three more units in Ford Local
600 have voted against supporters
of CIO autoworkers’ President
Walter Reuther, who seized the
local several months ago. Anti-
‘Reuther feeling appears to be so
high that one Ford worker com-
mented, “It’s almost as though you
have to take an anti-Reuther oath
to run in Ford 600, just like the
anti-communist oath in the Taft-
Hartley law.”
Democrats Endorse Campbell
GOP Foe of Organized Labor
An apparent sell-out. on the part of the Schenectady
County Democratic Party leadership threatens.to assure the -
re-election of Republican Stat
GOP Platform is Same
Old Anti-Labor Stand
Any hopes that the Republican
Party might take a somewhat en-
lightened position on organized la-
bor, at least for the duration of the
election campaign, were destroyed
with the publication of the GOP
1952 platform. It shows that the
party has chosen. to stand pat on
the Taft-Hartley law.
The labor plank in the platform,
adopted without dissent or dis-
cussion by the Republican Nation-
al Convention, said flatly: “We
‘favor retention of the Taft-Hart-
ley law.”
This came as no surprise since
both leading contenders for the
GOP Presidential nomination have
spoken warm words of praise. for
the anti-union legislation’ con-
demned by all of organized labor.
The nominee, General Eisenhower,
was only slightly less enthusiastic
about T-H than its author, Senator
Robert A. Taft.
The GOP platform also sides
squarely with the steel companies
and against.the workers in the
steel strike. On two other issues
of importance to labor, public
housing and civil rights, the Re-
publicans took stands in line with
their endorsement of Taft-Hartley.
The party platform on ‘civil
vights was written with the obvi-
ous aim of pleasing the Dixiecrats.
It also came out against rent con-
trol. No mention was made of such
key issues as construction of pub-
lic housing, increasing minimum
wages or improving social security
benefits.
portant.
layoffs.
~-troduce throughout the works.
Chemical Supports Anti-Speedup Campaign
Building 77 workers unanimously endorsed UE Local 301 Ex.
ecutive Board proposals to combat a growing management speed-
up plan in a meeting held on Tuesday. It was the first of a series
of works-wide meetings planned to discuss the board plan. ~
Since Building 77, the chemical division, is the scene of the
most concentrated company drive to layoff workers while speeding
up the remaining force, the vote was regarded as particularly im-
The chemical workers voted, in effect, to adhere strictly to
job definitions and to refuse:to do any worl: outside of their classi-
fications when they return from vacation next month. ;
The meeting was presided over by Board. member Vince Di
Lorenzo and addressed: by Chief Shop Steward William Mastriani.
They reported on management’s laying off of 41 workers in
the past six months and on the combining of jobs and speeding up
of other workers in order to take up the slack which resulted ‘from
Several members told of their personal experiences with
the new speedup plan, and asserted that chemical was apparently
a testing ground for a speedup system which GE intended to in-
‘Other divisional meetings. were scheduled to be held on Thurs-
day. ‘For earlier story, see page 3.
e Senator ‘Thomas Camphe
without opposition .
County Chairman
John English announeed _ last
weekend that. his . organization’
would endorse the candidacy of
Campbell and Assembly Speaker
Oswald Heck. Campbell’s record
shows him to be 100 per cent op-
posed to the interests of organized
labor. ‘
This-:spring when UE Local
301 joined with virtually every
trade union in New York State
in opposition to the infamous
Hughes - Brees unemployment
insurance law, Campbell was
visited by a delegation from
the Schenectady local. He
promised that the would work
for some changes in the law,
which is rigged in favor of the
big corporations and against,
the workers. However, he com-
pletely reneged on his prom-
ises and wound up among the ~
leading supporters of Hughes- .
Brees. yg os
At the time, many union
members marked the defeat ©
Campbell high on their list of'\s
political action musts for this
fall. This defeat was thought
» to be a strong possibility since
Campbell ran far. behind the
Republican ticket when he was
last elected to the Senate in
1950.
Interestingly enough, the Demo-
cratic move to support Campbell
seems to have been largely a one-
man decision by English. Several.
Democratic leaders, questioned by
EU News, asserted that they had
not known of the endorsement un-
til they read the story in Monday
morning’s newspaper. English ap-
parently made a deal with the,GOP
to support Campbell and Heck ‘in
exchange for Republican: backing
for several Democratic candidates
for minor offices.
Evidently, the top Democratic
leadership was more interested in
getting second-rate patronage fav-_
ors than in their party’s avowed
pro-labor and anti-Hughes-Brees
platform.
The Hughes-Brees law depri
many workers of anemplovmie
insurance benefits through setting
up a complicated series of hear-
ings, and by making it pay for the
employers to contest claims. of
Democratic
“workers they lay off. It also. cuts
the length of payment for many
workers from 52 to 26 weeks.
ELECTRICAL UNION NEWS
>
SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK
Jamestown, N, Y.—The first UE
contract signed at. the Jamestown
Metal Products Co., has brought
wage raises of up ‘to 31 cents an
hour for workers there. A nickel
of the increase was made .retro-
active to January.1, with the. rest
in effect as of July 7.
xk ko
New York—Employees ‘of 23
Liggett Drug Stores in the Met-
ropolitan area have won a 40-hour
week, The members of Local 1199
of the Distributive, Processing and
Office Workers of America obtain-
ed an agreement similar to that °
‘gained recently by Whalen Drug
workers through a strike.
. a
Rock Island, Ill.-—~Workers at
the International Harvester Parm-
all Plant added another victory in
the long string won by UE in the
farm equipment industry. They
pted for continued representation
through UL Local 109 by a vote
of 156 to 79 for the raiding AFL
machinists. ,
x k *
Waterbury, Conn.—Nearly 6,000
CIO autoworkers struck last week
against seven big brass companies
in this center of the industry. The
walkout took place after year-old
wage re-opener negotiations . had
broken down. The striking UAW
members received full support
from the independent International
Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter
Workers. ‘
x ke O*
Wausau, Wis. — The National
Labor Relations Board was forced
to issue a formal complaint against
the Marathon Electric Corp, last
week after pressure. was exerted
by CIO and AFL ‘unions in this
nvea, as well as by the UE. The
complaint charges. the’ company
with locking out G00 members of
UE Local 1118 on February 28, re-
fusing to negotiate and illegally
‘cancelling the contract.
wk ok OO
C) Chicago—A message of support
'
fiom a CIO autoworkers’ local
boosted the morale of members of
the International Union of Mine,
Mill ‘and Smelter Workers. strik-
ing against the Chicago plant of
‘ihe Stewart Die Casting Corp. The
message was from the union repre-
senting the workers in the Bridge-
port, Conn,, plant of the same com-
pany.
Friday, July 25, 1952
Members Vote to Back Anti-Speedup
Measures at Meetings Throughout Works
_ The policy of combatting management speedup attempts by strict adherence to job defi-
nitions as they exist under the contract won wide support from UE Local 301 membership this
past week, This support was voiced in departmental meeting
Addresses Distri
a fee "
CLIFFORD T. McAVOY
Cite UE Gains at.
Upstate Meeting
Citing the continuous gains in
membership made by UE in recent
months, National President Albert
Fitzgerald .declared Sunday that
‘Gf we continue our fight in the in-
terests of the working. people, no
force on earth will be able to de-
stroy our union.”
Vitzgerald addresed the regular
meeting of the UL District Three
Council, which represents 30,000
workers in Upstate New York, at
Jamestown, He paid particular
tribute’ to the district’s successful
warding off of raids and to its or-
ganization of new shops.
Another ‘speaker at the council
meeting was UE Legislative Rép-
resentative Clifford T. McAvoy,
who urged an. intensified drive to
make’ sure that candidates friend-
ly to organized labor are elected -
this fall. McAvoy pointed out
that an election year nikes pub-
lic officials much more willing to
listen to union -representatives. He
said that many congressmen and
legislators who formerly ignored
UE_communications are now tak-
ing the trouble to send back ex-
tremely friendly letters.
The council adopted a set of res-
olutions to’ be presented to the
September National Convention of.
UE. Many of these resolutions
followed the pattern of those al-
ready approved by the membership
(Continned on Page 3)
members’ of the union Executive
Board. The board decided ‘to call
these meeting's on July 14, when it
fitst outlined the policy.
The .decision was made after
representatives of Building 40, 77
ans
and 273 had reported speedup and
layofls brought about by combin-
ation of jobs in their areas. The
similarity among many of the ens-
es reported indicated clearly that
x works-wide speedup policy was
inthe process of déveloping, The
hoard decided that this policy had
to be nipped in the bud if union
conditions were to be maintained.
“Phis was particularly true
because of the existence of the
wage freeze. The 301 leader-
ship® felt that apparently the
company, ‘not satisfied wtih
wages being held down by
government edict, were now
out to make sure that they wot
more production for their froz-
en paychecks.
Tt was also felt that beating
management speedup policies
how was particularly import-
ant because of the impending
contract modification negotia-
tions,
If the pattern established by the
big steal companies and other cor-
porations is followed, then an at-
tempt to get a green light for
speedup, us well as attacks on the
job security and seniority provis-
s held throughout the works by
At Shop WMicetings
x
WILLIAM MASTRIANI
ns of the contract, can be’ ex-
pected. : .
In an effort to make sure that
any GE maneuvers along these
lines don’t get off the ground, UE
Loéal SOL has alrendy atranged to
hold a meeting avith Schenectady
Works Manager Lewis Male,
The first mecting to be held
in the works on the question ‘
was in Building 77, which has
been the hardest hit section in
the GE speedup drive. Chief
Shop Steward William Mastri-
ani reported the Executive
Board decision to the Chemi-
eal Division workers, who gaye
it to their unanimous approval. :
Among the other buildings which
have reported meetings ‘are 10, 18,
40, 52, 58, 59, 89 and 273.
UE Local 301 will hold: its
Scheneetady Stadium, when the
price children’s ticket.
evening,
include:
$10 to the Blue Jay hitting
Tomorrow's UE 301 Baseball Booster Night
ford Chiefs in a regular Eastern League baseball wame. ‘
Tickets to the game are being sold by the local with board
members.and shop stewards in charee of distribution,
have also been set up at the works gates,
cents on every dollar adult tieket sold and five cents on each half
However, Local 301 will profit only on
tickets it sells directly and not on those sold at the gate tomorrow
_ The special UE night ceremonies tomorrow will, include. a
brief (alk by 301 President James Cognetta.
donating prizes to outstanding Blue Jay performers. These awards
$15 to the Schenectady player hitting the first home run.
Five Dollars cach to the local player driving the first. double
and to the player scoring the first: run, . .
$10 to the pitcher chalking:
Game time for the contest will be 7330 pan.
first Booster Night tomorrow at
Blue Jays tangle with the Hart-
Sales booths
The union will get 10
The union is also
the first triple.
up the most strikeouts.
GE Warns of Steel.
Closings in ugar
Buildings 57 und 95, the steel
and iron foundries, will be shut
‘down on August 4 unless the steel
strike ends in the next few days,
Gené@ral Ilectrie nianagement has
revealed.
The projected shutdowns will be
the first such moves involving
large numbers of. workers in the .
Schenectady works, The company
estimated that about 100 persons
were sent home for.. lack of
work | resulting from the steel
shortage this week. The reported
figure last week was about 60.
ounwhile, the seven-week-old
strike continued into. this week
with chanees of a settlement ap-
pearing somewhat brighter. How-
ever. talks on Monday and Tues-
duy failed to produce any settle-
ment, . |
The big companies continued
to try to sell the line that .the
union shop: demand of the CIO
steclworkers was the sole thing
blocking agreement. Actually, Big
Steel’s demands to abolish senior-
ity vights. and get the right to
speedup at will are as important
‘as the union shop issue. wes
'Fhese demands are typical of
similar proposals being thrown-at .
unions ‘throughout the country in
what has-developed into. a concert-
ed industry drive to weaken and
destroy all unions. ,
It has been against just such a
drive that UE has warned for sev-
seral years, The union has pointed
out that the splitting and raiding
tactics of many unions were help-
WHY SHOULD PEOPLE BE WORRIED ABOUT BEING
UNEIAPLON ED? THAVEN'T WORKED A DAY IN ALLY LIFE!
ing.to pave the way for destruction
of all organized labor. .
Any layofl's caused bythe steel
strike will not effect the insurance
protection of those laid aff accord-
ing to a letter sent by GI man-
agement to the union. ‘Arrange-
ments will be made so that payroll
deductions are taken out after
workers return to their jobs.
The company also said it would
not remove from the payroll any-
one laid off due to ‘the steel situ-
ation after two weeks of idleness,
as ig the usual practice.
Continue Wilson Strike
The 125 employees of the Sche-
nectady plant of the Wilson Ath-
letic. Goods .Manufacturing Co,
plant voted last Week to reject “a
management offer to renew the
old.contract, and to continue the
strike begun ‘on March ‘15.
The Wilson strikers, members of
the CIO textile workers, also vot-
ed to press unfair labor charges
against the conipany. These charg-
es were first filed four months ago.
The workers are seeking a 15-cent
hourly wage increase and improved
health and welfare provisions.
_ Boulware Admits He Aided
Carey in 1950 NLRB Votes
GE Vice President L. R. Boulware has admitted that the
company gave all-out assistance to the IUE-CIO in its split-
ting activities during 1950. The admission came during tle
Arbitrator Cuts
Textile Workers
_ Members of the ClO textile
workers continued last week to
take beatings at the hands of “im-
sopartial” arbitrators.
A decision rendered by Walter
Gellhorn brought an eight and one-
half cents an hour wage cut for
14,000 employees of 13 cotton-ray-
on mills in Massachusetts. « It was
the second such decision in recent
weeks, ;
Even this slash in. the living
standards of the workers did not
satisfy the millowners. They had
asked for a 18% cent ext, and one
company president expressed keen
disappointment, saying that the
‘slash did not sufficiently reduce
the differential between New Eng-
land mills and those in the South.
The entire textile industry has.
been hard hit-beeause of many
companies “rtinning away to the
South.
This ‘runaway process has been
possible= largely because of the
failure of .the strife-torn textile
union to organize southern work-
ers or to attempt to break down
Jim Crow employment conditions
which enable employers to” play
white workers off against. Negro
workers. 7
Thousands of grievances are handled by UE teveat Sui
Bldg. 16: Paul Carnivale, a drill
press operator, believes his present
job and earnings are unsatisfac-
tory, His experience and record
entitleshim to a transfer which he
requests, :
Bldy. 29: The cooperative group
which works. on pressing 5-686
mien, protest the new price of
$1.50 per press because it is in-
adequate and does not permit.them
to maintain their earnings. A
proper adjustment in price is de-
muanded.
Bldg. 66: James B. Novak was
ordered to work on job 622-1-441
Roto Flange, without being paid -
or go home even though an entire
group is protesting the inadequate
price’on this job. Novak correctly
maintains that price should have
heen negotinted before such an ul-
timatum was issued. This. is a
ease of avbitrary intimidation and
rectifiention of the situation is de-
manded. .
Bide. 68: ‘The entire group of
~Women working under FF an
Nowicki are protesting the condi-
tions ‘of their rest room, which is
2 © -Friday, July 25, 1952
each year at all levels from the steward up to final appeal
in New York City. To keep members posted, we shall
each week list some of the grievances that have not been
settled at the steward-foreman level and have been re
ferred to the executive board-management level.
too small and poorly ventilated.
An_ investigation by supervision
and correction of the situation. is
demanded,
Bldg. 273: Karly in the day on
June 80, Foreman Cuomo enution-
ed Shop Steward Rene -Perrone
and several other workers for al-
legedly cating during working
hours and leaving thelr work aren,
Later, Perrone had: occasion ta dis-
cuss a grievance with Cuomo. The
foreman brought up the previous
incident and implied that bringing.
up grievances would only meet with
reprisals. Shop Steward Perrone
demands that this threat be with-
drawn and that Cuomo be instruct-
ed by supervision on proper con-
duct in negotiating grievances.
On Bearing Job De. 8010687 —
one and two, finish drill complete,
average earnings have always been
paid until recently when supervis-
ion issued a 7.70 standard price to
cover the drilling operations. Ad-
herence to the past practice of
paying average carnings is de-
-manded.
“The group working under Tore
man Jenner charges that he and
the wage rate department have
been trying to ext standard prices
from a table which has been in
effect for the past 20 years. The
union demands restoration of the
old table in order to maintain sat-
isfactory earnings.
The men working under TFore-
. man Peebles hus been forced to
work under undesirable circum-
stances, With much of their work
outside of their classification, as
well as under other supervision.
The foreman shows no regard for
any problems presented to him by
the union and its representatives
and has actually told Steward Ray-
mond Cartier that he would do as ,
he ~ pleases. The union charges
Peebles with discrimination, in-
timidution and coercion and de-
mands that management order him
to cease these practices.
A group under Foreman Tucker
charges him with doing common
labor .work, thereby infringing on
the work of the group. We demand
_an_end_to the
ployment of additional help if it is
necessary to handle the work load.
tice and the em-.,
.executive’s testimony before ¢ -)
Senate sub-committee hearings
conducted in Washington by Sen- ~
ator Hubert Humphrey.
The Boulware statement, which
was read to the committee, declar-
ed that General Electric had filed
its own petition for an NLRB elec-
tion because it knew that IUE did
not have sufficient membership in
many GE plants to file for a vote.
Under the Taft-Hartley law, 30
per cent of the persons in a bar-
gaining unit must sign cards for a
union, before that union can file
for an NLRB ballot.
Here are Boulware’s exact words
on the aid given IUE by manage-
ment: : :
“).. we took Mr, Carey off
the hook by filing our own pe-
titions for an NLRB election.
This, under NLRB rules, made
it unnecessary for Mr. Carey
‘to show any membership ‘at
all. : a ee
“Thus, IUE was given the
elections held at many plants
without having to spend a nic-
kel for organizing purposes.
We even filed for plants on the
West Coast, where practically
everybody advised us that 1UE
had no following and. wouldn't.
win a single election—as they
didn’t. While it was not our
purpose ‘to aid either side in
this procedure, there can be
litle doubt that the effect of
our filing was of immeasurable
assistance to TUE.”
unusual opportunity of having @
Sylvania Asks Boost
A demand for a 15-cent hourly
Wage increase and the elimination
of differentials in the job evalu-
ation system for men. and women
workers topped the list of wage
reopener demands unanimously
adopted by the UE Sylvania Elee-
trie Conference Board.
ELECTRICAL UNION NEWS
UNITED ELECTRICAL, RADIO & MACHINE
WORKERS OF AMERICA {UE)
local 30)
eB
Published by the Editorial Committeo
Prasident...—... ~James: d= Cognetta
Vicu-Prasidant q.
Treasuror....... -
Recording Secretary.
Iliam “Mastriant
301 LIRERTY ST. SCHENECTADY 5, N. Y.
Loa Jandrogu~| ~~
ELECTRICAL UNION NEWS
BOOSTER NIGHT SCENE.. Sche-
nectady Stadium will be takén over
by UE Local 301 tomorrow night
for, Booster Night, with a regular
Eastern League game between the .
Blue Jays and the Hartford Chief's.
Win Pay Boosts, Upgrading [
For Eight Bldg. 28 Women
Eight women.workers in Building 28 have won upgrading
and wage increases of seven cents an hour in a griévance vic-'
tory gained by UE Local 301.
The women were moved up from
Class K inspectorships to Class J,
with their pay rates going from
$1.40 to $1.47 an hour, The case:
arose when the group’ complained
to Steward Martha Montayne that
they were doing higher class work
then that: falling under the Class
S\ job definition,
—/“ The’ case was
carried to the
works management level where the
promotion was agreed upon, It was.
also. agreed to. give further con-
sideration to “the possibility of
granting similar upgrading to sev-
eval other women, Tm all, there
were 12-women.in the group which
originally filed the grievance.
The eight women to gain the
higher rating are Nen Baxter, Nor-
ma Darling; Jenny vans, Mar-
gavet Gallup; Mildred MeGauley,
Betty Ocken, Naney Schom .and
Maxine Tubba. .
Drawing Report
Receipts from the UE Local
BOL “Giveaway” program to-
talled $1,849.50 according to a
count made at the beginning of
the. week, Some additional in-
come is expected.
Profits from the highly sue-
cessful sale of drawing tickets ,
are likely to be earmarked
for the financing of a union
Field Day on September 1.
Final plans for that day are
Now being completed by the Ac-
wities Committee, .
The drawing for the six val-
uoble. “Giveaway”, program °
prizes was held on July 14, with
‘Harold Hanna of Building 89
taking the first prize, a week’s
vacation for two with expenses
of up: to LOO ee ere
ELECTRICAL UNION NEWS
Set Inventory Dates
GE management has an-
nounced plans to take inventory
in the Schenectady works «on
August 22 and September 26,
Nuttall Strikebreaking
Plot Exposed, Smashed __
Westinghouse Electric has been exposed by UE Local 601
as an employer of an outside strikebreaking agency in an ef-
_ fort to create a back-to-work movement among Nuttall work-
‘ers who have been on strike since
April 15,
The revelation that the big cor-
poration brought the strikebreak-
ing outfit, Ketchum, McCleod and
Grove, to Pittsburgh to sabotage
the strike was made at a crowded
G01 membership meeting.
These exposures came in a dra-
matic fashion, - Local 601 leader-
ship learned. of the plan to launch
a back-to-work movement at abig
membership meeting. They allow-
ed the scabs to make their pitch up
to a certain point. Then Local Vice
President Bill. Garrove got up and
vead the minutes of .a secret mect-
ing held between the few back-to-
workers and the representatives of
the strikebreaking’ outfit,
The workers at the mecting
were enraged and demanded
that the, so-called leadership
of the back-to-work group tell
everything they knew about
the plot. It was at this point
that. the nominal head of the
would-be scabs, admitted that
he had received a list of names
and addresses of all the strik-
ers from the company.
The membership then adopted a
resolution bitterly denouncing the
back-to-work scheme and voted un-
-amimously.-to~ continue. the. strike
until Westinghouse abandons: its
attempts to cut piece work rates
and violate seniority.
Hiring of outside stiikebreak-
ers is nothing new in the history
of company anti-union maneuvers,
The LaFollete Senate Committee
nearly 20 years ago presented an
exhaustive report exposing the lu-
"bor spy racket.
President Tells Council
-OFUE National Progress
. (Gontinued from Page 1)
of Local 301.- They called for in-
dependent political action, repeal
of Taft-Hartley, an end to the at-
tacks on the civil liberties of the
American people, an end to the
wage freeze and an American for-
eizn policy based on efforts to pro-
mote friendship among all the na-
tions of the world,
Among. the other actions taken
by the District Council was ap-
proval of a ‘$500 contribution to
General Cable strikers and $100
contributions to. UE locals on
strike at the Nuttall Westinghouse
plant and at Marathon Electric, °
The 301 delegation included Joe
‘ Alois, Phil Cognetta, Joseph Kelly,
William Mastriani, Helen Quitini
and: Williany Stewart: Stewart-ise-:
Vice President of the district,
T . o it 2
urbine Pair
Win Rai
in Raises
Two workers in Building 273
have received wage increases as a
result of a grievance case recently
processed by UE Local 301.
In this. case, the increase came
only after two meetings held at”
the national level in New York...
These two workers, W. Miller and
S. Rychik, were awarded increases
of five cents an hour plus retroac-
tive pay.amounting to $99.13 for
Miller and $76.98 for Rychik.
Their docket was opened almost
a full year-ago, in August, °1951,
“when they first went to their stew-
ard and. complained that, although -
they had been transferred from
jobs as floor assemblers to work-
ing as.erector assemblers, they had
failed to receive a rate not lower
than two steps below the job rate
as required under the contract.
Management maintained that the:
floor assembly job did not provide
adequate experience for erector as-
sembly, and therefore the two
steps below provision of the con-
tract did not apply. Unable to iron
out the issue at the works manage-
ment level, the union took the is-
sue to the national level where GE
top management refused to budge
from. the position. taken in. Sche-
nectady.
However, the union felt that this ©
case was important enough, not
only in itself but also for the pre-
cedents it involved, to take to arbi-
tration. It notified GE of its in-
tention to take this action. ‘
GE management, apparently
realizing the weakness of their po-
sition before an arbitrator, then
asked for a second meeting at the
New York level. It was at this
meeting that the wage increases
_ and retroactive awards for Miller
and Rychik were agreed upon,
Food Collection
Members of UE Local 601,
who have been on strike against
the Nuttal plant of Westing-
house near Pittsburgh for more
{han three months, will receive
45 cases of canned goods as a
result of the plant gate collec.
flan taken last week by Local
The collection was made
through the Activities Commit-
tee after the Schenectady local’s
Executive Board had decided on
the action in’ response to an
appeal by the strikers, many of
whom have serious: financial
problems.
Many cases of canned goods
were bought: with money con-
tributed by 801 members to the
collection. All of the food will
be transported to the Nuttall
strikers in. a truck being sent
up. from. Piltsburgh. for-the-pur- -}-
pose. ,
7
Friday, July-25, 1952 © 3
