Electrical Union News, 1951 November 2

SEITE

© Unisn's attorney, Leon

fs

vO

Friday, October. 26, 1951

(Continued from Page 1)
in 46 and'we can do it again!”
At Union Hall. which was.
jammed to the walls with UE

members overflowing into the
streets. you heard many a

worker say of the stoppage,

“Sf this don’t bring the Com-

pany around, we'll strike for.
what we need.” ‘
Much of the talk was about
how you can't make the pay
check stretch from Friday to

‘Friday, shrunken as it is by

high taxes, squéezed as it is’
by high’ prices — with worse
to come ‘°° a

The half-day stoppage dem-.
onstrated to the Company
that its employees are united

ELECTRICAL

Half-Day Stoppage

and determined to get a satis-
factory. settlement” of - their

’ wage, pension, insurance-and
It is now ,

vacation demands.
up to the Company to say if
it will make a decent offer...
without a strike.

A meeting with GE in New

York:yesterday resulted in no -
progress, thé” Company.” not:

only sticking to its miserable
wage offer but to the percent:
age form which.intensifies in-

equities and is contrary to the .
way UE and GEchave bar-«:

gained for 15 years. No fur-
ther talks are scheduled.

“Meanwhile UE‘lécals through-

out the country and here are

going ahead with their strike «

votes

Issue In Dock Strike Is...

MONEY.

Despite a: 10 cents an hour set-
tlement by the: AFL Longshore-

smen’s union, ‘the dotk workers. hit

the bricks because they regarded
the settlement,-in-View of increas-
ing living costs and=a Jow annual
wage, asassell-out. -

The corrupt and dictatorial un-

‘jon is.trying to break the strike
“with violence and red-baiting. But
the strike is spreading from the-

New York docks up and down the
Atlantic coast,

In addition to more money, the

men want an 8-hour.work guaran-
tée, -

UE ATTORNEY GIVES.
| LEGAL FACTS OF VOTE

A number of workers who. were

‘inahe WH6 strike and veedlled that

the strike vote was ‘taken under,

"NLRB supervision have asked. why

Jabor beard supervision is no long-
cr necessary. ‘The answer by, the
: Novak,
Fallows:

Duing the last. war, Congress
passed the Smith-Gonnally Act re-
quiring the taking of a strike vote
under government supervision in
order to place obstacles in the way
of workers dissatisfied with’ their
Wages and conditions, ; =

As one strike vote followed an-

other, employers realized that the

democratic requirement of a strike
vate helped bona fide unionism and
government supervision was mean-
inyless, The Smith-Connally Act
was therefore dropped to-be super-
seded by the Taft-Hartley Act.
U's contract with, GE specifies ,

that.employees. may engage in. |.

strikes, a vight’ fundamental to
American democracy, Article XXIV
on Eeonomic Issues and Wage Re-

opening. states:

> “Bailing agreement on such
(wage) proposals, the Union
and its) UE Locals should -
have the right to strike.
UB;unlike IUE-CIO and many

AFL and CIO unions, has a con-
stitutional requirement for the

taking of a strike vote before a

strike may be conducted.
“The voting procedures described
elsewhere in this page are in ac-

cord’ with law and democratic pro-
“cedure, ‘

. ELECTRICAL UNION NEWS
UNITED BLMCTRICAL, RADIO &

MACHINE WORKERS OF AMERICA
Schenectady GE Local 801 UR

oS
Publishad by tho Editorial Com.

Ass't Recording Secretary.....Prank D'Amico
Henry Kaminski

Joseph Mangino

John P. Green

Businoss Agant

301 LIBERTY ST,

SCHENECTADY, N. Y.

.UNION NEWS

Workmen’s
Compensation

(This is another in a series of articles
written by Leon Novak, UE Local: 301's
lawyer.)

After a court fight which lasted 2 ,

years and-2 months, Antone Rom-
. anowski, a UE member working at
thé Research. Laboratory as a port-
er, won a verdict of $4992 against
G.E, for injuries. which he’ ‘sus-
tained on August 28,°1949. As a
result of a heavy can of iron fall-
_ing on his left shoulder, Romanow-

ski contracted a painful bursitis in -

his shoulder, A, ee
« After the accident, Romanowski.
was treated at, the G.E. Hos-ital,
but, owing to the fact that Rom-
anowski does not express himself
well in the English language, the
Company took the position in court
that Romanowski had been treated
fora private illness and not-‘an
“accident.
Foreman Testifies
© After nine hearings in court in
Which a foreman appeared to testi-
“fy for the company, and in which
several doctors and other - wit-
nesses “also appeared, Romanow-
ski won a verdict of $1992 for his
injuries. The referee in the case
rendered a decision in which he
said, “I find’ that. Sufficient notice
of injury was given ‘to prompt in-
vestigation” by’ the General Elec-
ectrie Co. .GE- however, tried ‘to
back away from its responsibility,
Other Awards 7
On the sane day that Romanow-

ski won. this verdict, three other,

workers also won, awards in court.
Walter ‘Mashuta,-a drill press oper-
ator in Building 60,:won a verdict
_of $1843.20 for injuries which he
sustained to a leg; Harvey Millet,
‘aomachinist in-Building 40-8, won
“the sum ‘of $640 for injuries to a
finger; and John Clements, an ac-
cumlator in” Building 278, who had
previously won” $984 for injuries

to a foot with help of the union,

“veceived an additional verdict of
$250 for injuries.which he received
in the same accident to his face,

WE PULLS OUT.

OF ERIE POLL .

. The, IUE-CIO tucked its
tail between its legs and. ran
out .on its petition for an
WLRB election in the. GE‘Erie
plant.’ 7 :
“The Carey clique took to.its
heels under threat of exposure of
its filing‘ of fraudulent’ election -
petitions in Erie, Schenectady. and
in other plants where the IUE-.
CLO polled far,less than the num- +
ber of claimed cards. .
Withdrawal of the IUE-CIO

from.:the “contest”. for the big

Erie plant followed a blunt letter
from UE President Albert J. Fitz-

“werald to the«Taft-Hartley Board

in“ which: Fitzgerald accused the

- board of maintaining “collusive”

relations. with the company union
in the matter of false election pe-
titions. ‘

NEWS TEM — Lewis F.
Male, Schenectady Works Man-
ager, asks that employees keep
him supplied with. “rumors and

= Zossip” of the plant. Below, is. -

an artist’s conception of the type-
of pigeon which reports to man-
agement what. one’s shopmates

are saying and'doing. The.artis¢—>

has drawn a species of.the Mal
Informer. :

Mayor (Payroll Tax) Begley At it Again

_ Mayor (Payroll Tax) Begley cart seem to keep his head
above hot water, .After asking for a 300’ percent wage increase for
himself while supporting frozen’ wages for workers, he has come

up witha city budget which sharply increases taxes on small
property owners ($5.29 per $1,000 assessed valuation). while goi )

easy on GE and American Locomotive. ; oe

Mayor Begley simply does not believe working people and
small property owners are'taxed encugh. On.top of back-break-~
ing Federal tax increases which hit the lower brackets the hard-
est, he is for increased state income taxes. His big dream is a

> payroll tax,

*Begley To Ask Power For City Payroll Tax®—Mayor To Seek State
© OK, For Payroll Tax.” These ave the headlines from the Schenectady Gazelte
and Union-Star of January 7, 19-49,

ne

ee

/| Recor Numper ®
| OF GRIEVANCES «Fi
| PILING UP

‘LECTRIC

THE VOICE OF THE UNITED: ELECTRICAL kADIO & MACHINE WORKERS OF AMERI

L

NIO

‘LOCAL 301, UE.

Vol. 9 — No. 24 “k

rs’ who have been in Bldg. -41
vecently on grievances referred to
the management, realize that ‘the

«brush off being given the G.E;”

workers on their wage demands is
comparable with.the-brush off. on
local grievances. - ae
“The attitude of management ex-
pressed by the Asst. to the Man-
ager last Tuesday in referring to
the pile of cases’ accumulated on
he second’ level, which is the: last

he tp in the procedure locally; said,

most of these cases: should not. be,
here.” :He did not. mean. they
should be settled in the. shop be-
cause after discussing many of
them, he did not suggest a settle-
ment, : w

Spurn Contract

For example, there: is a‘ griev-
unce affecting the transfer. of two
members ‘to a higher rated job,

“Fhe contract provides under these.’

circumstances. a’ rate of two steps |
below the job. and the job rate paid

within six months, The A’sst. Man-

ager said he did not agree with
that provision in thé contract and

SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK *

Friday, November 2, 1955

R Ballots Will Give UE Board Power to -
ght Crackdown on Wages, Conditions

UE members in Schenectady, Erie and other GE: plants vote ‘today to
The shop stewards and mem. @Uthorize the UE-GE Conference Board to call a strike if future negotiations
fail to produce a wage offer acceptable to the membership. After the strike vote,

the UE Negotiations Committee will meet with the Company. The’ size of the -

Now, g
oe

entlemen, make a fair wage offer...

advised: the committee to bring the .. °}

case to New York,

10,000 AT GM.

iy

VOTE FOR STRIKE

The United Press reported. last
Monday that some 105000 produc-
tion and maintenance workers at
General Motor’s electromotive di-
vision in Chicago, IH. voted in fa-
wy of a strike over a company
““ded-up program. The workers
are represented by UAW-CIO, ~

Strikes over price-cutting and
speed-up are sharply on the in-

N +

a

crease throughout the country, In 2nd SHIFT=—1:30 P.M.

“many cases a poor wage” settle
.ment was the signal for Company

attacks on rates and conditions
and resulted in walkouts, -

ELECTION OF DISTRICT
DELEGATES AND ELECTION COMMITTEE. ‘

MEETING—UE 301 Members and Stewards Monday, Nov. 5, 1951

vote backing the Committee's
““demands' ‘for hourly pay ‘in-.
.- ereases of 15 cents for piece

workers and 20 cents for day
workers will determine its
bargaining. strength,

‘The ballots to be distributed |

starting this morning provide
for a, “yes”. vote’ or. a “no”
vote. .Yes” means ‘the. UE-
GE Conference Board of shop
delegates is, in ‘a position. to

take any necessary action to .

win a satisfactory settlement
of wage and other demands.
A big Yes” means you want
to make a stand now for set-
tlements based on your needs
and not on what is cooked up
between GH’ and the IUE..
“No” means that whatever

- :wage sellout is engineered ’be-
tween’ GE and IUE-CIO now

or inthe future.becomes the

inn nema VLE OER)

pattern for the Schenectady
Works. “No” means-no fight.»

and 'greenlights .Company at- ,

tacks on rates and conditions.

“*. The ‘voting procedure de-

scribed in detail on page 2
guarantees every UE member
‘an opportunity to.cast a bal-

~ slot, the ‘ballots to be counted

on the spot. Similar proced-

ure is being followed in Erie

'_ where advance reports indi-

cate an overwhelming major-
ity for authorizing the UR-

- GE Conference Board to ‘set

a strike date when and if it
becomes necessary.

The strike situation is of

the Company’s making and

seek a strike, neither will they
vote to discard labor’s most
powerful - and indispensible
weapon.

_ While... UE.. members - do.-not--.~-

“heats

- conditions.

Friday, November 2, 1951

DOES A’ YES VOTE MEAN <

_ WE GO ON STRIKE?

Once there is a vote for a
strike, our national* negotiat-
ing committee will renew its
efforts to negotiate a. settle-
ment acceptable to the mem-
bership. It will confront Man-
agement with the “argument”

_ of the strike vote. That's bar-

gaining strength, proof that
the membership is united, de-
.terminedand not pluffing. if
.the Company, continues to re-
fuse to. make.a satisfactory
offer, the UE Conference

Board of shop delegates can-

call a strike.

WHAT IF WE TAKE THE
COMPANY OFFER?
It. would mean, first, “that”

We would have less real mon:

ey for ourselves and our fam-
ilies. -It-would.make it easier
for GE to conspire with IUE-
CIO against ‘our wages-~and
It would be--the |
signal for a wave of rate cuts,’
overloading, speed-up.
would find ourselves at_some
future date forced to strike
jover grievances. That’s what
‘is happening in-auto where
Reuther froze wages for the
next 5 years. That's what’s

happening in Ft. Wayne
where 9,000 GE workers, sold °
out * by . Carey’s. settlement
with GE, wert: out on strike
over a methods change and
price cut affecting one man.

WOULD. A STRIKE BE |
WORTH THE HARDSHIP?

We ..

In a union such as ‘our’s,

we strike only when and if we
are forced to strike. We are
being forced by inflationary
and: tax pressures. We are
_ being forced by GE's refusal’
‘to deal fairly with us. We are
forced by the GE-IUE tie-up.
The 1946 strike, provoked by
“Management, won’ us a raise ©
of 1814 cents across the
board, two substantial raises
in the next two years, paid
holidays: and other benefits.

STOPPAGE

conditions.
said the Schenectady Gazette.
called: it a “show of strength.”

The halt- -day. walkout last Thurs-
day: demonstrated the unity ‘and: determination of.
GE workers to get what.they need in wages and
“The industrial giant was, stilled,”

Both local papers
Along with the

Schenectady’ Works: Knalls I, Malta and the GE
Airport were cleaned out-90° per cent. Note the
clock in the above picture; it shows that traffic
away from: GE was packed: to the curb even as
late ds 12:29-P.M. GE workers want:to be dea
with fairly, is what the stoppage proclaimed.

We came out: of the ‘strike
stronger. and richer by sev-
eral’: thousand dollars. » We
-would prefer to get recogni-
tion of. our just .demands

without strike action. That’s

up to the: Company.

WHAT HAPPENS TO THE
CONTRACT IF WE
STRIKE? a

It. remains it full force and *

effect: The’ contract provis-
ion on wage. re-opening states
that if we strike over the
wage re-opening, the contract

‘shall continue in effect.

CAN: UE BREAK ;
THROUGH THE WAGE
FREEZE?,

Unions throughout the

_ country are making.and win-

ning wage demands over the

wage ceiling, Mine; Mill broke.

through for

20c an hour.

| Equality of Sacrifice

When the new cigarette tax
takes effect, the rich man and

|. the..poor..man.will, have.an.

; equal chance to pay one cent
more for a pack of cigarettes.

The Company Says “No” To

Day Workers
Women
Skilled Trades
; VOTE “YES-
ON YOUR BALLOT

Lockheed Aircraft crashed
through with a 8 percent in-

crease. The WSB last month .

okayed an. above-the-ceiling

workers, Even Phil Murray,
a nfajor prop of the wage
freeze board, is being forced
by the steelworkers to draft
wage demands way above the
wage freeze ceiling. Wage

18c increase for the rubber .

freeze regulations have’ force
and effect only if labor abides
by them. This is admitted by
business and government.
The New York Times on Oc-

“tober 17 wrote that if Reu-

ther had: refused to listen to

the Wage Freeze Board ‘in -
wo recent strikes “the

board’s value in-future cases
‘would be doubtful.” ”.

Today.
ballot.

among you.

union: man or woman.

WHO CAN VOTE? : f

WHERE AND WHEN DO WE VOTE?

In the plant. Your stew: ard. will give you a
You will sign for it. Make -your mark. .
your ballot in-the ballot box. ‘The ballots will be counted
in the plant by two tellers chosen by the steward from
The results will be tabulated then and there.
Tabulation. and ballots will be brought to Union Hall.
There, it will become part of a permanent record, showing
the results, ‘building by building, department by depart- .
sment, unit. by unit’ and available for inspection by ‘any |

~. Union members, meaning those on check-off, includ-

ing those who have signed dues check-oll authorization

vards and those who make application for check-off be-

fore voting. Every-union member will get a chance to vote
and be counted. That’s the heart of the procedure.

Place

C

©

“starting yesterday,

Friday, November 2, [951 -,

ELECTRICAL UNION NEWS

How Much of Your Pay Will Go For Taxes?
How Does the New Inéoiné Tax Affect Premium Pay?
What New Taxes Are Coming Soon?

Starting with your next: pay checks you will be getting 2 Benes. less wéek-
‘ly.take-home pay. Call it the inercased ificome tax or a wage cut. It amounts

to the same thing. And it makes the.2% percent wage offer look sick. t
Yesterday a flock of new .

Federal excise taxes’ (sales

» taxes to you) went into effect. «

Although these levies on.con-
sumer goods are supposed to
be paid by the manufacturers,
many took newspaper ads op-

“enly boasting that they were

passing the tax on to us. For
weeks, merchants in certain
lines have been urging, “BUY
NOW AND SAVE... TAX-
ES ON NOV. 1.”

Well, yesterday, was Nov. 1 and
athe total tax
burden Cineluding State and local,

direct and indirect) will.be 25 per- °

cent of your wages. _A family of
four. with an isicome of $65'a week
will now be. paying $15.
all forms of taxation. -
5 Worse ‘Coming
But hold your hat!
York Times of October 30 reports
‘that “Congressional teaders antici-
pate Administration requests. for

. $8 billion more before next sum-

mer to meet defense costs not in-
‘eluded in “appropriations already
approved. ” The last tax bill was
for about $5.7 billion so you can

figure’ out what $8 billion more is:

going to mean in increased taxes
on the working people. That 2%
percent offer keeps looking worse
and worse! ©

On the other hand, a close study
of the new tax set-up reveals that
big: corporations like Gener al Tlec-
trie and its wealthy stock holders
are going to do better than ever.
Twenty-three. additional loopholes
in the latest tax measure more

- than offset the moderate increases
All sorts of

in corporation taxes,
schemes such as phony family

a week in-

The New“

‘do-nothing policy ik

ELECTRICAL UNION NEWS

UNITRD ELECTRICAL, RADIO &
MACHINE WORKERS OF AMERICA
Schencetady GH Loenl 801 UE

Published: by the Editorial. Com.

Ass't Recording Sucretary..-—Frank D'Amico
Treasurer Henry Kaminski
Vice-Prosidant .- Joseph Mangino
Recording Secrotary John P, Green
President © - William Kelly
Chief Shop: Steward ~ James Cognetta
Business Agent . ~ Leo Jandreau

30) LIBERTY ST. ‘SCHENECTADY, N. Y,

partnerships, “new” companies,
joint reports which help families
above the $10,000 a year bracket
will make tax-dodging a. sport
easier and more popular ‘than ever

~ among the rich.

-But the working man and wo-
man will pay for this game. “Take
a look at what the new income

tax will do to your. overtime, A
‘avorker earning. $80 a’ week, who

works overtime Saturday and is

“paid an additional $20. 00 has his

weekly \ withholding tax increased
liearly five bucks, That’s the same
as getting time-and-a-quarter in-
stead of time-and-a-half,

" Or take a man whose regular

%

i

pay is $2 an hour. Say, he works
Saturday at time-and-a-half and
Sunday at double time in addition
to his full 40-hour week. His in-
creased income tax will take away.
nearly $13 of the Aad in’ premium
pay! w
The UE tax principle is that no
American family should be taxed

» below, a decent standard of living,

The present distribution of taxa-

tion is reducing the living stand-.
But while»

ards of working people.
tax reform is an important part of
UR’s legislative fight, the only
way-we can help ourselves. now is
by getting a substantial, wage in-
crease from GE now.

Steelworkers Demand:
‘Wage Fight By Murray

Steelworkers, defying the wage’
freeze policy of their leaders, are
driving for wage increases of from
181%, cents to 30 cents an hour.

They have served notice. on their

leaders through “wild eat strikes”

and thousands of resolutions that

ethey don’t intend to let the CIO-

supported Wage Freeze Board
stand in the way of their wage de-
-mands,

In a correct estimate ‘of the
membership situation, the New
York Times of October 29 said
thatthe union would not be con-
tent with a pay rise of 5 or 6 cents
an hour, the maximum that would
be ‘permissible under current reg-

ulations of the Wage Stabilization *

Board.” a

When the unions wage ‘ poliey

“committee meets in Atlantic City,

November 14-16, it will have be-
fore it more than 3,000 resolutions

ym steel locals dethanditig a sub-
stantial increasé ‘in wages and.-
other benefits.

Local Rates, Con

litions Tied

To Wage Fight Says Jandreau

Approximately 45,000. GE
workers working in 43 plants

of the GE Company. through- .

out. the country are being
forced to take strike action
to protect their jobs and their
conditions’ of employment,
Leo Jandreau, UE 301. Busi-
ness Agent, said today. Mr.
Boulware is ‘swinging a two-
edged sword against GE
workers, att a-c ki ing. their
standard of. living on.the na-
tional wage: front and dupli-
eating the job locally through
price, “cutting, speed-up and a
“Tocal
pricvance. procedure.

“¥he Boulware-Carey ‘back
door deal which forced thous-

“ands of GE workers to accept.

an inadequate wage increase
did. not settle the problems of
the workers...

Jn-Ft. Wayne, Ind, G.E. work-
ers were forced: to strike for four
days last, week, nine thousand of
‘them, because of a’ price ‘cut.
local union claimed the strike was
also in protest against: the low
wages: being paid: to: G.E.-workers
in that’ plant compared tothe wag-
es paid by other Ft. ‘Wayne com-

The

panies. The Company claimed in
a printed ‘statement that they
could not understand it because
they had just completed a wage
settlement with the IUE-CIO cov-
ering the Ft. Wayne plant.

The Toolmakers in Pittsfield G.
E. have voted to strike*for a 25c
an hour increase, after” the 214
percent’ wage offer was accepted —
by the IUE. The same reaction to
Caray sellout deals is happening
in’ the Westinghouse’ Company
with the Buffalo Westinghouse

workers on strike now for several

weeks, fighting to get back the
union seniority protection they had

for 10 years while under the ban.
ner of UE.

Mr. Boulware’s plans are not
complete. He still,must maneuver
the balance of the G.E. workers
into the same spot’ if he can,

In the past few months the na-
tional attitude of the Company is
‘being reflected in the settlement 6f
grievances locally. There are more
complaints at the management

level today constituting unsettled
> grievances: than. there--ever has~

been during the past 15 years of
local negotiations, There is a

‘all ‘conditions . of
Proof of

t erowine dunibice of conptatnes.
from G.E. workers beéause of the
general tightening: up by manage-
ment ‘through their foremen on

employment,

this unrest among the
workers has been demonstrated by
the numerous stoppages -through-
out the plant in the ‘past six
M0) ths.

Gk workers, through their Un-"

“jon, the UE, in Schenectady and
have always tried to’

‘nationally, -
work out thelr problems through
negotiation. That attitude is a
matter of record sover the period
of 15 years with only orie strike.
_ That same attitude exists today.
* We-want to bargain for a just-and
réasohable settlement. ;
The Company, on the other hand,
“up-to the present time has refused
so’ today GE workers in Schenec-
tady and throughout the country

- will be forced to take a strike vote
“inorder, to notify the Company

that they expect reasonable con-
sideration. for their just demands
and cannot afford ‘to give up the
working conditions sand standards

that: have been:-won and: establish-:

ed over the last 15 yeats of col-
‘lective bargaining.”

e

a