Fe ee A LON i eee ne Se me ee
yee
. : 5. . ‘ ”
nae States PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 81 * CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION ©
of America ; :
pet renee Ne ae ie
ISSUED BY
“IUE-CIO Local 301
| 10 State Street
| Schenectady 5, N.Y.
Phone Schenectady 2-4140
GolUE Stay ClO
ners
a
Letter on Behalf of International Union
of Electrical, Radio, and Machine
Workers a
EXTENSION OF REMARKS
or
HON. WILLIAM J. GREEN, JR.
OF PENNSYLVANIA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Monday, January 16, 1950
Mr. GREEN. Mr. Speaker, under
leave to extend my remarks in the Rec-
onp, I include the following letter:
INVERNATIONAL UNION OF ELECTRICAL, +
Rablo, AND MACHINE WORKERS;
Washington, D. C., January 14, 1950.
Hon, Wiuumam J, GRern, .
House of Representatives,
Washington, D.C.
, Dear ConcressMman Green: I am address-
ing this letter to you on behalf of the Inter.
national Union of Electrical, Radio and Ma-
chine Workers, CIO, a labor organization
which was churtered by the CIO last Novem-
ber 2, following expulsion of the Communist-
dominated United Electrical, Radio and Ma-
chine Workers. .
We wish to-bring to your attention an ex-
ceedingly ominous situation in our Industry
which we believe not only mennces demo-
cratic American trade unionism, but also in-
volves grave questions of national security
and defense.
The IUR-CIO is now engaged in a crucial
Nation-wide contest with the UE over the
right to represent more than 0 half-million
men and women in cur industry. Sometime
in the near future that contest will culml-
nate in a series of representation elections
conducted by the National Labor Relations
Board. :
We of the IUR-CIO have bent every effort
toward the earliest possible settlement of
this representation qitestlon through NLRB
elections, becatise:. (1) We are confident that
we represent the overwhelming majority of
workers: In the electrical, radio, and ma-
chine industry; and (2) we are anxious that
Industrial stability he restored in this Im-
portunt fel of production through the es-
tablishment of sound collective bargaining
relations,
There have, however, been numerous ob-
stacles placed in the way of a swift and aml-
cable settlement of the representation Issue.
Most of these abstacles have been erected by
UE in a delilernte and vicious campaign to
postpone—and even prevent, if possible—
the holding of elections, And in this cam-
paign, as we shall show, certain sections of
management, particularly the General Elec-
tric Co., have given active assistance to the
discredited Communist-led minority repre-
sented by UE,
It would require a small volume to describe
to you the insidious legal maneuverings and
harassments employed by UE to block reso-
lution of the representation question, In
872147—B2720
almost every city in the country where the
electrical, rndio, and machine industry ts
organized, UE has filed law suits, petitions for
injunction and other court actions to pre-
vent the membership from making their own
democratic determination of their collective
bargaining ‘agent. Suits to tle up union
funds, suits to prevent use of our union's
name, suits to prohibit union meetings, sults
to force solvent local unions into bank-
ruptcy—all have ‘been commonplace. The
deluge. of disruptive judicial jockeying has
spared no one; even the NLRB Itself was sued
for $100,000 by UE, Here again we clalm that
the position taken by management in this dis-
pute has ‘abetted and encouraged the UE tn
its prolonged legal wrangling. .
We would like to emphasize as strongly as
we can that this is definitely not a common:
jurisdictional squabble between two labor
groups. This Is a fundamental fight—which
has long since, passed from the cold-war to
the hot-war stage—between twa dlametri-
cally opposed concepts that affect the entire
United States labor movement and, through
it," “yentlre economy. It.is n- fight to the
fim, Ne democratic American: trade
uniomism and.the attempts of the Kremlin
to preserve the UE ag u mass use for the cx-
sign of Soviet foreign policy in this coun-
8 a fight, in one of the Nation's most
Ca industrics, between loyalty to tradi-
tional American ideals und the menace to
national security represented in a type of
union leadership whose only loyalty ts: to x
totalitarian foreign power... It ts for these
reasons that we have become inereusingly
apprehensive over the role that management
{s playing in offering ald and comfort to these
implacable enemies of American {thertics.
That the UE is Communtist-led and Com-
munist-dominated and that under this
{ender'ship it represents a direct.threat to our
national security has been recognized time
and again by congressional cominittees and
the Atomic Energy Commission among others,
The accumulative evidence Is overwhelming
that-in this “sensitive” dudustry, UE's leader-
ship is more than 90 percent Communist or:
pro-Communist. The irrefutable truth of
this was attested by the Atomic Energy Com-
mission when it completely outlawed the UE
as collective-burgalning representative for
any workers employed on classified or secret
atomic energy projects.
A subcommittee of the House Labor Com-
mittee, headed by. Representative Charles J.
Kersten, made, a report on December 14,
1948, following an. intensive investigation
into UR, The report, which recommended
contempt eltations against 15 UE leaders in-
eluding Leo Jandreau, the top Communist
leader of UE in Schenectady und upstate New
York, proposed severn) mexsires for tighten-
ing security regulations, all of which were
clearly nimed at the threat to national safety
represented by UE, The subcommittee de-
clared that Communists have selzed control
of the US's “national office, the . executive
board, the paid stall, the union newspaper
and a number of {ts districts and locals.”
Further, the subcommittee concluded:
“The hold of the Communists on America's
" electrical Industry is the hold of Communist
Russia. It ts communism in actlon—now
It is not a historical danger; it is a present
* danger.”
This evidence of UL's flagrant subservience
to Communist Party dictates: and Kremlin
control has, as I say, been documented re-
‘peatedly by other congressional and non-
congressional groups. Consequently this In-
formation: has been® fully available to the
employers In our Industry such as General
Electric. :
~ Therefore, at no tlme could General Elec-
trie plead ignorance of the subversive char-
acter of the organization with which. tt. was
bargaining.
In my testimony before the iSersten sub-
committee on September 2, 1048, I charged
_ Under oath that management In. the elec-
trienl, radio, and machine industry has been
guilty of alding the Communist forees nnd
discriminating against the anti-Communist
“elements among rank-and-file employees. I
emphasized that “It has been my whole_ex-
perience that the employers find ‘it eo “Sto
get along with Communists becausy Arc
Communists cénnot be nggressive in adyast<
ment of a grievance.” In addition, I pointed
out—giving tho names of indivieunls-—that
in some Instances management has even'dis-
charged’ known, antl-Communists from their
jobs at the behest of UE. 2 re
In the face of such evidence pres a
the subcommittee, Congressman Kersten,
not onee, but twice, cleclired that the collu-
sive arrangements between management and
the Communitst-controlled UE should be In-
vestigated, .
At one point Congressman Kersten as-
gerted, “Certainly if it is true that any man-
agement Is so stupid asta cooperate with
Communists, the light of day should be
thrown on that situation as well as on any
other situation where people are cooperat.
ing with the Communists. Tf there is coop-
eration on the management side, nat should
be brought out, too, I ean see where 16 Is
probably even more dangeraus where there
Is cooperation between management and the
Communists.”
On the same theme, Representative Car-
ton. D, Kearns, who ts still a member of the
House Labor Committee, remarked, “I think
the industry should be called Upon to ex-
plain that type of action within Chetry own
ludustry, regirdiess of what it muy be, if
they are follGwing procedures of that kind.”
Other members of the scommittee expressed
similar sentiments,
Tclte these facts for the reason that al-
though these hearings were hekl in Septem-
ber, and October 1948, there has been no
move of nny Kind to investigate chargés of
eollusion between management and the to-
tallturinn left, We in IUE-CIO believe tt ts
a fine thing, and important, for Congress to
be concerned-about the Communist occupa-
tlon of China and Formosa, about the con-
tainment of Soviet expansion In Europe, and
the necessity of spending billions of dollars
in Marshall pian funds to repel the threat of
sprending bolshevism. But we also belleva
that Congress could wisely turn its eyes
homeward toward the even greater danger
OEE
foe
enna einen tinsel anette samme tat ey STRUENRE
2
constituted by opportunistic management
collaborating with the Communists, It is
the clear and immediate duty of Congress to
investigate these chirges; to ascertain, for
example; whether management's patronage
of Communist-controlled unions is dictated
in-any way by advantageous contracts the
companies may hold with Amitorg, the Soviet
trade agency. National security demands
_ that the whole field of this question be pub- ©
licly explored and exposcd.
In this period of cold war with the world
threatened’ by a new totalitarian wave, there
can be no such thing as neutrality, particu
larly on the part of giant corporations whose
functioning determines both the peacetime.,
health and wartime strength of our economy. .
Yet management, General Electric conspicu-
ously, pretends to a position of impartiallty
in this struggle which. is concretely reflected
in the current dispute In its plants between
IUE and UE.
There is ample*evidence that GE's ime
partially is not only a pose anda pretense
but that tt also disguises a definite pattern
of collusion with the Communist UE, Let
me offer just one example, a very recent, one.
Last week, while IUE was preparing its
campaign for the forthcoming NLRB clec-
tlons in Genern) Electric, more than 10,000
dues check-off cards were circulated through
the vast GE plant in Schenectady, N.Y. The
-circulation and signing of seviral thousands
of these cards was accomplished by UE within
the space of n single diay. We know that such
an chormous undertaking as this could never
have been accomplished without Aagrant, {l-
tegal collusion: between GE and UE, between
foremen and other management representa-
of
Wi loss of thelr jobs, told that they would
lose precious senlority, and deceived with the
argument that by signing the cards the wark-
ers would only be speeding up the date ot
the NLRB clectlons, Foremen and’ other
inpnagement representatives facilitated the
a bution of these crrds and actively pro-
_l the threats and lies etreulated by the
UE representatives
Such seemingly eccentric behavior by mun-
agement becomes much more understand-
able when it is Viewed against the back-
ground of the company’s policies in the past.
L. M. Boulware, GE's vice president in charge
of lnbor relations, has for example, inserted
full-page ads in daily newspapers titled: "A
Plague On Both Your Houses." Tis truly
amazing statement by 1 major American cof-
poration professed to find no difference be-
tween democratic American unionism and
the revolutianary arm of the Kremlin in the
United States which ts dedicated to the over-
throw of our form.of government.
These advertisements, read by millions of
Americuns, expressed ns GE's opinion:
“While frequently the leader and his asso=
clates on one side are termed left-wingers,
and the-lencer and his associates uare—wrong-
fully In our opinion, regarded ns right wing-
ers, We believe they have in the end the same
objectives. We belleve that. what each side
advocates Would result In the long run in
substantially the sume thing Cor our eme-
ployees, our company, und our country. In
our opinion, whether they reallze lt or not,
both are collectivists—believers in govern-
ment belng. big and in people ‘being Mttle"
GE's. attitude toward communistic control
of Its employees in. wartime was disclosed
when GE President Charles E. Wilson re-
marked during a session. of the War Labor
Bonrd, “Matles and Emspak may be Com-
munists but they are very eusy to work with.
It's Just Ike having a company union and
having the workers pay for it." : ‘
Time and again It has been indlented that
GE would Ike to see the left and the right
destroy ‘euch oliver or else’ bleed cach other ~
872147—32739 °
[on lenders of the Communist minority |
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD
to such a polnt of, weakness that collective
bargaining. would be reduced to the level
of company unionism.
When we leurned Inst week of GE's com~ ©
plicity with the Communist-led UE in the
‘circulation of “the 10,000 check-off cnrds
through the Schenectady plant, we promptly
sent the following telegram to, GE President
Wilson: : -
“The International Union of Electrical,’
Radio und Machine Workers, cio, has
learned that General Electric Company has.
entered itito u.collusive deal with Leo: Jan-
dreau of Local 301, UE, at Schenectady, N. ¥.,
“ under which that local would be paid. over
check-off monfes in return for turning in
new signed check-off cards. :
“This was done right in the plants, with
UE working with .the ald. and abettance of
munagement. .
“This came atu time when an application
for an election was pending with the Nao-
tional Labor Relations Board and at.a time
when GE has‘a sult pending in the Federal
court of New York covering the Schenectady
plant seeking 2 determination us to whether
the dues should go to IUE-CIO or to the UB;
and when GE has been proclaiming that it is
impartial, ;
“This action by GE ts w clear uct of favor-
itism and a ‘fingrant violation of the. law.
Such violation: can be cleared only if Gr
extends the same privilege to TUE,
“WIL GE agree to. provide IUE-CIO. with
the'same consideration in similar situations
as With UB in Schenectady regarding the
eheck-off or 1s this agreement confined to
finanelng the Communist-controlled UE 301?
“we demand an explanation and an an-
swer.”
We know that.men were threatened ©’
advantage to deal
unions, Because they are the objects of
public antipathy, beeause they have lost tr-
retrievable ground numicrically and finan-
cially, Communist “union lenders" today are
willing to make any sort of deal, any. sort
of concessions to maintain thelr dwindling
power over sections of American labor. “We
are prepared to show the extent to which
management has found this situation {m-
“ mensely to its king beevuse the contracts Lt
has been able ta impose are frequently spine
Jess and regressive. In some instances Com-
munist “union leaders,” to the-intense satis-
faction of manngement, have agreed to ac-
-eept. wage cuts for their members, But in
nearly every case pay raises, pension plans,
and other contract improvements have been
mensurnbly weaker where the union has had
Communist leadership. An instance in point
Is Uli's negotiations with .General. Electric
over the entire yenr of 1949, UB's absurdly
vague proposal of a "$500 package” {nerease,
unprecedented in tke history of American
labor's contract demands, was borne out of
the weakness, confusion, and disunity that
has corrupted U's strength in recent your's.
Management, of course, has simply: laughed
nt the “$500 package” iden, and as a result
workers In the electricnl, rndio, and machine
industry have gone without any ware ine
crease, pension plan, or other benefits while
“hundreds of thousands of auto and stecl-
workers }.ive won new and precedent-setting
contract: improvements.
When these frets nre considered cooly and
enimly, it can surprise none thut GE publicly
proclaims n pollcy of “plague on both your
houses.” It is to GI's very substantini ad-
» vantage to glve surreptitious.aid to the Com-
munist-led minority, to facilitate the circu-
lation of dues check-off cards, and to com~-
pound. the confusion of representation os
much as: possible.
But we in IUE-CIO hold the conviction
that the masters of great corporate wealth
and power in this country have a sacred re»
sponsibility to the American people and to
American democratic principles. They must
“not be permitted, for purposes of financtal
expediency, to assume a fake pose of “{m-
partiniity’? co cloak n policy which nourishes
a fifth column in America.
The Nation has been exceedingly generous
to the managers of this industry. Their
. profits have been enormous, their return on
investments huge. They have benefited
greatly by large tax rebates and through
cost-plus contracts during the war. In nu-
merous instances where companies, such as
General Electric, have been found guilty of
international cartel conspiracies or violation
of the Sherman anti-trust law, they have es-
caped with astonishingly light penaltics.
General Electric, for example, increased its
“net profits from 40,900,000 in 1939 to $181,-
600,000 in 1948, an inerense of 222 percent.
Profits after taxes rose from 3.5 percent In
1943 to 5.7 percent in 1946, to 7.6 percent in
1947, and 81 percent in 1948. GE's annual
dividend rate of 1.40 per share in 1045
jumped ta.$2:in the third quarter of 1948 and
to $2.50 in the fourth quarter of 1949. All .
other finanelal statistics Involving this com-
pany provide proof of GE's growing power and .
profitability.
These facts offer additional reasons why
GE’s employees and the American public have
a might to expect a degree of responsibility
and devotion to democratic ideals that ts not
reflected in the company's policy of coopera:
tion with a totalitarian “labor” organizution.
It has long been established that ULE's lead-
ers are interested only in. the proposition of
praving that democracy eannot work. HH in
that- undertaking they are given haven and
sustenance by General Electric und other
companies, the crime is an outrageous olfense
against American principles and national
security.
For our purt, we in IUE-CIO ure whoily
convinced that the employees of General
Blectric and. the rest of the industry do not
want to remain in a Communist-led union.
Within the short spree of 2% months, more
than 250,000 workers In the electrical, radio,
and machine industry have given their blunt
answer to the Communist control of UE by
taking membership in 160 .churtered local
unions of the IUE-CIO, The UL will not win
the right to represent the G@- workers in
Schenectady. or in any other plant through
default by the IUE, To retain control over
the economic lives of thousands of workers
in this. industry, the Communists need the
support of inaction or reaction: on the part
of management.
For these and other reasons We strongly
urge you ta propose an immediate investign-
tion by the proper committee of Congress
into the activities und policies of some sec-
tlons of Industrial management In providing
collusive stuppart and encouragement fo
totalitarian and anti-democratic elements
that have infiltrated into American trade-
unionism,
We cannot, of course, spenk for GE or other
corporations. We ask faryour assistance in
requiring them to speak for themselves on
this grave question.
Plense accept our assurance that the LUE- «©
CLO, its-leaders and representatives, will give
the utmost cooperation to any congressional
Inquiry into this question, and will gladly
make avaliable the evidence accumulated
over many ‘years of painful experience with
this problem. E
Sincerely yours,
James B. Carey,
Chatrman,, Administrative Committee.
G, &, GOVERNHCRT PRINTING OFFICE: 1950
ETERS LORE TET
SE SMearenare se
| | A QUESTION OF UE
ARE YOU, OR HAVE YOU EVER BEEN, A MEMBER OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY ?
This is the question Con: i i igati i
gressional investigation committees are asking 1 i
oat the vote ! ing in hearings through-
‘“THE BEST ANSWER IS THE TRUTH !
But the business agent. of. UE Local 301 has advised his Executive Board members to. use
their constitutional right and refuse to answer on the grounds that they might incriminate
themselves. Such advise was given at a secret session of the board not to long ago. It was
given because Congress has announced that an investigation of Communism in Schenectady
has been planned. ,
ONLY THOSE WHO ARE MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY
- - WHO HAVE
PLEDGED THEIR ALLEGIANCE TO A FOREIGN WAY OF THINKING - - NEED TO
REFUSE TO ANSWER ‘THIS QUESTION.
Right-thinking Americans have no fear of such investigati i inki
i : vestigation. Right-thinking. Americans~
honestly. without fear of. incriminating themselves. i nie
i Honest union leaders are convinced that. they owe it to their members to answer ‘such ques- -
tions truthfully. Union members have the right to know whether their leaders.have any. affil-
iation with the Communist movement. _
BUT THE BUSINESS AGENT OF UE LOCAL. 301 HAS GIVEN DIFFEREN : ’
BERS OF HIS EXECUTIVE BOARD ! TApwise TO MeN
Now each member of the board must decide for himself whether or not to answer the
question. Those who are members of the Communist Party will refuse to answer the question
as all Communists do, .
, But those who are not members of the Communist Party should. think twice before refus-
ing to answer... ‘ :
REFUSAL TO ANSWER IS AN ADMISSION OF GUILT !
GE WORKERS WANT NO PART OF AN ORGANIZATION THAT CARRIES THE RED MARK
; ARK
OF COMMUNIISM. UE MANAGED TO FOOL SCHENECTADY GE WORKERS BEFORE -'- BUT
THIS TIME UE HAS GONE TOO FAR. GE WORKERS WANT A UNION THAT NEGOTIATES
WAGE INCREASES - - A UNION LIKE IUVE-CIO ... NOT AN ORGANIZATION THAT SPENDS
ITS TIME NEGOTIATING WAYS TO AVOID ANSWERING QUESTIONS WHICH EV
AMERICAN SHOULD WANT TO ANSWER ! : nan
UE HAS FOOLED US LONG ENOUGH -.- BUT ITS RECORD CONDEMNS UE!
SIGN YOUR IUE-CIO APPLICATION CARD TODAY FOR AN EARLY NLRB ELECTION !
ATTACHED TO TODAY'S BULLETIN IS A COPY
OF THE BULLETIN IUE-CIO DISTRIBUTED. LAST
THURSDAY, WHEN GE MANAGEMENT REFUSED
MIUE.CIO THE RIGHT 'TO DISTRIBUTE LITERATURE
ON COMPANY PROPERTY. WE URGE THAT YOU
READ IT, Uf YOU DID NOT SEE ‘A COPY LAST
WEEK. ,
Issued by:
a Nag ET,
IUE-CIO: Organization Committee - 202 Clinton Street - Schenectady, N. Y.
weet:
