Electrical Union News, 1947 August 22

4

ELECTRICAL UNION. NEWS

Aug. 15, 1947

George Walker, Local 301 guide, at extreme left, administers
oath of office to four new shop stewards: left to right, Ed-

| New Shop Stewards—There’s a Big Job Ahead of Them

mund Kelley, Bldg. 37; Marjorie Decker, Bldg. 60; Melvine
Smith, Bldg. 60, and Gene Szezepanik, Bldg. 69.

Turbine Overtime

(Continued from Page 1)
-we used to turn out in 8 hours. The
company wants more production, and we
have made suggestions which would help
to get the extra production they want.
Our only requirement is that our people
“be paid for their extra efforts. We re-
gret to say that our suggestions...
have been turned down by the manage-
ment,
Such Schemes Spread

“About 860 of us are involved at the
present time — but schemes like this one
have a way of spreading, like weeds in
the garden. Every time the management
succeeds in speeding up production with-
out passing any of the benefits along
to the workers, they will be encouraged
to try the same thing in other depart-
ments, — ,

“Hvery speed-up in production will

eventually mean fewer jobs. When the
present rush of orders is over, the speed-
up will mean lay-offs — and everybody
knows what that means... This is not
something we are guessing at — it hap-
pened before, during the depression of
1929 and 1930. Many of you remember
those days. I invite every man and wo-
man who is listening this evening, to
join with the union in helping at least
to delay the arrival of another depres-
sion. The action of our members in the
Turbine Division is a part of that larger
program.”

Leland Stowe on Air

The Leland Stowe broadcast, sponsored
by the natiorial UE, is at 7:80 every
-Wednesday' on WSNY, WABY and
WBCA (FM). ~ ‘

Board Orders 50 Copies

Of ‘Fascism in Action'

The Local 301 Executive Board voted
Aug. 6 to buy 50 copies of “Fascism in
Action”, a veport prepared by the Li-
brary of Congress on fascism abroad. A
foreward by Representative Wright Pat-
man of Texas shows how the lessons
learned in Europe apply here at home. |

Patman and other liberal Congressmen
had to fight to get the House of Repre-
sentatives to have even 1500 copies of
the report printed. One of the Congress-
men who tried to keep the document from
the American public gave two chief reas-
ons for his objections to printing it:

1. The report mentioned Franco Spain
as a fascist state.

2. It linked American Big Business to
Nazis through cartel agreements.

Be a Good Citizen -
GIVE TO PAC!

GE Named by Elliott
Arnong Wartime Hosts -

Tn all the columns of newspaper hulla-
balloo about war contracts, Howard
Hughes, Senator Brewster, and Blliott
Roosevelt, you would have had great dif-
ficulty finding the fact that young Roose-
velt testified that he had been entertain-
ed by a number of big companies inter-
ested in war contracts. He named Gen-
eral Electric as one of the companies.

However, in this case the important
thing is not that GE was mentioned. The
important point to working people is
that the Republican majority of the Sen-
ate investigating committee is making
the big fuss over Hughes serve two pur-
poses: smearing the name of FDR, and
drawing attention away from the way
the really big companies, with their men
in war production posts, profited from
the war at the expense of the people.

Hughes is a millionaire, but is still
‘small fry in industry.

New Tax on Workers' Pay
Beaten by PAC Drive

Minneapolis (UENS)—A whirlwind
PAC campaign in Minneapolis has de-
feated a vicious 1% payroll tax proposal
which would have put a burden on small
businessmen and wage earners and ex-
empted corporations and stockholders.
Bucking the local newspapers and pow-
erful groups supporting the tax, UE and
other CIO members canvassed house to
house through their PAC ward and shop
committees, went over the air, distributed
100,000 leaflets. Result: 102,000 voted

against the tax; only 50,000 for it. The

biggest union in the city, UE played a
leading role in the campaign.

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JLECTRICAL

NION

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THE:VOICE OF LOCAL 301 - - - U.E.R.&M, WA - e+ CLO.

Vol. 5 — No. 31

SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK

-- August 22, 1947

Joint Body Set Up
On Bus Complaints

Gn the initiative of the Local 801
transportation committee just set up,
a joint committee of city; bus company,

Mary McCartin Anthony Villano

and union vepresentatives will meet
from time.to time to take up complaints
regarding bus serv- . .
ice to and from
work. GE also will
be asked to send
representatives, as
well as ALCO and
Steel Local 2054.

The 801 commit-
tee includes Mary
McCartin, Willard
Kuschel, and Anth-
ony Villano. It was
set up by the Ex-
ecutive Board be- =
cause of the fre- Willard Kuschel
quent complaints of ow
inadequate service to and from the
works, and of scheduled buses being
skipped. Members are invited to send
suggestions to this committee.

Together with President Andrew

- Peterson, the committee met Wednes-~

day with Arthur Blessing, city traffic
director, A. Frank Geiler, president of
Schenectady Railway, and Lewis Bene-
dict and Alton Petteys, president and
secretary of Transport Workers 159.

The meeting discussed various com-
plaints from GI workers, and sugges-
tions for rerouting of bus lines, and
changing. traffic regulations during rush
hours, popes

The next meeting will be on Wednes-
day, September 3,

GE Boston Lamp Plant Fires 44
When Heat Makes Them Stop

Boston, Mass. —- General Hlectric’s, East Boston lamp plant has given dismissal
notices, effective this week-end, to 44 workers here who stopped work last Friday

becau.e of the intense heat and humidity.

Members Protest. Training
Militia to Break Strikes

Reports that the national guardsmen
who left last week for Camp Smith were
to be given training in strikebreaking
brougat action by Tuesday’s member-
ship meeting, which called upon Con-
gvessman bernard T. Kearney, as a rep-
resentative and a general, to take action
to “see to it that our national guards-
nien-are given training in their stated
auty of defense only.”

_ The letter, approved by the member-
ship declared:

“We have members and members’ sons
in the National Guard, and we consider
it a disgrace to our democracy to have
the citizens’ militia prepared for un-
democratic purposes.” :

On August 12 the Schenectady Gaz.

‘ebte carried the story about training the
national guardsmen in “riot control” to

meet the danger of “subversive groups”
bringing “mass chaos.” The union letter
declared the story was “fantastic”, and
obviously intended to cover up a plan
to call a strike a “riot”, and use the

- militia “to help..Big. Business. in its. ef-

forts to crush industrial workezs through

‘the Taft-Hartley law.”

The letter pointed out that individual
members of the Guard know that the
proposed “riot control” is nothing but
strikebreaking and do not like it, It de-
claved that “it is high time that those in
authority started to act as well as talk
democracy.”

Back Pay Raise Won

Back pay for two toolmakers in Build-
ing 46 was won in a recent grievance
meeting with Louis Male, general sup-
erintendent, when Male agreed that on
their return to the tool room they should
have been given the inerease which had
taken place during their absence, At
the time the toolmakers’ case was set-

~ tled, they were working on boring mills.

BUILD THE UNION

This was reported to bé the largest
group. of firings anywhere in the GE
system in years. It was seen as reflect-
ing the compang’s new attitude. -

Ui Local 224 is asking the local man-
agement to rescind the notices as un-
justified.

There are about 400. workers in. the
plant. The 44 were part of a larger
group who stopped work because of the
heat, A letter from the plant manage-
ment to the local union declared that the
44 werebeing fired because -they also
had participated in a stoppage last
March.

The men stopped work while their
committee was in a meeting with man-
agement talking over closing the plant.
The previous day, Thursday, the com-
pany had announced before 10 a.m, that
it would close at noon because of the
heat. On Friday the heat was the same
and the official record showed the. hu.
midity to be even worse. The men be-
came impatient. when the company de-
layed its announcement to close the
plant.° The plant did close at noon, aft-
er the men had stopped work.

Wallace Mass Meeting
Likely Here in October

An executive board committee
is looking into the possibilities of
holding a mass meeting here. to
hear Henry Wallace. The’ board
named the committee after being
advised that ‘the Progressive Citi-:
zens of America was arranging
upstate speaking dates for. ‘the
former vice-president, and thought
a date late in. Octobe would be
possible for Schenectady.

The board committee includes
Vice-President William Hodges,
Recording Secretary Helen Quirini,
James Cognetta, Willard Kuschel,
Dewey Brashear, and William
Templeton, alternate for Charles
Ferris.

Sop mare neste
Reis

2

Ask Special Session
To Reduce Prices

A request to President Truman to
call an immediate special session of Con-
gress to restore price control and roll
back prices was voted unanimously by
the membership meeting Tuesday night.

A letter by President Andrew Peter-
son to President Truman, authorized by
the meeting, said in part:

“You have urged price reduction. We
respectfully suggest that Big Business
will not listen to appeals, and will reduce
prices only if forced to do so by govern-
ment action. Every week additional fig-
ures come out showing that big corpor-
ations are making new record profits.
In fact, they are engaged in a wild profit
spree at the expense of the people.

“Since the death of OPA, prices have
run so far ahead of wages that the NAM
propaganda about wage rises causing
price rises has been thoroughly debunk-
ed. Price rises have resulted from the
greed. for profits, and wages are engaged
in a desperate race to keep up with pric-
es. Even those workers who won the
full wage pattern established by our un-
ion are still! lagging far behind the cost
of living.

“This situation is causing ‘severe hard-
ship for American working people. Even
more serious is the fact that the current
inflation is reducing the purchasing pow-
er of the people in such a way as to make
a crash inevitable.

“We ask you to act before it is too
late.”

Put Refuse in Garbage Cans

Hot weather every year makes the life
of the salvage department workers un-
bearable, just because some of their fel-
low-members are unwilling. to be care-
ful where they throw lunch remnants.
Among the scrap barrels brought to
them to sort and bale are always a few
barrels containing garbage. At this
time of the year the refuse spoils fast.
The men wonder if it is too much to ask
all workers to be careful and throw gar-
bage in refuse barrels only.

ELECTRICAL UNION NEWS

August 22, 1947.

UE NEWS stRVICE

\€ these blankety

pay cut, they wont be able to make a living...

ELECTRICAL UNION NEWS

Unrrep Exxarricat, Ravio & MacHina
Workers or America, CIO
Saunznrcrapy GE Locau 301

Ve
Published by the Editoriat Committee
Willian’ Templeton, Chairman
Mary McCartin, Secretary
Willard Kuschel Victor Pasche
Leland Sisto

Editorial Office - Electrical Union News
301 Liberty St.-+ Schenectady, N. ¥,

Telephone 3-1386

Lecce PGHENECTADY PRINTING CO ING, ccscarmennd

erchret

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Members Order Trial
Of Three in Slander

Officers of Local 301 were ordered by
the membership meeting Tuesday night
to press charges against a few members
who were accused of meeting with Sal
Vottis on August 8 to prepare a state-
ment smearing the union, which ap-
peared two days later in the Gazette.

Named specifically were Frank Fioril-
lo, who calls himself chairman of the
“Democratic Action Committee”, and

‘Martin Stanton and GC. J. Di Girolamo,

stewards in Building 69. They will be
charged with violating the Constitution
by taking their fight outside the union
before exhausting the procedure within
the union.

Will Elect Trial Committee

The executive board recommendation
to press the charges carried by 113 to
36,.0n a standing vote. Under the. trial
provision of the constitution, a trial com-
mittee of nine will be elected. by the Sep-
tember membership meeting to hear the
charges. The trial committee’s report
and recommendations will be acted on
by the October membership meeting.

Business, Agent Leo Jandreau read
an affidavit naming the three among a

small group‘who met with Vottis. Vottis
is the former 301 financial secretary who
testified against Local 801 before the
un-American Committee in Washington
last month.

Janidreau said that the dissident mem-
bers had been given full opportunity at
all times to present their views on the
floor of membership meetings, and that
the officers had tried to work with them,
but that they now had gone outside the
union in 4 campaign to slander it, He
said the men had a right to meet, but
not for the purpose of smearing the
union, He said the union would continue
to fight “any. group that tries to use
this union.” .

_ Fiorillo’s Answer

Fiorillo answered by admitting that
the meeting with Vottis was held, and by
charging that the national and local un-
ion leadership were serving the aims of
“Russian imperialism.”

Vice-President William Hodges sup-
ported the proposal to prefer charges
against the men. He said:

“I disagree with some of the policies
of this union; but it is one of the most
democratic there is, and when people
go outside this. union to smear it, that’s
undemocratic. It’s a violation of the
constitution.” »

.

August 15, 1948

ELECTRICAL UNION NEWS

Chamber of Commerce Calls. for Factions in Unions;
Advises Employers on How to Encourage Splitters

(Last week’s issue of this paper carried the story of the visit here by Earl 0.
Shreve, president of the U. S. Chamber of ‘Commerce and vice-president of GE on
leave, and Shreve’s threat to labor to get worse legislation passed than even the Taft-
Hartley law. The’story pointed out that the Chamber of Commerce is distributing to
employers a handbook in union-busting through red-baiting, called “Communists

«within the Labor Movement.” The handbook has been issued to GE foremen. In
this issue and the next one the contents of this booklet are summarized.)

The Chamber's approach is identical
with that of Senator Ives, and Taft and
Hartley, in the Taft-Hartley law, that
union-busting was needed for “the good
of labor.” Indeed, Shreve was one of
the boosters of the Taft-Harley bill, and
many of its provisions are designed to
carry out the booklet’s recommendations,

Faction Is Wanted

The handbook is directed to employers
and to conscious or unconscious employer
stooges within the union. It proceeds to
warn employers that the red-baiting at-
tack on union leaders must be made by a
faction within the union, and that the

company must not assist the faction in ~

such a way as to label its members “com-
pany tools.” The employer is warned
that he cannot “openly” permit factional
activity by red-baiters “during working
time.”

The Chamber is quick to point out the
rewards to employers of this kind of ac-
tivity: s

“Such internal union disputes are mak-
ing almost daily headlines in the nation’s
press. Photostats of these articles or
their headlines can be used quite ef-
fectively” (where a plant is still unor-
ganized),

How to Play Ball

At the same time the Chamber points
out to employers how it ean play ball
with the red-baiting faction.

It declares that “the employer often
has real, if thoroughly unconscious in-
fluence, in naming of union offcers. Small
but’ gracious concessions, frequent con-
sultations and recognition can often build
up the stature of a union official .. .”

Employers are reminded not to make

things too hard for the red-baiters on

grievances, so they don’t have to fight
both the employer and the “Communists.”
They are reminded to see “that Commun-
ists do not get too much eredit for win-
ning good cases.” To carry this out, if
a grievance is good, the employer is told
to ask a “decent” union official for his
comment, and when this “decent” official
favors the grievance, then the’ employer
is to say “yes” so some “Communist”
will not get the credit,

‘Advice to Foremen

The booklet also gives practical advice
to foremen such as this:

“To preserve morale, he (the foreman)
is on the alert for direct, on-the-spot
settlements of problems with the in-
dividual worker, avoiding the grievance
machinery where possible.”

All the above is given in the guise of
fighting against “Communism” and for
Chamber of Commerce “Americanism”.
Workers will recognize the pattern. Our
next article will tell of the blueprint laid
out by the.Chamber for factional groups
within the union.

And Now ClO Diapers

‘Your baby can now wear a union la-
bel, At least the label wil! be there in
spirit. There was a lot of company stall-
ing, but Dy Dee Diaper Service of this
city has signed a closed shop agreement
with Local 482 of the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America, CIO. The
wage raises average between 15 and 16
eents an hour. The contract provides tor
one week’s vacation after one year, two
weeks after two years, six paid holidays,
and maternity leave without loss of sen-
iority. Robert Northrop, secretary of
the Capital District Industrial Union
Council, assisted in organizing the shop.

301 Broadcast -

Don’t miss the 801 radio program. It’s
at 7:15 p.m. every Monday over WSNY.

St. Paul CIO, AFL Unite
To Fight Taft-Hartley Backer
St. Paul, Minn. (UENS) —- “Unity for

“the defense of labor” is the new watch-

word in this strongly organized city. The
St. Paul CIO-AFL United Labor Legisla-
tive Committee, in which UE plays a
leading part, is mobilizing the full re-
sources of all unions for ward and pre-
cinct organization to defeat Senator Ball
in 1948 and repeal the Taft-Hartley Act.
The AFL in St. Paul has unanimously
called.on the Minnesota AFL convention
to come out for united action with all
groups supporting the cause of labor.

Veterans’ Service Center
The Veterans’ Service Center of Local

801 is open from 1 to 5 p.m. every Tues-'

day and Friday at the union hall.

UE Board Stresses

Care on T-H Clauses

New York (UENS) — Employers who
sincerely intend to abide by the terms of
union contract and maintain stable and
orderly bargaining relationships without
resorting to the use of the Taft-Hartley
Act for union-busting will show their
good faith by agreeing in union contracts
not to use the provisions of the Act, in
the opinion of the General Executive
Board of the UE.

The GEB, which discussed the question
of contract provisions under Taft-Hartley
at its recent meeting at the UE Na-
tional Office, agreed that extreme care
should be used in contract negotiations
on this question.

While there has been a great deal of
newspaper publicity recently on the ques-
tion of contract clauses which ban Taft-
Hartley suits against Unions, the con-
sensus of the UE Board was. that union
contract negotiators should be exceeding-
ly careful to see to it that they do not
fall into the trap of preserving the un-
ion treasury from suits, at. the expense

of the membership. Some such contract

clauses that have been reported give the
employer license to penalize workers in
the shop, or prohibit the union from com-
ing to their support, in exchange for a
promise not to sue the union, Such a
clause, of course, however tempting it
may. seem, violates the most important
union principle, which is, before all, to
protect and advance the interests of the
membership.

Union-Busting Course

Given to Employers

St. Louis (UENS)—A refresher course
in the atts "6
breaking and the use of scabs, stool-
pigeons and thugs was attended recently
by 800 Missouri employers. It was held

here under the auspices of the Associated
Industries of Missouri to show employers
how to use the Taft-Hartley law. A
number of employers under UE contract
were there,

Unidti-busting, “strike”