diner [| din Culture?
Cordiner Interested in Culture?
- Not in Virginia, when he congratulated the State politicians for legislating anti-labor laws: -He spoke out of the
other side of his mouth, saying that GE congratulated such foresight on the part of the Legislators, not because they
were promoting cultural opportunities, but because they were enacting: laws that made it difficult for working men and
women to organize themselves into unions of their own choosing, and made it difficult for Unions to effectively repre-
sent their members. - " a Lo a ;
Cordiner says GE has opened two new plants in Virginia: one in. Roanoke and the other in Waynesboro. They in-
tend to open.more plants in such states. The cultural aspects of Waynesboro, or Jonesboro, Arkansas, are far below
the cultural level and opportunities of Schenectady: President Cordiner knows that GE did not make cultural com-
parisons when it decided to transfer work from places like Schenectady, Pittsfield and Lynn ‘to Virginia, Arkansas,
etc. The fact is; that one of his closest constituents, Vice-President Arthur Vinson, claimed the “economic. climate”
"was more suitable. This is another way of saying that wages are much lower and the Labor Movement much weaker.
“Don't Crowd Me,” Says Cordiner -
Cordiner stated that he warned the City Fathers and other civic leaders back in 1952, that GE planned a reduc-
tion of employment of approximately 12,’500, from 42,500 to 30,000. Well at least this gives the lie to the story that
Local GE Management has been trying“to sell the Community for the last’ 18 months, namely that stoppages and .
Unions are the cause for less expansion and lay-offs. The decentralization of GE and the. transformation. of Jarge GE
plants into smaller ones has been based on a plan arbitrarily arrived at by the officials, of the Company, designed to
make ever greater profits. Why blame the Local politicians and businessmen, and charge that the Community is
“overbuilt’’-real-estate-wise,-when actually the Company created this situation and it is beyond the control of the
people it is now trying to blame. ° . mo
. Is it wrong for working people to desire a home of their own? It is our opinion that a home owner develops a
sense of responsibility that encourages interest ‘in Civic, Political, Educational and Cultural activity within a given com-
‘munity. There is nothing new about Schenectady having a high percentage of home owners, compared with other com-
munities of comparable size. It has enjoyed that position for twenty years. Mr. Cordiner refers to 30,000 employees
‘at the Local GE plant ‘as being the number that the community can properly stand. -Apparently Mr. Cordiner is not
familiar with the fact that a very large percentage of the present local plant employees come from outside the com-
munity; therefore, his charge of “overtaxing” the community facilities is nothing short of a convenient alibi to cover
’ ;
up the injustices caused by the transferring of jobs to other localities.
“Nobody Injured Due to Transfers”
Cordiner says he is ‘not aware” that anyone was injured by Department transfers. This statement must be false,
and is proof either of deliberate distortion of the facts, or else Mr. Cordiner has been completely misinformed about the
employment situation in the Schenectady plant. Women with 14 years service have been laid off and cannot find jobs.
Over 100 Toolmakers and skilled Mechanics have.been taken. off their occupation because of lack of work. Thousands
of GE employees have been transferred to different jobs and this resulted in either’a temporary or permanent reduc-
tion in take-out pay for the individuals involved. These changes did not cause physical injury, but they certainly
caused financial and moral injury. ems
“Union Contract Responsible for Inflation”
President Cordiner says the Union Contract fostered inflationary policies by granting wage increases each year.
Mr. Cordiner should sit down and study his financial report for 1956 more carefully and state the truth, His report
shows that GE Sales in 1956 were 18% above those of 1955, while the 1956 net’earnings were down only eight tenths
of a cent, per dollar of sales billed. This:was caused by the high cost of decentralization and the Company’s program
of expanding and new plants. General Electric’s increasing of prices of most of their products in the latter part of
1956 will make a considerable difference in the net profit report of 1957. A 15.3% return on the capital investment for
the Company. was made during 1956. This is not at ‘all bad when compared to the best interest rates available.
Neither does Mr. Cordiner consider the Incentive Compensation, which is over regular salaries, inflationary. A few
selected Company executives collected $13,137,727.00 during. 1956, QVER AND ABOVE THEIR REGULAR SAL-
ARIES! Neither does Mr. Cordiner mention other “featherbedding” policies of GH,. such as the Stock Option Plan,
whereby a relatively few key executives were able to purchase’GE stock in 1956 which carried 1953 prices of less than
one-half of their present market value. During 1956, 267,668 shares of GE stock was purchased by these Key Execu-
tives under this give-away program. The 3%% wage increase for.the employees, under the Union Contract, was chick-
en-feed compared to the grab made by the GIS officialdom. .
Tells Engineers to Be Patient
You will gét there some day, says Mr. Cordiner.to the Engineers. Even though you are GE employees and have
spent years at school to earn your degree, you may reach the professional status of Doctors and Lawyers “some day”’..
This all sounds encouraging, but many of the GE Engineers have long seryice with the Company already. The only
reason that Engineers are not receiving a higher salary is because the GE: Management thinks they are being paid all
they are worth. There is nothing compelling the Company to think otherwise. Factory workers learned, through
hitter experience, that up until the time they were organized into a Union, the “voluntary generosity” of GE: was con-
spicuously absent. They did experience wage cuts and no general wage increases. After they formed a Union, wage
cuts were eliminated, and general wage increases have been granted. We may add, not on the basis of “hearty co-
operation” with the.union, but rather with “dignified acquiescence” to the Union's demands. The economic progress
of GE employees through their Union is borne out by Mr. Cordiner’s remarks that the Union Contract forcing wage
increases is ‘not.good’. . ; os
It is pretty obvious that Mr. Cordiner’s complaints about the cultural levels in Schenectady have no real bearing
on his intentions and purposes as they affect the economic levels of our Community. If Mr. Cordiner really was con-
cerned about our cultural advancement, he would have given us more assurance as to our future economic security.
Full employment is needed first, before other programs requiring expenditures can be undertaken.
- Spring Giveaway
-ODrawing at June
AFL-CIO
Vol. 3—= No. 11
The Voice of GE Workers, Local 301, Schenectady, N.Y.
June 7, 1957
w
Membership —
“Meeting © —
The annual. Spring Giveaway
drawing will be held at the June
17th, Ist and 8rd shifts member-
ship meeting. Chief of Police Wil-
liam Brandt will draw the winning
numbers. Prizes: will be drawn in
the following order: °
. Power Mower
Man or Woman’s Clothing
Outfit (Value $100.00)
Lawn Table, Umbrella and 4
Chairs F
Portable Radio » —
Fishing Rod & Reel
. Lawn Chaise Lounge
Flash Camera:
Electric Fry Pan .
Electric Coffee Maker
Aluminum. Picnie Table
Coleman Camp Stove
' Outdoor Portable Cooler
Travel ‘Alarm Clock
Kitchen Clock.
Shop Stewards are urged to
sell their tickets and return the
money to the Union Office by Mon-
_ day, June 10th. The proceeds from
this Giveaway «and .other’ later
_~. events under consideration by the
a
¢
“)Activities Committee will be used
“to finance the- annual Children’s
Christmas Party for 1957.
Leadership Conference
Hailed as Success
The ‘Union Leadership, Educa-
tional Conference, sponsored by
IUE District 3 and held in- Sche-
nectady, was considered very en--
lightening and helpful to all those
“\Union Officers and Executive
"YBoard Members who attended. Al-
- so attending conference were rep-
resentatives from IUE Locals in
the eastern part of District 3.
The instructors were: Ron Dono-
van, professor at Cornell Univer-
sity, Jack Flagler, professor at St:
Bonaventure University, Richard
Gordon, Western Director, of Cor-
-nell -University, Alex Hawryluk,
Asst. Director of the Capital Dis-
trict also from Cornell, Ted Silvey,
representative of the AIFL-CLO and
Jay Watkins, Educational Director
of UAW District 9.
NOTICE
Membership and |
- Stewards
Meeting
“JUNE 17, 1957
[st and 3rd Shifts—-7:30 ‘p.iv.
2nd Shift—1:00 p.m.
Union Auditorium
121 Erie Blvd.
Regular Order of Business
Report of Committees
New Dept. Heads
Try Intimidation
In a letter to Bill Christman, Un-
ion Coordinator in the Motor De-
partment, distributed to all Small
AC Motor & Generator employees,
» Mr. Tyler, the Manager, tried to
justify a do-nothing record of set-
tling some pending grievances by
misrepresenting facts concerning
the Union representative and the
shop stewards: involved in thes
grievances. a
The Manager claimed that Union
representatives were giving false
impressions to the members of the
Union to the effect that. manage-
ment was not negotiating in good
faith on their complaints, Mr. J, 1.
Tyler, Manager, who. signed the
letter, apparently fecls= that as
long as his representatives go
through the motions of negotiat-
ing, ‘although © not arriving’ atoa
justified conclusion. which is mu-
tually satisfactory, he has exhaust-
ed his responsibilities as a repre-
sentative of “management. The
tenor of the Tyler a la Connolly
letter’ smacked with malice and
intimidation towards the Union and
its representatives and even fore-
casted that 200 wage rate priev-
ances would be in the process with-
in the next few months. It is quite
obvious that My. Tyler and his new
advisor, Mr. M. M. Connolly, Em-
ployee Relations Manager, have
quite a program in store for chisel-
ing on wage rates and prices, to be
(Continued on Page 2)
-Toolmakerss and Skilled
Settle Research Too] Case”
At a'meeting held at the Rescarch Labo ralroy: on Monday, June Sid,
the highly controversial case affecting: the upgrading of a short service,
Toolmaker to Leader was settled. Bin a
The Research Department management had contended «that their
action of upgrading this Toolmaker with 1948. serviee was not done with.
any intention of circumyenting the’ seniority provision in the contract.
The Union representatives from the Research Laboratory claimed that in
view of the serious unemployment condition afecting the loolmaking
occupation within the bargaining unit, this action of upgrading was not
justifiable.
In a 4-page letter issued to employees hy the management of the
. Research Laboratory on May 31, 1957, management set forth its posi--
‘tion and the history of their case, pointing out that as far back as 1958,
they had: earmarked this short service ‘Toolmaker as the logical choice to
act ina Leader's capacity; however, they did not choose to ollicially give
him his appointment and pay him a Leader's rate, because the group he
was in was Loo small to justify a Leader’s job. Management further con-
tended in their publicaiton that they would look towards the short service *
candidate as a “Key. Man” and expect him to act as a Leader during the ©
absence of his foreman. The lengthy document claimed this arrangement .
was in eflect until February of this year and at this point the short service
Toolmaker was actually upgraded to Leader. Shortly following: this, the”
Union filed a grievance objecting to the change of classification, because —
longer service ‘Toolmakers were being displaced in the bargaining unit, ’
The case was carried through the grievance procedure to the New York
level, whereby the New York management of General Electric chose to
refer the detailed disecussion back to Schenectady. Ou May 20Uh, manage-
ment and Union representatives resumed discussions-on the case with mane
agement still holding to their position that the short service ‘Tuolmaker
would remain as a Leader; -however, Lhey would review Uhe matter periodi-
cally in the future and should Toolinakers with 4 years more service than
Uheir candidate be ladi off, they would consider a change, The proposal was
rejected by the Union Committee as_not, being satisfactory.
On Monday, June 3rd, the Toolmakers planned lo stop work in. protest
of the action taken by. the management of the Research Labo: ratory, Upon
advice from tlie Union leadership, another meeting Was arranged: immed-
jalely, avoiding the stoppage, and at that time an agreement was reached
to ‘the-eflect that the managenient would select another candidate with
longer service:to fill the job ‘as Leader. ‘The present-short service Toolmaker’
would be allowed to work f'weeks for Lhe purpose of br ‘aking in another
Toolmaker on ‘a job that had been started by him but not completed. It
was indicated by nianagement that the short serviee man wotld® be uti-
lized on a job out of our‘bargaining unit on Methods and Planning.
Trades Conference NOTICE
A tentative date of Thursday,
Jund 20th, has been set to hold a
conference of delegates, represent-
. ‘ :
Executive Board
°
ing Toolmakers and Skilled Trades Meeting /
from all G.E. Locals in JUB-APL- .
aa | Monday, June 10, 1957
7:30 PLM,
UNION HALL
121 Erie Blvd.
The conference is expected to be
in Pittsfield, Mass, according to
John Callahan, Chairman of the
G.L. Conference Board.
bf en ee ine ee rm ng
New Series of Articles Explaining
njury Compensation Law
(For the benefit of workers who have not read or do not remember
a previous series of article explaining the Workmen's Compen-
sation Law, this new series is-going to be published and will aqpear
in future issues of the Union's newspaper.) : =
A cdaim for compensationsis filed by.an injured weather for three
types of bencfits which ure provided for by the laws of New York State.
These benefits include payment of medical expenses resulting from. the
injury; payment for lost time or reduced wages resulting from the in-
jury; and provision for payment for permanent protection for medical
expenses or loss of carning pawer resulting from an injury. ;
Each of these three benefits will
he explained in detail so that: an
injured warker will, know what he
is entitled to under the law and
what he is not’ entitled to. Before
going into these, explanations,
however, i¢ is important that an
exphination be given of what. we
mean by an injury.
“The average person thinks of an
injury as physical damage result-
ing’ from an necident which hes
taken place while employed. Under
the law, however, the word “injury”
goes further than including, phy-
sienl impairment resulting from an
“aeeident”; “injury? includes alse
physical impairments resulting
from the nature of the work itself
in which event the physical impair.
ment is called an occupational dis-:
ease. It is easy to see that an ac-
cident cun cause a fracture to a
bone or a-sear on'the face, or un-
‘fortunately, even the loss ofa fin-
ger of a limb; but a worker can be-
disabled: — or if not actually dis-
ubled, require medical treatment—
for a skin condition resulting from
contact with irritating chemicals or
substances or a bursitis in the.
shoulder:from pounding constantly
with a heavy mallet or a loss’ of
hearing from excessive noise, Oc-
cupational diseases, it readily can
he seen, have a slow onset while
accidents are sudden, and immedi-
atély recognizable.
The. first thing that a. worker
must remember, and he must know »
this before he-is injured, is that
the law gives a benefit. or protec-
tion. to injured workers but expects
certain -obligations to. be fulfilled,
hy the worker before he’ ean: be
entitled to these benefits, If the,
worker fails to fulfill these obliga-
tions, ik is ol tittle help te him
later to elaint that he did not know
“that he chad such obligations or
that the ac cident or disease did not
seem serious eriough for the Wwork-
er to bather meeting his obliga-
tions, These excuses will not -help
the injured worker and as a result
of failing to meet his obligations
“he may lose his rights forever to
benefits for an injury or disease.
The most important steps which
must. be taken by an dngured awork-
eris first to give a prompt notice
to his foreman of Chis. injury. or
discase; then he must file his claim
with the Workmen’s Compensation
Board.
Of course, a worker who avails
himself of Loeal 801’s legal service
in connection with injuries will
have all forms filled out for him
and thereafter have the services of
aun experienced luwyer at every
step of the proceedings which fol-
low, © -
~The important, thing to remem-
ber is’that a worker must give
nolice of an injury or disease
promptly and must file his claim.
ignore Safety
_ by Mike Rakviea
Asst. Recording Secretary
This article is written to show
the Compuny’s disregard™for the ,
health and well-being of its em-
ployees,
In Bldg. 49, a mistake was found
“on an assémbled turbine rotor. In
order to correct this mistake a shot «
hlast operation was necessary... In-
stead of disassembling the rotor
which would -be quite expensive,
the foreman decided that the job
could be shot blast as is. A hap-
haaird vig was set up and two me-
chanics were ordered to operate
the shot blast apparatus. In the
first place, the job was out of their
classification, and, secondly, the job
wus very undesirable, The steward
on the job brought the question up
but was’ told that the men would
do whatever they were told to do.
The Company’s safety ‘representa-
tive was. brought in but to no avail.
The foreman just seemed to laugh
him off, whereby he sent for the
Contpany doctor. MeDonald de-
vided that this: | s hasardous
and ardered the eperation stopped.
The operation was stopped. on’ the
first sihft but was resumed and
completed on the seeond shift over
the heads of the safety representa-
tive and Dr. MeDonald. 7
Incidentally, one of the men that
was placed on the job was a GE.
veteran with a bad heart who had:
just-recently come out of the hos- ,
pital.
Attend Your
Union Meetings
Regularly
Views of a 34 Yea
Service Man on
New Management
f have spent a number of years |
us an cmployee of GE. and have
been a Union representative since
“the Union was organized.’ I have
never before experienced such an’
attitude as taken by these. new
management representatives in
their refusal to cooperate .in the
resolution of problems, even ta the
extent of not giving a seniority list
to the Union representative until
the person affeeted with the layolf
gels his one week’s, notice, ° |
ower Rectifier, Bldg, 69, which
is comprised of approximately 125
employees, will be laid off this year
starting in August. The tentative
release dates were ‘given to all em-
ployees, We requested, a seniority
list to check to make sure the re=
duction will be made incaccordance
with the contract and also .to give
the Union Placement Committee
time to check where these displaced
Power Reetifier “employees can be -
placed. While inthe Industrial’
Control Department, we were’ giv-
en this information at an early
date which. proved to be valuatle
in finding jobs for the Control em-
ployees without the need for lost
time off the’ job, The same action
prevailed in the MIM Deépartment;”
Powe Tube management, however,
wrote ‘an arrogant answer to this
problem: “The Department will
provide you with the usual. Labor
Analysis Sheets’ as these people
are netuadly notified ... the infor»
mation you request would be of neo
value at this time’. It is very ole
vious’ that this new management
“over the Power Rectifier job does
hot want to do anything’ more than
the coutrack requires even though
this displacement of Work ‘and lay-
aff of employees invelve many peo-
ple with service ranging up to 40
yenrs. :
Beneficiary Does. Not -.
Need to Reveal .
Personal Finances
As the result-of the request for
help from the union by a union
member who works in Building 27¢
‘Local 801 succeeded in getting a
change. of procedure in the De-
partment of Mental Hygiene. ‘This
union member has a relative who
was admitted to a State Hospital,
Despite the fact that the hospital
bills would) be adequately covered
by this worker’s insurance, the De-
partment of Mental Hygiene sent
him a long questionnaire asking
him to bare every detail about his
assets, liabilities and income. The,
New Dept. Heads’
‘Try intimidation.
(Continued from Page 1)
able to predict un increase in the ¥
number of future grievances that
Local 801 will be obliged to write
up. _
The fact that a grievance vane
originute from an-employee, or
group, and is caused by an action
of management and. its represen-
tatives is conyeniently left out of,
Mr. Tyler’s émotional letter. He
admits that he has an intimate re-
lationship with the Lynn G.E. man-
agement, and, referring to the
‘strike that took place in that plant,
siys: “Tt rhight not be too long be-
fore we find ourselves in a parallel
situation’. The new. management
of the Small AC Motor Department
will soon find out that we in Local
BOL have a record of not trying to
encourage strikes — our record of
aver 20 years asa Union varifies
this beyond any question of doubt;
however, the credit for this record
lies in the fact that-we have been
able to work out with former man-
ugements satisfactory. solutions to
complaints from our members.
This “no strike” record can--be
broken if any of the 17 manage-
ments Local 801 is obliged to nego-
‘tinte with today starts’ out on a:
program of rate and ‘price cutting
or tries to lower the standards that
have beet gradually established
over the past 20: years. It is our
honest opinion that ifthe manage-.
ment of the Small AC Motor De-
piurt gat would expend the same
effort in settling the complaints of
the employees in this department
as they have spent in drafting the’
letter of condemnation of the Un-.
jon and its representatives, there
would be the type of Union-Man-
agement relations in. this depart-
mount that would-avoid the. neces-
sity for the Union to. write the 200
wage nite grievances that-are pre-
dicted in Mu Tyler’s letter or the;
- strike referred to by Mr. Tyler “ink
Ssttch a, matter: of-(net way.
worker felt that so long as. the
hospital hills were covered by ins
surance he should not be required
tu disclose such information, Loval
BOLuagreed with him and took steps
to demand -that: such i procedure
be oliminated, A reply was finally
received frum) the Department. of
Mental Hygiene eliminating the
need to fill out a financial state-
ment,
_ WUE LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
Top. Picture shows group at close of conference.
Bottom — action shot during a session.
by CHARLES SCOTT
The relationship between super-
vision and the employees of LM&G
has hit a new low, The treatment
given an injured avorker from this
Division shows the callous attitude
‘taken by management toward any-
one who carinot “pull his own oar’.
The employee in question is a
Welder working in Bldg. 66 who
had a-job fall on his foot, causing
him to lose a-part of his toe, He
was told by the G.E. Clinic on
5/23/57, that. he could do light
work and, therefore, to return to
work. He returned to his foreman
“on 5/24/57, and was‘told that there
_ was. no work there which he could
do. He then went to Personnel,
#56, where he was told that there
was no job he could handle under
his superintendent and the others
superintendent would. net he in-
clined to try to place this man
since that would place. the cost of
an injured — employee’s wages
against him, ‘
When Personnel ‘was cull and ©
asked why this man w ast given
some job that he could handle, this
office was told ‘that the box score
of days of lost time accidents didn't
<ymean so much if the man couldn't
earn the. money he was being paid.
The facts of this case are simply
that. when an employee loses:a part.
of his. body, there is a set amount
he will be .paid? and any weekly
compensation .payment- will be de-
dueted from this amount, For: ex-
ample, if the award for losing a
toe should-be $1,200, and you draw
20 weeks compensation at $836.00 a
week, your-award will not be $1,200
but $480.00; for the 20 weeks of
compensation will be deducted.
LM&G knows that: this employee
will receive an award and since he
cannot work at the full “pull- -out”
that they. demand, | management
will not give him a job, not caring:
whether the lower amount of
money he will receive each weelk
will enable ‘him to meet his living
expenses or not—not caring either
that this employee through an ae-
cident in the shop has lost a part
of his body and the award as small
as it. was originally will even be
made smaller by the weekly dedue-
tion, ;
This is the side of GJ. that the
-employee sees and ‘not the side
shawn to the public through propa-
ganda agents screaming to the. sky,
how wonderful GE. treats its
workers, Let this cise be an object
lesson to.any employee who par-
rots the GS. propaganda about
G.E. taking care of you—they will
take care of -you alvight, but: not
in the way you would like.
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