Resolution Adopted at IUE-GE Grass
Roots Conference, Pittsfield, Mass.
As a condition for signing the 1955 agreement with Gen-
eral Electric; we insisted upon full and complete negotiations
on the problem of employment security. The contract pro-
1958.
Our, ‘experiences in 1949 and
1954, during which thousands of
our members’ suffered months of
joblessness, ‘made us realize that
we needed contractual protection
against this evil. In our 1955 nego---
tiations we attempted to” get GH to
agree to a program to protect its
employees: against the future in-
evitable unemployment. Bul Gh
. ‘declined to do so,
Our fears about the future, when
we signed the 1955 agreement,
have been confirmed, Teday at
least 25,000 workers in GIS are job-
less. Unemployment. in GE is ata
considerably higher. — percentage
than the «unemployment in’ the
whole electrical industry,
Meeting on February..20, our Git
Conference Board’ adopted. a pro-
gram, of Employment Security con--
sisting of ‘measures vitally neces:
sary to the Gl employees them-
selves, to the communities that de-
pend upon our pay checks and to
~the economic health of the nation,
This program included the Guar-
unteed Annual Wage, severance
‘pay, protection of seniority in
plant movement, restrictions on
the farming-out of work, a pro-
gram to handle problems created
by automation, the improved
scheduling of work, the elimination
of area und sex wage differentials
and a start on the reduction of
yearly hours of work without a re-
duction in yearly pay, ;
General Electric continually pub-
licizes to us and to the publle that
it enters negotiations with an open
mind, listens carefully and weighs
all’the facts before coming to a
conclusion,
However, 2 press report of April
10 quotes General Electric us de-
claring 444 months in advance of
the 1958 negotiations that it will
not grant any -significant employ-
ment security demands, :
This Gli statement is contained
“in aw letter to its mansgement en-
tilled “Preparing For Bargaining in
1958." In our judgment it should be
called “Preparing for Not Bargain-
ing in 1958.” ;
The argument used by GIF is that
the benefits already provided in our
. 1955 agreement are “inflationary.”
This | statement is completely
alse. rom 1956 to 1957 the total
increase in all wages and salaries,
profit-sharing of executives and
fringe benefits was $72 million, GE
raised their prices by nearly 7¢¢
in this period, so that it not only
recouped the extra costs but made
an additional profit on operations
of $84 million, Furthermore, the
vides that such negotiations begin September 1, 1958, with the
right to strike should no agreement be reached by October 1,
wage increases to those we. repre-
sent were made up by increases in
productivity,
In .1956 GE made after taxes
18.5% onrthe stockholder’s invest-
ment. In 1957, due to the increased
prices and improved productivity
of the employees, Gls made near-
ly 20% profit. Its rate of prof-
_its over and above the rate made
by other manufacturing companies
created excess profits in 1957 of
over “$90 million, Thus it was
not necessary for GE to muke
these steep price increuses. [t was
General Eleetrie’s own greed that
contributed to the price inflation
that existed. 2
General Electric is ut,onee one
of the most profitable of American
corporations ‘and the most back-
ward on the question of employ-
ment security. [In the face of the
large and continuing ‘unemploy-
ment, it has failed to provide ‘its
employees with even the modest
SUB benefits which the workers in
auto, steel, rubber, aluminum, ean-
ning und many. other industries en-
Joy. ‘ ; :
These benefits have been life-
savers to hundreds of thousands of
laid-off workers and to the com-
munities who have felt the impact
of the reduced pay checks. Every-
one except GE apparently recog-
nizes that unemployment compen-
sation, as it is at present, exnnot
meet the needs of either. the laid-
off employees or the communities.
We hope thats this ill-advised
statement of General Electric in
refusing to bargain in line with the
contract on the critical issue of em-
ployment security, will be retract-
ed after further reflefletion on the
part of the corporation.
The. needs of its employees and
the communities are obvious. The
-excess profits of ‘GI, cun provide
the funds of an Employment Se-
curity Program, It is) ridiculous
for GE to assert that using some
of these excess profits to provide
for the needs of its unemployed .
and forthe communities will con-,
tribute-to inflation. Tf GE does
not in-effect retract this statement:
and if it continues to refuse to ne-
gotinte on the questions of Iim-
ployment Seeurity, we can only
conclude that the Corporation offie~
ials. who signed the 1955 agreement
which provided for full and com-
plete negotiations, did so with the
deliberate intent to deceive its em-
ployees and the public.
We veall upon the entire GE
membership, those represented by
other AFL-CIO unions and those
represented by no unions, to.close
c
Con nays gens SP atic AMEE
Legislative Report
By Bill Stewart
The Legislature at Albany. con-
vened oft Januury 9th, and ad-
journed on March 25th, © and,
through the efforts of Labor, was
able to get an increase in the Un-
employment’ Insurance Law, © in-
creasing the Unemployment Insur- .
ance from $36 to $45 per week at.
the maximum, or 50% of weekly ~
pay up to and including $90 per
week, and above $90 per week—
$45. However, there, are still gim-
micks in the bill, such as the post.
ing of $10:00 for a protest and the
posting of $25.00 for an appeal,
Under the old law, a company
would-have to post $10.00 for every
protest: and $25.00 for every ap-
peal. The new law calls for post-
ing $10.00 for any number of cases
and one $25.00 for all appeals, but,
NOTICE
COMBINED
Membership &
Stewards
Meeting —
MONDAY, MAY 19, 1958
2nd shift—-1:00 p.m.
Ist & 3rd—7:30 p.m.
shifts
toe OK OF
UNION AUDITORIUM
121 Erie Blvd.
Lg * * *
“AGENDA
Election of Delegates to Sche-
nectady Area Industrial
Council.
Report of Committees |
Regular Order of Business
ranks in the face of this callous
arrogant attitude on the part of
the Corporation. We call upon the
people of good will in the conimun-
ities to support our struggle be-
cause their own welfare is at stake.
We should organize: an intensive
educational program in every local
and in every community; we should
prepare convincing facts and argue
ments for the coming negotiations;
we should organize and’ mobilize
our strength and support, ‘so that
on October 1 we will have an Em-
ployment Security agreement that
will be fair to the employees, the
communities and the Corporation,
Because our future is at stake, and
because our case is just, we will
use all of our strength and re-
sources’ to assure the success of
these efforts.
nevertheless, Labor has gained a
little. recognition; so there is still
plenty of work to be done in the
State in electing legislators this
fall who are somewhat in favor of
the labor people.
I attended the Education Legis-
“dative Session held in Washington,
April 20-24, and, certainly learned
plenty about legislation and what
is going “on in Washington and
how the Federal Government op-
erates. -
. There ‘are two committees that
bills. are referred to, which are
known as the Labor Committee and
Rules Committee, with Graham
Barden of North Carolina as Chair-
man of the Labor Committee and
Smith of Virginia as Chairman of
the, Rules Committee. These peo-
ple ate placed in the chairmanship
according to. their seniority and ATCA I
‘ to atte!
not xemoved when there is ee]
change of administration. These
two chairmen are all out against
Labor and they have quite a power
ever the committees, so it is very
hard to get bills out of committee
unless the people of the United
States put plenty'of pressure on
-the ‘members and legislators to
hiuve these bills brought to the floor
for a vote. :
In the House there is a limited
debate, but in the Senate if some
_ of these Senators do not like a bill;
they can debate for weeks; they
ean talk about anything in order té
keep the floor and do most any-
thing to stall so the bill will nog,
d
pass. Qa
At the present time there are
several bills that would be of some
aid to the unemployment: there is
the extension of Unemployment
Insurance and Income Tax reduc-
tion in the middle bracket and Fed-
eral aid to ‘school construction.
These would help the unemploy-
ment situation quite a lot, but since
August of 1957, all that has been
‘done is just a lot of talk and no
-aétion—this is why the American
labor people should put the pres-
sure upon their Congressmen and
Senators by writing them and ask-
ing them to do something about the
unemployment situation instead q@"2
just. talking about it. They shoultés
also'ask them to vote for the For-
and Bill which will.inerease Social
Security (Bill #H.R.9467). Please
write your legislators in your own.
words and I will assure you it will
be recognized, and remember —
“Action speaks louder than words”.
There. are numerous other legis-
lative "matters which IT will take
up ina later issue of the paper.
OFFICIAL ORGAN OF LOCAL 301,
REPRESENTING SCHENECTADY
GE WORKERS
sa 2
Published by the Editorial Commiltae
President —_ Harry Willlams
Vice Praside John Shamba
Troasurer erald O'Brien
Recording Secreta «-Larry Gobo
Ass't Recording Secratary-.-Michael Rakvica
Chief Shop Stoward---..- Vincent. Dilorenzo
121 ERIE BLYD. SCHENECTADY, N. Y.
we
EE Ts aT NON EE Se 5
IUE-CIO LOCAL 301 NEWS
AFL-CIO
Vol. 4 —~ No, 32
The Voice of GE Workers, Local 301, Schenectady, N. Y.
May 29, 1958
Educational Conference
Facing Today and Tomorrow
Throughout industrial America, in fact throughout the
free world, there is a serious problem facing the working peo-
ple. That: problem is:—How to achieve economic security
( “yithout surrendering liberties which have become important,
4 our way of life.
__ in the electrical industry, our union—the IUE is tackling
this problem with all the resources at its conimand. It recog-
nizes that no single leader or any. group of leaders can come
up with ready made answers. The problems of our times:can
only be solved by the co-operative efforts of all the people of
our times, Devoted and skillful leaders are needed. Only with
the full support of the people they lead and with a thorough
understanding of the problems with which they are faced
can they offer’ both leadership and solutions.
__. The IUE proposes to tackle these‘ questions at a very
important conference to be held at the Local 301 Union Hail
the first week in June. It will conduet.a four day leadership
conference in which the following important questions will be
aeaieet _ .
onday, June 2nd—the question of UNEMPLOYMENT,
RECESSION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS. At this session,
O will deal with G.E.’s contention that’ labor is mainly respon-
ble for the recession as per Sorinson of the GE Personnel
relations staff. It will also show how in Lynn, Mass. the elec-
trical workers are beginning to sink their teeth into the heart
of the problem through the Lynn city council. 5
Tuesday, June 3rd——the main topics will be WAGES,
PRICES, and PROFITS. An examination will be made of GE’s
operation Upturn which promises to lay off or downgrade at
least 2000 workers before the end of the year.
Wednesday, June 4th—the question of the UNEM-
PLOYED—which is probably the most important question of
all, With the present trend at the Schenectady works, no one
can feel secure regardless of service or skill. Steam Turbine
which has been absorbing a large part of the layoffs from
other sections of the plant now shows a serious weakness. A
perspective of 29 turbines in 1960 as compared with 49 for
this year, and a normal figure of 65 would indicate a reduction
' of forces. With the intensive farming out of jobs fromthe
sebine division that is now going on, the reduction will be
‘~~Jrobably much more than 50% in the next year or two. Steam
Turbine workers will find this session of especial importance.:
Thursday, June 5th—the question of TRADE UNION
DEMOCRACY, THE PROPOSED “LABOR RACKETEER-
ING” BILLS in Congress, the McClellan senate hearings and
what they mean, the relations of the shopworkers and their
unions to the rest.of the community,—will be the main points
of discussion. ~ ‘ F : :
; The sessions will be open to every member of the. Local, and to
otlicr interested persons.” The aim-is to develop leadership in order -to
face the tusks ahead of us. The people conducting these sessions are
all experienced trade unionists. Ben Segal, TUE Education director from
ashington, D. C, will head the'list of instructoys. Also, other exper-
“fenced people—in the problems of public Hite, will take part in these
conferences, However, the main contributions must come from Stewards,
Board Members, und active union members who must face every day
the problems which today’s situation creates:
Sessions will be held from 12:30 to 2:80 P:M. for the sevutid’ shirt
and Tron 7:30 to 9:80 P.M, for the first shift. /
Te will be necessary to register on Monday, dune 2nd. he Secand
Shit erat register from: 1200 to 22380 on Monday. ‘Lhe first: shift: eu
register from 7:00 to 7:80, | ‘
’
*. EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the 2nd of a series of 3 Articles in answer to
GE’s propaganda that the I.U.E. contract providing
. Small annual wage increases is inflationary.
Who Is Causing Inflation?
va, {GH focussed attention on the present contract as being
inflationary”.
GE raised its prices from 1956-1957 by 614%. Did labor
costs cause this? .
Between 1956-1957 total labor
costs (including all executives
salaries, profit-sharing, bo-
nuses, all increased costs for
research and development, all
. additional non-production em-
ployees costs INCREASED —_ $68.5. million
Profits before taxes, which
mean profits on operations INCREASED 86 million
Thus by the increased prices, GE not only covered the in-
creased labor costs but made an additional $86 million profit.
Material costs were not responsible for price increases be-
_ cause they were actually lower per dollar of sales in 1957
than in 1956. -
These, profits are understated and the labor costs are overstated be-
cause of the $250,000,000 a year that GE spends on research and develop-
ment, An average manufacturing company (according to GIt’s financial
report) would spend 2% of sales. GE spends 65 of sales. Since all
these costs since the 1954 tax law change can be written off the year
they are made, GE charges off $160,000,000 a year in additional R&D.
A large part of this research and devolpment is for salaries of sci-
entists, technicians, engineers and their staf’s. Thus it shows up in an
Anflated labor cost that has nothing’ to do with the IUE contract.
_ The profits also hide additional millions of extra depreciation and
sums charged off in the new inventory accounting methods. Cost of
sales ave calculated on the basis of the last and most expensive labor
and materials used instead of the actual cost of labor and materials.
In 1956. GE earned after taxes 18.5% on the stockholders’ invest-
ment. This is nearly twice the average earned by manufacturing. in-
dustries. .
In 1957 it increased its earnings Lo 209 on the stockholders’ invest-
ment.
On page 14 of the 1957 financial report, the company admitted these
increased profits were due to the “higher level of prices for the com-
pany’s products in 1957’. Actually they were 61494 higher.
Even in the first quarter of 1958, with 25,000 GE employees jobless
and employment in the industry at- the lowest levels since 1950, GE
earned the equivalent after taxes of 165¢ on the stockholders’ investment.
Executive Board
Meeting
Monday, June 9, 1958
7:30 ‘p.m.
The importance of this conference cannot be too strongly empha-
sized, It can be considered the openirig gun in the fight back, by the
peuple of Schenectady, against the bleak future which faces them. This
conterence isa must,—to these people who want to do note than wait.
for the axe to fall upon them. 1t can prepare them to lead, or at least
to prurticipate actively tn Che uetions necessary today, and will be neces-
sury Lumorrow ty protect unions from the onshught uf the profiteering
vorporations and their politicians,
De OSes US AS RD
EDITOR’S NOTE: We are rerunning the following Article which originally appeared in the August 24th, 1956, copy of our paper, because we feel
it is important for every Union member to review the facts seti forth in this urtiele in the face of the ever-increasing lack of
work in the Schenectady plant.
Lost Jobs —
has not been work stoppages. |
rofit or Sto;
The real reason why work has been transferred from Schenectady. The causes
pages
_» The following is taken directly from the minutes of a Company meeting held
in Schenectady on April 21, 22 and 23, 1954. ae 7
The statements according to the record of the proceedings of this Manutfac-
turing Time Standards Conference were made by Mr. A. F. Vinson, Vice-Presi-
dent of Manufacturing. .
. . “The actual volume has been $1.6 billion in 1947, $2.2
‘pillion in’ 1950, $2.7 billion in 1952 and $3.1 billion in 1953.
You will note that a Straight projection of this 7-year history
would give us $5.4 billion’in 1963 — a VERY SIZEABLE
TASK. But we had a ‘slow start’ on 1947. to 1949; coming
out of the war with inadequate facilities to meet demand—
and you will recall the long strike of 1946.
Our Company task, therefore, is to double its output dur-
ing the decade ahead. Our manufacturing task is to provide
this double capacity to produce future Engineering designs so
efficiently that our Marketing men can get the orders to get
ahead and stay ahead of the 900 competitors of General Elec-
tric and to.obtain our fair share of the predicted Industry
growth, ‘ ae
- The 89 G.E. Operating Departments have accepted this
° task—it is a reflection of ‘their individual hopes and plans.
Resolution on Unemployment Insurance
WHEREAS, the plight of our unemployed has reached such propor-
tions that the very stability of our community is threatened and while
the number of unempioyed. exhausing their benefits is mounting each
month and many more workers will be unemployed in the next few
months, the House of Representatives has passed a wholly inadequate
measure to cope with this most serious situation. :
WHEREAS, the ‘Senate is now considering improvements in the un-
employment insurance legislation which the House of Representatives
has acted upon; ‘Therefore be ‘it
RESOLVED, That Local 801, IUE-AFL-C10, of Schenectady, New
York, requests that the United States Senate and particularly the Sen-
ators from the State of New York give their full support towards the
enactment of urgently needed improvements in uneniployment insurance
legislation including raising the benefit amounts, extending the weekly
duration and -broadening coverage, both for the emergency and for the °
future, by the enactment of federal standards fox State laws in that the
‘purchasing power of our community be maintained, that recovery be
encouraged and the plight of millions of wage and salary workers and
their families be alleviated.
FA
READ YOUR
UNION PAPER REGULARLY?
~ history for’ G.H.: ;
Acceptance of their program (even on a 5.4 billion basis, if
you are.a ‘conservative’) makes.a major mechanization pro-
‘gram and Work Simplification mandatory. a ;
Perhaps you, too, have been misled by these figures on
numbers of plants—perhaps. you, too, thought G.E. was
already decentralized. Yes, we have 132 plants in 201 cities in
25 states from Maine to California.
Over 87 per cent ‘of our people work in plant cities where
we employ 1,000 or more people per city. .
About, 60 per cent of .our people are in plant cities where
‘we employ 10,000 to:40,000 people. -
Only 18 per.cent of our people work in 67 per cent of our
plant cities which have less than 1,000 employees. (Approxi-
mately 45 per cent of our plant. cities meet the Lamp. Division
practice of keeping under 500 wherever possible).
Asa matter of fact, 55 per cent of: our people are in only Sy
7 plant cities where we employ 10,000 to 40,000 people. (Sche
nectady, West Lynn, Evendale, Erie, Pittsfield, Syracuse, and
Fort Wayne). \
So far as decentralization of peoplé, we have merely
scratched the surface. “ .
To complete the-picture, 71 of our ‘small plant’ cities pro-
vide only 18 per cent of nearly 61,000,000 sq. ft. 82 per cent,
or 49,000,000 sq.ft is located. in plant cities having over
- 400,000 sq. ft. each.
The recent trend is. definitely toward smaller plant-smaller
town operations. av ; wed
Since 1947, our plant list has increased only 7, from 125
to, 182, BUT we have actually added 28 plants and closed or
integrated into other operations a total of 21 plants.
We have discontinued operations in 12 cities, only 3 of
which have a population under 10,000 persons. (Benton, UL,
Millerton, N. ¥., Saugerties, N. Y.—-all leased). fi
We have started operations in 24 new cities and 11 of
these have a population below 10,000. (Asheboro, Brockport,.
Circleville, Edmore, Hudson Falls, Limerick, Linton, Logan,
Ludlow, Morrison, Springfield, N. J.) Of our 132.total plants, .
29 are in ‘small towns’ of under 10,000 people.
So we may expect to hear more of G.E. plants like Ed-
more, Michigan; “Limerick, Maine; Jonesboro, Arkansas; Lin-
ton, Indiana, and Waynesboro, Virgiriia—and let's leave Louis-
ville, Ky. for the discussion period...
This is the setting for your Work Simplification in General
Electric, A new, truly decentralized organization. Further
physical decentralization of plant, with more ‘small plant’ at”
mosphere. A more rapid evolution of mechanization with mort.:|
complete automation in some product. lines. A trend to less
plant expansion ‘with more emphasis on better utilization of”
existing space. It is inthis area that your efforts. will write
Will we follow habits of the past and just do more of our
same old methods? OR
Will we pioneer in the rapid: introduction of the many
new methods and techniques waiting for our uses?”
¢
‘Some Plain Taik |
by William Garrison
In probably what will go down
in history as one of the worst at-
tacks on the human rights of Am-
erican working men and women to
maintain a decent standard of liv-
ing was made by «a senior citizen
the United States before the
merican Management Associa-
~ tion in New York City, on May’ 20,
1958. 2 he
In fact, after reading from .the
text of an article in the Union-Star
on May 21, 1958, quoting D. L.
Sorengon, the General Electric Un-
ion Relations expert from Bldg. 41,
1 am wondering who wrote the
senior citizen’s speech?
G.E., along with the rest of the
, A.M.A., takes no responsibility
Q Fhatsoever, for the conditions of
the’ American economy today, and
offer absolutely nothing in the way
of their responsibilities to correct
the economic downturn which has
created a situation where millions
of Atvericans are jobless and un-
able to give their families a decent”
standard of living, this lack of re-
sponsibility by G.E. is further evi-
denced in a speech by A. C. Stev-
ens of Schenectady, G.E., which he
gave before a Kiwanis group, con-
demning the working men and
women of GE. and the country, as:
solely responsibile for the reces-
sion, and further stating it is their
Sole’ responsibility to get them-
( ‘Yves out of it, .
“Prior to these ‘two dynamic
-speeches, the president of G.E.
came to Schenectady and offered
“Operation Upturn” as a means:
to combat the recession, “Opera-
tion Upturn” offered nothing but a
jumping off point for speeches like
Sorenson’s and Stevens’,
The pitch the: A.M.A, and ‘the
G.E, experts are making is a time
worn fallacy that the American
“working,men and women ate mak-
ing more money than their pro-
ductivity warrants and thus the
poor manufacturer hus to charge
so much money for his goods that
e consumer wil not’ buy, «7
“So correct this situation, G.E.
and the other minority groups
state’ that the working men and
women of America will have to
work harder and longer arid ‘pro- .
vide a greater: productivity with a
smaller take home pay so that the
corporations, can’. provide better
sale values for the customer.
It takes. only a little common
“sense, and. very little at that, to
tell, us that this evasive customer
“Sint G.E. and the A.M.A‘‘are tall,
g about, happens to be you and T°
and tle other working men and
women. of this nation and whether °
you work, in the steel industry,
auto. industry, rubber . industry,
electrical industry, glass industry,
aluminum industry, farm equip:
ment industry, ship building in-
dustry, clothing industry, dairy in-
dustry or the many other indus-
trics that make up this nation of
ours, you and only you are the
consumer, The consumer certainly
is not some elusive phantom that
is floating around’ in the fifth
dimension that G.I. would have
you. believe,
When a locomotive, gas turbine,
steam turbine, carload of steel,
carload of coal, fleet of buses, auto-
mobile or anything else is sold,
you, the working people of Amer-
ica make the sale possible through
the ability of purchasing power: to
‘meet your needs.. When your pur-
chasing power, through equitable
wages, cannot keep up with. in-
ereased productivity and increased
price gouges designed solely for
the purpose of’ unrealistic profits,
it does not create too much of a
burden ‘on the average mind to
truthfully admit that:a situation
of this sort will in a short period
of time create a recession and if
allowed .to continue, a major de- .
pression ,will soon rear its ugly
head. i
' The reasoning of less pay and
more productivity is ridiculous.
There is proof enough of this, ‘if-
we just stop-to examine the plight
of the farmers and the farm pro-
gram supported by otiv Govern-
ment today, wherein you and I,
“the taxpayers, are forced to. sup-.
port’ the purchase of surplus farm
goods, because the productivity on
the farm is too high, yet-at the
sume time-there are.thousands of
_ underfed and: underprivileged fam-
ilies in our country today.
Another example of the contus-
ed reasoning of “the powers that
be,” was inaugurated some six
months ago when the ery went up
— ‘Don't buy now” or “Buy spar-
ingly and carefully”. This most
brilliant idea was thought out with
the aim, so they said, to combat
inflation. Actually it was an ad-
mission «that manufacturers will
charge what the traffic will bear
for their products and non-existent
“wage Inexeases at that time had no.
bearing on the, price gouging for
greater profit by industry...Unfor-
tunately, during this industry-cre-
ated inflationary spiral, the reces-
sion was becoming pregnant and:
over-productivity and a lack of
buying power entered the Arena.
Two months later, “the powers that
be” reversed ‘their ‘field and came
out screaming — “Buy Now!”
Amidst all this confusion, I can
only, imagine that the six million
unemployed Americans, bowed their
heads in prayer.
In a final analysis the working:
people of this nation, which con-
sists of roughly 9096: of the total
population, and who is this. cus-
tomer that GE. and the A.M.A.
make such a to-do about, if they,
ineluding you und I, are able to
maintain fair and equitable work-
ing eondiliuns and realistic wages
Rules Repeated
Important Employment Injury
From time to time rules.in connection with the safe pro-
tection of injured employees’ rights have been published in this
paper. A few of these are repeated here to prevent if possible
the repetition of. costly mistakes made by some injured
workers, 2
Treatment Must be Authorized”,
in Advance - :
Although it is commonly known
by workers that no advance per-
mission need be asked for by an
injured worker for him to obtain
medical treatment after an acci-
dent; this. rule..does* not apply
where the accident is more than
seven years old. A worker must
get “conditional” authorization “in
advance (except in emergencies)
for treatment where the accident is
more than. seven years old, This’
permission: is gotten, from the
Workmen’s. Compensation Board.
Notice of all injuries from an
accident must be given
When a worker is injured, he
must inform his foreman, or some-
one representing management, : of
every part of his injuries, One
worker lost his right to benefits
for an injury to his right hand be-
cause at the time of the accident,
when both hands were caught be-
tween. rollers, only the left hand
seemed serious to him. Years lat-
cr a serious condition developed in
the right hand but the claim was
disallowed because the injury to
the right hand-was not reported
und no claim filed. This worker is
now secking the help of the union’s
lawyer, ; .
Parking Lot Automobile Injuries
Good for Compensation but
Not Lawsuits
A. worker injured on the Com-
pany’s parking lot where ‘the auto-
mobile which cuused his injuries
was driven by a fellow-employee
now secking the help of the union's
should not waste any time. but
should file a claim for compensa-
tion benefits immediately. Some
workers delay filing such a claim
believing that they would be bet-
ter off suing the driver of the au-
tomobile. The law prohibits such
suits against fellow-employees and
thence a worker should promptly
file -his claim for compensation
benefits and not -waste time with
law suits in such instances, «
in proportion to Company. profits,
we will avoid these periods of 1e-
cessions and depressions which up
‘to this date ave with us ‘pericdical-
ly, It can and must be realized °
that cream to the minority. and
skimmed milk to the majority can
only lead down the time worn
paths of recession. and ‘depression.
Let: us. all try the realistié ap-°
proach of providing the consumer
with the: necessary means lo pur-
chase what he produées, and‘ then
by next December 25th, we can all
appreciate the meaning of the
“Christmas Carol’? by Charles
Dickens,
Pensioners’ News
The regular monthly meeting of
Local 301 Pensioners wus held on
May 15th, in the Union Auditorium
and was well attended.
Guest speaker at the meeting
was, John F. Kirvin, Democratic
Supervisor
need for tax relief for Pensioners
on Social Security, who own their
own homes. In the discussion
which followed, Mr. Kirvin was
‘asked many questions by the Pen-
sioners which le answered to the
satisfaction of everyone, A rising
vote of thanks was given to Mr.
Kirvin by the 301. Pensoners for
his interest in their problems,
dack Suarez, President of Dis-
trict #3, gave an enlightening talk
on Government Surplus Food, ex-
plaining how and where to apply
for this food and also which Pen-
sioners were entitled to apply for
it. Local 801, IUE, are the pioneers
in the State of New York in spon-
soring the distribution of surplus
food to Pensioners. ‘
Bennie Geersen, [resident of
Local 801, FUL, Retired Workers
of America, read a communication”
aeceived by Jack Lindsay, a Viee-
‘President of the National Confer-
ence Board, R.W.A., telling of a
‘speech made by John S$, Murphy,
President of the National Confer-
ence Board, in which he stated that
a plan conceived by Coordinator
James T. Leonard to organize all:
pensioners groups throughout the
country into one confederation has
“progressed to the point where a
meeting will be called in the very
near future, ;
_ The officers of the Retired Work-
ers of America are very pleased ”
to report that the Forand Bill
which calls for a 10¢6, increase on
Social Security, free “hospitaliza-
tion, surgical and medical care, ts
the only bill of the many which
were presented that has cleared
committee and should come up for
-action soon
The next’ meeting of ie” Pen-
sioners ‘Club ‘will be, held on June
19th, 1958. All Pensioncers are
urged to attend,
LOCAL 301 —
PARTY NITES |
EVERY TUESDAY .
7:00 p.m.
UNION AUDITORIUM
; of Rotterdam, who’
‘spoke at “length on the urgent
ye
CST PRe A,
Per
