Electrical Union News, 1953 May 1

TEN mechan te meen

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4

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SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK

Friday, May 1, 1953

wast Moline, lii—Uie scored an

important NLRB. election .vietory”

last week when it defeated a com-
pany union to bring real organiza-
tion to International Harvester of-
fice workers here forthe first time.
The office workers voted 120 to 107
to join UE and to unite with thous-

ands of Harvester factory workers

in the Quad, Cities area.
x ke *

Portland,
national Woodworkers this week
welcomed a pledge of support from.
the independent International Long-
shoremen's . and Warehousemen’s
Union. The pledge was made in
with current negotia-
tions in which the companies have
refused to:make even the slightest
concessions... It was in the form of
a telegram printed on the front

A Pp e of the C10 union’s official
C: spaper, ‘

kK wk OR

Cincinnati—AlL raiders were
routed by a better than two to one
ratio by d. H. Day Co. workers who
voted to stick with UE Local 766,
The vote was 145 for UL, 72 for
the AFL and 8 for no union,

kk *

New York—The American Civil
Liberties Union has urged the U. S.
Supreme Court to reverse the per-
jury. conviction of Harry Bridges,
president of the west coast Inter-
national Longshoremen’s and
Warehousemen’s Union. The ACLU
denounced the repeated prosecu-
tion of Bridges on the same dis-
credited charges as “continual har-
rassment” amounting to a “viola-
tion of the due process of law re-
quired by the 5th amendment to

_ the U. S. Constitution.” ,

xk k *

Welland, Ontario—UE Local 523
announced last week that it had
won a contract including a Ide
-hourly package increase for work-

Tre. at the Reliance Electric plant
te

‘The new pact
minimum wage rate for both men
and women to $1.43 an hour, one of
the highest in the Canadian elec-
trical industry.

ve ke Yeomans » opaque ins
Juneau, Alaska—Organized _Ja-
bor hailed the adoption by the ter-
rilorial legislature of the first fair

employment practices law. for
Alaska.

Ore.—The CIO Inter-

rtee men

rises. the -

‘New “York conference.

301 Invites Lynn Stewards

UE Local 301 has invited shop stewards from the Lynn GE works to attend Monday's
meeting of shop stewards in Schenectady to discuss united action in current negotiations with

the’ company.

cated that. many committeemen

. there, were anxious to meet with .
“our officers and stewards to discuss

the current bargaining problem.
Such a meeting could be particu-
larly fruitful because of the over-
whelming support for. ‘working
with ULE. expressed by. the Lynn
local at a membership -meeting at-
tended by more than 5,000 pergons
on April 12,

It is hoped that some of the UB
stewards will be able to get here
for the Monday meeting when the
subject, of united action will be
fully discussed by the UE commit:
-and women. Previous:
Schenectady guthetings have shown
that the stewards and members of
301 are completely behind UE ef-
forts to-form a: united front, with

all GE. workers in order to win a

wage increrse and other contract
demands in 1953.

The invitation was extended after reports. from the big IUE-CIO local indi-

GE Holiday Steal Discussion
Marks Week’ s Shop Meetings

GE’s holiday steal was the big topic of conversation in the
Schenectady works this.week. The talk about the company’s
éfforts to, deprive workers of time off for Memorial Day and

July 4 was-sparked by 2' leaflet. dis-

tributions at the shop gates.
These distributions took place on

Monday and Wednesday. Monday’s

leaflet was prepared by the UE na-

tional office for all UE-GE locals
throughout the country. It pointed
up the small cost of the holidays
to the company—less than ‘ac an
hour for both days.

Wednesday's. leaflet was made up
by the local. It pointed to the gap
between GI's -boasted patriotism,

and the fact that management. is.

refusing to allow time off for 2 of

Local

omen Set Program
For National UE

eeting

Showing their determination to win equal pay for equal
work, women members of UE Local 801 crowded into their
hall Wednesday to draft a program to present at one week-

end national women’s conference.

Discussed were the activities
aimed at ending pay discrimination
on account of sex in Schenectady,
starting with the big women’s
demonstration last year. Specific
plans were made for expanding the
fight to involve every UE shop
across the country.

These. proposals will be pre-
sented at -the national conference
In New York tomorrow and Sun-
day. This conference is expected
to map a wide campaign to end
the “pay the women less” racket
of employers. This campaign is
regarded as particularly important
because 85% of Uls’s membership
throughout the country consists of
women,

Even more important is the fact
that the bosses use ‘lower women’s
rates as'a club to beat down the
rates of both men and women,

UE Local 801 will be represent-
ed by a G-member delegation, atthe

of the Schenectady delegation are
Frank D’Amico, 40; Ethel Furman,
10C, Sadie Iovinella, 81; Julia
Mitchell, 40; Helen Quirini, 81; and
Anna May Sullivan, 68.

~Members:

Slate Division Party
UE Loeal 801 members in the

‘Aeronautics Division under Execu-

tive Board- Member Allen Town-
send have scheduled a party for

Wednesday evening, May 6 at the-

union hall.

“Qlar basis.

the most important patriotic ~holi-

dayscof the year, ‘The company ex-
cuse for its position is that the
holidays fall on Saturdays, and
therefore do not come within the
“regularly scheduled work week.”

This argument falls completely
flat when the fact is, a large part
of the Schenectady work force has
been coming in Saturdays on a reg-
Now, with the holiday
question coming to a head, GE has
cut..a-lot of Saturday work. In
other’ words, when Glineeds “thé
production to pile up its "hee prof-
its, then Saturday work is OK, but
when it comes to.giving time off
for holidays falling on Saturdays,
then it’s another story.

Reports from the shops by
members of the executive board in-
dicated that the holiday leaflets
had. hit home for thousands of

workers and had stirred lively dis-

cussions at the dozens of meetings
held by board members and stew-
ards throughout the works, These
meetings every Wednesday are a
part of the campaign to mobilize
all UE members in the GI chain
for the fight to win decent contract
improvements from the company
this year, .

BAND PLAYS ON. “Tony Villano and his iuiudl provided the musical. back-
ground for hundreds of union members who turned out for the highly

‘successful 20th anniversary dance at 301 hall Saturday,

More pictures

and. the dance story on page 4,

preggers aime ian perme ee

poses ee berg Senta a rnin eit cr Re mi rarer eam ae tan Smee aes

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$8.70,

‘ gause great hardship.

* be halted,

Top Labor Leaders Denounce.
Goldwater-Rhodes Proposals.

Top leaders of every segment of ‘the labor movement de-.
nounced the proposed Goldwater-Rhodes union control bill in
congressional hearings this week.

In-a blunt statement on the
measure, UE President Albert Fitz-
gerald called it “thought control.”

UE LOCAL 301

STEWARDS. _
MEETING

, 2nd SHIFT
Monday, May. 4, 1953
1:00 P.M. (before work) «
ist and 3rd SHIFTS
Monday, May 4, 1953.

7:30. PLM.

Local 304 Hall

_ternational

- which

And “thought control is boss eon-
trol, the answer to the prayers of
General Ilectric, Westinghouse, In-
Harvester and other
employers seeking to set up com-
pany unions in America.”

AFL President George Meany
attacked the bill as “government
licensing of labor unions,” and
completely unacceptable to his fed-
eration, .

Another swipe ut the Goldwater-
Rhodes” proposals: was taken by
John L, Lewis, President of the
United Mine Workers, Lewis also
attacked’ the Taft-Hartley. law,
he characterized as “the
hyphenated monstrosity.” Lewis

- pictured repeal of anti-labor legis-

lation as the only possible way: to
avoid depression and economic
chaos for the American people.

i ;

G

Com

- Bldg. 10C: A time study on set-
up for Job 9726207, operation 1, in
June 1951 resulted in a price of
In July of that year, that
price was apparently thrown out
and a $6 price substituted. This
was done without notification of
the union, Now, the job has come
up again with the §6 setup price.
The union demands restoration of
the cut, and payment of the correct
$8.70 price.

Bldg. 11: Sanitation department
employees protest decentralization
plans on the ground that they will
The -union
demunds a management investiga.
tion to find means to keep this
group together under present su-
pervision.

Bldg. 17: Although the majority
of his group, including apprentices,
is working overtime, Dominick
Garone is not receiving his’ fair
share, (Thé@ union demands. that

overtime be distributed equally in.

necordance with the contract,

~ Foreman Maliszowski works the
tool crib on Saturdays while regu-
lar attendant Bardi Cipriano is not
ealled in. This is a violation of
contract, and the union demands it

Bldg. 28: Operators with the
longest service should have the
first opportunity to work on the

‘new progression line for stators

now being established. However,
Leona Shayne is being by-passed
in favor of workers ‘with shorter
serviee. The union demands that
this discrimination be stopped.
Bldg. 37: Robert T. Marnell was
told to report to work one hour
early on-ench of 4 days this past

month, The only premium. pay he.
reecived was time and one-half-for: ;
Under -

the hour on the 1st day.
contract article V-8b, he is entitled

Thousands of grievances are handled-by UE Local 301
each year at all levels from the steward up to final appeal
in New York City, To keep members posted, we shall
each week list some of the grievances that have not been
Seltled at the steward-foreman level and have been re-
ferred to the executive board-management level.

‘ench of the 4 days. The union de-. .
mands that he receive this double
time. . ‘

Bldg. 40:° Timing rate on the

“machine bar taping operation is 60c

while that on the machine coil tap-
ing operation is G68ce. Both jobs
are done with the same machines
and should-have the same rate, The
union demands a 1-step increase
for the machine bar job.

Badly overcrowded conditions in
the winding section create serious
safety hazards. The foreman has
conceded this but offers no solu-
tion, The union demands manage-
ment action to make this working
area safe.

Bldg. 46: ° A new setup man is
to be assigned to the drill presses.
Charles Fredrickson is entitled to
the job by virtue of service, ability
and general knowledge of the work.
The union demands that he be giv-
en the opening.

Group is being required to fill
out. piece work vouchers and to
work at a speeded up incentive
pace even though they are classi-
fied and paid as day workers. The
union demands an immediate end
to this practice. :

Earl Davis, Ralph Cronin, Dewey
Payne, Harold Vrooman, Charles
Woull) and Thoinas Young are
classified as C inspectors on T.G.

‘190. The job merits 4 B classifien-

tion because of the duties involved.
The union demands that these 6 |
operators be upgraded to B with
proper rate adjustment,

Bldg. 49: Floor assemblers on
GT nozzles are not receiving an
adequate job rate as compared with
yates for similar jobs. The union, .
therefore, demands an increase in

“the rate.

Bldg. 60: Automatic boring ma-

to double time for the 1st hours onchines were recently changed from

2 © Friday, May 1,1953

day work to piece work with a’

$1.65 A.E.R. The proper A.E.R.
for the job is $1.91. The union de-
mands this A.ELR.

Wiremen under Foreman Roberts

are being sent over to “work in-

Foreman Hansen’s section causing
the wiremen there to be sent home
for lack of work. The union de-
mands that this situation be reme-
died.

Bldg. 66:
safety hazard caused by lack of
crane service on Saturday, April
18. The union demands manage-
ment.action to guarantee against a
repetition. .

Bldg. 105: The piece rate de--

partment claims that_a time study
taken Feb. 9 was only 2 methods
check, However, a stop watch was
used, detailed information on the
job was written up and the study
lasted 10 to 11 hours, clearly mak-
ing it a legitimate time study. The

union demands that any retiming.

now should be confined to the oper-
ation on which there is. an engi-
neering change, : :

Bldg. 269: Group protests block-

dng of chemical room door by em--

ployees punching out: This .cre-
ates a safety hazard since it would
make it almost impossible ~'for

ELECTRICAL UNION NEWS

UNITED ELECTRICAL, RADIO. &.. MACHINE «
WORKERS OF AMERICA (UE)

Local 301

EER 2
Published by the Editorlat Cammittoo
Prosidont..----...—-—.-James J. Cognotta
Vice Prosidant.——..-...-Joseph Alois
Treasurer _-_-_._.-.Josoph Whitbeck
Recording: Socrotaryo.2:— Roy. Schaffer
Asa't RecordingSocrotary—-Rudy “Risaland
Chiof Shop Steward.—_—.Willlam Mastriant
Business Agont—.——.—..___ boo Jandreau

201 LIBERTY $1, SCHENECTADY 5, N. Y.

Group protests. the ©

workers to get out of room in case
of an accident. The union demands
a correction of this situation.

The union demands proper- in-_..

struction for all employees using
cobalt chloride and thorium ovide.

- Only such instruction can guaran-

tee the health and safety of these
workers. ° ‘
“Bidg. 278:. O, E. Smith,.a
tool evib keeper is entitled to a
classification because of the -re-
quirements of his erib, The union

‘demands that he be given this up-

grading with proper wage increase.

Group of floor assemblers pro-
test. assignments to do work of
erector asseniblers, The union. de-
mands that this practice be stopped.

A new 6 to 10’ boring mill-verti-
cal tracer control is being installed
in K-9. Supervision. has. announced

that it will be a day rate job with

a $2.03 rate. The union demands

‘that: the. operation of this machine

be paid average earnings in accord
with past practice.

Group in large engine lathe sec-
tion protest distribution of over-
time. Larger machines are being
used on small machine jobs during
oversime, Since there is no possi-
bility of reciprocation, this results
in extremely unequal distribution -
of .the overtime. The union de-
mands that this situation be cor-
rected, 7 : ;

There. are 8 jobs open on 1st.
shift. .They are on the 60” grooy-
ing lathe in P-2, the 48” Niles in
E-7; and the Betts Bridgeford in
F-3, There are operators on night
shift who are qualified for these
jobs and who have made proper
shift.transfer applications. There-
fore, the union. demands that ‘th
jobs be filled by ‘shift transf
based-on service,

On April 25, a worker with ‘a
$1.45 timing rate job had a lack of
work and was told to do a $1.31
T.R. job at the lower rate. The

- union-.demands. -that~-he-be- paid: -

either average earnings ‘or at a’
special rate to allow him to main-
tain his earnings in accordance
with the contract. .

ELECTRICAL UNION NEWS

©

UNITED ELECTRICAL, RADIO & MACHINE WORKERS OF AMERICA (UE)

* Fights for DECENT PAY *

&

. Thereby request and accept membership in the above named union, and authorize
it to represent me, and in my behalf to negotiate aud conclude all agreements
as to hours of labor, wages, and all other conditions of employment.

Print Nume.

TEPBE.

TUR 8 Ee RR

eS th Re

Address Bac Varus Ui ae city & ton Stlloy ALY

Employed by.

Dept LURALAre”

DateL he
Date must be filled in,
eee 284 BETO"

“

~ (ffl Of Applicant

DIFFERENT STORY. Steve Waits spends’ lots of time lying about the
union (see story below). However, when he got into trouble with super-
vision last year, it was a different Story. He came running to the’union

which he is still trying to" wreck, and applied for membership... His.
application, signature and all is reproduced above. Watts was rejected |

because of his: anti-union activities.

_ man.”

was. 7

truth all day.

People in Turbine know Steve Watts as a guy who still tries .
pretty hard, and with pitifully little: success, to split. the union.
In his spare time, Watts has also been seen operating a lathe. |

That’s why those who saw the:Troy Reeord on April 22 were
startled to.see Watts announced as a “GE official” who was slated
to speak at a Kiwanis Club luncheon. The subject chosen by this
“anion, leader” was “What the unions are doing to the business

However, this was only the beginning, for on April 24, after
the Kiwanis session, another story appeared in the Record. By’
this time, the “hot shot” reporter who -covered the meeting had
discovered that Watts was not. exactly a company official, but a
new title was discovered for the phony—‘chief shop steward of
Local 301: at large, IUE-CIO.” ‘That’s about the fanciest way yet
thought up of saying that a guy who no one wants to have any-
thing to do with holds a non-existent office in a local which never

The content of Watts’ talk to Kiwanis was of course, the same
old red-baiting lies about UE, For example, “the UE News, and
the Daily Worker are published in the same building.’ Since the
UE News is published on 51st Street. in New York, and the Daily
Worker offices are on 13th Street, this means that Watts was
only about 2 miles off, which is about as near as he got to the

_ JRule Bars Jobless.

Pay in Shutdowns
A recent court decision has up-

set the past New York State policy

of paying unemployment insurance

to workers who are out because of |

a vacation shutdown, but who do
not qualify for vacation pay.

In the past. such workers have
been entitled to jobless pay because
of-a decision won by UE at hear-
ings several years ago. The anti-
labor ruling arose out of a case
filed by the AFL optical workers
in Rochester, .

‘Whigs new decision is now being

‘tpealed, and all workers who lose .

pay because of vacation, shutdowns
are urged to apply for unemploy-
ment compensation so that if the
court .ruling, is. upset..by. a. higher
eourt, they will be ‘eligible to re-
ceive the insurance payments re-
troactively. . r os

ELECTRICAL UNION NEWS

oard Wires Full Support
To GE Strikers in Scranton

UE’ Local 301’s executive board this week offered full
support to striking union brothers and sisters at the GE
Scranton plant.. The support was in the form of a wire to

Anti-Bias Group Plans.
Job Situation Survey

UL Local 301's fair employment

practices commniittee decided Mon--

day to conduct a survey aimed at
determining: to what degree dis-
.crimination exists against -Negro
workers in the Schenectady works.
The committee also decided to in-
vite Ernest Thompson, UL national
FEPC. secretary to address a stew-
ards’. or membership meeting in
the near future,

According to the plans drawn up
by the 801 group, all shop stew-
ards’ will’ receive forms on.;Wwhich
to describe the jobs held by Negro
workers. Exact details of the sur-
vey are to be worked out between
the committee and the union busi-
ness office. It is hoped that the
‘survey will uncover any diserim-
ination that may exist against all
minority. groups.

Both: the survey~and the invita-
tion to Thompson, Were approved
by the executive board which met,
shortly after the conclusion of the
FEPC session, The anti-discrim-
ination group was under the chair-
manship of Charles Scott, Bldg. 62.

1Sc at Durez
Tonawanda, N, Y.—Workers at
Durez Plastics voted this week to
uecept a 16¢ package negotiated by
‘UE, It includes an lle to Ie
hourly wage boost and improve-
ments in the health and welfare in-
- surance provisions,

Urge Tax Cut, Defeat of G-R Measure

UL. Local 801’s executive board
voted Monday to make known the
union’s opposition to the Goldwater-
Rhodes bill, and to put its strength
behind moves to cut: income taxes
for wage earners,

These actions were , taken
through separate letters to. Con-
gressman Bernard Kearney and to
Rep, Daniel Reed, head of the
House Ways and Means: Commit-'
tee. Reed-is the congressman who
has pushed for a 10% tax reduc-
tion. ; :

The letters on. the Goldwater-
Rhodes measure pointed. out that
the proposed law was clearly aimed
at destruction. of the entire free

labor movement in America. Une.

derthe guise of rooting” out alleged
subversive influences, it would give
the viciously anti-labor McCarran

board the power to outlaw any un-
ion which dared to fight in the in-
terests of its members. Goldwater-
Rhodes would establish “complete
government. control over trade un-
ions, and is opposed by all seg-
ments of the labor movement.

In urging real income tax cuts
for the levy-laden American work-
ing people, the board pointed to
the tremendous gifts to the big
corporations being, made in the

form of abolition. of the excess.

profits tax. This will mean an extra
$58-million in profits for GE alone,
ind billions of dollars to add to the
swollen profits of other corpora-
tions,

UE has long urged real tax, cuts,

for the people instead of gifts to
“the corporations who are making
record profits,

President Jack Price of UE Local
125, which represents the Scranton
workers, pledging that no work
transferred from Scranton would
“be done in Schenectady, and ask-

ing what additional aid was needed.’

The wire was sent on behalf of
301 -by President James Cognetta
and Business Agent Leo Jandreau.
It read: :

“On behalf of the members of
UE: Local 301,.General Electric
workers in Schenectady, we extend
to you our congratulations and sup-
port in your fight against wage
cuts and to preserve your contract.

“We have notified the company
that we will not engage in any
work® that normally belongs to
Scranton, Please advise us on what
we may do to help.”

The Scranton strike began 3
weeks ago when GE thanagement’s:
wage, cutting policies and violations
of seniority became intolerable.
Scranton was recently converted
from washing machine manufac-
ture to tube work. Most of the
tube jobs came from Schenectady.

— GE amanagement policies in
Scranton have been -clearly based
on a strategy of taking on one
local union at a time.This tactic
was ulso used to force IUE-CIO
members out on strike in Syracuse,
and ClO autoworkers and AFL ma-

chinists out in Evendale, Ohio, near

Cincinnati.

Recognizing the importance of a
united struggle against these poli-
cies. UE Local 301 has pledged
support to all striking GE workers,

Lynn Tabs Unity Trio

IVE-CIO Local 201 has estab:
lished a 8-member united action
committee to study possibilities of
working with UE in current nego-
tintions with, the company. The
local executive board action was in
Hine With a mandate. by the mem-
bership at the big union meeting
on April 12,

An Offer to Vea

At .a recent “educational”
meeling, Motor Division Man-
aver QO. T., Vea told the workers
that he agreed that GE employ-
eves should get “all (he wage in-
creases they are entitled to.”

If Vea would drop around. to
the union hall, UE Local 301
would be glad: to provide him

trip down to New. York so that
he can express this view to GE
top management,

Friday, May 1,7953 8 3

with. carfare and expenses.for.a.|.

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