Electrical Union News, 1952 November 21

Urge All Stewards to Attend

Monday Meeting on Strikes

A special effort on the part of all committeemen to attend
Monday's meeting of the shop stewards was urged by the
officers of UE Local 301. The importance of the meeting,

which is to take up'the question
of the International Harvester v:!
General Cable strike collections,
was emphasized by local President
James Cognetta.

Two strikers, one from cach of
the major stoppages, will address
the meetings. The stewards will
diseuss methods of insuring: a
successful collection in the works.

Cognetta stressed the need to
make a go of the collections, aimed
at getting $1 a month from ‘every
member of the union. He pointed
out that the failure of either strike
would seriously weaken the union
and do us more damage than all
of the raids and splitting activities’
against UE in the past three years.

In order to make sure that ,
every one of the 630 groups in
the plant is represented at the
meeting, members were urged
to check with their stewards
and see that either the stew-
ards or allernates would
attend one of the two Monday
sessions. The second shift
stewards will get together at
1:00 p.m, and. the first and
third shift,committeemen will
meet at 7:30 p.m.

The: meeting will be the first
major gathering of the union: since
Tuesday’s special meeting in Syra-
cuse at whieh all District 3 local
presidents and business agents got
together with Ul Director of :Or-
ganization dimes Matles and mem-
bers of the union staff. The Syra-
cuse session thoroughly “discussed
the problems confronting © the
union in the strikes and made
plans for insuring adequate finan-

cial support for the strikers from

upstate New: York.

Shortage Pays Off

Here's a case in which a
shortage in pay paid offy and
not for the ‘company.

A-couple of weeks ago, Ray
Szuty, a handyman in the Build-
ing 285 shipping department,
got his pay and found it short,
He went to steward Louis Riano
to ask help. Riano checked and
found out that not only was this
pay short but that the company
had been shorting Szuty every
week for nine months by paying
him only at a rate of $1.43
rather than at the $1.47 hourly
wage to which he was entitled.

Riano took the matter up
with the general foreman, and
it was ayreed that Sauty would
he paid at the higher rate from
now -on, and (hat he would get'a
retroactive adjus({ment amount.
ing to just under $50.

Friday, November 14, 1952"

’ Brashear on Mend

Dewey Brashear, UE Local
301.executive board member, is
on the road to recovery follow-
ing an cmergency appendectomy
a week ago Wednesday in the St.
Mary’s Hospital of Amsterdam.

: Brashear is now at home.

Schenectady Welfare Hinges.

On UE Dixie Drive Success

_ The future economic prosperity of the people of Schenec-.

tady, particularly those who work for General Electric, may
well be decided by the fate of a UE organizing drive now

swinging into high gear hundreds
of miles away from the Capital
District. .

While this might seem strange
to many people, it is actually com-
pletely logical since the drive is
the union’s campaign to organize
GE plants which are springing up
all over the South, including the
large company j
eLouisville, Ky.; Rome, Ga., and
Anniston, Ala,

It is estimated that half of
GE’s production may be in
these plants south of the Ma-
son-Dixon lind within a few
years. The company’s purpose
in moving to these areas
is to take advantage of the
low-wage, non-union  condi-
tions prevailing wherever Jim
Crow rules the roost,

UE has recognized that the
only way to prevent GE from
shifting more and more of its
operations away ‘from the
northern states is to organize
the southern plants and raise
wages there to levels prevail-
ing elsewhere. If this is ac-
complished, then the company’s
incentive to “run away” will
be removed.

This was highlighted at the re-
cent national convention in Cleve-
land which made the southern or-
ganizing dvive one of the key pro-
grams -to be carried through in the
next year. The convention also

“emphasized that only one kind of

organizing could be successful in
the South—organization based on
equal treatment for all workers of
all races and nationalities in hir-
ing, upgrading and in all phases of
economic life.

While at first glance it might
seem easier to bow down to the
existing prejudices in Kentucly,
Georgia and Alabama,. the lessons
learned in previous attempts to. or-
gunize the southern workers show
‘that to bow to Jim Crow is to de-
stroy all organizational efforts.

For example, CIO’s highly-tout-

ed “Operation, Dixie” ground :to.a.. .
g

sickening standstill when the lead-
urs sold:out and sought to exclude
Negro workers from unions, This

installations in.

enabled the corporations to return
to. their old practices of pitting
white against Negro and keeping
the wages of all way down. Simi-
larly the CIO textile union has
failed miserably to organize the
South, where most of its industry
is now located, because it refused
to assure equal treatment for Ne-
gro workers. mw, _
UE is determined not to make
this mistake, and its record of
fighting discrimination in the North

gives it a good basis on which to

appeal to the workers of the South.
That the job of organizing Dixie
will not be an easy one was em-
phasized in recent. weeks by the
arrest and holding in jail without
any sernblance of a fair trial, of a
UE organizer who was working ‘at
GE Anniston plant. But easy or
hard, the job of bringing the union
to the South is vital to workers
from Savannah to Schenectady.

" Mastriani.

Election

Continued from Page !
fer, is running for recording sec-
retary. He will have the opposi-
tion of Ignatius Mack of GO. John

“Smith of 273 was also nominated,

but he declined as-a “contribution
to unity.” @

The contest for the job of &)
sistant recording seeretary will be
between Rudy Rissland, now re-
curding secretary, and Robert Pop-
owitz of 273. Four men are seek-
ing the pest of treasurer to suc-
ceed Helen Quirini who decided
not to run for reelection, They
are Joseph Whitbeck of 76, Henry
Kaminski of. 76, Reginald Cartier
of 273 and Bill Fisher of 81.

Rodney: Bardin of 273 and Jack
DeGraff of 60 will attempt to wrest
the office of chief shop steward
from its current holder, William
Business » Agent Leo
Jandreau will be the only officer
not opposed for reelection. *

However, there will. be no op-
position for two other posts, not
listed among the officers:; Mario
Bagnato:and Joseph Saccocio are
assured of being reclected as guide
and..sergeant-at-arms respectively.
Five candidates will be in the field
for the .three. local trusteeships.
They are Vincent Palazeke, Anders”
Christiansen, William Garrison,
Edward Luberda and Joseph Hil*.
_ The committee elected its of.’
officers on Friday. John Saceocio
wus named as chairman. and An- °
thony Rossi as secretary.

Success, J. B.... We can now commence with the
layoffs...

ELECTRICAL UNION NEWS

oo,

( ) Vol, 10 — No. 46

SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK

Friday, November 21, 1952

Tilfin, O.—The latest series of

splitting raids by the IUE-CIO in-

GI shops ran into its third straight
defeat ut the hands of the workers
here last week. In an NLRB élec-
tion, GE employees followed the
example set for ‘them in Niles,
Ohio, and Fort Edward and Hud-
son alls by routing the TUE. The
vote to continue UE as collective
bargaining agent was 265 to 206:
k kw. *

‘St Louis—The CIO Amalga-
mated Clothing workers are con-
tinuing to picket the offices and
warehouses of the Rice-Stix Co.
after defeating an attempt by the

company to obtain an anti-picket-—
ing injunetion.” Almost 1,000 mem-

bers of the AFL teamsters union
have respected. the lines thrown up

hy the 650 CIO members who are
rhting against ineredibly low
Wages, Many workers Have not

even been paid the federal mini-~

mum wage of 75¢ an hour, In re-
taliation for the ASL. union’s re-
specting of the picket lines, the
company has filed a $1-million
“Taft-Hartloy damage suit against
the teamsters.

k kek *

Hastings-on-Hudson, N. Y.-— A
wage re-opener has brought An-
nconda Copper workers here pay
boosts ranging [rem 8e to 18 an
hour. ‘The Se was a general wage
increase won by UE Local 404,
with about 300 workers getting ad-
ditional money in inequity adjust-
ments, An important aspect of
the agreement was that it com-
pletely wiped out sex differentials
for the 1,200 workers involved,

kK kK *

Pittsburgh -— The CIO conven-
tion, originally scheduled to open
this week, has been postponed un-

til Dee. 1 in order to give CIO.

leaders a chanee to come up with
some semblance of unity in their
es to succeed Philip Murray as
. tesident of the organization. Or-
wanizational Director Alan Hay-
wood and auto workers’ president
Walter Reuther continued as the
leading ‘candidates ‘for the jobs At
the same time, another of Mur-
ray’s key’ posts has been filled on
a temporary basis. Steehyorkers’
secretary-treasurer) David | Mac-
Donald has been named as acting
president of the union,

Ask Your Steward

The question of the continu-
ation of the strike fund collec-
tions was thoroughly discussed
und approved by the UE Local
301 shop stewards on Monday.

Yhis discussion is of vital im-
portance to everyone in’ the
Schenectady works. Was your
sleward there so that he ean re-
port to you on the meeting? If
not, its your job to make sure
that you are represented at the
next stewards’ council meeting
in. December. : ——

Strike Aid Remains Vital
Despite Harvester Accord

_ UE Local 301 officers stressed the importance of continu-
ing collections to aid striking members of the union even
though the 87-day strike involving 30,000 International Har-
vester workers ended with the signing of.a new contract on

Saturday.

The continuing financial need of
the Harvester workers and of the
General Cable strikers was em-

Report Company OK’s Terms
To End General Cable Strike

A magnificent six-month struggle by General Cable work-
ers appeared to be rapidly nearing a successful conclusion as
this week’s issue of the EU. News went to press. Ly meetings

ts

with Mayor David R. Townsénd of
Rome, Cables management finally
ugreed to put into writing -all
ugreements with Uli which sate-
guard the protections of the un:
ion contraet. :
This agreement resulted in an

“announcement by the Utien Daily

Press and other are newspapers
that the strike hhd*been settled.
The mayor's ussurance that the
company had given its word that
it would live up to its agreements
in good faith also caused the mem-
bers of Us Local 881 to remove its
pieket lines and report buck for
work on Wednesday morning. ,

If! the agreement announced by
the mayor proves to be in good
faith, then the workers will be
buck at work with full protection
of the Ul contract. ‘The last
major roadblock to be cleared away
was the question of seniority
rights, and according to Mayor
Townsend the company has agreed
to respect fully the seniority of
all workers.

In addition the agreement an-
nounced provided substantial econ-
omic improvements for the. 1,350

General Cable workers in Rome. :

Among’ these gains were a 5¢ hour-
ly pay boost,.an entirely new pen-
sion plan providing a $110 mini-
inum pension for retiring workers,
and improvements in the company-
lintuneed medical plan, The em-
ployees ,also gained a third week's
vacation after 15 years.

The events leading up to the re-
ported settlement showed that the

company was determined to: break

the union right up until -the last
minute. On Monday, the company’s
long heralded back to work move-
ment was launched and it failed
completely.

_ The next. company plan was to.

try to provoke the workers by mov-
ing materials into. the plant.
Trucks from all over the area
rolled up to the plant gates, but in
almost all cuses they were turned
back by the pickets who explained
the situation to ‘the truck drivers.
Then the Cable bosses tried to get
materials through on a railroad

spur leading right into the plant. ,

This was frustrated by pickets who
threw themselves across the tracks
and brought the freight cars to a
grinding stop.

While all of this was. going on,
police were busy arresting a num-
ber of pickets on trumped up
churges of assault, disorderly con-
duct, ete. But. none of: these mu-
neuvers were successful in intimi-
dating Cable workers who have
been hardened by. six months of
strugele on the picket lines.

Strike Card Vital

The UE Local 801 strike support
card is vital to all of us because
it moans that we have contributed
to strengthening our union against
future company attacks.

BILL SENTNER. U2 International
Representative who spoke at Mon-
day's stewards “meeting, Story on
Sse saute page.3. 0 we

phasized in a talk at Monday’s:

stewards’ meeting by Business
Agent Leo Jandreau. Jandreau
pointed out that the national un-
ion had spent hundreds of thous-
unds of dollars during the 3-month
Harvester tieup, and these ex-
penses had left the UE treasury in
a dangerously low condition. The
lack of financial resotirees was one
of the most important factors in
forcing the union to sign a con-
tract which failed to meet the
needs ofthe Harvester workers on

-many important scores, Jaundreau

said.

The Harvester contract was
signed Saturday after the com-
pany had announced that it
would never make an agree-
ment with UE, and launched
a drive to get the strikers .
back to work without any con-
tract at all, This drive was
backed by decertification peti-
tions instituted in a number
of plants by company stooges
working closely with the CLO
autoworkers,

These * decertification petitions
were aimed at dislodging UL from

the Harvester plunts, ‘something |

the top leadership of the ClO un-
ion has failed to do in 22 successive

didds. All of these raids ended in

smashing UE victories in NLRB
elections,

Paced with. this two-pronged at-
tack, the Harvester workers voted
to go back. to work after forcing
management to backtrack on all

butca few ofthe mare than 60 de-

mands ‘it had made on the union,
The new contract provides a Te
general wage increase, un le to Be
adjustment for skilled workers and
a modified union shop agreement.

On the other hand, the CTO and
AFL sellouts on certain basic pro-
visions cut the ground out from
under the UE strikers and they

. Were forced. to.nceept certain. pro-

visions which had been taken .by
the other unions during the course
of the strike. These changes in-
eluded modification of the incen-

tive system so that ceilings on

(Continued on.Page 3)...

TOL UN a I eg TEI Rink T I BOLE RETESET OT SED PATOL ERIN DN

{02 teen hata tetera iperence te te ort ies

Heri,

Honor Roll.
Last week we began ‘publishing.
the names of those members of UE
Local 801 who have joined the “$5
Club” by contributing $5 or more
to the fund to aid UE members who
ure now on strike, or who. have
been, fighting for our unien on the
picket lines in recent months.
The list is, continued. this week
with the publication of the names
of those. who made, contributions
either in cash or by transferring
earlier donations to the UE Local
301 defense fund in time to be in-°.
cluded in this week’s paper. The
* “85 Club” members are:
S. Lupi, Bldg. 89
M. Stoeckhous, 40
F. Bissonette, 40°
C. Butler, 40
M. Fernandez, 10 |
S. De Pietro, 49 ~
D. Testardo, 69
O. Hasse, 69
J. Gregorek, 69
C. Fuchs, 73
J. Leguire, 69
J. Thorpe, 69
S. Speidel, 69
D. Fiore, 69
A. Knight, 73

~ A. DellaRocco, 73
J. Mieccolo, 73
J, DiLorenzo, .73
R, Jordon, 73
J, Raytynski, 73
E. DeGasperis, 73
S. Ciesinski,. 73
DD. Gabriele, 73
A. Benaquisto, 73
R. Bezio, 73
a. DeMatteo, 73
A. DePresis, 73
hR. lerno, 73
L. Horinka, 73
HH. Von Stentina, 73
P. Mirando, 73
J. Duba, 73
F. Burdick, 73
R. Musco, 73
C. DeSilva, -73
R. Pasmore, 73
L. Bove, 73
M. Nddy, 73
S. Burton, 73
A. Barkley, 73
J. Cruichshaw, 73
D. Pitucci, 69
R. Baker, 69
B. Simboli, 69
A. Gampanello, 73
J. Tellier, 53
R. Linsboth, 17
KK, Constanzo, 68:
M. Riggi, 46
D. MeWhinnie, Racetrack
P. Raczes, RT ‘
A. Langrock, RT
R. Van Allen, RT
QO. Lehman, RT
W. Sussdorf, RT
A, McAleavy, RT
J. Hogal, RT

“W. Sebast, RT
FH. NeGenova,. RT
B, Ward, RT
K. Saylis, RT .
(Continued on page 4)

0

2 © Friday, November 21, 1952

.this price.

shift.

Bldg. 28: Marie Sweeney: is
classified as.-a J inspector. Her
duties during the past two years:
have included work on’ disassem-
bling motors. and submitting re-
ports indicating which parts need
replacement and reworking. The,
union believes that the experience
and knowledge required on the
job merits a much higher classifi-
cuition and demands upgrading
from J tol.

Bldg. 37: The cleaners’ group

under Foreman Rueter objects to

being required to wash windows, a
job which is outside of their class-
Ifieation. ‘The union demands an
immediate end.to this practice.

Bldg. 40: John Butler and Mil-
ton Veeder are being criticized for
the number of burnouts on their
work although these burnouts are
caused by inferior materials. The

_ union demands" that the work of

these two men be given fair con-
sideration.

Bldg. 49: John Hunt is classi-
fied as an aceumulator. Recently:
he has broken a number of men in
om the job. When openings for
better jobs: have been available, he
approached his foreman to request
the upgrading to which he was en-~
titled. However, the foreman has
refused to give him proper con-
sideration and..assigned the. jobs.
to new men with much less service.
The union demands that.Hunt be
given proper consideration for up-
grading.”

The vertical turret lathe oper-
ators are being converted from day

‘work to piece work. with timing

rates ranging from $1.06 to $1.21
for 40” to 72” Bullards. ‘The un-
ion feels that the workers are en-
titled to much higher rates and de-
mands that they be given them.
Welders working,under Foreman
Zimmerman are assigned to weld-
ing turbine wheels of various sizes.
In converting them from day to
piece work, supervision has given
them a $1.06 timing rate. The
work they are doing merits a $1.16
rate and the union demands a two
step inerease ‘to bring them up to

Bldg. 52: Robert Jordan has
been transferred from 2nd ‘to srd.
shift for the convenience of. the
company. The union demands he
be given a change of shift prem-
juny in line with the provisions of
the contract. ; .

Eugene Kolacki, on the advice of

his physician, requests a change
to Ist shift.»
’ A group is protesting the price
on band operation, They fcel that
the record shows the price to be in-
adequate. The union demands a
proper increase.

Bldg. 60: Core assembly group
protests being forced to work 8rd
They do not feel that this is
necessary during the present lack
of work situation ‘and the union de-

-mands that their hours of work be

kept as. before until conditions are
normalized, at which time the pro-

posed. changes could. be. discussed...

Bldg. 69: A ‘male operator was
paid. $1.02 for a frame assembly
job, Supervision gave this job to:

Thousands of grievances are handled by UE Locat 301
each year at all levels trom the steward up to final appeai
in New York City.:To keep members posted, we shalt
each week ist some of the grievances that have not been
settled at the steward-foreman level and have bees. re-
jefred to the executive board-management level.

a woman and paid only 8le.. The
union demands payment of the
$1.02 standard price and an end to
this discrimination on the basis of
sex.

Bldg. 109: Recently three ma-
chines have been installed to apply
fibre glass covering to wire. Su-

pervision is compelling the oper-'

ator to: run the muchines at speeds
from 20’ to 24" per minute, as com-
pared with speeds on the old ma-
chines of 13%’ to’ 15’. As a re-
sult, parts of the machine can. not
take the abuse and y-belts, wipers,
drive shaft couplings, ete. have
been breaking down. The operator
has been held responsible for these
breakdowns: Production has been
increased from 95% ‘to 180%. This
is an outright case of speedup and
the. union demands that manage-
ment investigate and correct the
existing conditions.

Bldg. 269: Peter Eiser is classi-
fied as.a-G inspector. His duties

are comparable to.those of C work- .

ers in other jobs in the plant. The
union demands a 3 step increase in
rate and a C. classification for
Kiser, ee .
Bldg. 273: Robert Bufe is doing
work which should be classified as
boring mill-vertical turret-special
classification, This rating along

' with increase in pay is demanded,

William’ Nightengale was classi-
fied.as a B turret lathe operator in
July, and was then transferred to
engine lathe Cluss C. He has per-
formed B work since then but has
not had his classification or rate
changed, The union demands a re-
troactive adjustment in both class-
ification and pay. “

Carl Cummings feels that based
on his outside experience, his rec-
ord in GE welding school and his
job performance, he was improp-
erly vated when hired. The union
demands that his starting rate be
adjusted to two steps below job
rate in accordance with the con-
tract,

William J. Hogan protests the
progress report issued on Nov. 10:
‘The union demands correction of
this report. in line with Hogan’s
job performance, earnings, LR.
record,’ ete. , ,

I, Malizia and R. Montanaro do:
not believe that their upgrading »

should hinge on acceptance | ‘of
transfers to night work. They de:
mand upgrading on ist shift. - °

Peter Ragusa has been coing A
work since Jan, 1951, but he «was
not reclassified: until February: of
this year, He is now giving nor-
mal performance on his job and
the union demands he be given job
rate.

ELECTRICAL UNION NEWS:

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

o local 391

Published by the Editorial. Committes

Prasidont—.—-=—-—-—Jamas J. Cognetia
Vico-Presidont —.———-a.-—-Roy Schalfor
Treasur6t—-—.—..-—anenn—-Halen Quirini
Rocarding.. Secretar yw —n.—Rudy “Rissland,
Ass't'Racording Secretary—.-Frank D'Amico.
Chlef Shop Stoward——.-William Mastriant

301 LIBERTY ST.

SCHENECTADY 5, N.Y.

“perience, time spent .in

“requested

Business Agont..—..-—.——-Llao Jandreau ‘].

IX. Schoch is classified as a B.

toolmaker assigned to making
gauges. He is performing this 4
work exclusively. ' The union d@
mands upgrading from B to ?

_ with proger rate adjustment.

Rodney Skellis, based on his ex-
welding
school and job performance, was
entitled to receive a.starting rate
2 steps. below job rate. The union
demands retroactive adjustment.

Bldg." 285: Eugene. Fisher is
classified as a bench assembler. His
foreman is utilizing him on_ all
types of miscellaneous machine
work, to which he devotes 60% of
his time. The union maintains that
this combination of jobs is not"
within ‘his present job classifica-
tion and demands that either the
practice be stopped or he be up-
graded to his proper job classifi-
cation.

Campbell Ave: Albert Pepicelli
feels that’ due to an increase in
duties and type of work, additional
lielp is required to operate his tool
crib properly and he is entitled to
reclassification: and increase in
rate, Supervision has refused. to
even investigate his demands. The
union demands an, immediate cot-

yection of this situation,

Group working under Foreman
Stoodley objects to “being trans-
ferred to Bldg. 87 without super-
vision giving one week’s notice and
furnishing a personnel’ ist as y
quired under the contract. No lal
of work is involved and the fore-
man ‘refuses to recognize the move
as.a permanent transfer. Recent-
ly 5 new machinists have been
added to the-group, and now the
proposed transfer involves 4. C
machinists,
an immediate halt to this practice.

Racetrack: Louis Lievestro, a B
machinist, has been told that he
must work on his job for G months
before getting a raise. He was

_ given an effective date of Dec, 15

for the increase. However, he is
entitled to the higher rate as of
Nov. 8 The union demands that
Lievestro be given the increase

_from the latter date,

Despite a previous docket, which
management to take
‘steps to end super'vision’s disre-

gurd of contract article, XV-1-a-2, -
_ Which requires the foreman to re-

ply to the shop steward within one
working day of the submission of
a grievance, supervision has con-
tinued to ‘violate this provision of
the agreement. The union demands
immediate management action to
end these violations.

Danicl Massalini is requesting
restoration of his service record.
He, formerly worked for. GE in
Pittsfield and left to seek employ-
ment in Schenectady. He gt
Pittsfield on April 29, and afte,
brief illness went to work in Scht®
nectudy, He was paid his .vaca-'
tion pay and notified that his serv-
ice Was intact. However, on Oct.

°22, personnel notified him that his
Jservice had ‘been broken and. he.

would be obliged to refund his va-
vation pay. The union demands a
Management investigation of this
unfair treatment,

ELECTRICAL UNION NEWS

The’ union demands .

NEW STEWARDS. Pictured above
“are the new shop stewards who

were sworn in at the stewards

meeting Monday. They are Donald

Brust, Bldg. 46;:Louis Durrer, 50;
Mary Orzali, 269; and Edward
Willey, 107. On.the right is Harold
D. Van Patten, 10C, who -was
sworn in’as a second shift steward.
Frederick Pivacek, 285, who: was
also sworn in at the evening meet-

ing is not pictured,

Sentner Tells

of Frameup

In Talk to 301 Stewards

An appeal for strong unity among all working people to

fight off the growing big business attack on organized labor «

was made before the UE Local
day by one of the leading victims
of that attack, .

The plea was that of UE Inter-
national Representative Bill Sent-
ner, who has been indicted on
phoney charges under the anti-
labor Smith Act. The UE leader

. pointed out. that his arrest on

Sept. 17 came during the height
of his activity on behalf of the
Harvester ‘strikers, and in a city
where 10,000. of those strikers
were, Rock Island, Illinois. He
bluntly accused the Justice De-
partment of cooking up his arrest
in‘ ‘order to help the company
against the 30,000 UE members
who were on strike to protect their
contract. .

Sentner observed that this
kind of tactic was nothing new
to him. He said that he had
been arrested in Iowa-during

Harvester

(Continued from Page 1) <

piece work earnings are set up,

certain yreclassifications for day
workers, revision in the steward

nd grievance machinery which

eviously had been far better than
those provided for in the CIO and
AFL pacts, The new contract runs
until June 30, 1955.

One of the main lessons to be
drawn from the long and gallant
fight of the Harvester workers is.

the importance of a strong union -

defense fund of at least a million
dollars. Our national union must
build such ‘a fund in order. to pro

tect its members against the com-"

pany onslaughts which will un-
doubtedly come in the next few
months. It is with this in mind
that Local, 301 will press for the
$1-a month contributions from each
member , for October and Novem-
ber.

Did You Get Report?

The story of Bill Sentner’s
speech to: last Monday’s meet-
ing ofthe: UB Local 301 shop
stewards is, told above. How-
ever, space does not permit
more than'a brief summary of
what. Sentner had to say, and
itll of it was important.

Your shop steward should have

eported to you on the Sentner
speech and on other important
proceedings of the stewards
meeting. But no report could
‘haye.,been given unless your
steward .attended the meeting.

oP Cheek: and’ if you were not rep--}-

resented last Monday, make
sure that you are, at the next
stewards meeting in December.

ELECTRICAL UNION, NEWS

Petition Urges WSB to Pass

On GE Pay Hike Before Xmas

A petition to the Wage Stabilization Board demanding
approval of the pay raise won by UE in negotiations with ,
General Electric is. being circulated in the Schenectady works .

by many of the Local 801 shop
stewards.

The petition resulted from the °

revelation last week that the WSB
was handling the wage boost as if
“it were a highly controversial mat-
ter and that-right:now the UE-GE
case is bogged down in a sub-com-
mittee of the board. -This situ-
ation was exposed by Ul Wash-
ington representative Russ Nixon.
Nixon warned-that there was dan-
ger that the pay, boost,.might not
be approved before Christmas, and
that the retroactive pay to Sept.
15 would not be forthcoming in
time to help union members out
with their Christmas expenses.

In fact, the UE representative
warned that the anti-labor nature
of the WSB made it possible that
the wage increase would not be
approved in full at all, unless there
was considerable pressure from the
GE shops throughout the country.
He. stressed that this pressure
should be directed both at the
bourd and at GE management,
which undoubtedly has the power
to insure quick approval of the
pay hike, :

Actually, the union-negotiated
wage increase falls well within

patterns...previously. .approved:.by.. .

the board and the OK this ‘time
should be little more than a rou-
tine matter, _

Trial of Harold Ward
Set to Open Monday

Defense attorneys have forced a
Chicago court to set an early date
for the opening of the trial of Har-
old Ward, Negro leider of the
Harvester strikers who’ is’ facing
frameup murder charges in the
death of a non-striker.

The court set Nov. 24 as the op-
ening date of the trial despite
prosecution attempts to delay un-
til after Dec. 1, when the present
State attorney, who was instru-
mental in setting up the frameup
for the:Harvester company, goes
out of office.

The whole prosecution case
ugainst Ward is based on a so-
‘aulled “mystery witness,” whom the
prosecution has never been able
to produce, Apparently the prose-
cutor would rather have somebody
else burdened with the job of try-
ing to convict. an innocent man
without any evidence against him,

The irrest and indictment of the -
30-year-old Ward, who is married
and the father of two children, was
used by the anti-union press to try
and inflame public opinion against
the Harvester strikers, Ward’s ar-

rest. was made! after the company.
“put up a $10,000 reward for the
capture of the “murderer” of the

non-striker.

301 stewards meeting on Mon-

the Maytag strike several '
years ago. “At the time, he
was sentenced to 10 years in
prison for “attempting to ov-
erthrow the lowa state gov-
ernment” but this ridiculous
charge had been thrown out
by the Iowa appeals court. ;

The UL leader also told the
stewards gathering of the attacks
-on him through the attempted de-
portation of his wife, ‘oni Sent-
ner, who has been in this country
since she was eight years old. The

Sentners have’ three children and

four: grandchildren.
Sentner stressed that UE
leaders were not the only ones
under legal attack. He cited
cases in whiely leaders of C10,
the AFL and the United Mine
Workers had been framed by
the government... “Any labor
leader who militantly defends
the rights of the men and
women in his: or her union is
“going lo get hi,” he warned,
adding, “in view of this, labor
must be united im its deter-
mination to resist the frames
ups wherever they occur.”
Citing the arrest of Harvester
strike’ leader “Hatold Ward on
cooked-up murder charges in Chi-
cago as the number one labor
framenp now, Sentner dcelured
that Ul! must do everything pos-
sible to secure the freedom of this

outstanding Negro trade unionist: *

Finally,.'Sentner “pointed out
that one of the chief reasons for
his own arrest was his experience
in working on labor, organization
in the South, “where two and three

dollars a day is big money to a lot .”

of people—and the bosses want to
keep it that way.”

Sentner’s stalk was gi'eeted en-
thusiastically by the stewards who
unanimously voted for a xresolu-
tion supporting the UL! leader in
his fight against the frameup, and
pledging a renewed fight for re-
peal of the Smith Act and all other
legislation under which labor lead-
ers can be framed. —

Violate Contract in 10 —

Attempts by supervision in
Building 10 to use foremen in
every type of job including porter
and sweeper work are being fought
by the union In one case, Fore-

man Hank Bodcorowski was caught:

being timed on a piece work. job.
Union members are urged to -re-
port all such violations to their
stewards.

Friday, November 21, 1952

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