Electrical Union News, 1952 December 19

a a nee

Lard

~ BLECTION HIGHLIGHTS.

cidainstarumatsieanis nests iar annals teste tate isyeaata en

_

Newark, N'J.—A completely com-
pany-paid $125 monthly pension
has béen won by UE Local 433 for
2,700 employees: of the Tung-Sol
company. The plan takes the place
of one which covered only a few
employees. It provides for retive-
ment at age 65.  Vrovisions are
also included for those who wish
to retire at 60.°

* xk oO

Three Rivers, Mich—A_ state
fact-finding commission has ree-
ommended granting of a $1.60
daily wage increase to employees
of the Michigan Gas and Electric
Co. in this community. The ree-

ommended boost is: in line with de- |
mands made by the workers’ union, |
District 50 of the United Mine _
The fact-finding group”

Workers.
urged that the boost be made ret-
roactive to Aug. 15.
ak ok Ok ;
Toronto —- Wage increases: of
from 1?e to 26e an hour have. been
won-for employees of the Deter-
bore Lock Co. The boosts were in
anew contract agreed om between
UI Local 627 and‘ the company.
The pact also provides u 40-hour
week to repluce the 424%. houts
that were previously in effect. It
runs for 18 months. ,
x ke OF
Pittsburgh — Three unions, one
AFL and two CIO, have won col:
lective bargaining contracts cover:
ing 825 river boalmen here,
zk ok ok
Philadelphia—U lo Local 155 has
signed a new contract with the
Marine and Industrial Produets Co,
providing cmployees with aloe
hourly raise. Other improvements
included an additional paid holiday
and anew medical-surgical-life, in-
surance package,

eby the camera, Right
‘before casting ballots.

Strike. Collection Breakdown

The Local 301°fund to aid UE members across. the country who
have heen or are now on_ strike wus: increased slightly this past
‘week to reach a total of $5,896.41.
enough to bring the. local much nearer to its quota of $2 per mem-
ber—or $1 a month for each of two months. ,The importance of
continuing and stepping up these collections is even greater since
many union members will have a bleak Christmas unless their UF
brothers and sisters cun provide them with financial ‘aid quickly.
Check the sum turned in by the stewards under your board mem-
ber, and if you’re not yet nearing your quota, see if you can con-
tribute an extra dollar‘as a Christmas present to those who have

. been fighting for all. of us on: the
down: :

Members. Board
in Section™ Member

75 McLean
550 ; ‘Donato
425 ' Linka
150 Moon. |,
400 Brashear
825 Gebo -
500 Christensen
750 Di Lorenzo
575 Marine
725 Stewart
350 Slocum
47h Friedlander
_ 550 » D'Amico
1100. Alois-Vitallo
V25 | Lighthall
350 Terapleton
575 Hildreth
450 | Villano.
950 Oberlies
‘550 Rosa
BT5 Palazeke
Gh0 De Masseo
RTH Simpson
460 Scott ,
825 Kaminski
“325 Behr
400 Thomas
250 Esposito
250 La Bombard
450 Agius

However, the increase was not

picket lines. Here’s the break-

~% of ~
Quota

2618
129.8
107.
80.0
73.6
61.4
66.7
59,2
53.2
46.9
38.0 »
37.4
36.7
26.4
BL
25.4
24.7
22.7,
202
20.1
13.6

Amount
Contributed

$195.75
713.75
455.56
124.00
294,50
555.50
339.00
444,25
305.00
341.50
183.25
175.00
202.10
401.00
* 298.00
88.75
140.75
101.95
192.25
110.75
53,50
G7.50
70.00
35.50
29.00
10,00
8.30
5.00
5.00
00

Total.

“Two UL

$5,806.41

Board Urges Support of Carver League

A recommendation that UE Lo-
ul 801 contribute $500 to aid the
Schenectady Carver League center
was made by the executive board

Monday night. Final action will
have to be tuken at next mionth’s -

, membership meeting. °

The center is a local branch of"
a national organization established

to provide recreational and voca-

tional training eenters for, under:

BOL election day ‘scenes are caught
Voters line up te have their éligibility checked
Above—Elections Committee members take a. 7

break from their long 80-hour poll watehing grind. .

4 ® Friday, December 12, 1952

privileged Negro youth throughout :

the country. The Schencetady unit
is in bad need of funds to continue
it operations. Many civie and com-
munity organizations in the area
have’ gone. to its. aid. .
In recommending the donation,
the board cited the importance of
such a’ project in UE’s fight to
gain full equality: for the Negro
people both on and off the jobs

‘

~

Washington Paper

Flays Phony Jury

The completely illegal publicity-
stunt “recommendation” by a New
York grand jury that UE and other
national unions be decertified by
the National Labor Relations Boar
was sharply. criticized last week .by
the conservative Wushington Post,
as creating “dangers graver than
those they are intended to avert.”

In an editorial titled “Trial By
Punishment,” the influential capi-

- tal newspaper flayed the irrespon-

sible grand jury for its complete
disregard of the U. S. Constitution.
Characterizing the jury action as
“punishment before conviction,”
the editorial concluded, “If Ameri-
can citizens could be required to
waive the, protections which’ the
Constitution of the United States
affords, them, the Constitution
would soon lose is significance.”
The reference to Wuiving: consti-
tutional rights applied to the grand
jury’s refusal to recognize the

‘rights accorded all Americans un-

der the Fifth Amendment of the
Bill.of Rights. These rights in-
clude a guarantee that no one need
testify against himself or turn
stoolpigeon on others in political
witch hunts. ;

The decertification tecommenda-

tion, which has absolutely no. lege

value, became more understandab fas
when Uli exposed the “silk stock-
ing” makeup of the jury, which did
not include a single working man
or woman among its 23 members.
Instead of workers, the jury was
made up of no fewer than 11° cor-
poration - executives, three Wall
Street brokers, and others whose
jobs require them to serve the in- .
terests of the big corporations.
With the exception of one Bronx
housewife, all members of the jury
live.in swank sections of the Met-
ropolitan area, Six of the group
live in wealthy Westchester Coun-
ty suburbs,

"ELECTRICAL UNION NEWS

SCHENECTADY, NEW YORK

Friday, December 19, 1952

~~ BULLETIN

Disgusted with two-years of
IUE-CILO misieadership and. sell-
oul maneuvering, -GE> office
workers in Erie, Pa. voted by a
5 to 1 margin Tuesday to re-
turn to UE, The NLRB elec-
tiow tally was 728 for UE and
only 150 for the IUE-CLO.
There were 144 ‘no'union’ votes.

The balloting was an answer
hy the Erie workers ‘to’ the
Carey gang’s _ red-baiting, as
well as to the latest ‘attack on
our union. through an attempt.
to deport UE Director of Or-
ganization Jim  Matles, TUE
propaganda tried to make a big
capital out of the deportation
move, timed interestingly
enough ‘for just the day before
the vote. . .

The overwhelming. UE vote
wis also an answer to’a com-'
pany letter to all of the work-
ers urging’ them to vote “no
union” It “reunited the 1,300
workers with 9,000- Erie GE
production and - maintenance
workers who are-in UE.

FROM HERE!

Chicago += A 15-week- strike
against the American Forge Di-
vision of the American Brake Co,
brought’ 350 members of UE Local

164F a new contract which includes
> wage increases of Ll Me to 25e an ¢

hour, A number of other pact
gains made the settlement a major
victory for the union, . Included
were a third week’s vacation, con-
tract improvements and an agree-
ment to make 9¢ of the wage boost
retroactive to July 3.
kt ok ok

Olympia, Wash.—Friends and
neighbors of Vice President ‘Karly
Larsen of the CIO woodworkers'

union joined together last: week to»

form a committee to“ raise, funds
for the defense of the union leader

in his fortheoming ‘trial ona Smith

Act frameup indictment.”
ne kik ke,
235 has won a new contract: from
the Union-Man. Co. which gives its
“bers a be hourly wage hike.
Iie. eumpany also’ agreed to work
out anew pension plan for its civ
ployees. .
x * *

-AUantic- City, No-Ji—the -inde-.

pendent fur and leather workers

union has won $5-million.in- wage |
increases and other benefits.‘ ac. |-

cording to a report made to the
union’s executive board last: week.

New Britain, Conn—ULk Loeal .

Stewards Approve Actions to End WSB
Stalling, GE Sabotage on Wage Boost

_ Responding to the rising anger of GE workers.in Schenectady, the UE Local 301 stewards’

roadblocks to speedy and full approval of the wage increase

These twin roadblocks are stalling |
by the wage freeze board and a
company “hands off” policy. :

The stewards’ resolution includ-

ed a recommendation that all exec-
utive board members meet with
their stewards this week to discuss.
further steps, with these measures
to be coordinated by the union of-
ficers and executive board.
_ The passage of the resolution
_ followed a report from Business
‘Agent Leo Jandreau on the UE
delegation to Washington last
week. This delégation met with
public members of the Wage Sta-
-bilizution Board .and) with -Eeon-
omie Stabilization Director Roger
Putnam, who has since resigned.
The resignation of Putnam is not
considered important since UE’s
Washington” represenatives are
keeping in contact with the new
stabilizer, Michuel DiSalle.

The Ul delegation found that
our case, which involves 300,000
workers in the GE, Westinghouse
and Sylvania chains,.was stalled in
the Analysis Division of the wage
freeze machinery, and had not even
come up before the WSB itself.
They also found that the company
representative who supposedly was
following the case had left it com-
pletely alone to be handled in a
routine matter, .

Although there is a system of
“blue tagging” special, cases which
ave then taken up by. the WSB
ahead of other eases, our case had
no special tag, That means ‘that

. council voted Monday to authorize.shop actions and demonstrations’ to. clear away the two

negotiated ‘by UE on Sept. 9.

any case involving 20 or 25 work-
ers which was submitted ahead of
the UE-GE case, would have been
handled first, despite the fact that
800,000 people are involved in the
latter. The UE delegation gained
assurance that our situation would
at least be given “blue tag” treat-
ment. .

There can be no doubt that GE

could have gained this preferential
treatment for the case just by say-
ing it wanted such treatment from
the board. However, the company
apparently is-in no. hurry to pay
the, wage increase which it agreed
fs, . a ;
_ In fact, GE had a great deal to
do with tangling up the WSB when
it joined with the industry “strike”
against the WSB afte? the White
House had gone to but to insure
the miners that they would get
the full wage boost to which they
were entitled .

In calling the GE bluff on its po-
sition before the board, Jandreau
wrote. a letter’ to L. Rt. Boulware,
company vice president and “labor
relations” bigwig, in which he
charged that GE top management
was either “grossly misinformed

facts in the ease.” Jandreau was
referring to Boulware’s statement,
repeated in substance through the
“Works News”, that the- company
was “keeping us ubreast” of de-

Yelopments, Jandreau also referred
to the resignation of Virgil Day, °

a GE. executive, from the WSD as

_or deliberately misrepresenting the: —

“our pay hike,

evidence of GE sabotage of our
case. .

The loeal also took on Boulware’s
assertion that President Truman
was responsible for the breakup of
the WSB, and therefore ‘for the
holding up of our wage increase.
In a telegrany directly to Truman,
301 President « James Cognetta

pointed out that the. chief execu-

tive was being held responsible fo.
the situation by big business, _Cog-

‘netta “urged that Truman put an

end to these tacties in. the only way
possible, by ordering" approval of

Congressman Kearney
Asks Action on Hike

Congressman. Bernard W. Kear-
ney last week took action to bring
pressure on the Wage Stabilibation
Bourd to approve our full wayze in-
crease before Christmas.’ The rep-
resentative from this area wrote a
letter to the board in which he as-
serted that his understanding was
that our case. fell within the pat- '
terns previously established by the
board.

In effect, Kearney demanded ‘to
know why such a case should have
been stalled for more than three
months when approval could have
been made automatieally, -

The congressman's action fol-
lowed receipt of a request to look
into the situation-from UE Local
301, i:

Report 95% Cast
Stewards Ballots

More than 95% of UL Local
301’s 17,000 members voted in the
stewards’ elections held . in the
shops on Monday and Tuesday,
aecording to a preliminary report
made by the elections committee. «

The voting on both days was
completely orderly, with the con.
mittee remaining on duty through-
out the proceedings in order to set-
tle disputes, «Individual members

of ‘the. elections. group. conducted...

the actual balloting in euch see-
tion.

Tn all, - approximately. 630. men
-ind women ‘were eleeted to the
stewards’ posts for 1958, -

mre hp bite EE Rg cet oF:

SPM an eA aap eg at ASE ee nae ae QO a oP

Honor Roll Big Corporations Attempt to Deport Matles -
Membership in the UE Local 301 To Weaken UE Fight for Better Conditions .

“$5 Club’ approached’ the 500

Zz Kearney Pledges Activity =
To Outlaw Pension Steals

mark this week as 33 more union
members contributed $5 or more
to aid the men and women who
have fought for us on the. picket
lines. The additional 33 brought
to 459 the number of persons who
have made the contributions of at.
_ least $5. Here are the new names
on the honor roll: “

Bldg. 18
W. Christman
Bldg. 66
L, Strauss
S. Buchalski
J. Riley,
S. Fredrick
S. Krosnowski
Cc. Oley
S, Mennella
W. Champ
R. Cannice
Bldg. 273 .
Cc. Juskewiez
T. Dahlem
W. Loesche
R, Boyle
“A, Claypool
J. LeVegra
J. Oswald
GC. Blanchard
W. Pratt
P. Lupe
. Cornicelli
Coonradt
Murphy
VanPatten
Sweeney

P, Lombardi
R. Snyder
P. Cross
—M. Safford
H. Rost, Jr.
Bldg. 52 ‘
W. Lewis

Plan Return to Old

The expected attack on our union by means. of an attempt to deport UE Director of Or-
ganization James Matles was launched this week by James McGranery, the. attorney-general
‘whose justice department is: known more for the crooks in its ranks than for the crooks it

catches.

With much fanfare in the na-
tion’s labor-hating press, as. well
as on radio and TV, McGranery
announced that he would seek to
take away the citizenship of the
union leader who had been in this

. country for more than 23 years. .

The big corporations which call
-the tune for the likes of McGran-
ery have long been out to ‘get’
Matles because of his years of

fighting in the interests of work-
ing men and women. Except for
his period of service in the U. 8.
Army during World War U,°Jim
Matles has been an active union
leader all of his adult life.

Local 301 President James. Cog-
netta pointed out in a statement
condemning the ‘attack on Matles,
“Thousands of Schenectady work-
ers have come'to know Jim Matles
during the 18 years in which he
has been a leader of UE. -We have

seen-him fight at our sides in d
fense of our wages and workil
conditions many times, Now, we
are determined to defend him
against this vicious attack. In do-
ing so, we will be, defending our

_-union..and_the. entire-.labor-move--

ment.” .

Cognetta’s statement was in line
with a resolution adopted unani-
mously by- the 801 membership
when it first heard about the im-
pending attack on the union leader,

‘Bldg. 16: Joseph Campo ‘has’
heen out. of work since October,
195: as a result of a leg injury.
Despite his 10 years of service, he
has not been reengaged by the em-
ployment office, where he has ap-
plied for jobs on several occasions.
He has a doctor’s certificate at-
testing to his ability to work. The
union demands that he ‘be given a

_ job immediately,

Standard ‘price for braizing spe-

oclal equalizers. to front and back

ends.on job 486-8089 A&B has been
cut. from 3.8¢ to 2.5¢c, Dominic
Jiusto demands restoration and ad-
justment of prices in accordance
with contract VI-5-D.

Joseph Rush has not been given
proper consideration for upgrading’
based on his job performance, abil-
ity and service. The union de-
mands that he be upgraded with a
proper rate increase.

Bldg. 29: The mica laying ma-

301 Meeting Program _ chine group was requested on 12/1

Beginning with next month, UE»
Loval 301 will go back to its orig-
inal meeting schedule, with the’
stewards gathering on the” first
Monday of the month and the gen-
eral membership meeting being
held on the third Monday.

The second and fourth Mondays
will see the executive board in ses-

_sion. This schedule will be in ef-
fect on Jan. 5, when the shop stew-
ards will meet to be sworn in. The
next membership meeting is slated
for Jan. 19.” a

’ By returiing to this program,
which. was used before the mem-
bership and stewards « ineetings:
were combined two years ago, the
members will be able to consider
the recommendations of both. the
stewards and’the board when they
get together, ‘
~ Starting with the Jan. 5 gather.
ing, all shop stewards who attend
the monthly meetings will be giv-
en buttons showing that they did
their -jobs--in--representing.- the
membership of their groups. New
buttons will be issued every month.

“buildings. ant
ture of the work, in these buildings, _

by their.foreman to transfer onto
2nd shift for one week to facilitate
major repairs om machinery. How-
uver, there was no machine break-
down, Since the. change was tu
suit¢ the convenience of the com-
pany, the union demands that the
group be paid change of shift
premium in. accordance with the
contract.

Bldg. 50: Group working on
treat and pack is now on day work
with a rate of $1.56%%. Supervis-
ion wants to convert it to piece-
work, but is offering only a $1.60
AJR, whieh. is completely. inade-
quate. The. union further feels
thut. there is not enough work to
justify conversion to. piece work.
Tt therefore demands continuation
of day work for.this group.

Bldg. 60: Group of A wiremen
working on large and small panels,
with a $187 A.E.R., objects to the
method of -~payment on p.w.dw.
Payment for waiting time and ac-
cumulating hardware has been at
rates of both $1.71 and $1.65. The
union demands the $1.71 rate for
all paw.dave

Bldg. 66:

erane fi
With: the present na-

one,

the lack “of proper crane service

2 © Friday, December 19, 1952

Thousands of ‘grievances are handled by UE Local 301
cach year at all levels from the steward up to final appeal,
in New York City. To keep members posted, we shail
each week list some of the grievances that have not been

settled at the steward-foreman level arid have been re- ~

ferred lo the executive board-management level.

constitutes tin obvious safety haz-
‘urd in violation of contract,
union demands that the situation
be corrected immediately.

The

Welders protest the addition of
more men to their: group. They
have ‘recently suffered from lack
of work, and the additions. will
make” this situation even more
acute. The union demands a man-
agement investigation to correct
this situation.

Bldg. 105: George A. Schoneich
demands an increase of the $1.01
timing rate on the hydro-tel in or-
der to. bring the rate in line with
those for similar machines in the
plant.

Bldg. 269: Josephine Burke re-
ported to work on 11-3 after hav-
ing been out on account of illness
for several months, . Although she
worked the entire week, she did not

-yeecive holiday payment for Elec-

tion Day. The union demands that
she be given this payment to which

_she is entitled.

W. Livingston was out of work
on aecount of illness. When he re-

‘turned he was not offered his old

job as crane operator, supposedly
because of -hiss physical condition.
He was offered a 2nd shift chip-
ping job instead. This was not a
suitable ‘job, and the union de-
mands he either be given the crane

“job again or offered another suit-

able position.

Group working in the machine
and tool room under Foreman Zim-
mick protest the failure of super-
vision to’ properly’ distribute over-
time. The group is asked to work
Saturdays, but the porter and 2
sweepers are not brought in. As
a result, on Monday mornings the
nrea is congested with refuse and

ELECTRICAL UNION NEWS

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

Local 301

= Bi 2
Published by tha Editorial Committea
Prosident. w---James J! Cognotta
Views Prosident.. aue-Roy Schaffer
Treasurer ~--Helen Quirtat

Rudy Risslanc
-Frank D'Amico
William” Mastriant
loo Jandreav

SCHENECTADY 5, N. Y.

“Chief Shop Steward:
Businoss Agent.---.

301 LIBERTY ST.

chips, creating a hazardous work-
ing condition. The union demands
that the three people involved be
given their fair share of overtime
to remedy this situation.

Bldg: 273: Rene Perrone had
been told by his foreman that he
was being considered for upgrad-
ing to Class A. However, he has
now been informed’ that supervis-
ion does not intend to upgrade him.
He. is qualified for promotion by
his skill, experience and perform-
zinee.

a higher classification.
A group complained of an ap-

* parent lack of work situation on

10-7, As a result, there was a
temporary improvement in the. sit-
uation. But now, there is again
an apparent lack of work stem-
ming from the farming out of
many’ jobs. The union demands
that no more work be farmed out,
and that in the future any similar
situations are discussed with the
shop steward.

Bldg. 285: The milling machine
group protests the cutting of
standard prices on 4 different
brake shoe jobs. These cuts have
been -brought about by a slight
change in method and by time stu-
dies taken under completely ab-
normal conditions. The foreman
has refused to discuss any of the
changes with the steward. The
union demands that normal studies
be taken, and that this thoroughly
undesirable situation be investi-
gated and corrected by manage-
ment. ’

Milling machine group protests

the cutting of standard price on
operation 4 of brake shoe job
P-0359421-1. This job at one time
paid $55 special for milling 2 ends
to 90 degree angle. Jt was later
studied and a $31.60 standard price
was arrived at. -A methods change
brought the price down to $174
for milling single end. Reece":
this price was cut to $10.88 Bre
marked standard even though
there was-no methods change. The
union demands restoration of the
$17.23 price. , ,
_ Campbell. Ave.:. Welder. A. Roy.
is. entitled to and demands a one-
step increase based on his ability
and performance.

. ELECTRICAL UNION: NEWS

r The union demands he’ be, ~
given. an opportunity to work ( )
yD

TReD cee
She

e

THIS IS SIMPLE..You SHOULD SEE. WHAT | DID ON THE
ASSEMBLY LINE AT PIBCOS PACKING PLANT.

O

Strike Collection Breakdown

Loeal 301 members contributed ubout $400 last week to the

union fund to aid UK members who have waged long fights on the

picket lines to protect our wages and working conditions as well as
However, the contributions were not large enough to

their own,

guarantee that very many of the strikers, their wives and their

kids will enjoy a happy, normal Christmas.

We owe it to these

families to help them out, so if your section is lagging behind: its

strike collection quota—which--should be 200%
ant that you do a little bit extra as a Ch

brothers and sisters,

Members Board
in Section » Member

75 “ MeLean
550 - Donato
425 Links
150 Moon
400 - Brashear
825 'Gebo
500 Christensen
750 Di Lorenzo
‘1100 Alois-Vitatlo
575 Marine —.
850 Christman
726 Stewart
475 Friedlander
550 D’Amico
925 Lighthall.
360 Templeton
675 Hildreth
450 Villano
950 Oberlies
550 Rosa '
875 Palazeke |
650 De Masseo
875 Simpson
450 Scott
525 Kaminski
825 Behr
400 ‘Thomas
260 Esposito
260 La Bombard
meee LBs Agus

Amount

Contributed

$195.75:
780.25
468.56
124.00
302.50
577.50

348,00"

445,25
587.00
305.00
177.50
341.50
175.00
202.10
298.00
88.75
140,75
101.95
~ 196.50
» 110.75
53.50
67.50
70.00:
35.50
39,00
10.00
8.80
5.00
5.00
00:

; 0 now—it’s import-
ristmas gift to your union

% of
Quota
261.8
141.9
112.6
80.0
75.6

- 70.0
68.0
59.4
53.4

SeROUIA

SIS hobo

SCNBPNENANBOBOONSAT

me
a

Sooscnsase

Total .

$6,261.66

ELECTRICAL UNION NEWS

D

my tenet ape tl BL

ey

Hien ee
oe aa

A pledge to take up in the key House Ways and Means

. Committee the question of GE’s pension steal at the expense

of retired workers has been made by Rep. Bernard W. Kearney.

Eight Win Money
From Grievances

Five workers in Building 60
have gained 11e hourly wage in-
creases as a result of a grievance
ease recently processed by Local
301,

All five work in a test group in |

the seronautics and ordinance di-
vision, Supervision: had insisted
that their jobs rated only a B
classification, with a wage of $1.82
an hour. ‘However, the union com-
pared the jobs with similar ones in
other parts of the plant and found
that an A rating was justified.
When the company refused to

move on it, the local: instituted a |

joint investigation of the job which
showed beyond a doubt that the A
classification would be correct, ~

_aAs a result. the workers were
upgradéd and. given a new rate of

$1,938 an hour, with two months’.

retroactivity. Those who: got the
increase were H. Briggs, E. Fiore,
R.. Wasnewski, C: Young and R.

“Zmijewski. John Loughlin was the

steward who handled the case.

Another cause handled by the un-
ion has resulted in payment of
A.E.R, to a worker who was. trans-
ferred from a piece work job to an-
other one with a lower rating. The
worker was R, Mandle, who moved
from a jig boring machine, with a
timing rate of $1.16 and an A.ELR.
of $2.04, to..a borematic with a
$1.06 timing rate and a. $1.93
AER,

Under Mandle

the contraet,

should have been paid ALR. for

two weeks while he was breaking
in, Instead, supervision paid him
only a $1.47 day. rate. The union
forced the company tu agree to
payment of the A.E.R. for two
weeks. Steward Leo [Ellis handled
the case,

Ellis. also took care of a case in
which the company paid D, Driscoll
$12 which had been denied him:as a
result of a mixup in vouchers, .

Back Conservation Bill

Among the proposals adopted at
the recent UE New York State
Legislative conference was one to
back a bill making it impossible
for private power companies to
seize land in the Adirondack State
Park without a popular referen-
dum,

The move to protect public hunt-
ing and fishing ~ preserves * was
backed by the Schenectady County
Conservation Council = 5

The promise. was contained in a
reply to a letter from President
Albert Van Der Zee of the GE
Pensioners’ Club.

Van Der Zee’s. letter had out-
lined the situation under which the
company had reduced the. pensions
of many workers by the exact |
amount of the recent increase in
social security passed by Congress.

“In effect,” Van Der Zee -
pointed out, “the increase be-

came a grant, not to the aged, ,

but to the. General Electric

Company.” :

The pensioners’ leader urged
Kearney to try and organize a
special committee to handle the
pension problem, and to draft leg-

‘islation which would’ outlaw fur-
ther pension grabs. He noted that -
“victims of this type of action
would be pleased to testify” on be-
half of any such bill. :

Kearney’s reply promised that
he would inform Van Der Zee of
any progress he was making-with

» the Ways and Means group_mem-.
-bers, who have jurisdiction over all
financial matters which come_be-,
fore the House, soon after Congress
comes back into session on Jan. 3.

Action on ending the shameful
pension ‘situation is among the
main points on the UE national
legislative program, which was ap-
proved by this local at a conference
in Schenectady on Dee. 7, The
conference brought together dele-
gates from UE locals throughout
New York State.

_UE Strike Aid Almost
$250,000 in 3 Months

UE’s national organization spent
close to a quarter of a million dol-
lare on strike relief during. July,
August and: September of this’
year, figures just released reveal,

The total expenditures were
$247,000, and this does not include
very large sums. spent on the. In-
ternational Harvester, General
Cable and Marathon Electric
strikes and lockouts in November.

. Of the $247,000, almost $179,000
was spent for direct strike relief—
that is to provide food and shelter
to needy strikers, The remainder
Was spent on strike expenses in-
cluding publicity, radio and tele-
vision. .

A part.of this money came back
to the national in the form of
strike fund contributions from the
locals, but even more ‘ot it had to |
be taken directly?from the unton
treasury. ;

Friday, December 19, 1952 @ 3

Santa With A Union Label! Serves 3,500 Kids

In the biggest set of Christmas
parties ever given by UE Local
301, more than 4,500 youngsters
and their parents were entertained
by a variety show and presented
with Christmas gifts and refresh-
ments. The affairs wee held in
the auditorium of Mont Pleasant
High. School last) Saturday and

* Sunday.

Three top city officials preet-
ed the parties on behalfof the
municipal administration. They
were Mayor Archibald) Wem-
ple. City Manager Morris MM.
Cohn cand Council Majority
Leader 'Bhomas Moynihan. The
nmityor summed up the officials’
declarations when he asserted,
“In this country we are for:
tunate in hasing organizations
like UE which take enough in-
terest in kids to wive parties
like these at Christmas. time."

In general there was a feelings
expressed by miay: persons whe
attended the ‘parties that it was
fittings that! this union, which all
year is engaged in the dob of im-
proving: the living standards’ of ‘the
men and women who work for GE
in Schenectady and of their fam-
ilies, should give these parties for
the cthildren of union members.

The many arrangements for the
parties and the conduct of the af-
fairs themselves were handled. by -
the activities committee,

© Friday, December 19, 1952

CHRISTMAS PARTY SCENES. With UE Local 301 providing the food for his reindeer, Santa Chius took over
the Mont Pleasant High School auditorium last weekend. In the picture on top of the page, Santa Calias
Lou De Angelis) checks to make sure (iat he has enough gilts up on the stage to lake care of all of the
youngsters. in the audience. “In the (wo photes below. that, the kids line up for the wifts. Cleft) and Chen make
the hard decisions on whieh ones they'll take home (right). On the left are pictured two of the city officials
who greeted the parties Mayor Archiball Wemple (top) and City Manager Morris M. Cohn (bottom), Below
is a view of part of the auditorium as tse audienee applauds one of the variety aets which were Featured at

the p arties.