The potters herald. [volume], July 08, 1943, Image 1

About The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982

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Committee Reports Three
Hundred New Signatures
Secured In Drive
CARRY ON FIGHT
New Labor-Saving Ma
chines Add To Worries
Of Workers
Local Union No. 124 met In regular
session Tuesday evening with Presi
dent Clair Armstrong presiding.
Brother Roy Thompson gave n re
port on the work done by .the commit
tee on group Insurance. We were
gratified to hear that three hundred
new signatures were secured but dis
appointed that ilie goal is so far away,
a sad commentary that so many of
our members cannot see the benefits
to be derived from the Brotherhood
plan. Too many of our people still
think that the old and the large must
of necessity be the better insurance,
while an examination of the facts and
the provisions of the two policies will
Show the exact opposite to be the case.
The fact that this insurance can be
carried for the balance of your life,
even should you leave the pottery is'
the most valuable provision of this
policy. Most of us seem to think we
are never going .to grow old and loose
our earning power, but we will and
the amount of protection we could get
from any other company would cost
Ave to ten times as much, which the
majority of us could not pay. Let us
ull put: our shoulder to the wheel and
boost and talk Insurance until put
this campaign over. It can be done
§|Ml it UltlSt. -W-
President Armstrong cited the rise
in living costs which even the WLB
admits has gone beyond the "Little
Steel" formula. A readjustment of
wages is in order, as some of the
(Turn to Page Two)
Urges Umpires
Sift Labor Rows
Statement Stresses Adjust
ing Grievances Without
Reference To Board.
Washington.—The War Labor Board
urged employers and -employees to im
plement the labor-industry no-strike,
no lockout agreement by creating ma
chinery for the prompt handling of
grievances that may arise under col
lective bargaining contracts.
In a statement issued by Chairman
William 11. Davis and adopted unani
mously by the board, it was einphaJ
sized that "all labor disputes, including
grievances, must be settled by peace
ful means," preferably within the
plants and without reference to the
board.
The method suggested for keeping
grievances away from the labor board
and the the adjudication of these dis
putes was the setting up of an arbi
trator, impartial chairman or umpire,
whose word would be final.
Chairman Davis and his associates
explained at a press conference that
.the re-assertion of the no-strike agree
ment by spokesmen for the American
Federation of Labor and the Congress
(Turn to Page Six)
ouuiju
nnrinr
Group Insurance Plan Gains
Momentum In Laughlin Shops
Necessary Majority Seen Near
Charges ODTWith
Anti- Labor Policy
Cruel And Callous Disre
gard For Labor's Rights,
Union Head States
New York City (ILNS).—The office
of Defense Transportation has dis
played a "definite anli-labor policy"
and has demonstrated a "cruel and
callous disregard for labor's rights."
President Thomas A. Murray of the
New York State Federation of Labor
charged in a telegram to James F.
Byrnes, director of the Office of War
Mobilization.
Murray urged Hyrnes to correct "the
complete disorganization, lack of fore
sight, judgment and coordination now
existing in the federal agencies whose
obligation it is to carry the war ef
fort on effectively."
"Unless immediate, effective coordi
nation and cooperation between tli"
various federal agencies is effected,
this country will be plunged into such
a state of chaos as will completely
destroy civilian morale and cripple the
war effort," Murray declared.
Charging that each agency "con
siders that it is a law. unto itself,"
Murray concentrated his fire oil the
ODT, asserting .that its advisers were
representatives of management whose
orders are issued without any concern
for labor's interest.
Citing the recent ODT order for cur
tailment of bus consumption of gaso
line by 20 per cent, Murray said' (hat
while labor recognized the need of sav
ing gasoline it objoortYi"io fhe methods
used.
"Without consultation with the
War Labor Hoard," Murray charged,
"it (the ODT) placed orders in the
hands of employers to make the reduc
tion in such manner as the respective
employers saw fit."
The result, he asserted, has been
that employers have devised plans to
curtail labor costs :uid create layoffs.
Murray cited the bus situation in
two New York city lwiroughs as typi
cal of the issues involved, lie pointed
out that operators were laying off men.
establishing split shifts and utilizing
labor cost saving devices, while at the
same time retaining bus lines that
bring the greatest revenue.
President Adds To C.F.E.P.
Three Each Named From Labor And
Industry To Aid Reverend
Francis #1. Haas
Washington. President Roosevelt
named last week six members of the
Committee on Fair Employment Prac
tice, of which the Right Hev. Francis
J. Haas is chairman.
The members are as follows:
Representing Labor .John Brophy.
CIO Milton P. Webster, international
vice president, Brotherhood of Sleep
ing Car Porters, and Boris Shishkin,
AFL.
Representing Industry Miss Sara
Southall, supervisor of employment
and Service, International Harvester
Company P. B. Young, publisher, Nor
folk (Va.) Journal and (Juide, and
Samuel Zemurray, president United
Friiil Company.
House Insists NLRB Keep Out
Of Shipyards' Jurisdictional Row
Washington.—The House Insisted on
retention, with slight modification, of
a provision it inserted in the Labor
Department-Federal Security Agency
Appropriation Bill designed to prevent
the National Labor Relations Board
from opening up a jurisdictional labor
dispute in three Henry J. Kaiser ship
yards on the West Coast.
By a vote of 109 to 11, it sent the
appropriation bill back to conference
with the insistence that the NLRB be
prohibited from entering jurisdictional
labor disputes in plants where labor
contracts had been in effect three
months or more without trouble.
The slight modification in the orig
inal House language (language to
which the Senate had objected) was
designed to meet arguments that labor
nianagement agreements might he kept
secret three months and thus prevent
NLRB from intervening In jurisdic
tional disputes where it properly
should act.
The House action is aimed a I efforts
of the Congress of Industrial Organiza
tion to obtain NLRB support to nullify
contracts wjiich the Kaiser company
has with American Federation of La
bor unions.
CIO officials have asserted thai
these contracts were entered into when
the Kaiser yards had only a few hun
dred employees and that they do not
represent the sentiment of the many
more thousands now at work in the
yards.
Kaiser executives have unofficially
expressed the view that jpn NLRB
order for an election would disrupt
production in the yards.
It was reported that Senate con
ferees had agreed on the House modi
fication so as to require posting of a
thirty-day notice of labor-management
agreements.
The House action, it was reported
at the offices of flie NLRB, would in
validate many cases before the board
which were ready to go to the courts.
In these cases the board had held that
the controls were made collusively be
tween employers and employees.
One was said to be the ten-year-old
dispute between the International
Ladies C.arment Workers, AFL, and
the Donnelly Garment Workers Km
ployees Association.
JUL
12
AN EDITORIAL
NEW FACES IN 1944
Labor has now been forbidden by law from striking, but
other groups in our population, aided and abetted by Congress,
seem to be immune.
Congress, itself, is on strike against the Commander-in
Chief of the nation and against the workers and consumers of
the country.
Throughout the length and breadth of the hind, farmers,
ranchers, producers and distributors are on strike against the
people of America, refusing to market their product in the hope
of forcing higher prices.
These strikes are not denounced in newspaper headlines
and editorials. In fact, the press seems to be encouraging them.
What's it all about? The answer is politics.
The forces of reaction are in the saddle. They are galloping
headlong toward 1944. They are willing to risk wrecking the war
program if they can thereby discredit the Administration and
gain political control in the coming elections.
That is the only logical explanation for the recent antics on
Capitol Hill—for the impetuous overrider of the President's veto
of the Connally-Smith Bill and for the insensate vote against
food price subsidies.
We wish to warn the members of Congress that politics is
a dangerous game in wartime, that it is a game in which every
worker and consumer in the land—barring the poll-tax States—
can deal himself a hand. So far as Congress is concerned, restric
tions placed upon labor and failure to protect consumers against
profiteers can have only one result—new faces in 1944.
Inflation Is Said
Forcing Disaster
On Family Life
Survey Reveals Many Work
ers Facing Serious Fi
nancial Difficulties
New York (ILNS).—A large section
of the nation's population is faced with
actual disaster" from the rising tide
of inflation, according to a report of
a sftrvey of consumers in all parts of
the country and at different income
levels tnade public hyJ Consumers
Union at a meeting of the organization
in the New School for Social lie
search.
The survey, based on an analysis of
10,000 questionnaires, disclosed that
per cent of the middle and upper in
come families answering the question
naires had received increased incomes
since the outbreak of the war. Among
low-income families, however, only 2S
per cent had obtained rises.
"A majority of the questionnaires,"
the report said, "were received from
families having incomes over .$2,000
a year, and the replies indicate that
many of these families are having
serious financial difficulties. But the
returns from families with incomes
under this level give striking evidence
that a large section of the population
is faced with actual disaster from the
rising tide of inflation. Only -S per
cent of the families now earning under
$l,nX a year reported increased in
come since the beginning of the war.
"To meet the skyrocketing prices of
food and other necessities, f» per cent
of the families below $1,5)00 state that
they are borrowing, 15 per cent are
drawing on savings, 3.ri per cent are
saving less than they did, per cent
are buying less, OS per cent are cut
ting down on amusements, trips, etc..
and 07 per cent are buying more care
fully than they did formerly."
About half of those replying to the
questionnaire wen* teachers, engineers
and other professional persons a
quarter were workers in industry and
transportation and 2 per cent: were
farmers. A high percentage in Jill
groups said they were cutting down
on amusements and trips, tlie range
being 40 per cent for the group with
incomes of more than $10,000 to 71 per
cent for the $1,500-$: .000 groups.
Union Members Attend
Summer School Course
New York City (ILNS). Ninety-one
members of the International l.adie
(iarnient Workers' I'nion from 3
cities in 12 states, ranging from Hous
ton in the South to Minneapolis in the
North, and from Cincinnati in the Kast
to Kansas City in the West, are at
tending the University of Wisconsin
for an ILOWF Institute arranged for
the sixth year by the Summer School
for Workers at Madison.
A.n intensive program of study In
cludes public speaking, parliamentary
law, labor history, officers' qualifica
tion courses and tiine-and-inotion study
classes. For the first time, foreladies
are included in .the student body which
in the main is composed of union
officers, business agents and union ac
tivists who win thus utilize their vaca
tion period for obtaining refresher
courses and keeping abreast of the cur
rent trends in the industry.
On July 8 a conference will be run
jointly by (he School for Workers and
the Wisconsin State Federation of
Labor to deal with labor and public
opinion.
Official Organ
g*^ National Brotherhood of Operative Potters
VOL. XLVII, NO. 10 EAST LIVERPOOL, OHIO, THURSDAY, JULY 8, 124 $2.00 PER YEAR
Manufacturers Of
Bakery Products
Draw Stiff Fine
Violate Anti-Trust Law Fines
Of $51,950 Imposed By
Court
Washington. P. C. (ILNS).—Attor
ney Ceneral Francis Middle announces
that in the l\ S. District Court at
Boston. Mass.. 2 associations. 10 com
panies and 27 individuals' engaged in
manufacturing bv«.i' «n bakery
products in New England and New
York entered pleas of nono contendere
to an indictment charging them with
violation of the Sherman antitrust act
by price fixing and market stabiliza
tion.
Fines totaling .S"1.!.'0 were imposed
by the court.
The indictment, returned on May
2S, 1042, charged the defendants with
price-fixing on bread and other bakery
products manufactured and sold in
New Kngland and the State of New
York. The indictment alleged that the
total annual production of bread by
bakeries in .the seven-state area
amounted to 2,^40,0numm) pounds, with
u.n approximate value of $lsfi,otKi,ooo
that the total value of the bread and
other bakery products afl'ected by the
conspiracy amounted to approximately
.$PO,(MM),(MHt annually and directly in
volved approximately 13,ooo,ooo con
sumers, and that the cooperative plan
was carried out through the New
Kngland Bakers Association.
Laundry Workers
Decreed Essential
WMC Extends Preferential
Treatment, Excepting Only
Occupational Deferment
Washington. The War Manpower
Commission extended to the country's
laundries last week tlie same preferen
tial treatment in the allocation of man
power as is given lo essential war in
dustries.
Laundries classified as "locally
needed" by regional directors of the
WMC will be supplied with workers
by the I'nited States Employment
Service, will be protected from labor
piracy and will have their existing
labor force stabilized, except that
there will be no occupational defer
ment under the Selective Service Act.
They will receive this aid only if they
discontinue luxury services to their
patrons.
To be classified as "locally needed"
they must meet standards .agreed upon
by the War Labor Board's Office of
Civilian Requirements and the WMC.
These standards are designed to enable
the laundries to give adequate essen
tial service to more people'than they
are now doing with their available
labor force and to put maintenance
services on a "rock-h.ittom, first-things
first basis."
WOMEN HELP CLEAN STREETS
Baltimore, Md. Women laborers
are being recruited here by the City
Service Commission for work as street
cleaners. The city requires laborers
to register and pass a medical exami
nation. Women employees in this group
are required to fiass the same physical
standards as are required of men for
the job.
Labor To Seek
Early Repeal Of
Non-Strike Act
Seek Clear-Cut Interpreta
tion Of Statute From At
torney General
Washington, D. C. (ILNS).—Organ
ized labor will comply with the pro
visions of the newly enacted Connally
Smith antistrike law. but will try to
make it inojierative by a renewed ef
fort to enforce its no-strike pledge, and
then drive for its early re|jeal.
AFL President William Oreen and
CIO President I'hillp Murray reveal
ed lalor bitterness at the quick action
of Congress Ln passing the measure
over the President's veto Friday in
letters to President Roosevelt, but lw»th
officials reaffirmed their organization's
no-trike pledges.
However, labor members were ex
pected to press for early clarification
of tlie statute by the Attorney C.enerai.
A clear-cut interpretation of the three
following questions will be demanded:
1—The bill forbids WLB members
to sit on cases In which they have a
direct interest. Does it mean that AFL
members cannot consider AFL cases,
or was a narrower construction
that members should not consider
cases involving their own international
union—intended?
2—Does the measure outlaw WLB
maintenance of membership orders by
implication?
The measure requires employee
representatives to file strike notices
when production i threatened, but
does not restrict this authority to au
thorize collective bargaining repre
sentatives. Some labor officials f«*el
that the measure will promote "wild
cat" strikes and "raids" if no restric
tions are placed on the filing of strike
notice-: under the law.
La Follette Renews
Labor Measure Plea
Report On Alleged Viola
tions Of Union Rights
On Wesi Coast
Washing!iin. Senator La Follette,
of Wisconsin, warned that labor was
in danger of losing the place it had
won and renewed his idea for legis
lation .to outlaw "oppressive labor
practices."
The war emergency has brought
new hacking for anli-labor movements,
lie declared, and "certain groups in
Congress seem to be in a mood to
legislate concerning labor."
His appeal came as he and Senator
Klbert D. Thomas. Democrat, of Utah,
submitted a re|iort on the final in
vestigations of their Civil Liberties
Committee into alleged vialtions of
free speech and right of labor on the
West Coast, dealing primarily with
employers' associations and collective
bargaining in California.
Mr. La Follette renewed the appeal
for passage of the labor practices
measure which lie and Senator Thomas
have Introduced during the last two
terms. This is designed to provide
criminal penalties for employers or
their agents found guilty of labor
espionage, professional strike-breaking,
anti-union vigilantism and other prac
tices.
The section of the report submitted
dealt with identification and descrip
tion of organizations allegedly active
in opposing unionism in California
from 10.'V» through lU.'lO. It cited six
organizations as having expended in
excess of $:?.000,oon over a live-year
period. They were the Merchants and
Manufacturers Association of Los
Angeles and Southern Californlnns,
(Turn lo Page Tuo)
Newspaper Ads Draw
Workers To War Plant
Ifarrisburg, Pa. (ILNS).—A large
aircraft industry's problem in procur
ing adequate personnel is being aided
by newspaper advertising dramatizing
the workers' wartime efforts.
Now employing over n,000 persons.
Fleetwings. Inc.. a division of Kaiser
Cargo, Inc., recently faced the prob
lem of obtaining workers from out
side its comparatively small hotm
community of Bristol, Bucks County.
Help from nearby farming areas
could not be obtained in great num
bers because agricultural workers
were urgently needed.
Fleetwings then turned to Philadel
phia. 20 miles away, to get much
needed workers, despite transportation
difficulties.
Advertising in newspaper classified
sections proved to be the key to the
situation. Before long, according to
Paul F. Biklen. Fleetwings public re
lations director, there were "long lines
of applicants responding to our ap
peals."
O. C. From Local Union No.
133 Says New Castle No
Longer Called Ghost City
Manpower Need
Put At 3,600,000
WMC Revises Estimate For
Armed Forces And Mu
nitions Industries
Washington.—A minimum of 3,600,
000 j»ersons must I»e added to the
armed forces and munitions industries
luring the one-year |ieroid between
July and the next, the War Maiqjower
Commission said la»t week. The re
quirements. however, closely followed
the estimate made last January.
The goal of the armed forces, that
is, 10,SOO.OOO by Jan. 1, 1044, as
against T.OOO.OOO fin Jan. 1. 1043. was
said to lie consistent with the earlier
forecast of lo,7)0,U00 for mid-lJecem
ler. V.m.
Labor requirements for the muni
tion industries, now estimated at 11.
HOo.oOO for January, 1044, are 800,000
aliove the earlier estimate of 10.500,000
for December, 1043.
Employment requirements for non
agricultural industries are now esti
mated at 30..~oo.o00 for January, 1044.
as contra stud with an earlier forecast
of 31.4oo.oo0 for Decemlier, 1943.
Estimates of labor requirements in
agriculture remain unchanged, except
for a seasonal decline of 2H),0(mi
usually o.nirring from December to
.latum ry.
"The net effect of all these small
changes," said the WMC. "is that com
bined manpower requirements for the
armed forces and the civilian lalior
force is now estimated at 62.3»M),(H»o
for January. 1944: whereas the earlier
estimates indicated
12..e)00,t*Ni
for
January, 1943.
"The armed forces must jump from
O.SOO.OOO this July to ll.300.tm0 next
July, and the munitions industries
from 10.000,000 to 11 .ooo.ooo."
"This task," the commission stated,
•'must be accomplished despite the
greatest stringency in the nianiower
market yet faced by the nation. Pre
viously we have been able to draw
heavily ujion reserves of unemployed
who could be readily absorbed into
employment in areas near their homes.
In the coming year, with no reserve of
available unemployed, we face an in
tensive task of trasferring workers
from industry to the armed forces,
from industry to industry and from
area to area."
CHILD CARE BILL PASSED
Senate Sends Measure Providing
Yearly To House
For Approval
Washington. IX C. The Senate
Friday passed the War Chi hi Care
Bill by voice and sent it to .the house.
The bill authorizes the appropriation
of $20.»mmukh a year for the next two
years, rather than for the duration of
the war. as was recommended by the
Senate Education and Labor Commit
tee, to provide care for the children
of working mothers in war areas. Fed
eral grants must be matched by States
or local funds.
The program would be administered
by State and local authorities under
the supervision of tlie Children's
Bureau' *iTid fhe Office rtf Education.
War Materials Are Being
Produced At Record
Breaking Speed
SEEK HOUSING PROJECT
Officers For Coming Term
Are Installed At Meeting
Wednesday Evening
New Castle, Pa.—In an article re
cently published In fine of the ]M»pular
magazines, New Castle was called tlie
ghost town. Times have really changed
since then, we are now classed us ope
of the busiest and best towns in West
ern "Pennsylvania.
With the erection of a $20,000,000
National Engineering works and the
heretofore idle mills now turning out
materials of war at a record breaking
pace, our chief problem now is fus
ing facilities for the hundreds of fam
ilies working in these plants.
An effort has been made to secure
a housing project to take care of these
people, but so far we have not been
successful With homes at a premium
the real estate agents are having a
field day and go out of their way to
block any attempts to (tersuade the
authorities in Washington for relief.
At the last meeting of Trades and
Labor assembly It was decided to ap
peal to the Manufacturers Association
for their help in .this matter, but so
far nothing has developed.
Our interest as potters In this ques
tion would be to see the erection of
hqmes whic^ would use our products
as well' as give employment to the
building tradesmen of our c-lty.
Work "has beea very good, but witk
everything going at such a fast pa«se
the firm has ap]iealed to the union fT
their helji in soiving the breakage
problem which has really got beyond
their control. Our officers have prom
(Turn to Page Tvio)
Woll Hits Reds For
Libeling U. S. Labor
Will Not Permit Communists
To Use War As Weapon
For Labor Destruction
New York City.—A. compete refuta
tion of the falsehoods regarding t'te
American labor movement and Amer
ican labor leaders sent out from M»S*
cow by the Russian Communists was
made by Matthew Woll, vice president
of the American Federation of Labor
and president of the Labor Leaglie
For Human Bights, in a letter to tlie
New York Times denouncing as wholly
false a recent Moscow diatribe pub
lished in that pajier.
"In your issue of June 18," Mr.
Woll said, "you carry a dispatch from
Moscow quoting a Soviet publication
purporting to speak for the Russian
workers in which I am characterized
as a 'reactionary' labor leader who Is
•misleading' workers into 'unpatriotic,
anti-war strikes.' I am charged in the
dispatch by the alleged organ of tile'
Russian workers (read of the Russian
Communist Party) with "inciting
strikes' and 'generally favoring Isola
tionism.'
"I need not contradict the libelous
U. S. Women's Bureau Established In
Last War Celebrates Anniversary
The Women's Bureau of the Depart
ment of Labor celebrates Its 2fith anni
versary on July S. pausing a moment
during World War II for a review of
the quarter of a century since its birth
in the first great global conflict of
which America was a part.
The Department of Labor itself had
been an independent agency only 5
years when the emergency "Woman in
Industry Service." forerunner of the
Women's Bureau, was created to deal
with tlu1 problems of mass employment
of women workers in war plants. Since
that time the Bureau has been, in war
and peace, the national guardian of
the rights and interests of the working
woman in the 1'nited States—investi
gating her employment opportunities
and conditions, conducting research on
her occupational hazards, and fighting
to gain for her equal pay with men.
In 1918 women workers were a
minor labor group, through their num
ber had been increasing steadily over
many decades. Today the Women's
Bureau continues as .the nation's au
thority on women workers—now con
sidered not only the country's primary
labor reserve and one of the greatest
Turn to Page Tico)
weaixms in the arsenal of democracy,
but an "established and accepted part
of the American industrial scene.
Since tlie Bureau is not charged wi^h
the administration of any laws, its.
influence has been that of a fact-find
ing and reporting agency, consulting
and advising on adjustments of the
women worker. Main fields of its Inter
est include employment opportunities,
health and safety standards and ade
quate pay. The Bureau makes studies
of women's wages and hours, their
working conditions, their legal status,
which are used by government author
ities, private organizations, and tra^e
unions in obtaining the passage of
remedial legislation and obtaining con
tracts under collective bargaining.
On July 8, 1918, as a result of Con
gressional action, the Woman ln In
dustry Service was established withto
the Department of Labor. To head this
unit, Secretary of Labor William B.
Wilson appointed Mary van Kleeck, on
leave from the Russell Sage Founda
tion for war work in Washington. At
this time Miss van Kleeck was chief
of the women's branch of the Indus
(Turn to Page FiveJj,