The potters herald. [volume], November 04, 1948, Image 1

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

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MEMBER
INTERNATIONAL LABOR
....NEWSSERVICE
C-
VOL. XLII, NO. 27
Ik.— A
Reports WDTU
Is 'Stalomated'
», New .York (LPA) Reporting
last week on his most recent trip
to Europe, Secretary-treasurer
Frank Rosenblum of-the Amalga
mated Clothing- Workers' asserted
that the Wbrld Federation of Trade
Unions’ September meeting in Paris
“reached a stalemate.” Rosenblum
is a representative on the WFTU’s
executive bureau.
“No business, of any sort was ac
complished,” Rosenblum said. He
expressed his hope that WFTU
would continue as an agency “to
resolve those differences that hon
estly exist between trade-union
groups in various parts of the
world.” Rosenblum said he saw no
signs that the British Trade Union
Congress will quit WFTU.
Rosenblum said that he found,
in both Italy and France, the evid
ences that Marshall plan aid was
beginning to show results how
ever, the Amalgamated official
warned that the failure of the
French and Italian governments to
bring down the cast of living in
jured the fortunes of the non-Com
munist elements in the unions.
Americans could more usefully
serve democracy by “encouraging
the democratic center” in western
European politics, Rosenblum as
serted. He said it is a mistake to
insist, as some government officials
do, that the choice in Europe is be
tween Communism and fascism. As
an example, Rosenblum cited the
harm done when ECA head Paul
Hoffman in Paris indicated that
there would be no question about
A US aid going to a French govern
ment headed by Gen. DeGaulle,
“an endorser of the Mussolini con
cept of the. corporate state.”
Teamster Local Opens
Scholarship Campaign
Portland (LPA)—Teamster Can
nery Local 670, Int’l Brotherhood
of Teamsters-AFL, in Salem, Ore
gon, announced last week that it
is going to give two $250 scholar
ships each year to the best quali
fied children of IBT members in
the area.
Local 670, meanwhile, is urging
the statewide Joint Council of
Teamsters to take over the
gram and extend its benefits.
?ro
Labor’s Candidate Retains Presidency
ii
•J 'X
Organized labor’s support for President Harry S. Truman
scene with such a roar in Tuesday’s presidential election that it still has professional politic- lance
Prepaid Medical
Care Plan Shows
Way For Nation
New York (LPA)—The 2700 men
and women in one Bronx neighbor­■
hood who belong to the Health In­■
surance Plan of New York now
have at their call the services of
28 general physicians and special
ists in the 12 fields of medicine, all
practicing out of their own center,
located directly across the street
from Montefiore Hospital, whose
facilities are available to members
of the group at all times.
Membership in HIP is open to
workers earning less than $5C00 a
year, and families with incomes
under $6500, who can join either
thru their unions or thru their
places of business. The prepaid
medical care plan, organized* de
spite the opposition of the local
affiliate of the American Medical
Ass’n, now has 125,000 members.
There are 25 groups like the one in
the neighborhood of Montefiore
Hospital, each having a complete
battery of “family physicians” and
specialists to diagnose ailments,
and,to treat and wherever possible
to prevent illnesses.
The Montefiore medical care cen
ter opened last week, and Dr. Dean
Clark, HIP’s director, urged mem
bers to take advantage of the mod
ern facilities in the new center.
Mortgage Applications
On Upswing, FHA Says
Washington. Applications for
mortgage insurance received by in
suring offices of the Federal Hous
ing Administration during Sept
ember covered 41,588 dwelling
units, the largest volume reported
in any month since April, Com
missioner Franklin D. Richards an
nounced.
More than half this volume of
applications, covering 22,103 units,
was for financing the construction
of new homes and housing projects,
Mr. Richards said. He added that
this also is the largest volume since
April and 4,065 units above August,
reversing the seasonal downward
trend in new construction applica
tions.
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ians goggle-eyed. President Truman’s hard-fighting campaign, made against enormous [economic unbalance.”»
odds, showed that his record of support for labor’s rights was not forgotten by the working
men and women of this country as they cast their ballot at
he polls on election day.
.-
T^H Threatened
1J Years Peace
I
burst upon the political
“There is hope for next year if
[this course is followed. Farm atid
[food prices are declining at whofe
Isale, as widespread food shortages
[are overcome. This should be fol
lowed next ywr by declines of con
[sumer prices for food. If cooperg
[iion betweien management MnLua
[ionl estft cot costs and bring wngv
[increases without continuing the
[price spiral, Workers can recoup
[their postwar Josses and manage
[ment will gain by better labor re
flations and a growing market for
[their products. Widespread accept-
of this policy would correst
lthe
Unique Settlement Wins h‘gher wftges»
$293,850 For 217 Men
New York (LPA)-Workers who
-,
7 v 1
I To refute assertions made repeat
edly in the press, radio and else
where that large postwar .wage in
creases have .been the cau§e not
result, of jrice.4$es, ye.AFL
[survey printed charts based bn
[government figvres td show thpt
wages, exeepi for fhe ^rst few
Chicago (LPA)—The Taft-Hart-1months of 1946 have .“fallen stad
ley law almost destroyed the peace-behind tn thp rtct with PtoAts
ful collective bargaining practices [during the whole, pestjvar period.,
of 11 years’ standing in the wall-| ^'wo yeurs ’war’ ft1
i paper industry, Joseph M. Jacobs,[August, 1947^. the federation said,
general counsel for the United Wall c°StB .wfere up 24 percenL
Paper Craftsmen & Workers-AFL,|wa8es only 18- percent .in August
revealed last week. |of this YeW costs Were Up
Since 1937 the union and the in- 36
dustry have profited from reguiar what the
industry-wide collective bargaining, |worker
up against in the
Jacobs pointed out, and the com- period," it commented:
pames appeared to accept the JXw have managed to
rights of the union—until
Taft-[preserve
1 .. ._ .__r
Hartlev became law their living standards only
y |by asking large wage increases and
The industry s attempts to take [because their increases have been
advantage of the law, by denying |more than the average, most of
the workers’ demands and termin- |them have juat about broken even
ating union security agreements, |and kept thejr waes up the
was met by a 20-to-one strike vote |prjce rise.”
and a 98% pro-union shop NLRB The federation declared that
tabulation, among the workers. [“drastic increases in food prices
These evidences of continued [have been the chief reason why
loyalty to trade unionism finally [living cpsts have outstripped wages
forced industry spokesmen into a |for the average worker,” with
conference with AFL and Federal [rapid price rises in clothing, fuel
Mediation & Conciliation Service [and other items also contributing
representatives. The union won 11c [to the disparity, between living
hourly wage increases for its 6000 [costs and wages.
members, an industry-wide senior-[ A second important cause of the
ity system, union security and other [wage lag has been industry’s policy
benefits. |of setting prices much higher th^n
[necessary to cover the costs of
won’t be eligible for federal old f®commendable sense of responsi
age benefits or who will be displac- for »ood Public relations and
ed when Kennecott Copper Co. ha.ve J**?1"*.in th®?I
abandons a 15-mile long railroad Pnce ^ratmn n°ted
which hauled copper ore to Magna, aMed that m*nY have followed
Utah, last week won $293,850 in a the P01^^ Pnces much
settlement negotiated for them by |®8 traffic would bear, as
System Federation 155 of the Int’l ,th® enormous reaped
Association of Machinists. |bY mdustry generally.
Altogether, 217 workers will
share the $293,850. It is being paid
because Kennecott is replacing the
f^^tion charg-
|e “Enormous Profits” Cited
I Some management
have shown
[PaiflwYS Gt IOOSt
|At The Port of New York
Bingham & Garfield Railroad with
a new rail line, using all-electric New York.—AU rates for jour
locomotives, hauling nothing but [neymen painttft at the Port of
ore. As a result, many workers will [New Yont, covered by th® collec
be displaced. The ones still work-[tive agreamaht between marine
ing will no longer be eligible to re- [painting contractors and Brother
ceive benefits under the Railroad [hood of Painters, Local 679, have
Retirement Act. [been increased 9.5 cents per hour.
General Chairman Alex Bauer of All other terms and conditions of
IAM District 20 says that the set- lthe collective agreement remain un
tlement is unique in labor history, [changed, officials said. ft
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EfcST UVERfOOL, OHIO. THURSDAY, November 4, 1948
Management Urged T« Cooperate Witha™■«"£"”«
Washington, D. C. (ILNS).—Charging that in general industry has
[followed a policy of setting prieeb as high as the traffic would bear, the
[American Federation of Labor called on industrial leaders to adopt a
[policy of holding prices, while cutting costs to permit wage increases.
The Federation, in its monthly survey, declared that “to continue'
[the wage-price spiral, with wage increases fqllowed by drastic price
[increases, is an economic absurdity which benefits no one.”
“Therefore,” the federation added, “we say to American manage
[ment: Bring your unions into consultation. Ask their cooperation in
[cutting costs so that wage Increases can be paid without continuing the
[price spiral. Agree to share equit-ft—
|ably with them the returns of joint
[efforts to improved production, aid
[open your books to them so thht
[th^y can understand the problems
[involved and see the results of thqir
Iwork.
I Hope Seen hi Policy
Georgia Judge
Slaps Injunction
Against Workere
Rome, Ga. (LPA)—The prefer
ence of southern politicians for
“foreign” money over the interests
of the south and its workers was
graphically demonstrated last week
by Judge H. E. Nichols. The judge
slapped a rigid anti-picketing in
junction on striking members of
the Textile Workers Union of Am
erica, employes of the Rome plant
of the Celanese Corp., which is re
fusing to grant them the same 15c
wage increase it has conceded em
ployes in its two northern plants.
Shortly after the strike of 2500
workers entered its seventh wdek,
Celanese proclaimed that the plant
would reopen in three days. TWUA
representative Joseph Pettigow re
plied with a pqjl for all out picket
ing' that day. ■.
'then Judge Nichols came, thru
with, hi# injunction forbidding
TWUA tft post^ihore than two pic
kets at .afiy. plant gaie. Pickets
were al^o warned by the Judge
against interfering in any way with
strikebreakers—pr even engaging
ih “loyd:talV’ ....ft
4 news, phpldgrapher who at
tempted to take pictures of the pic
ketlihe had His' camera broken.
Nothing, else even faintly bordering
on violence has taken place on the
picket line, but 71 contempt cita
tions have been issued against
strikers.
Meanwhile, Clanese officials are
continuing to rebuff Federal Con
ciliation Director Cyrus Ching’s re
quest for new contract talks.
TWUA leaders have assured the
federal official that they will meet
with his representative in Atlanta
at any time.
Determined, however, to main
tain the wage differential that has
so long depressed the living stand
ards of southern workers, the cor
poration has refused to join the
conversations, and has repeated
that it will not grant more than an
8c pay boost.
Douglas, Morse To
Address Delegates
Washington (LPA) Headline
speakers at the CIO’s 10th conven
tion at Portland, Ore., the week of
Nov. 22 will include the northwest’s
foremost liberal, Supreme Court
Justice William O. Douglas, Sen
ator Wayne Morse (R., Ore.) and
mayor-elect Dorothy McCullough
Lee of Portland.
From the nation’s capital will
come Labor Secretary Maurice Tob
in. Also addressing the sessions
will be Walter White, executive
secretary of the Nat’l Association
for the Advancement of Colored
People.
ft More than 1000 delegates and
visitors are expected to come from
all over the country to the conven
tion, which runs from Nov. 22 thru
26, and is preceded by week-long
sessions of the executive board and
top committees.
SPECIAL CONVENTION CALLED
A Spfftdl Ndtlofial Convention will open on November 27, City Auditorium, Atlantic City,
New Jtftey tor thorough examination Into internal affairs of the National Brotherhood of
Operative rotters. This action was decided upon by the Board after most earnest deliber
ation to preserve the best interest of oir union and its membership.
The official call for the meeting will go to subordinate local unions within the next day
dr two and no local is to elect their delegates until receipt of the official call. Only members
who were eligible to contest for delegdteship to the 1948 Convention will be eligible to con
test for this special session.
to the best of our knowledge it is the first time in the history of the organization, except in
the early days of its formation, that ia special session has been called.______ ________
Unions In Cutting Costs, Raising Pay ,,,
That Is Working
Washington (LPA)—The com
bination of “a strong company with
great power over working condi
tions and a strong union with great
power over production,” each try
ing to stril^ a shrewd bargain, is
the subject of the second in the
Natl Planning Association’s
“Causes of Industrial Peace” series.
The relation between the Libbey
Owens-Ford Glass Co. and the 7,
500 hourly paid workers represent
ed by the Federation of Glass, Cer
amic & Silica Sand Workers is not
“a freak situation,” the NPA study
found. “It is typical of a small, but
growing number of collective-bar
gaining relationships in medium
sized plants, and it indicates a
trend which has recently become
quite pronounced in some segments
of the basic mass-production indus
tries.”
day-to-day company-wide,
and plant-level relations between
union and company the “most signi
ficant contributions” to basic indus
trial peace have been made, the
NPA reports.
In a comment on the study,
NPA’s Committee on the Causes of
Industrial Peace points out that, as
in the case of relations between the
two AFL paper workers’ unions
and the Pacific coast pulp and
paper industry, management be
lieves in’the principles and practice
of true' collective bargaining, the
union fully accepts private owner
ship and operation of the industry,
legalism is shunned by both sides,
there is an attitude of mutual trust
and' confidence between union
company men/.
and
Protests Jailing
Of Labor Leaders
Washington (LPA)—CIT Presi
dent Bernardo Ibanez of Chile,
Francisco Aguirre, former Cuban
Minister of Labor, and Cuban Sen
ator Eusebio Mujal met here with
AFL Secretary-Treasurer George
Meany, A. E. Lyon of the Railway
Labor Executives Ass’n and Ser
afino Romualdi, director of AFL
Latin American Affairs, last week
to discuss the Peruvian government
which has jailed many labor lead
ers, including CIT Vice-President
Arturo Sabroso Montoya, charging
them with leading a violent naval
and military revolt in Callao last
month.
Calling for a fair and public trial
of the imprisoned workers, Presi
dent Ibanez said in a statement:
“The Inter-American Confederation
of Workers, whose objectives in
clude the defense of the basic civil
and trade union rights of the work
ers thruout the Western Hemis
phere, emphatically protests
against these measures of the Peru
vian government. It asks for the
immediate restoration of all the
constitutional guarantees and civil
rights of organized labor.”
German Union Leaders
Here To Visit U. S. Cities
New York.—The free, democratic
trade unions of Berlin want trade
between the Russian zones in Ger
many and Sweden, Holland, Bel
gium and Denmark halted until the
blockage of Berlin is lifted by Sov
iet Russia.
This was the view expressed by
4 German labor union leaders from
the American, British, and French
zones of Germany who arrived here
as guests of the AFL’s Labor Lea
gue for Human Rights. They will
tour principal cities of the United
States.
LMMT
Fitzgerald also accused Lilienthal
of attempting to interfere in union
politics and trying to deprive the
600,000 UE members of the right
to ehoose their own leaders.
Legal basis for the suit is the
contract the union has with Gen
eral Electric, covering all workers
in the Schnectady area and runn
ing until
April 1, 1950. Besides the
contract, UE cites its certification
by the NLRB as bargaining agent
for GE workers.
Lilienthal ordered the electrical
workers union barred from GE’s
new atom laboratory because union
officers had refused to submit to
security checks required by the
Atomic Energy Commission. Sever
al days before UE sued, he wrote
a letter to Fitzgerald repeating his
warning that union officers would
have to meet security requirements
of AEC or be denied the right to
represent workers in atom installa
tions.
“The Commission’s action,” said
that atom chief, “is in furtherance
of its clear duty to the country,
imposed by law, to safeguard the
nation’s atomic energy undertak
ing. In this we have heretofore re
ceived the full cooperation of the
officers of other unions under sim
ilar circumstances. We shall either
receive cooperation from the pre
sent officers of UE, in the manner
indicated in this letter and our
previous letter of Oct. 6, or we
shall very promptly take action in
the absence of that cooperation.
“In order that the employes who
will be affected by this action may
be fully advised of the facts and
of the consideration given to this
matter by the Commission, we are
directing the General Electric Co.
to place a copy of this letter in the
hands of every employe engaged in
classified atomic energy work at
Schnectady.”
NOTICE LOCAL UNION 172
A special meeting has been
called for Saturday evening,
Nov. 6 in Room 4 at National
Headquarters. Business of im
portance will be transacted and
all members are urged to be
present.
___________ u ..
OFFICIAL ORGAN
NATIONAL BROTHERHOOD
OF OPERATIVE POTTERS,
Delegates Makes Report
Of AFL State Labor Rally
At Meeting of Local 122
Cambridge, Ohio—Marie Adams was in charge of our
last October meeting on October 27th in the absence of James
Coffey who was working night shift. Business was dispatch
ed in quick order with two new members initiated. Our repre
sentatives to the State AFL Convention in Cincinnati made
their report after being postponed at previous meetings. Our
representatives were Frank Campbell of Central Labor Body
and Dan Killinger of Local 122.
Lilly Rose made a report of a meeting of decal girls and
manufacturers at headquarters recently. They have finally
’ironed out a system of computing
decal girls' pay satisfactorily.
UE Officers Sue
Atom Commission
For Blacklisting
Washington (LPA) Unite*
Electrical, Radio A Machine Work
ers filed a $1,000,000 damage suit
last week against Atomic Energy
Commissioner David E. Lilienthal,
four other commission members
and the General Electric Co.
In addition to the $1,000,000, UE
asked for an injunction preventing
Lilienthal from blacklisting the un
ion in atomic plants. President Al
bert Fitzgerald and Leo Jandreau,
regional director in Schnectady, N.
Y. where the union was banned, ac
cused AEC of a conspiracy with
the company to deprive them of
their bargaining rights.
$2.00 PER YEAR
The shop cc ii pittees made a re
port of a meet.i.g on the shop last
week
with headquarters officials on
tome difficult problems. I say a re
port, but details were so meager
that few present could grasp what
they wete ftal'king about. Was it a
secret meeting folks? I did gather
that there was a discassion on the
making of cups in Plant No. 2
stoneware and a warehousemen’s
gripe.
Two new shapes, Ballerina and
Rodeo have been put into produc
tion and it looks like continued
stondy work at both plants.
This writer has heard among
jiggermen and their help consider
able discussion concerning the re
cent pay raise. They think it un
fair and inadequate, in relation to
other better paid trades and hourly
paid workers. They feel that they
have been treated as stepchildren
too long and too often at conven
tions and wage conferences.
When this is seen in print, the
election will be over and I hope
that those who did not bother to
vote will keep to themselves their
gripes about the results.—O.C. 122
Union Shop Upheld
In Hatters’ Votes
Reading, Pa. (ILNS).—Support
ers of the Taft-Hartley Act deriv
ed no comfort from the decisive
vote for the union shop cast by the
workers of the Paul B. Hendel Co.,
Reading. In a recent election con
ducted by the National Labor Re
lations Board to determine the pre
ference of the workers, the union
shop won hands down.
Although 109 workers were de
clared eligible to vote, only 88 were
at work on the day when the elec
tion took place. Of this number, 86
voted for the union and 2 ballots
were voided.
Members of Hat Workers Local
25, United Hatters, Cap and Mill
inery Workers International Un
ion, were delighted with the elec
tion results. A 3-year contract
signed some months ago included a
clause for the union shop. The elec
tion was made necessary by the
terms of the Taft-Hartley law.
Another decisive vote for the un
ion shop was cast by workers of
the Champ Hats, Sunbury, Pa. Of
the 122 eligible workers, 104 voted
for the union shop and only 2 vot
ed no. The virtually unanimous
votes were in line with similar
elections held throughout the in
dustry. In every election so far the
workers have upheld the union
shops with near unanimous or un
animous votes.
Upholsterers Pay Increase
Indianapolis (ILNS).—Local 331,
Upholsterers International Union
and the Office Furniture Co., Jas
per, Ind., have reached an agree
ment calling for a 9-cent hourly
wage increase.
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