The Butler County press. [volume], August 04, 1933, Image 1

About The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946

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VOL. XXXin. No. 17
Blowers Win Twenty Per
Cent Pay Increase
Atlantic City.—A 20 per cent in
crease in wages was secured for
4,000 men in the hand-blown depart
ment of the Glass Blowers' Associa
tion of the United States and Can
ada in negotiation with representa
tives of the National Association of
Glass Bottle Manufacturers here.
Restoration of the 1932 scale, which
was reduced last summer, was thus
completed. It takes effect September
1, at the expiration of the present
annual contract. Negotiations affect
ing the 6,000 skilled union workers in
the automatic machine branch of the
industry will take place shortly.
The manufacturers, according to
their president, Charles B. Garwood,
of Baltimore, believe a prompt and
open agreement on wages is in har
mony with the spirit of the industrial
recovery act and a proper prelimi
nary to the submission of a code of
fair competition. The latter is being
completed by the Glass Container As
sociation, with which this group is
affiliated.
CODE CUTS
Union Hours, Not Wages,
President Green Holds
Washington.—Employers who have
contracts with trade unions will be
expected to reduce the number of
hours for Industrial workers to 35 a
week, without reduction in weekly
earnings, if they accept President
Roosevelt's voluntary blanket code as
an emergency measure to increase
employment until specific codes are
adopted. William Green, president of
the American Federation of Labor,
declared in discussing rumors of
wage reductions for union members
under Roosevelt's proposal.
Mr. Green pointed out that the code
provides that clerical workers shall be
employed no longer than 40 hours a
week and shall be paid from $12 to
$15 a week, depending on the com
munity, while mechanical employes
are to be employed 35 hours a week
during the emergency period until
December 1. A maximum work week
of 40 hours may be adopted for six
weeks, but the employe must not be
Ambulance Service
Phone 35
Employment Still Increases
But Rate of Gain Slackens
Trade Union Unemployment Figures Warning Business
Has Not Moved Speedily Enough in Reorganizing
Under National Recovery Act, William Green De
clares—Co-operation with President Urged.
Washington, D. C. (ILNS)—Em-
"$ ployment continues to gain, trade are
still well over 11,000,000 persons out
of work, President William Green, of
the American Federation of Labor re
ports.
President Green declared that the
figures emphasize the urgent need of
quick action under the national indus
trial recovery act and warned that if
the return of men to work is slowed
up, the whole recovery program is
doomed.
In making public the report, Presi
dent Green said:
"Trade union reports showed employ
ment still gaining in the first part
of July, but the gain is considerably
less than it was in June. Our
weighted figures show the progress
made each month since the March
crisis the per cent of membership
going back to work was: April, 0.5
May 0.3 June, 1.3 July 0.7 (prelim
inary).
"Despite these trains, 23.8 per cent
of the membership were still without
work in July (preliminary figure).
Our weighted figures for other
months are: April 26.1 per cent un
employed May 25.8 per cent June,
24.5 pjer cent.
"Each month this spring trade
union reports have indicated the em
ployment trend tbout three weeks be
fore government figures were avail
able. The government records and
union figures have both indicated: A
considerable gain in employment in
April as industry reacted from crisis,
a smaller gain in May, the largest
gain of all in June as industry has
tened operations to get ahead of
codes. Since union and government
GLASSBOTTLE
Robert G.Taylor Mortuary
Formerly
THE C. W. GATH CO.
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figures correspond so closely, it is safe
to assume that the July trade union
figure indicates what is happening in
industry at large, namely, that the
June industrial sprint is slackening
off.
"This slackening was to be expect
ed. Employment normally falls off
seasonally in July also, the feverish
industrial activity of June this year
was clearly abnormal and could not
be expected to continue. Reports
from industry indicate this same
slackening: The long rise in steel mill
activity (since March 25) has stop
ped, automobile production is slack
ening, electric power production has
declined, building contracts are drop
ping off again.
"Union unemployment figures for
July come as a warning that busi
ness has not been quick enough to
reorganize itself under the recovery
program. The president's general
code comes just in time. If we allow
the return of men to work to be
slackened off, the whole program is
doomed.
"Our unemployment estimate for
the country as a whole shows that,
(excluding family workers who have
found employment on farms) over
1,500,000 persons have gone back to
work from March to June. Industrial
employment made its largest increase
in June, when over 600,000 went back
to work, compared wits 340,000 in
May and 460,000 in April. In addi
tion work on farms has increased
tse total number of jobs available.
But despite these gains, and the
smaller gains in July, well over 11,
000,000 persons are still without
woif:."
worked in excess of eight hours per
day.
Not Devised to Reduce Wages
"My understanding of the blanket
code is that it was never intended
as a device for reducing wages," said
Mr. Green.
"The primary purpose of the act is
to reduce unemployment and to in
crease wages. If a reduction in the
number of hours worked by employes
in any line of industry is brought
about under the operation of the
blanket code, the wages paid for the
reduced number of hours must be as
great as those under the longer hours
worked.
Code Forbids Cuts
"This provision is sustained by Sec
tion 7 of the blanket code, which
states as follows:
"Not to reduce the compensation
for employment now in excess of the
minimum wages hereby agreed to
(notwithstanding that the hours
worked in such employment may be
hereby reduced) and to increase the
pay for such employment by an equit
able readjustment of all pay sched
ules.'
"For example, suppose a contract
between union workers and an em
ployer in a shop provides for 44 hours
a week. In the event that the em
ployer agrees to the blanket code, he
is expected to reduce his hours to 35
and 40 as provided in the voluntary
code. The pay must be at least as
much as that paid under the 44-hour
week."
Boulder Dam Gets
$38,000,000 Steady Jobs
For 6.000 Planned
Washington.—Elwood Mead, com
missioner of reclamation, reported to
the Cabinet Advisory Board that
4,000 men are now employed at the
Boulder Dam site, and that for every
one employed there, 2.4 other men
were employed elsewhere as a result.
From July 1 until completion of the
project, he estimated would require
60,888,895 "man hours" of work.
The board recently set aside $38,
000,000 for Boulder Dam, including
$10,000,000 to purchase machinery. It
is estimated the money will provide
steady work for 6,000 men throughout
the year at construction sites.
While six persons slept burglars
removed furniture and other articles
from a Kansas City residence.
Funeral Directors
Chairs and Tables Rented
17 So. Street
Upward.
Washington, D. C. (ILNS)—To an
extent never expected, the American
Federation of Labor is plunging into
the field of collective bargaining di
rectly, and may soon be drawn into
wage negotiations and recovery act
proceedings as the spokesman for
great numbers of workers who have
no international union.
This situation is the result of the
present national organizing cam
paign, through which workers in the
mass production industries are being
organized in federal unions directly
chartered by the A. F. of L.
With a headquarters office opened
in Detroit, inroads are being made
in the automobile industry, though
not without the stiff opposition of the
great auto makers. In the steel cen
ters organizing work also is going
forward. In the auto and steel cen
ters the federation has put some of
its best and shrewdest campaigners.
Workers, under the freedom estab
lished by the recovery act, are liter
ally flocking into unions.
An example of union methods was
found this week in this city when the
Bookkeepers' and Stenographers'
Union, E. J. Tracy, president, went
into newspapers with a three-quarter
page display advertisement calling
upon office workers to organize.
President Green explained the or
ganizing situation in a statement in
which he said:
"The American Federation of La
bor is pursuing its traditional pol
icy in organizing the workers in the
automobile, rubber, steel and miscel
laneous industries. The establish
ment of federal labor unions in mass
production industries means that the
Amercan Federaton of Labor itself
will represent these fec|eral labor
unions as they are directly chartered
by the parent organization.
"Federal labor unions have been
formed by the American Federation
of Labor for many years. Through
this form of organization the workers
who do not come under the jurisdic
tion of national and international un
ions already formed become identified
with the organized labor movement.
The American Federation of Labor
represents these federal labor unions
just the same as national and inter
national unions represent local organ
izations directly chartered by them.
Through these federal labor unions
the workers in mass productionn in
dustries may become organized, may
engage in collective bargaining and
may be represented by men of their
own choosing, as provided for in the
industrial recovery act.
"As a matter of convenience and
practicability federal labor unions will
be established at different plants if
conditions seem to make it necessary
so that the workers may conveniently
conduct their business affairs. In con
sidering industrial codes applicable to
these mass production industries the
workers will be given the beneat of
!,"-
home
THE BUTLER COUNTY PRESS
GREEN POINTS ROUTE
TO NEW UNIONIST ARMY
Federal Unions Being Formed in Mass Production Indus
tries, Including Autos and Steel—Organizing Office
Operates in Detroit, While Membership Leaps
HAMILTON, OHIO, FRIDAY, AUGUST 4, 1933
General Merchant
POSTWAR
COrtTfZpt
IKEOUlATOgS
A. F. of L. Sweeps Forward
With Organizing Campaign
such expert, technical and trained
service as the American Federation
of Labor can supply. There is no way
by which these workers may engage
in collective bargaining except
through the establishment of federal
labor unions affiliated with the Amer
ican Federation of Labor.
"The officers and members of these
federal unions will be free to choose
American Federation of Labor rep
resentatives to speak for them and
to represent them in wage negotia
tions at hearings where questions af
fecting their interests are considered
under the authority of the industrial
recovery act.
"In following such a plan of organ
ization the American Federation of
Labor is not in any way departing
from the form of organization and the
traditional policy which it has pur
sued from the beginning. This policy
is the only one by which the workers
can become organized and enjoy the
benefits of collective bargaining as
provided for in Section 7 of the in
dustrial recovery act."
FIRE FIGHTERS GAIN
IN MEMBERSHIP
Washington.—Officials of the In
ternational Association of Fire Fight
ers report substantial increase in the
strength of the organization during
the first half of 1933.
New locals have been organized in
a number of cities. Those at West
Allis,, Wis., and Saratoga Springs,
N. Y., have a 100 per cent member
ship, while the locals at Houston,
Tex., and Detroit, Mich., have signed
up practically all the fire fighters in
those jurisdictions. The Detroit local
has a membership of 1,300.
The fire fighters of Louisville, Ky.,
affiliated with the international asso
ciation after belligerent opposition
due to the fact that they were forc
ed to take part in political cam
paings. The fire fighters smashed
this game. The major opposition to
affiliation came from the Louisville
civil service commission. The council
of Civic Clubs, headed by James W.
Solley, president, supported affiliation
arid sent a circular letter to the offi
cials of every city fin the Unitied
States where the fire fighters are
affiliated with the international as
sociation requesting an opinion as to
the advisability of fire department
members belonging to such an asso
ciation.
Only one reply disapproved affilia
tion, and that came from a city where
the officials of the fire fighters put
up a strenuous fight against the
"yellow dog" contract.
The headquarters of the Interna
national Association of Fire Fighters
is in the American Federation of La
bor building. Its official journal is the
"International Fire Fighter."
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NATQj?
THROUGH A
vCfemans Eyes
y E A N N E W O N
SHALL WE FIGHT FOR
OUR "RIGHTS"?
"HBAB ra*LN NEWTON: What
do you think of fighting for a
constitutional amendment to Insure
women equal rights? Right now In
Washington the National Woui»a'»
party la doing Just that and th« Na
tional Women's Trade Union league is
opposing it. Here are some of th« ar
guments of th® women who think th#y
need to arnand the constitution to g»t
their rights in this country—I think
thay ought to lire for a while la
China then they'd realize how luck/
they are, without fighting for any more
rights."
This is what our reader has dipped
from a newspaper In support of com
pelling the legislators to write into
the constitution our equality with
men:
"Today the civil rights of woman
can be extended or restricted at the
caprice of any state legislative author*
lty, so that a woman's right to
her living in the trades or profeea'wus,
or in the uses of the powers of her
mind or body, can be defined, per*
mitted, or denied by state legislative
authority."
We don't hare to go to Ohlna to
realise how well off American women
are. There Is no place on the face of
the earth where women enjoy more
legal protection and more actual con
sideration from men—and very few
where their position can be compared
with ours. In my opinion, women lit
this country enjoy not only equal
rights with men, but they also enjoy
special privileges. Sit In any court
room of the country for Just one day.
If you need to be convinced of that.
There Is the one exception—that worn*
en do not receive as high salaries at
men in corresponding positions. But
I don't see how anything written Into
the constitution or the law will com
pel any employer to pay a woman $10,
000 a year If he can get her for $2,0001
That Is one of those things that take
time.
No, unless there exist in some states
legal discriminations against or abuse
of women which I know nothing about,
1 can see no point In fighting to have
women's rights written into the con
stitution. It seems to me people must
dearly love a fight to waste time and
energy to fight for something they al
ready have.
$, 1*11, B*U Syndicate.—WNU Sarvica.
1,200 Striking Silk Weavers
Back to Work 1,500 Refuse
Pawtucket, R. I.—About 1,200 weav
ers in eight silk mills here returned
to work on a four-loom basis, 40
hours per week and $1.50 per 1,000
picks. The workers accepted the con
ditions pending the approval of a uni
form rayon and silk code by the
national industrial recovery adminis
tration in Washington.
Fifteen hundred operators in three
mills remained on strike.
GLASS WORKERS AND BOSSES
DEADLOCK OVER WAGE RATES
Atlantic City, N. J.—At the end of
a five-day deadlock, wage negotiation
between the American Flint Glass
Workers' Union and the National As
sociation of Manufacturers of Press
ed and Blown Gl&sswjare recess
on July 22 until a date in September
to be announced. The next meeting
will be held in Pittsburgh* P*.
Nazareth, Pa. (ILNS)—flow the
Kraemer Hosierly Company of this
town formed its company union with
the aid of police, intimidation and
various forms of "muscling" will be
come one of the prize stories which
will be told to the officials of the
NIRA by the officials of the Amer
ican Federation of {FuU Fashioned
Hosiery Workers.
The Kraemer Hosiery Company,
which about three years ago figured
in one of the most sensational smaller
strikes of the past decade, put over
its "employe representation plan" in
fine style. There had been talk of
unionism in the mill and finally boss
Arthur Schmidt got his people to
gether and talked to them about
NIRA. "I can't stop you from join
ing an outside union," Schmidt told
the boys and girls, "but I would pre
fer you to join a shop union."
The mill had been in uproar for
days. A committee saw Schmidt who
agreed that there should be a show
down. It was agreed between the
employer and the workers that there
should be a meeting in a public place
at which a representative of the union
and the boss should speak. Both rep
resentatives would then withdraw
and the workers would vote as to
what sort of a union they wanted.
When Organizer E. F. Gallaghan
arrived from Reading with Harry
Boyer, local strike leader, to talk to
the Kraemer employes, to his surprise
he found the meeting was being held
in the movie theatre of the town.
At the doorway, the bosses were all
lined up. The town police were there
in force all set to see that the con
stitutional rights of the workers were
looked after. Gallaghan and Boyer
got into the meeting. Boss Schmidt
opened the proceedings. A draft of
the company union was presented.
The superintendent of the company
R. Hartzell (famous for his admis
sion on oath that he committed per
jury to aid his boss get an injunction)
had somehow previously been named
chairman of the employes' commit
tee.
The temper of the meeting devel
oped very quickly. The impartial
chairman, Mr. Schmidt, spotted Gal
laghan and had the cops escort the
union representative out of the meet
ing. "When you get outside, turn
down the street and keep going," the
Nazarine cop told Gallaghan. Shortly
after that Boyer, of Reading, was
spotted and chased out. Union men
from the Allentown plant of the Krae
mer Company who tried to speak up
for the union were also chased out.
A group of Jersey knit cloth workers
in two Kraemer mlils in this district
who had been organized three or four
weeks ago into a United Textile
Workers' local, also tried to object to
the high-handed tactics of Schmidt.
They were soon silenced too and
finally almost all the real union peo
ple left the theatre.
Ttion*
ODAY'S
unusual cond
enable us to off*
V.
Nazareth Hosiery Company
"Puts Over" Company Union
"Strong Arm" Tactics of Kraemer Concern Will be De
scribed to Officials of National Recovery Administfi*
tion by Heads of Hosiery Workers' Union.
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Finally, when the vote was taken,
the poll was 364 for company union
and 60 against. The combined Krae
mer mills employ over 1,000 work
ers. Bribes and intimidation won over
the Nazareth group, union officials
charge.
CHARGE
Discrimination Against tM
ion Organizers
Washington, D. C. (ILNS)—Meet
ing to discuss possible steps to stop
discrimination against union organi
zation activities all over the nation,
the Labor Advisory Board of the na
tional recovery administration decided
to bring the matter to the attention
of Gen. Hugh S. Johnson, recovery
administrator. It was expected Gen.
Johnson would soon issue a statement
clarifying the stand of the recovery
administration on the matter.
The Labor Advisory Board heard
reports from a score of unions to the
effect that representatives in many
industries who have offered their
services to wage earners desiring to
form union have been confronted
with the discharge of those seeking
the information.
Dr. Leo Wolman, chairman of the
board, presided. Spokesmen for work
ers in the textile, coal and other in
dusrties reported that discrimination
was being practiced by employers ii
many sections against those ap
proaching union agents for informa
tion.
In the case of the textile union, it
was asserted that the specific provi
sions of this code, now in effect, ba
ring discrimination because of union
membership, were being violated.
The labor advisory committee des
ignated President William Green, of
the American Federation of Labor, as
the labor spokesman to present of
ficially labor's case when the steel
code comes up for public hearings*
These hearings will serve as a test
of the bona fide unions as against the*?
"company union."
Although the proposed steel code
includes the mandatory provisions of
the recovery act governing collective
bargaining, it also contains a strong
declaration for the "open shop" which
organized labor declares nullifies th*
collective bargaining clauses.
ENGINEERS GIVE UP PENSION
SYSTEM
Cleveland, Ohio (ILNS)—Meeting
after adjournment of the convention
of the Brotherhood of Locomotive En
gineers, the pension association of
the Brotherhood voted to disband and
abandon its pension system.
The action was due to a fall in
membership and frozen assets.
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