Arizona sun. [volume], December 06, 1946, Image 1

About Arizona sun. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1942-196?

Image provided by: Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records; Phoenix, AZ

                
Read The
Arizona *Sun
The State’s Only
Negro Newspaper
Vol. s—sc Per Copy
A. F. L. Washington Lawyer
In State For Conferences
On Anti-Labor Amendment
. Herbert S. Thatcher, an attorney from the offices of
Joseph A. Padway, American Federation of Labor general
counsel, Washington, D. C., arrived in the city Sunday
night and has been conferring with officials of the Ari
zona State Federation of Labor regarding the recent anti-
labor amendment adopted at the
November 5 general election.
There have been several meet
ings, at which Mr. Thatchr and
Henry S. McCluskey, State Federa
tion’s counsel, discussed ways and
means of attacking the law on
constitutional grounds. It has been
definitely decided that the law
will be contested, and efforts will
be made to bring it to the state
supreme court as soon as possible.
The necessity for quick action is
evident because organized labor in
Arizona will not work on an open
ghop basis, and unless the matter
can be decided soon, the entire
state, it is feared, will be in chaos,
because some of the employers are
getting ready to attack the unions.
On the other hand, there are
many fair employers who want to
maintain good relations with the
unions, but are fearful of the re
sults if they attempt to evade the
law. The wording of the law is
such that no one seems to know
just what actions can or will be
taken to invoke it. Therefore,
labor feels that the only thing to
do is test the validity of the
amendment as soon as possible
and save strikes, litigation and
confusion.
Schools Training
Disabled Veterans
Can Hike Tuition
Schools and colleges which must
provide additional faqilities to
train disabled veterans may ask
Veterans Administration to pay
more than their usual tuition
charges for these veterans, VA
announced.
The adjusted rate, for each in
stitution VA said, must not total
more than the school’s teaching
and supply costs.
New regulations providing for
adjustments in tuition payments
for disabled veterans enrolled
under the Vocational Rehabili
tation Act apply only to non-*
profit, tax-supported institutions,
according to VA.
VA has provided for the adjust
ments because it recognizes that
many schools do not have a flex
ible income from taxes, endow
ments and other sources to cover
additional expenses incurred dur
ing the present rush oi thousands
of veterans to college.
VA has made similar provisions
for adjustments in tuition for stu
dents enrolled under the Service
men’s Readjustment Act (G. I.
Bill).
Let the ARIZONA SUN
be your shopping guide.
Follow the Crowd to the Big Teen-age Show
December 14 is the date for an
outstanding Colored You th Show,
“Brown Fantasy Revue”, to be giv
en in the auditorium of the Phoe
nix Union High School at 8 p. m.
All toe proceeds are to go to
ward the establishment of a Negro
Youth Drop-In Center. At present
there is no place for Colored
Youth to go for wholesome enter
tainment.
There will be a varied program
arranged, said Miss Bobby Lewis,
chairman of production, that will
afford enjoyment for all music
lovers.
The first part of program will
feature the Carver High School
Choir of 50 voices, singing Christ
mas songs and spirituals under the
direction of Mr. H. F. Edwards; a
girls sextette will sing the “Chil
dren’s Prayer”, from Hansel and
Gretel; piano selections by Misses
Sadie Hagler and Robbie Webb
and Joseph Patten and Dan Jack
son will sing song selections direct
ed by Mrs. Rachel Ward.
The second part of the program
will feature dances of various
kinds. The African Fire % Dance,
created by Aubrey Aldridge and
his Dunbar School staff after
much research into African his
tory, has attracted wide attention.
A “Tabu Dance” will feature Ha
zel Williams and Hursel Cole;
eight couples will give a demon
stration of the Texas Hop. Danc
ing will be rounded out by a toe
dance and hula dance.
Throughout the second portion
of toe program, varied musical
numbers will be sprinkled, includ
ing a duet, singing “Swinging On
A Star”, a girls’ trio, and Lena
Steele singing “Sentimental Bal
lad,” all under the direction of Mr.
J. Eugene Grigsby who formerly
worked with army entertainment
units in Europe. He will be assist
ARIZQMA SUN
Gen. Davis Gels
New Assistant
Washington, D. C.—Captain Mel
vin T. Jackson, Warrenton, Va.,
has been detailed to the War De- j
partment, Inspector General’s De
partment, for duty as assistant to l
Brigadier General B. O. Davis, Sr/, j
Assistant, The Inspector General, j
i Inducted into the Army in Feb-:
ruary, 1942, Captain Jackson was i
appointed a cadet at Tuskegee j
Army Air Field and eight months;
later he graduated as a second lieu-;
tenant, Air Corps,
i Assigned to duty as a pilot he:
served with the 332nd Fighter
Group in the United States and
Italy. While overseas he was com
mander of the 302nd Fighter
Squadron an dis credited with 146
combat the 12th and
13tih Air Forces.
i Returning to the United States
in February, 1945 he was assigned
to Tuskegee Army Air Field as di
rector of the Basic Flying School.
In May, 1946 he transferred to
Lockbourne Army Air Base and
j this month left Lockbourne to
; come to the War Department as
! General Davis’ assistant.
| Captain Jackson fills the assign
! ment left vacant by Captain John
! C. Overton of Flint, Michigan, Who
: since December, 1944 had been the
General’s aide and later his assist
ant. Captain Overton is on termin
al leave and will be separated
from the service on Dec. 28, 1946.
Wool worth s’ In Atlanta
Signs With Retail Clerks
(AFL. News Service)
Atlanta.—A “first” was regis
tered here when an agreement be
tween the Retail Clerks’ Union and
Woolworth department store was
j signed recently. This is the first
: (agreement to be signed between
the Retail Clerks’ International As
sociation and any retail establish
ment in the city.
The agreement provides that no
person shall be employed under the
age of 16; on week’s paid Vacation
for all employes who have been
j with the company for six months;
\ two weeks vacation with pay for
I one-year employes, and three
weeks vacation after five years
with the company.
The contract calls for six holi
days, and when an employe is re
quired to work on these holidays,
double time pay is allowed. Also,
15 days sick leave annually is pro
vided, with the work week set at
42 hoiirs, seniority rights, 15-min
uate rest periods each morning and
afternoon and an increase in pay
of $3 per week across the board.
ed by Mrs. Rachel Ward and Mrs.
Maude Weems.
The program is under the spon
sorship of the Women’s Division
of the Phoenix Urban League.
The 'Right-To-Work' Bill
By FRANCIS WILLARD MUNDS, Prescott
(A Guest Editorial in Last Monday’s Phoenix Gazette)
The voters of Arizona have delivered their mandate
on the ‘Right-to-Work’ Bill, but I believe this mandate
solves nothing but will foment labor troubles.
The working men of Arizona gained their first step in
labor legislation by passing the eight-hour law for miners
during one of the 15 years that territorial legislatures had
made a football of woman suffrage. Before this law was
enacted, the miner who raised his voice for unionized la
bor was blacklisted and refused emloyment in every cor
poration-owned mine in Arizona. It was then that we
women learned that the same forces that opposed us were
violently opposed to organized labor.
By the time statehood was granted, the unions had
become a power to be reckoned with and had endorsed
woman suffrage without reservation. Notwithstanding
past failures, we women submitted a petition to the voters
in the first state election and I can state with authority
that it was due to undivided labor support that woman
suffrage was carried by a majority of nearly three to one.
All business is organized today, and why not the busi
ness of getting a living?. I hold that working men and
women who profit by improved working conditions gained
by organized labor are morally obligated to pay dues and
share all other responsibilities necessary, and are both
foolish and selfish for shirking their obligations.
Organized labor is too intelligent to surrender the
gains they have made in the past 50 years without a legal
fight to the finish. It is my belief that labor will eventu
ally divorce itself from certain erroneous leadership and
then capital and labor may together solve the moot ques
! tions that now vex and trouble both sides. Not until then
| can the true brotherhood of man be established.
Published in the Interest of the gbtial, \omic Welfare of 40,000 Negroes of Arizona.
phoenix,December 6, 1946
Courtroom Battle Begins
j President John L. Lewis of the United Mine Workers (AFL) enters the ,
i Washington courthouse to stand trial for contempt of court. All organ
ized labor has condemned government use of the injunction to force
miners back to the pits. A Tong court battle looms.
WEEKLY ROUNDUP OF WAR DEPARTMENT
PRESS RELEASES OF GENERAL INTEREST
San Marcus Hotel
Workers Out Due To
Contract Refusal
Members of the /Phoenix Oper
ating Engineers local No. 428,
walked off their jobs at the San
Marcus hotel in Chandler last
week because of the inability to
negotiate a new wage contract.
Wages and working conditions
were agreed to, but the hotel man- j
agement refused to sign the same)
closed shop agreement that had j
been in effect for some time. The
operators declined to sign an
“open shop” agreement, but made
a counter proposition, which was
refused.
The operators agreed to con-!
tinue to work without a contract
of any kind. They informed the
management, however, that under
such an agreement, there was no
protection for either side; that the
men could—and probably would—
demand a wage increase at any
time, or change working condi- (
without any sort of agreement,
there would be no rules or regula
tions and no holds barred.
The management refused to con
sider that arrangement either, and
the men walked off the job.
As a result, members of Culin
ary Workers local No. 631, refused
to cross the picket line of the Op
erators, and the hotel began im
mediately to recruit non-union
workers.
The swanky hotel opened De
cember 1, when guests began ar
riving, and the outcome of the
struggle depends entirely upon
whether it can staff its engineer
ing department with competent
operators.
Local No. 631 has submitted its
contract for renewal, and it was
and presumably is, still being con
sidered. The agreement expires
j January 1.
j
Army Ground Forces to Activate;
Experimental UMT Unit —A Uni- j
versal Military Training Experi
mental Unit, to be organized and!
trained for one year along the
lines of the War Department’s pro- j
posed plan for UMT, will be acti-!
vated in January at Fort Knox, !
Kentucky, it was announced byi
General Jacob L. Devers, Com
manding General, Army Ground
Forces.
The experimental unit will serve j
as a “pilot plant”, so that in the
event of passage of legislation by
Congress initiating UMT, training
plans and the proposed “Code of
Conduct” for UMT will have been;
| tested, and the number of Army j
! personnel necessary to conduct and j
i supervise the combined military-.
civilian type of training envisaged
will have been determined.
More than 800 newly enlisted
Regular Army recruits, preferably
18 years of age and not more than
119, will receive UMT-type training,
which would couple military train
ing with civilian supervision and!
discipline. The unit will be organ-1
ized as a composite battalion, with i
! five companies of four platons
each.
i Four platons will receive Infan- j
try training, three Artillery, two'
each Armored Cavalry, Engineer
and Transportation Corps, and one
each Medical, Signal, Chemical,
Ordnance and Quartermaster.
Trainees will be selected to con-
I form to Army IQ averages, and two
! platoons will be “Student Training
Units,” receviing first through
fourth grade instruction in addi
tion to military training. These
two platons will be made up of
men who have not attained a
fourth grade educational level.
At the end of toe ifrst six
months, the trainees will have
reached a level of training which
would qualify thm, if they were
UMT trainees rather than Regular
Army recruits, for any of toe va
rious study or training options that
would be available to them under
the proposed UMT program.
Local Elks Will Hold
Annual Memorial
Service Sunday
The William H. Patterson Lodge
of Elks and the Grand Canyon
Temple, Daughter Elks, will hold
their Annual Memorial Services
Sunday at 3 p. m., at Tanner Chap
el A. M. E. Church, Bth St. and
Jefferson.
CHICAGO BUILDING RISES
Chicago.—During October build
ing permits in the metropolitan
area here made a gain of $4,161,-
993, or 'about 23 percent on all
. types of construction, according
to a survey made by Bell Savings
and Loan Association. These per
! mits totaled $22,428,556, compared
j with $18,266,563 in September, and
! $20,820,312 in October 1945. Resi
! dential construction showed a gain
j after a continuous downward trend
j since last March.
CORRECTION
The article which appeared on
the front page of this paper last
week concerning th first colored
woman to be called on Federal
Grand Jury, was an error, accord
ing to reports. The SUN has been
j informed that Mrs. Mac Walker
| and Mrs. John Washington were
j both called in October of this year,
but only Mrs. Walker served.
Employees At Big Plant Are
Expected Te Join American
Federation of Labor Ranks
The United Aluminum and Tinfoil Workers, Ameri
can Federation of Labor affiliate, will make a bid for the
privilege of representing the of the Reynolds
aluminum plant west of the city at the election to be held
j Friday, December 6, to decide which of three unions, or
PIONEER WOMAN
SUCCUMBS AFTER
SHORT ILLNESS
Grief stricken over the death of
her son who was shot down in
flight over Italy, apparently was
! the cause of death of Mrs. Generva j
; Shelton, 32nd and E. Van Buren,
j who died Nov. 27 in a Tempe hos.
j pital after arf illness of two
j months.
Her son, Curtis Shelton was
killed in action during the war and
was buried in Argoyle Cemetery in j
England.
Mr. and Mrs. Marshall Shelton j
came to Phoenix 35 years ago be- j
fore Arizona came into statehood, j
Mrs. Shelton worked side by side j
with her husband who contributed;
to the great progress and growth
of Phoenix. He developd Acre City
‘ and is reported that he is respon-;
sible for the opening of the Van<
Buren and Washington highway
into Tempe.
Mrs. Shelton’s death was a great
• shock to her husband after 54 j
! years of married life, as well .as j
many of the “old timers” who
have known the family for many
years.
I She still lies in state at the Carr
j Mortuary in Tempe, pending ar
rival of her other son, Charles, who!
is now a patient in a U. S. Hosptal i
after being released from a Japan-!
ese prison camp.
i Funeral arrangements will be
j announced later.
Tucson Publishers
Too Busy To Meet;
Prinlers Take Walk i
I There are no dally newspapers j
| being published in Tucson. At
■ least there were none when this j
! news item was written on Tues
j day afternoon.
The Tucson Typographical
Union, lacking a contract and
being unable to negotiate one
satisfactory to the union, didn’t
show up for work on Sunday
night and the papers didn’t ap
pear.
The printers had been meeting
with the publishers for more than
two months in an atempt to write
a new contract and until Sunday
there had been no open rupture.
The Tucson scale had been ma
terially higher than that prevail
ing in Phoenix and when, a couple
of weeks ago the Phoenix union
secured a substantial increase, the
j Tucson union asked a raise in the
j same proportion. This was refused
by the employers, who finally of
fered the same hourly wage rate j
that Phoenix had secured.
In an endeavor to come to an
agreement, the union offered to J
split the diffemce between the of
fer of the publishers and the
union’s request. This was also re
fused.
After the union had taken a
strike vote and found that it
was unanimous, another attempt
was made to meet with the em
ployers. According to the Tuc
son unionists, one so the pub
lishers’ committee would not at
tend because he was to be toast
master at a dinner and the other
was busy at the dog track and
couldn’t be bothered.
As a result of this, pickets are
walking before the newspaper
plant and no papers are being pub
lished in the Old Pueblo.
Negotiations are now being con
ducted between the union’s com
mittee and representatives of Tuc
son job printing firms.
Jack Whiting, international rep
resentative of the ITU, is in Tuc
son ramrodding the strike.
V/VSA/N/\AAA/W\A/V/\AA/VA/\A/WV\^ySAA/WW
HOSTESSES PROCESSED AT FORT BELVOIR
FOR ASSIGNMENT WITH ARMY IN EUROPE
CITY FAMILY'S COST CLIMB
Washington. The Bureau of
Labor Statistics has reported that
the avearge city family of moder
ate means was paying 50.5 percent
more for goods and services in
mid-October than the same goods
and services cost in mid-August of
1939. At the same time, the con
sumers’ price index was 15.1 per
cent over its position a year ago
and 148.4 percent higher than the
1935-1039 average.
'
| no union at all, will have the bar
gaining rights for the workers.
The Aluminum Workers have a
great majority of the Reynolds
plants throughout the country un
der contract, have been extremely
successful in getting increased
wages and good working condi
tions for its members and believe
that due to their position, can do
a better job* of bargaining than
! either of the other two groups in
the race.
W. D. Taylor, regional director
of the American Federation of La
bor, is directing the activities at
the plant. His assistants are Carl
1 Barbee, former president of the
i Louisville, Ky., local, who had an
; outstanding record of organizing in
; his home city, and W. Hecht, who
j is doing an energetic job of con
! tacting workers and preaching the
I A. F. of L. gospel.
Last week, Chas. Hasenmeyer,
vice-president of the Aluminum
and Tinfoil Workers, arrived in
Phoenix to assist with the election
! campaign. Brother Hasenmeyer, is
an employee of the Reynolds plant
, in Glendale, N. Y., and has been
extremely active in union affairs
for some years.
Vice-President Hasenmeyer says
he cannot conceive of either of
the two organizations winning
the election, because the Alumi
num Workers have the experi
ence, the connections and the
j contacts already in effect and
! working that would seem to
I guarantee to the workers at the
plant of a more comprehensive
plan of bargaining.
The CIO Steel Workers, one of
the contestants, is in no way con
nected with the aluminum indus
try. It merely “took over” the for
mer CIO aluminum workers’ union
which disbanded when the Alumi
j num Company of America aban-
I doned the place at the close of the
' war. That union was used simply
I as a stop-gap and whatever pres
i tige it had in the former plant has
! been lost. It seems hardly possible
! that the Steel Workers would be
i a success in an industry of which
they know nothing.
A major strike of the Steel
Workers in the east would un
doubtedly mean the aluminum
workers in Arizona would be
subject to a strike assessment, or
worse yet, are likely to be or
dered out in sympathy with steel
workers, in which they would
not participate nor have any
say in the matter. It seems a far
cry from the United Steel
Workers in the eastern states to
a comparatively small number
of aluminum workers in the far
west.
The other contestant is the Ma
chinists union, whose internation
al walked out of the American
Federation of Labor a year or more
ago. The Machinists, as an AFL
affiliate, built up a considerable
| membership in the state during the
I war, having bargaining rights at
I the former Goodyear plant, Air Re-
I search plant in Phoenix, and the
Consolidated plant at Tucson.
All of these plants, however
have closed down and the Ma
chinists membership has de
creased considerable. Again, this
organization >has had no experi
ence whatever in dealing with
the aluminum industry, in which
the machinist classification
would play only a small part.
The welfare of the workers at
the Reynolds plant depends en-'
tirely on a special, well-defined
plan of organization, and the
United Aluminum and Tinfoil
Workers union is best fitted for
this type of bargaining. Its con
nections with other plants of the
company would seem to qualify it
in every way to work with the
company as to wage classifications,
working conditions and whatever
transfer of personnel may be
necessary from plant to plant of
j the corporation.
Fort Belvoir, Va.—Three hos
tesss who have signed up to work
for from one to two years in the
Army’s social and recreational
program in the European Theater
have been processed at this instal
lation and are now awiaiting trans
portation to Germany.
They are: Miss Pauline C. Cook
man of Pittsburgh, Pa.; Mrs. Ger
trude J. Meriweather of Seattle,
Wiash., and Miss Mary L. Barnes of
Amarillo, Texas.
Non-Political
Most Good For
The Greatest
Number
No. 27