The Chicago star., August 21, 1948, Star Edition, Page 4, Image 4

About The Chicago star. (Chicago, Ill.) 1946-1948

Image provided by: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library, Urbana, IL

                
Contract is key issue
in UAW Harvester strike
4
By ISABEL CARR
As The Star went to press
this week, 24,000 CIO United
Auto Workers in the Interna
tional Harvester Co. chain—
including 4,500 in the Chicago
area—went out on strike.
“No contract —no work” was
the slogan of Local 6 at Harvest
er’s big sprawling plant in subur
ban Melrose Park.
Wages weren't the issue this
time. Harvester workers recently
won an 11-cent increase. The
3.000 militant rank - and - filers
who turned out for picket duty
at the giant plant's nine gates
at 6:30 a.m the first shift
Tuesday morning, are safeguard
ing their union's security by
fighting for a good contract.
* * *
Two weeks ago a vote author
izing the strike was given by the
membership of seven locals in the
UAW-CIO Harvester council —at
Melrose Park, Ft. Wayne, India
napolis, Springfield, Evansville,
and Louisville. However, Harves
ter officials were notified that a
dispute existed in June.
The Chicago Daily News and
Chicago’s other dailies reported
that a company spokesman said
Harvester was “perfectly willing”
to negotiate with UAW, but union
officials put the lie to this state
ment.
The strike was called by the
union after almost 72 hours of
continuous discussion at the Con
gress Hotel—when, according to
the union, company officials “re
fused to resume the discussion.”
THE CHICAGO STAR, AUGUST 21. 1948
By PETER WILLIAMS
DU SABLE CENTER began a fine series
of “Appreciation Parties'—honoring Chicago
artists and writers—last Saturday, with a
Bon Voyage tea for sculptor Marion Perkins,
and writer Robert Lucas, both Rosenwald
Scholarship winners.
This Friday (Aug. 20), it's a Welcome
Home party for St. Clair Drake, co-author
of "Black Metropolis," recently returned from
studies in Europe ... at the Center (4845 S.
Wabash), 9 p.m., donation SO cents.
* * *
PEOPLE'S CHORUS, after a brief summer
vacation, resumes regular Tuesday night
meetings, Aug. 24, 8 p.m., in Room 723,
Kimball bldg., Wabash at Jackson blvd. If
you want to sing for Wallace, now's the
time to come out and get in the group.
Call Virginia Aplon (PLAza 3437) for further
info.
* * *
ILWU Local 208's throwing a boat ride
party Friday, Aug. 27, with dancing, re
freshments, games, etc.—cost, a buck and a
half. fLnn Shelton, head of the activities com
mittee, says the boat leaves Michigan av.
bridge at 9:30 p.m. and returns there three
hours later. You can get tickets at the local's
office, 166 W. Washington. . . .
* * *
STOLEN from Lakeview AVC's bulletin,
“The Lake-Viewpoint":
"Ellman returned from the Progressive
Party convention a wiser and tired b0y....
Bob Heile returned from his honeymoon in
the sarro shape as Ellman. . . ."
Incidentally, folks, Heile is Prog. Party
candidate for Municipal Court clerk.
The union’s contract expired at
midnight on Monday.
* * *
HARVESTER officials had re
fused to negotiate changes in the
old contract contested by the
union. They have offered only the
old contract to the union—and
the old contract includes loss of
two paid holidays.
Harvester refuses to discuss day
work inequities, to discuss stan
dardization of contracts in all
locals of the UAW chain. The
company also has refused to fol
low any arbitrated decisions.
On Monday, UAW secretary
Carl Shier reported on negotia
tions to employes of the Melrose
plant. When the Company reffused
to bargain, the strike was called.
"Here's a dollar, dad. I figure the least i can do is
pay for my room and board now that I'm working"
Mam«* Hcu.cn convniOHT teaa caatoonc-ov-thc-month
MAY DE SOUSA, 66, noted light opera
singer in the early part of the century who
starved to death after she became too weak
to continue working as a scrubwoman, was
given a decent burial here this week by the
American Guild of Variety Artists (AFL).
Her body had lain unclaimed in the
County Morgue for three days. Miss de
Sousa had not been a member of the union,
but AGVA Regional Director Jack Irving said
that "one of our policies is that no theater
artist will ever be buried in potters' field ..."
* * *
EMMET DEDMON, Sun-Times' books edi
tor, has just finished first draft of a new
book. Emmet's first book, a war novel called
“Duty to Live," was published in '46.
* * *
Sorry to hear that Ernie DeMaio, UE-CIO
Distr. President, is ill in the hospital. Wife,
Mary, says he'll be out of circulation for two
or three weeks. . . .
* * *
DAILY VARIETY, the film trade journal,
report sthat "Confessions of a Communist
Spy," a picture to be released by Producer
John Sutherland through United Artists, will
not be made after all. . . . Maybe the mem
ory of jfie vast picket lines and protests that
snowed "Iron Curtain" under was too much
for Sutherland. . . .
* * *
I. F- STONE, N. Y. Star columnist, has a
new book coming out in September—" This Is
Israel"—to be published by Boni & Gaer. Stone
arrived in Palestine a week before the Decla
ration of Statehood, and remained throughout
all the fighting. The book, which will sell at
sl, paper bound—and $2.50, cloth edition
will contain 100 photos taken in Israel by top
photogs.
• * *
PROVES what we've been saying all along.
Only American film picked among five best
foreign films of 1947 by Stockholm, Sweden,
critics was—you guessed itl—Charlie Chaplin's
"Monsieur Verdoux."
THE MELROSE Harvester
plant was completely shut down
on Tuesday. The mass turn-out
on the picket lines blocked the
company’s repeated attempts to
run foremen through the lines
and into the plant.
Solid strikers like Fritz Knoll,
a union guide, and Frank Caru
siello, headed a "flying squad,"
making sure all plant gates were
checked. Guys like Joe Wiikow
ski. an alternate committeeman in
Dept. 38. sparkplugged at strate
gic gates.
The Sun-Times erroneously re
ported that “about 100 AFL mem
bers” remained “on the jobs” at
the Melrose plant. But actually,
you could have counted the num
ber of AFL stationary engineers
—power house employees—that
were on the job on the fingers of
your two hands.
* • •
ALTHOUGH “last ditch” nego
tiations resumed Wednesday, the
union was prepared to stick it
out, as one rank-and-fiier bluntly
put it—“until hell freezes over”
•—unless Harvester listens to
UAW membership’s just de
mands. In order to cut down the
drain of strike benefits on the
UAW treasury—if the strike is
a long one—the union has asked
members to work at other jobs
and still put in hours of
picket duty each day.
Discussing this tactic, many
strikers emphasized the need for
continuing mass picketlines as of
"number one importance" while
holding down other jobs.
“We got to show Harvester we
mean business,” said one striker,
pointing out that the powerful
Harvester chain, too, had dug in
for a fight. Auto workers took
note of the fact that the company
had sprayed certain machinery
with protective materials, in
preparation for the machine stop
page.
South to meet
Wallace soon
NEW YORK—Henry Wal
lace is going to tour the
South again—and once more
Jim Crow will take a beating.
He will tour seven Southern
states speaking only to non
segregated meetings—during the
week beginning Sunday, Aug. 29.
Curran man is
new NMU port
agent in Chicago
The Natl. Maritime Union has
raised its local office in status
from a sub-branch to an agency,
local officials reported this week.
New officers-of the NMU here
are Fred McNall, port agent, and
Austin Hughes, patrolman. Both
are members of the right-wing
faction headed by Joe Curran,
international president, whose
slate won the national election
following a campaign marked by
extreme violence, including the
murder of a Curran opponent.
McNall said that port agents
and patrolmen are not elected
regionally but as part of a na
tional ticket-
Harold McCormick, progressive
patrolman here whose place has
been taken by Hughes, has gone
to Toledo, Ohio. He intends to
ship out from there soon, ac
cording to reports.
Surprise!
WASHINGTON—(FP) More
than half of the plants visited by
wage-hour inspectors showed
some violation of the Fair Labor
Standards Act, according to a
Labor Dept, report.
Un-Americans cause death
BOSTON—Decent-minded Americans this week mourned
the death of Harry D. White, former assistant Secretary of the
Treasury. White had been red-bailed and smeared in the
House Un-American Committee's wild "spy" circus. Because of
heart trouble. While was forced to rest for 10 minutes after
every hour of testimony while he was on the stand at the com
mittee's hearings, flatly denying the charges as "unqualifiedly
false-" Three days after testifying, the committee’s attacks on
him proved too great a tax on his heart. He died of a heart
attack.
BL : "I
BOSS CRUMP took a licking
when CIO, AFL, and independ
ent unions united behind Senate
candidacy of Rep. Estes Kefau
ver (D., Tenn.) (above). Kefauver
won Democratic primary, equiv
alent to election-
Hit pool bias
A member of the Mexican
consulate’s office will address a
meeting sponsored by the Civil
Rights Congress, Wednesday,
Aug. 25, 8 p.m., in the Art Gal
lery at Hull House, protesting
discrimination against Mexican
youth at Willow Springs swim
ming pool. On July -31, 23 Mexi
can kids were refused admission
to the suburban pool.
It will be his first campaign
tour since accepting the Progres
sive Party nomination for Presi
dent.
The tour will take him to more
than 20 cities in Virginia, North
Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi,
Louisiana, Arkansas, and Ten
nessee.
Travelling by plane, auto, and
special train, he will stop off to
speak at luncheons, plant gates,
university campuses, two state
political conventions, and several
mass rallies.
“Wallace will devote major at
tention to the Four Horsemen of
1948—those who advocate war,
high prices, Jim and at
tacks on labor ancNdemocratic
rights,” his campaign manager,
C- B. Baldwin, said.
UE 1154 rejects
T-H affidavits
At the regular meeting of
Stewart-Warner Local 1154,
United Electrical, Radio & Ma
chine Workers (CIO) last week,
a resolution to sign the Taft-
Hartley non-Communist affida
vits was overwhelmingly de
feated by a vote of 90-4.
John Duff, a leader of the lo
cal’s discredited committee for
CIO policy, presented the resolu
tion.
Stewart-Warner workers also
elected Ruth Hunt, Negro shop
steward in Dept. 20, to its ex
ecutive board. The following dis
trict council delegates were also
elected: John Kelliher; Leonard
Baker; Sam White; William
Samuels; Earl Gilles; Ted Kop
ala; Ed Glab.