Labor Split Balks Nat'l Defense, Spurs Anfi-Union Drive
LYONS, THOMAS J.
Labor Split Balks Nat'l Defense, Spurs Anfi-Union Drive State A.F.L.Head Hits Burke Bill,Arnold Labor'Trust'Suits By THOMAS J. LYONS President, N. Y. Stmt* Federation, of Labor - I THINK we all...
...As labor costs per unit of output have decreased 25 per cent, wage increases could without difficulty much more nearly approximate the increase in productivity...
...Brutal, vindictive, ___A.T.1---____J— :~ . 1__1...
...We must re-elect Roosevelt Just as in certain states -when divided labor and confused dti-zens displaced New Deal administrations with tory official/»nd saw eight years of gains swepi away, so it will be in the nation, We have gained much under Roosevelt...
...The Building Trades unions have special cause for alarm in this fiction of a labor shortage...
...The way is clear for us to do this and in, the coming year as one of our major tasks I directly advocate and urge: 1. That there be taken a-census of the unemployed of each of oat anions in the state and that there be listed the particular training and skills of each of these unemployed...
...On this Labor Day we find America at last alive to the menace towering over our democratic institutions, our ideals of Iive-and-let-Iive...
...We of labor give our wholehearted support to President Roose-eit...
...LJIS attack took the form of procuring indictments against * * dozens of American Federation of Labor unions in this country and their officials...
...Labor Day 1940 should constitute a day of rededication and planning to carry out this high purpose...
...One attack, however, which we have been subjected to in the past two years is outstanding because of its brutal directness and complete disregard of labor's rights...
...This propaganda is untrue and emanates from sources hostile to labor...
...There is not a union that does not report continued unemployment in large numbers of our skilled American Federation of Labor trade unionists...
...The New York State Federation of Labor resents all union busting, drives no matter what the source may Joe and will fight to prevent the continued perversion of the Sherman Act...
...The trade union is Labor's economic declaration of independence...
...This attack peculiar because of its combination of reaction, venom and vidousness has been carried on relentlessly by Thurman Arnold, Assistant Ariorney-General of the United States from the very day that he took office in this administration...
...By common consent priority has now been granted to defense production...
...Wars today are fought with more than cannons, tanks and planes...
...The common man of America, the trade union movement has faith in our country, has the tough courage and the free spirit to smash "ersatz" discord...
...Bolstering of Unions Can Save America By WILLIAM GREEN President, American Federation of Labor f N these moving times when that which gives value to our lives and civilization lies in the balance, the observance of Labor Da: takes on a new solemnity and a new obligation...
...There are still more than ten millions unemployed...
...others are agaiiul him because he does not jume when big business pulls Jfr string...
...We are living in a world gone mad...
...if But at no time in the last five years has the prospect appeared so bright for the uniting of all labor under one banner, that of the American Federation of Labor...
...Certain employers do not want to hire our skilled laborers and grant them the wages and conditions of their respective trades...
...This solemn duty rests upon the individual members of all unions...
...These "patriots" have started the usual plea for longer hours, reduced working conditions, elimination'of social benefits...
...It is a world dominated by dictators...
...America will not let them...
...The effect of world shaking events is now being felt on our own shores...
...Their men especially with the skills developed over years of experience and training, as well as those ot the Metal Trade industries are the type Jneeded for work in the Defease Program...
...Our spiritual resources must be strong to withstand the subtle assaults of the Fifth Column...
...It matters not whether he be a cheap traitor with Nazi pay in his pocket, a flying hero flattered into the role of an "appeaser," a starry-eyed "idealist" chanting about the Utopia that bombed Finland...
...2. That-a clearing house be established, so that when any manufacturer or concern calls for labor, we may readily produce it...
...For the wage earner finding the union means finding the way to those industrial rights which are the basis for justice and freedom in that important part of life spent in earning" a livelihood...
...n '----those dark-age forces of destruction—murder of men, women and children, murder of culture, murder of liberty, murder of decent human relationships— . political obscenity enthroned...
...Economists agree that an increase in standards may well be vital in assuring maximum production of armaments at maximum efficiency...
...The regulation does not prohibit longer hours but insures workers against long hours at undue expense to them...
...Even in our cqun-try we have among us many so lost to decency that, breathing the free air of America, they harbor the souls of traitors...
...Tfce.enemies of labor whether they^be in the' legislative halls, in the factories, in newspaper offices or in judicial robes, seem to have convinced themselves that they have the opportunity of a lifetime to destroy the gains which our unions have won over so many years...
...V"\N Labor Day 1940 we can rejoice in progress even during a period of depression and conflict...
...Dictatorship and a labor movement as we Americans know it axe in direct contradiction to each other...
...The continent of Europe has been converted from a citadel of civilization to a giant concentration camp...
...And chief of the men who will lend wisdom and virility to the desires in -the hearts of all Americans worthy of the name is the President of the United States...
...One and all agree that we can fight a revolution of destruction only with force...
...They do not want to abice by the provisions of the Pobt?e Contracts and Fair Labor Standards Act calling for time and one nab...
...Their purpose is to destroy the union standards and conditions of our people...
...of skilled and semiskilled labor to be drawer upon...
...All this presents an issue which we can and must meet head-on...
...Unity, America's First Defense Against Fifth Column Sabotage By SAMUEL SNORE Vice-President, I.L.G.W.U...
...By this reference, I do not mean that such should have been done, but it certainly should be considered in determining .the point or direction of the drive he is, has been, and continues to-make...
...I pi EMPLOYMENT still remains our great...
...Our problem is to get equipment with the speed necessitated by the imminent danger...
...Without free unions democracy and liberty canot exist...
...It was never intended that the Sherman Act should be used as the basis for criminal prosecution of labor unions, and a fair scrutiny of the decisions on the Sherman Act will show that even though the Act was placed on the statute books in 1390 and was there for forty-eight years before Processor Arnold took office that in those forty-eight years there were less than a dozen criminal prosecutions of unions under the Act...
...Employed workers have made progress despite the depression...
...for overtime...
...But progress for the employed is offset by the number unemployed who are denied places to earn a living in our business structure...
...We will elect those men in a very few-weeks...
...America stands on the ramparts frowning across the waters at the plague of dictatorship...
...Labor Split Balks Nat'l Defense, Spurs Anfi-Union Drive State A.F.L.Head Hits Burke Bill,Arnold Labor'Trust'Suits By THOMAS J. LYONS President, N. Y. Stmt* Federation, of Labor - I THINK we all realize that this year's convention of the New-" York State Federation was held in the roost critical period in the history of our country...
...If there is one iota of sincerity in Professor Arnold's drive then without delay he should immediately move: for the dismissal of those indictments procured by him and-which were outlawed by the Apex decision...
...It was found that, far from being a shortage, there was a tremendous reserve...
...Nevertheless, inspired arti-r cles appear daily in our press—to the effect that there is already serious scarcity of skilled labor...
...We have come to expect from our long experience a variety in the forms of attacks made on labor...
...We have seen that it has become the practice of the enemies of mankind to assault the souls and minds of their intended victims before assaulting their bodies...
...Today we may well set Labor Day aside with special gravity, to dramatize the part we of labor shall play in the struggle for civilization, for life itsebf...
...We must be just as strong in the instruments of defense against those who would destroy our way of life...
...Men, guns, tanks, planes —these alone are respected by dictators...
...The "dollar patriots" will not fill their strong boxes this time...
...A unified labor movement in a satisfied nation, confident that sincere men are earnestly striving to bring the good things of life to all, is any country's best defense against any Fifth Column...
...In accord with this background of protection for manufacturers against undue costs, are legal regulations to pay workers overtime in...
...I ABOR DAY was first set aside to dramatize the struggle for the shorter working day, for civilized working hours...
...Approximately 700,000 union woriers have gained the 30-hour week while the average work week for all dropped from 50 to 40...
...architect ei 4» New Deal with the mtgty plex« or legislation which has mssnt everything from collective bar-gaining to the whole series cf measures lumped under tht term Social Security...
...Democratic institutions and free trade unions are twin fruit on the tree of liberty...
...f. We will not permit the Defense Program, to which we pledge and have pledged our full cooperation and support, to be used as the cloak under which labor js robbed of rights, both legislative and otherwise, which it has attained only after such long suffering and sacrifice...
...What is behind all this .hue and cry of labor shortage and what is sought to be attained by creating that idea...
...hourly earnings increased 20 per cent in dollars and 45 per cent in purchasing power...
...We cannot.and will not permit the interest behind this drive with its single purpose to break down our organizations and standards to...
...excess of the maximum standard of 40 hours provided by the Walsh-Healey Act?and 42 hours in the Fair Labor Standards Act...
...Our policies are fixed—but policies are executed'by men...
...No — labor's gains are vital to the defense program...
...Some hate him because he is a grest humanitarian and democrat wW has sent his condemnation of dk-tatorship across the oceans a ringing words...
...We know that if we exercise political freedom we must also have economic freedom...
...Our relief rolla in this state show no decrease...
...Our union membership is at an all-time peak...
...I think it is plain to say that the anti-labor forces would not be so arrogant today were it not for the "-disunity within labor's own ranks...
...They seek to create an irresponsible vocational training system at public expense which will produce for them cheap, skilled labor...
...Sustaining purchasing power in the hands of workers families is necessary to maintain production at capacity...
...we must re-elect him to hold what we have gained...
...3. That there be a renewed vigor and activity on the part of oar vocational training committees, which have already been doing good work, so that vocational training may be used to supplement the labor market and not to dominate or destroy its conditions...
...These dictators cpatrol vast armies, countless tanks, almost unlimited air fleets and other implements of war which have been brought to an unparal-lettsd point of destructive efficiency...
...Manufacturers and producers planning to undertake production required for our defense program, have been united on two demands: First, that their industries should be allowed to write off the cost of plant expansion for defense production within five years with allowances for depreciation and obsolescence...
...UR first defense is our unity...
...It is particularly significant and noteworthy that Professor Arnold has not as yet procured the indictment of a single union affiliated with the Congress of Industrial Organizations...
...Only too frequently are these attacks so prell disguised that it taikes most careful perception to uncover their purpose...
...These conditions are particularly menacing to the boose of labor...
...The labor movement in the United States, the oldest labor movement of the Western Hemisphere, has a responsibility for helping to preserve free unions in the New World...
...Where the free trade unions have been extirpated, there freedom has died, there upstanding workers have been crushed to the status of serfs, helots and slaves...
...We of Labor have long known the face of the enemy...
...unsolved problem...
...Free trade unions and democratic institutions are inseparable and grow from the same ideals of liberty...
...The United States Employment Service last April made a preliminary inventory of persons available for defense production...
...It is our duty and our mission to maintain standards as our economic and social service, and to preserve our free trade unions' as an organization necessary to government and justice in industry and to democracy in our political government...
...Unfortunately and despite the definite position of labor in this national emergency on seme fronts within our own borders there ha» been developed a reluctance and unwillingness to give the cooperation which this national emergency requires...
...I need only to point to such recent happenings as the re-affiliation of the powerful International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union under the leadership of its able and respected president, David Dubinsky, asiproof of my assertion that the C. I. O. bubble has burst at last...
...They hope to flood the labor market beyond even its present overflew and create another force to destroy union conditions...
...Our idle man power, idle plants., and high productive efficiency erwbfe us to handle $5,000,000,000 of defense production yearly with no pressure upon labor gains and no reduction in the national living standards...
...They compose the Fifth Column —the salesmen of dictatorship and slavery...
...They say they do m( want a third term for the Men Deal...
...By every sneaking device, by every conceivable maneuver in the courts, in Congress, in the state Legislature, in inspired newspaper campaigns, they are trying to forge anew the shackles which labor succeeded in breaking under the battle standards of the American Federation of Labor...
...We pledge ourselves to fight for the continuance of our democratic institutions and the preservation of our rights, dignity and position which organized labor has achieved for itself in our country...
...Labor Day typifies the status which Labor has secured through union organization...
...Nothing was better calculated to assist in breaking down- the confidence of the public...
...Confusion, intimidation, uncertainty, terror, timidity, suspicion—all result from poison waves of propaganda...
...Show me one who opposes the defense program of the United States and I'll show you a menace, witting or unwitting, to the security and future happiness of the country...
...s A GAINST him are all ft, Fifth Columnists, ail the mistaken and confused, all the dollar patriots, all the Coman}, nists...
...So too do we know that one cannot predict the sources from which they will come...
...And this is the basic step in solving unemployment which is our major and most imperative problem blocking the way to prosperity in peace and unity for national defense...
...There is no such thing as a labor movement existent in the countries of the dictators or those countries they have conquered...
...and secondly, the elimination of restrictions upon hours of work because of an alleged labor shortage...
...1 The Supreme Court of the United States spoke but a short time ago in the Apex case but even that decision has not deterred Professor Arnold in bis drive...
...We are witnessing a conflict of ideologies, and philosophies of life, as stubborn and deadly as any fought with barrage and bomber...
...Upon the organized trade union movement rests responsibility for maintaining labor standards for the maintenance of progress for Labor and prosperity for the whole Nation...
...JET us add to them the "dollar *-* patriots" who will sing the Star-Spangled Banner and make airplanes—but only at a 12 per cent profit...
...In the case of munitions the Government is planning to build the plants and lease them to the producing companies...
...Nazis and Fascists...
...When we learn that during these decades productivity has increased 50 per cent, we realize that upon a return to normal conditions the 30-hour week must be established for all and that industries must be expanded to capacity to provide work opportunities for all and the materials for higher standards of living for all...
...The keys to defense equipment are adequate air force, mechanized troops and ships...
...The sincere trade unionists who innocently put |heir faith in the glib pronfises of an unscrupulous clique of opportunists and manipulators are turning in their disillusionment to the responsible leadership of the American Federation of Labor...
...I^abor has a larger stake in the re-election of President Roosevelt than in that of any previoui administration in the history .«?J...
...Labor Day is in Labor's economic world what Independence Day is in our political life...
...Nazi, Fascist, Stalinist—the label may be different, but the poison is the same...
...in our unions than this flood of indictments with the resulting publicity chiefly based on press releases emanating from Professor Arnold's office...
...It took a Professor Arnold to be able to boast that in his two years of service in this administration he has procured the criminal indictments of hundreds of union and labor officials under the Sherman Act...
...gueeeed...
Vol. 23 • August 1940 • No. 35
