Labor Trouble Flares at Ford

...But the Negroes in the town still lack the elementary right* of free*assembly without the watchful supervision of Crump stooges...

...Today the UAW believes labor-management difficulties are part of a carefully worked out pattern shaped by the real power at Ford," wrote PM...

...But more important, Memphis is the Negro capital of the South...

...The supervisory structure of the Ford Motor Co., however, is characterized by authorisation rigidity, auch that a" foreman hesitates to act oi) important grievance lest he incur the wrath of his supcrioi Recently a number of Ford foremen were invited to meet with UAW Ford Jxical committeemen to exchange idea and to suggest ways and means of improving bargaining relations...

...When a district committeeman is unable to settle a a grievance with the foreman, the case is referred to Uie building committee, who take it up with the labor relations office...

...Supervisors, especially those who can't get over the fact that the union has a voice on the job, are taking full advantage of the IT AW pledge not to strike under any circumstances for the duration...

...Stalling and giving workers the runaround on >iial grievances is one way to breed discontent...

...to clutter up the procedure with unsettled rases...

...Lev Loiing, President.of the Memphis Trades and Labor Council, AFL, an important cog in the Crump machine, who has denounced Randolph and defied Green...

...This ia a most effective way of undermining workers' confi-deiice in Hie union...

...And during all the years of Crump's rule, the Negroes "hsve been kept in their place" by the Memphis boss...

...Today there is a new battle of Memphis versus Randolph...

...As time went on, the conviction grew that the company's labor relations pattern was forming into a deliberate campaign to break off union contract connections completely...

...between the races immediately...

...This lack of authority was emphasized by several other foremen as being the main monkey wrench in the grievance machinery...

...Wil-liam Green announced that he would back Kandolph...

...Its race relations have set the pattern for the rest of the deep South...

...Memphis is tense, for here is the first open defiance of the (rump machine since (ieorge Bass, rubber workers organizer, was beaten five years ago...

...This is undoubtedly true, but it is also true that if the |iowerful figures who rule the Ford empire think they can annihilate Ihe union, they reckon without the temper of the auto workers...

...MEMPHIS vs...

...At regular intervals, however, foremen are ordered to inform committeemen that they will be allowed only a stipulated number of hours (usually two) per day on grievance duties...

...Processing a grievance through all successive stages until the umpire finally renders his decision may lake a total of 105 days...

...In the court* of the conference Austin produced a pad containing production figures...

...While examining the figures, Oden happened to lift a few pages and his eyes fell on a note scribbled in Austin's handwriting: "Prod in shape to pull "a strike "Force the issue "if not hold till" Austin grabbed the pad from Oden, who said: "Say, fellow, aren't you going pretty fai with that stuff...

...Not only will the company resist any attempt to push lab-ir further into the management of industry, but it will do its best to push organised labor out of the industry altogether For a considerable time union officials were laboring under the mistaken notion that the company's deplorable labor relations policy was due to inexperience on the part of its personnel...

...They played no part in llie long and bitter struggle to wrest union recognition from Ford...

...The interference with the right of free speech in Memphis is unjustifiable . . ." Green wrote Randolph...

...Working six days a week and beset by the pressing personal problems incidental to war workers, they pay little heed to union meeting announcements...

...were denied the right to address a Heating in Memphis that a meeting be hold under the auspices ef the American Federation of Labor and that you be invited to attend and address this meeting...

...Its 320.000 population (40 per cent of which is colored) makes it one of the largre cities of the South...

...A tremendous national agitation would force Crump to lie low...

...Piolesting the cancellation of his meeting, Randolph seriated his talks were "of an educational nature, intended to make the relations between races more harmonious...

...Committeemen who exceed this limit are docked...

...We could settle many giicvances on the ground floor, at the first stage of procedure, if we had full power to act in accordance with our judgment, but we don't have that right," complained a foreman...

...RECENT "labor trouble" haa put Ford back into Ihe headlines...

...ineiitiiig trouble...

...Then one day the workers learned to their dismay that they were being docked 15 minutes for going to the tool crib during working hours...

...But the company's attitude to any such proposition is a matter of public record, far on December 12, 1943, the Detroit News quoted Ford Motor officials' description of the labor-management program as "a political vehicle designed a long time ago in an effort lo push labor further into the management of industry...

...William Green, President of the American Federation of Labor, who is defending Randolph's light to speak and whose southern representative George Goog* is arranging a meeting on March 31...

...Edward H. Crump (the name sounds like a Sinclair Lewis invention for a novel about a small-time politico) has been straw-boss of Memphis life for more than 30 years...

...The war has aggravated Memphis's social evils...

...Retrieved by Oden those pieces were fitted together, photostatic copies wer* made, and at a hearing on March 4 before the umpire, Austin admitted he had written the note The matter is now under investigation by the IT...

...The meeting is being held by the American Federstion of Labor over the protest of the Memphis Central Labor Union and Negro delegation from Memphis who called upon President Green last week in Washington requesting that the meeting be called off...

...These workers are lieroming increasingly restive under the company's tactics of attrition...

...Memphis, Mississippi river metropolis, is the gateway to the cotton country...

...Frank Marquart, who tells the story here, ia educational director of Ford Local (MM), and one of Michigan's leading progressive unionists...

...Needlesa to say, the Detroit newspapers, always quirk to make a front page sensation out of every wartime strike, however small, printed not a word about Ike Austin story when the union released it...

...The tiro* will come when we will catch the company ledbandod," said a building commit*, teeman— aod he was right On Friday, January 28, James Oden, union chairman of the Rous;* aluminum foundry division was in conference with W. G. Austin, a Ford labor relations man, regarding a proposed rescheduling of work, which called for the removal of 12 men from their jobs...

...Labor Trouble Flares at Ford Anti-Union Policy Tests Pattern for Post-War Reaction By Frank Marquart JN 1941 Ford top officials signed what haa repeatedly been hailed by United Automobile Worsen leaders aa the beat contract in the industry...

...The Rouge aircraft plant whero Find recently fired nearly a 100 union men after a wildcat strike, employs thousand* of men and women who me new to union experience...

...Crump, white-haired master politician, whose smooth-running political machine dominates Mimphis...

...Eventually the plant committee succeeds in restoring normal procedure an4 "obtaining back pay for the docked men, but in the meantime the company has succeeded in its purpose of jiiniilvzinif the grievance structure...

...about, one per cent of the Negroes will ncin he satisfied no matter what is done for them unless there is complete social equality...

...And he told another Memphis newspaperman: "We consider Randolph a rabblerouser...

...sf the (ail's hall pen, County Attorney Urrbrr aad other city-county uffiriala e+unliy told the aaen that Randolph couldn't apeak in Memphis Understanding ike nature of the not-so subtle remarks, the Negro leaders called off the meeting...

...in good faith...

...Its Besle Street and its Blues are known in every Negro home...

...ffiilEAN WHILE George Googe, southern AFL director, has gone ahead with plans for the meeting...

...On March 7, Lev Loring, Crump machine lieutenant and building trades union czar, replied in the Memphis Commercial-Appeal that his organisation would have nothing to do with the meeting...

...The meeting was never held, for Ihe fifteen key Negro leaders of the community, including Vk(| president of the Brotherhood, were relied by the sheriff to hie office am November 6, the day Mora «*•• ¦»«*«ini There, i„ fall...

...The next day Oden asked Austin for another look at the pad to recheck on the new schedule...

...But signing an agreement and abiding by its provision* have proved, in the eaae of the Ford Motor Co., to be two almoat wholly unrelated matters, for its labor relations per-aonnel has shown little inclination to conduct day to day bargains...

...RANDOLPH The Crump Machine Fights Free Speech By Morris Milgram Sntioiml Secretary, Workers Defense League IN Memphis, Tennessee, the curtain is rising on a Kieat light for civil liberties, one which may overshadow the famous battle against Mayor Hague in 1937-39 to establish the constitutional right of free assembly in Jersey City...

...We fought on the picket line to abolish the slave conditions we used to have in Ford's ami we are not going to stand by while the company tries to leslors those conditions," one of the men said...

...The nation watches Randolph Meeting Goes Ahead A S The New Leader goes to press, we are in receipt of Ihe following wire: "In re your telegram regarding the Randolph meeting in Memphis, the rally will be held at the First Baptist Church an Beale Street...

...Nebe Bsptist Church under his union's auspirea...

...Crump replied with a pugnacious statement declaring "ne blatherskite or demagogue of the North or South should be permitted to interfere with the friendly relations between the races that now exist in Jr., i...

...The Detroit papers feature big stories about the walkout, but none of them, deapite the written evidence proving Ihe charge, printed the union's story shout provocations...

...Those guys are sure giving us the business since we trave up the right to strike," a building committeeman reported...

...The executive council will meet soon, and we will pass on a request from Green if he makes one...

...The men get "fed up" and hell pops loose...

...We are our own boss...

...Thus, in one department it »as an established practice to stop work ten minutes before quitting time in order to turn in tools anil clean up machines...

...In another instance, the accustomed starting time for the afternoon shift was arbitrarily changed by the mipei visor in violation of a previous agreement worked on' with the building committee, and five men were summarily fired for not observing the changed schedule...

...A front page story in the Labor Review quoted J. L. Ettary, President of the Tennessee State Federation of Labor: "President Green has no authority tt» rail a mass meeting on behalf of our State Federation...

...Key union members in the shop were instructed to be on the lookout for signs that would reveal th* company's hand in f...

...Another way is (o break verbal agreement...

...RANDOLPH came into town and was allowed to address a closed meeting of hi* union members...

...If the grievance procedure terms in a contract are to t»e carried out successfully, a flexible supeivisory policy is indispensable...

...The steps that Crump will take, it is felt, depends in large part on the national notice the Randolph fight will get If, as Crump hopes, there is public apathy, his machine can go ahead The Bookworm and do its worst...

...For months the union attempted to receive the cooperation of the Ford management in the establishment of labor management committees to improve the-production process in the Rouge plant...

...Many of them are in the industry for the first lime...

...George L. Googe, southern representative, American Federation of Labor...

...The issue came to a head hurt November when A. Philip Randolph, Presideirt of th« Brotherhood of Sleeping «Car Porters, AFL, and co-chairman of the National Council for a Permanent FEPC, was scheduled to speak to a mass meeting st Memphis's Mt...

...These principles should be defended at any cost...

...What has the company to lose by such strikes...

...The daily papers ran always be counted on to play the strikes up in a manner calculated to arouse anti-union feeling...

...When word came into Memphis that Green had approved plans for Randolph to speak at a Tennessee Federation of Labor mass meeting, the fireworks began...

...And there are always enough company stooges around to pass out sly insinuations about the "pork choppers who are living off our dues uml not doing anything for us...

...Noiifying the draft board that certain deferred workers are no longer essential to the industry, is another weapon the company has used for dealing with militant committeemen...

...The (hn in a I is prrsonae in this tight little drama are: E. 11...

...That unhappy one per cent with a mistaken sense of their wrongs, usually paas down unwise thoughts to those further down the ladder and then there is mischief . . . we should not have any trouble in Memphis and will not if we run our own affairs and no outsiders will ever rua them for us...

...Austin tore off the first two pages and held the remainder of the pad back...

...After leaving the lalxir relations office, the grievance is referred to the plant committee, then to the appeal board, and finally to the umpire...

...Organized labor, particularly the CIO, won its right to organize, but only after long and bloody battles...

...lost...

...The Government is Ihe sole customer and cash payments are aasured...

...Unfamiliar with the complexities of grievance procedure, they lose patience when results are not forth-rt'ining in a day or Iwo and conclude that the union is letting them down...

...And during that time he has ruled with sn iron hand...

...Th* wilfull instigation of unauthorized strikes was considered to be an element in the pattern...

...Many committeemen allude to this department as the "rubber stan.p office," since it nearly always upholds the unfavorable disposition made by the foreman in the preceding stage...

...V/t have to take all these things into consideration...

...Intimidating committeemen is the company's favorite Way of throwing confusion in union rankjC The representation clause of Ihe Ford contract rieaWp means that committeemen are permitted to take all lie time necessary to handle grievances...

...without (..tint the trouble to consult committeemen as to the reasons for the action...

...One hundred years ago, the city of Memphis had a commercial tight against the city of Randolph, also on the Mississippi, which threatened its dominance as a cotton shipping port...

...But Randolph was not to be slapped down that way...

...he has made many speeches which are nothing but social equality of the races propaganda, He advocates throwing off restraint...

...The two principal speakers will be A Philip Randolph and myself, with a number of short talks by white and Negro A. F. of L. leaders...

...COONER or later such aggravations lead to an-*^ authorized strikes...

...That is one reason why 1 am in accord with the suggestion that because you...

...And above all else the strikes afford the company a handy excuse for its appalling production record...

...THOUGH the labor relations officials know thst legit-unute grievances are usually decided in the union's favor when they reach the umpire, they nevertheless encourage supervisors to "send them up the ladder...

...All protests have been disregarded because the constitutional right of free speech and assembly has been challenged, and the added fact that officers of unions affiliated with the American Federation of-Labor shall alwaya receive full support, assistance, protection and right* irrespective of rare, creed or political affiliation...

...S. Depaitmeiit of Justice...

...It is likely that more "labor trouble" will break out at loid Recently tough-minded Harry Bennelt, who directed the anti-anion flugging squads, has, with the death of Edsel Ford, moved back inlo control of company policies And, as Frank Marquart points out here, Ihe company haa an appalling production record, and publicity about strikes is a handy excuse for ita record and) ita policy...

...At a meeting attended by more than 1,500 aircraft workers on March 19, a motion was overwhelmingly passed calling for a special convention of the UAW to revoke the no strike pledge...

...Jack in New York he announced that he was going to return to Memphis and hold an open meeting...

...According to Orien's affidavit, Austin replied, "W« have to be prepared for pretty much anything...

...Later Oden aaw him tear into several pieces the page on which the strike note was scribbled and throw them into a waste basket...

...A. I'hilip Handojph, leading Negro .spokesman, who was i.enied the right to speak in Memphis by Crump and who is challenging this southern boss...

...Crump's machine has ruled the town with an iron hand Controlling as h<5 does all state and Federal patronage, the entire judicial y is under Ins control...

...Foremen must be vested with sufficient authority to adjudicate departmental grievances on their merits...

...1 could not get nse of municipal auditorium because the city statutes prohibit mixed audiences...

...Recently at the River Ronge aircraft plant, some wildcat strikes brought nationwide headlines—but doc am an ted charge* by the anion that Ford supervisors have been plotting to pr*v*k* strike*, have gone virtually unnoticed in the nation's press...