Red, Green, and Brown in New Orleans
Goodman, Morton
Red, Green, and Brown in New Orleans AFL Tackles Some Basic Postwar Problems By Morton Goodman Thimbu, te th* smart aaa riimaiija «C Labor emerged safely tnm a aatM waak •** apeeche*. Everybody...
...He is also quick on the trigger of generalitiea and he covered a lot of ground—with me hanging on for dcai life trying to And out the things that Horner didn't want to tell me...
...He stated simply that it waa neces-•ary to form an international organisation in order to siaintain the postwar peace as well as to raise the living atandarda of workers everywhere...
...If operating under plantwide seniority, the above cliche would be true...
...2. Thia propoaal would serve to remove the onus of discriminatory hiring policies from management and transfer it to the shoulders of the labor movement where it doe* not belong, as management h*a consistently fought for and retained the i ight to determine the qualifications for hiring...
...Baaldea, the IFTU waa inial aamsrr*titi ra character...
...There is no short cut to this perplexing and vexing question...
...AV.t-laah of these force* would mean economic chao* throughout the world—so there must be evolved definite spheres of interest...
...Horner: No answer...
...Hornir's answer: Vest Would the Chinese Federation of Labor support the f'hiaiiK Kai-shek Government after the war despite the Tact that Chiang had suppressed their movement...
...Within these spheres will operate the three major powers and among their activities will be "the raising of conditions of colonial workers" (sic...
...Th* United Transport Service Employees of America, whoso membership is 8* percent Negro, meeting in convention in May 1944, fully discussed the pros Hnd com of this proposal and passed a elearcut resolution to the effect that they considered seniority rights the coiner-stone of organized labor and indicated their wholehearted opposition to any plan or scheme ihst would maintain any worker, group of workers or race of workers on the job by an abridgement of the fundamental principle of aeniority...
...and the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the devastated and backward countries...
...There is no aaaet," answered Green, "that men possess other than their economic strength . . . and we resent any government interference in the exerciae of that right . . . the workers of America who willingly . . . submitted to Govern-men domination . . . during this war are . . . eager for the day when that domination and control will be lifted and we are again free in America...
...Therefore, during a slack period, if an industry decides to lay off ten percent of its employees, under ordinary circumstances, that ten percent will be spread throughout the plant so that most of the departments will lose approximately ten percent of their employees...
...Departmental seniority makes it more, difficult for Negroes to be upgraded into new crafts and skills...
...Actually there are no union movement* ia the world which are free from government influence with the exception of tho** in the U.S.A., the Trade* Union Congress of Great Britain, and the labor organizations of Sweden, Switzerland, Cuba, etc These last arc unimportant in an overall picture of labor atrength wielded internationally...
...The CIO has it within it* own power to be free, but more and more has become dependent upon the White House and under the influence of the Communist-dominated unions...
...Therefore, large nambers of Negroes will not be laid off...
...Moreover, thia proposal would lend credence to the large group of whites who have always maintained that Negroes only join trade unions in order to selfishly advance their own cause, regardlesa of whether or not it is detrimental to the great body of workers...
...Now, says Horner, there will be conflict not only between the major powers but also within those powers (from reactionary self-seeking capitalists...
...It is the considered opinion of this very representative cross section of American Negro trade union leadership, that serious consideration of any type of proposal that would tamper with the established principles of seniority would serve to undo msny years of constructive effort to secure equality in the trade union movement for the black worker...
...Rarely will a complete department be shut down...
...Who will provide the only unified program and force to prevent chaos in free enterprise...
...Thia is sweet ind lovely and Brown waa careful not to involve him-•elf in anything but generalities...
...Homer: No fascist organisations have been asked...
...Keanan of the WFB...
...aw a bent the CatantV Unkassa af Canada which are fascist in character 7 Herawr: We cannet ignore their existence and we will lalaaace them far th* batter...
...Any type of proportional representation would serve to upaet thia protection which the majority of Negroes working under collective bargaining agreements enjoy...
...National Commander Scheiberling of the American Legion, The Arat real interest waa a little Sorry raiaed by Green fa answer to the addreaa of John Brown of the Iron and Steel Workers Confederation, one of the fraternal delegates from the British Tradee Union Congress...
...Homer smiled and answered that one can hardly overlook the only Socialiat country ia the world...
...Green's answer to Brown waa premature, and presumably he was carried away by the moment...
...The real fireworks on this question will be provided by the other British delegate, Arthur Horner, who is a member of the Central Committee of the British Communist Party aa well aa president of the South Walea Federation of Miners...
...Philip Klutaaick (Housing Authority) ; Cheater Bowles...
...The international organization of labor which the London conference hopes to create...
...Maya* Rankin (remember bin from th* N*av York Timutt...
...The National CIO Committee to Abolish Racial Discrimination, at tneir August 1*, 1844, meeting, took like action...
...Right...
...The movements of the various liberated and soon-to-be-liberated countries are an integral part of the policy of their own governments...
...Horner: Because it bars the Soviet trade unions, the CIO, and the Toledano Pan-American Federation...
...Horner: We are inviting only labor organisation* and therefore W« will have a elaae kaaia...
...I asked Horner whether this meant that the various affiliated trade union federations would have to declare a truce with their own governments in order to carry put the plans for rehabilitation and reconstruction...
...The IF.TU ha* a class orientation, I said, which i* fundamental while the organisation you slant to set up seem* to have government controlled polidy and may lack freedom ©f action...
...Then I inquired if labor organisation* In Spaia and Portugal had been invited...
...He is rather short, dark-haired, with quick merry eyes behind tortoise shell glasses...
...Roe* Schneider-man...
...and from amazing productive force* of the Soviet Union...
...Everybody under th* »ua baa told aa about everything under taw ana...
...Arthur Altmeyer (Social BetuiHy Board...
...The dangers inherent in any type of proposal to relax the seniority provisions are readily apparent Among others, these two points should be strongly emphasised 1. The large group of whites who would be unfairly displaced as a result of the relaxation of the seniority principle would become not only anti-Negro, but also anti-union...
...Why do you object to rebuilding the International Federation of Trade Unions...
...Seniority and the Negro By George L. P. Weaver Director, National CIO Committet to Abolish Racial Discrimination DUE to the fact that more than 86 percent of American industry engaged in the defenae effort, where the bulk of Negro workers is employed, ia unionized, the Negro worker under union contract will be laid off under the established rules of seniority...
...When operating under plant seniority, workers are placed on a seniority roster from the date of their hiring and when lay-offs occur, they are laid off according to the length of seniority, thoee with the least amount of seniority being the first to be laid off...
...I made an appointment with Horner and we had a chat which lasted over an hour...
...We resent any form of paternalism, and we regard totalitarianism as government domination over the lives of working men and women...
...Would the Indian, Labor Movement be asked - to ibandon the struggle for Indian independence...
...Edward Parian (ILO...
...I pointed out that the A PL considered chat the Soviet organisations were aat free trad* aniens, that they wan government doaaiuated...
...Ia hia analysis of the wartime as pacta of British sniomam Brown touched upon the international labor conference which begins its preliminary discussions in London next week...
...Horner: Cooperation with each government is essential...
...In essence, th* British proposal te te act up mm ist-Ummtimmmt (red* uttien /eatsraise* which wiil htlp •abler Britioh (coaeexp...
...Under departmental seniority, a worker begins to accumulate seniority in the department to which he has been assigned...
...He did say, however, >hat "the British Trades Union Congreaa does not teaent government interference in economic and industrial affairs" and Green took the bit in hia teeth and it into thia propoeition...
...one S-atar admiral and ea* 4-aUr general...
...Hia point of view is particularly, interesting since hia Welsh speech has a curious Rus-aian flavor...
...Aa tor the Ruaaians, only through a new organisation can they hop* te gain influence within the trade unioaa of the world...
...In June 1944, at an Educational Political Conference called by the Douglas-Washington Institute, spproxi-mately two hundred Negro elected trade union representatives from affiliates of the CIO and representatives from two or three AFL unions, after a full *n° complete debate, unanimously passed a resolution upholding the established principles of seniority and condemned any proposal which would serve to compromise this principle...
...Paul MeNutt...
...aad the llaitad Mine Workers stall retain complete iadepeadoae* of action...
...it would take too long, and perhaps the IFTIr will be reorganized later on...
...Contrary to the popular misconception that "Negro workers were the last to be hired and consequently the first to be fired" in the majority of the in-duatries where the CIO holds contracts, they operate under a system of what is popularly known as departmental seniority instead of plantwide seniority...
...Only the Railroad Brotherhoods, the AFI...
...However, on the credit side, departmental seniority, during lay-offs, operates as a greater protection to Negroes remaining on the job than plant wide seniority...
...BoiLING it all down, here is what Horner had to aay: British economy ia in a state of collapse and ia menaced by postwar competition from the U.S.A...
...Red, Green, and Brown in New Orleans AFL Tackles Some Basic Postwar Problems By Morton Goodman Thimbu, te th* smart aaa riimaiija «C Labor emerged safely tnm a aatM waak •** apeeche...
...The answer is full employment...
...From time to time, the National CIO Committee to Abolish Racial Discrimination has received letters, petitions and reaolutiona to the effect that the traditional seniority principle* should be relaxed or compromised in order to prevent mass unemployment of Negroea in the postwar period...
...The British labor movement is motivated by the deaire for self-preservation and is identifying itself voluntarily with the Foreign Office...
Vol. 27 • December 1944 • No. 49
