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United Automobile Worker
-
1951-01-01
-
Vol. 15 No. 1
-
Vy
A
INTERNATIONAL
UNION,
UNITED
ig
AUTOMOBILE,
AND
AIRCRAFT
AGRICULTURAL
IMPLEMENT
WORKERS
OF AMERICA —U.A.W.-C.1.0.
GEIB a
REPORT TO THE MEMBERSHIP
! VOL.
15, NO.
JANUARY,
1
1951
By Walter P. Reuther
International President, VAW-CIO
iS eacsb-
i
Coat Uchi
-= Of the more than a million men and women
who make up the great family of the UAW-CIO
To the Membership
of the UAW-CIO:
During the period since the last Convention of the UAW-CLIO, our Union has
made the greatest and most significant gains in its history.
We have pioneered in the field of social security and old age pensions, and we
have established fundamental wage policies that point the way toward the achievement of a fuller measure of economie security and a greater sense of human dignity
for all the American people.
These great achievements were made possible by the loyalty and devotion of the
men and women in the UAW-CLO who, strengthened in the solidarity of human
brotherhood, worked and fought together to win for themselves and their families
the security, the happiness and the human dignity to whieh they are rightfully en-
titled.
I sincerely urge you to read this report, for it is a report on the contribution you
and
your
and human
fellow
workers
progress.
have
made
to the
never-ending
Sincerely
and
struggle
for
fraternally,
President.
human
rights
Page
x
UNITED
2
AUTOMOBILE
WORKER
January,
1951
REPORT TO THE MEMBERSHIP
By Walter P. Reuther
International President, UAW-CIO
I address this report to the membership of the UAW-CIO
at a time when
tear and uncertainty fill the hearts of people everywhere.
Men of good will in every nation hope and pray for peace
forces of Communist aggression drive us toward war.
The UAW-CIO
while the
takes its place with the people of America and the free
people of the world in their determination
to defend
our freedom
and our
democratic way of life against the forces of Communist tyranny.
America must build adequate military strength to meet the threat of
Soviet aggression while at the same time we must give leadership in mobilizing the spiritual forces of the free people of the world to work and fight for
demonstrating
that the people of America
want
propaganda
peace—that
ee
ee
We must expose the hypocrisy of Communist
‘s
peace.
While mobilizing our economic resources and military strength, we must
effectively counteract Communist propaganda by givin g positive leadership
in the fight against poverty, hunger and injustice in the world, which are the
sources of Communist power.
by clearly
they want
to
work with people everywhere in building a world of justice and freedom in
which all people may enjoy a fuller measure of human security, human hap-
piness and human dignity and the blessing of human brotherhood.
The UAW-CIO has dedicated itself to the task of mobilizing the material
as well as the spiritual resources of America to assure that we have the strength
to meet both the threat of Communist a ggression on the battlefront and also
to meet the challenge of poverty, hunger, and human insecurit y on the eco-
nomic and social fronts.
A Reeord
of
Uyyfunive Seamuvorle Mila Eteugylen -Chyeut lichiootmests.
.
In This Report:
[Introduction
e
®
Page
Organizational Growth _______
a
3
13
Propress; since). 1936 —2 2s ss
Regulations W and X _______-_
Sea
3
Layoffs, Material Shortages ---_
13
Basie Wrase Policy
3,
Added
ri
Weieiape eet
i
AED
Unemployment
During Shift to Defense
6
Against
8
Working Conditions ________ 14
Given Miia Meri scare Unity eet's
.
d
9
UAW’s
_____
9
Political
Sait Ba ome
___
17
Contracts
9
Faith in Education ____________
18
feet EL
Life Insurance ________
en
Emergency
Strike Assessment --_
Guaranteed Annual Wage
’
Fight
to Protect Wage
Mobilization, National EmerRTs
Maximum
= ie te Ne ae
Strength Through a
12
Program of Equity, Justice _-__ 13
Speedup,
Cost
for
of Living
Action,
Bee
we pioneered
re
Legislation
on Ste eras
ede Neon
Biphtfor-Vesces ok 22
3 see
5
on more basic collective bargaining principles.
families have won greater security and a richer, fuller life.
16
Children -----_-_-_-_____-_- os
Tea porinntbyes
Frealth Tasks
every reason to be proud of the record of achievement of their Union. Never
in any comparable period has such great progress been made—never have
Better
Problem
have
gaining, and together, hundreds of thousands of workers and their
Rubio.
Production ~-~----------__-
who are the UAW-CIO,
Together we have worked hard in the vineyard of collective bar-
5
Scant; oe
The more than a million men and women
Compen-
Weration Pay soe
:
+Health,
z
Page
While
our
gains
and
achievements
have
outstanding,
we
must
realize that collective bargaining is a never-ending struggle to make human
progress.
aan victory, each gain, must be used to further strengthen and
build our Union—to educate our membership to an understanding of their
rights, their Opportunities
and
their responsibilities and to prepare ourselves
to move forward to further achievements.
There are still many problems unsolved and still many battles to be won
before workers
receive their full share of the fruits of American
industry.
THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE UAW-CIO CAN FACE THE FU-
19
é‘
TURE WITH CONFIDENCE IN THE
THEIR UNION IS STRONGER, MORE
19
THAN
2
been
DEDICATED
;
EVER
TO
THE
BEFORE.
UNFINISHED
KNOWLEDGE
UNITED AND
WORK
THAT
MORE
BEFORE
US
:-
UNITED
Page 4
COST-OF-LIVING
ESCALATOR
AUTOMOBILE
WORKER
January,
1951
He’s What the Union Is All About...
CLAUSE
The establishment of the cost-of-living escalator clause and the automatic annual wage improvement factor, first won at General Motors (see
headline) in our collective bargaining agreements, marks a major step forward in the achievement of greater security and dignity for the workers in
our industry. It offers us further opportunity to build our Union more
strongly and prepare us for still greater victories and further progress in the
years ahead.
Headline from the Detroit News, May
Detroit
The
‘
23, 1950:
News
~ Thousands Share Gains
BILLION WON IN GM PACT
=
Economically, the cost-of-living and annual wage improvement clause
in our contracts opens up revolutionary new -prospects for collective bargaining. The basic principles involved represent major progress. toward
the objectives which the UAW-CIO set for itself in 1945-46. The seeds
lanted then and the hard work by your Union in the vineyards of collective
fesing have begun to bear fruit.
The UAW-CIO has contended that economic stability must be based on
Increases in real wages—in buying power—and not on the wage increases
that are cancelled out by higher prices.
The UAW-CIO has insisted that economic stability and progress
require constantly rising living standards that keep pace with the increasing productivity of our factories, farms, and mines.
Lastly, your Union has contended that the wage-price-profit relationship
Is out of balance and must be corrected by increasing real wages and the
workers’ share of the total wealth created by our economy.
Cost-of-living escalator clauses guarantee that economic gains won
by our members will be worth their full face value at the grocery
store. Inflation cannot rob you and your family of these gains.
We have not forgotten that American wage earners during the period
of 1940 through 1950 won substantial money wage increases but little increase in purchasing power. Workers won in that period more than 50
cents per hour in their pay envelopes, but only six cents per hour increase
in purchasing power at the grocery store.
COST OF LIVING SKYROCKETS SINCE KOREA AGGRESSION
In view of the grave problems resulting from Communist aggression
In Korea, we cannot be certain what the future holds.
weliving.
We do know that to
Since the Korean aggression, the Bureau of Labor Statistics cost-of-
The growth, health and future security of our children is really what the
Union is all about. The little lad taking a solid swat at a tennis ball above
will be a worker one day before long. And, all too soon, he will be full of
years. When that time comes, he should be as happy, healthy and secure as
he is today on that playing field,
living index has risen more than three per cent, and there is every indication
that the cost of living will continue to skyrocket.
Our cost-of-living escalator clause gave the workers covered a five-cent
cost-of-living
December.
wage
increase
in September
On the basis of information
and
a three
cents
increase
in
available, the BLS cost-of-living
index will provide for an additional wage increase in March.
In the face of rising prices, which every housewife faces each day when
she does the family shopping, it is obvious that the question of a cost-of-
living escalator clause in our agreements at this time makes good sense and
is our only real protection against speculation, profiteering and inflation.
ANNUAL
Sort
WAGE
IMPROVEMENT
FACTOR
eS
ayte
The
Annual
the workers
progtess.
Wage
Improvement
factor
in our
agreements
guarantees
a larger share in the benefits of the nation’s technological
With respect to the Annual Wage Improvement factor, our basic contracts state:
“The annual improvement factor provided for in this subsection
recognizes that a continuing improvement in the standard of living
of employees depends upon technological progress, better tools,
methods, processes and equipment, and a cooperative attitude on the
part of all parties in such progress. It further recognizes the principle
that to produce more with the same amount of human effort is a
sound economic and social objective.”
The recognition that technological progress rather than greater human
effort through speed-up is the road toward higher living standards, arid that
wages can be increased without increasing prices, is of particular significance
in the auto industry and of historic importance in American industry generally.
The UAW-CIO contracts, while providing our membership with an increasing share of the nation’s output, our workers still do not receive their
full equity in our national economy.
Taken
together,
the cost-of-living
allowance
and
the annual
wage
im-
provement factor point the way toward creation of purchasing power for
prosperity and full employment in the years ahead and bring nearer to balance the distorted wage-price-profit relationship that makes for economic
instability and human insecurity.
Ben Martin, old-time member of the GM Ternstedt Unit of Local 174 in
Detroit, sat down on the curb at the change of shifts to read about the new
contract which won him a wage increase, an escalator clause and a pension.
As I stated earlier, no collective bargaining contract is the end of
the road—it is just a further step down the never-ending road which
(See next page)
UNITED
Page
WORKER
AUTOMOBILE
Press and radio representatives sent news of the signing of the 1950 GM
contract to all corners of the earth. Above, standing and reading the good
news to the press and over the radio, is Harry Anderson, General Motors
Vice-President in charge of industrial relations.
Seated, are: Pat Patterson,
workers must travel in the march forward to a happier, more secure
life for themselves and their families.
The agreements which we won,
covering more than a million workers, during the past 12 months,
represent a tremendous step forward in the winning of that better
and more secure tomorrow.
HISTORIC
SIGNIFICANCE
We sincerely believe
lished in our agreements
The development of
portant beginning, and
OF UAW-CIO
CIO
that the basic principles which we have estabare the key to the future of collective bargaining.
our wage policy, on which we have made an imthe extension of our fundamental philosophy of
progress with the community will be even more important in the future,
because the impact of technological progress on production will be much
greater in the future than in the past. The development of the science of
electronics, the ultimate application of atomic power for peaceful purposes,
and the development of other means of having machines do the work of
men are opening whole new vistas of the possibility of greater human
progress, provided we gear technical progress to the needs of all the people,
UAW-CIO
P. Reuther.
happiness and human
would
economic gain per worker.
50-week
to an average of $700
year, this amounts
if over 60 million gainfully employed
protected against the rise in the cost of living by the escalator clause, will
have during the five years a real economic gain of $2,700,000,000,
®
If all of the 60 million gainfully employed
they
would
have
gained
people
$162
in America
billion
for
and
President
Walter
UAW-CIO
policy means
wage
of the
Director
Johnstone,
to the more
1A T
pee
1942
ee
100
1945
by
- 102.9
NOAA
ORIG
AAS
Si
ea
had made
the five-year
The UAW-CIO basic wage policy and our philosophy of making
progress with the entire community, are important tools and potent
weapons in the job of translating technical progress into human
progress.
Per Cent
Year
ek
ee
in terms of what they
to your wages
_ 95.9
Blapios fixesae
a itis ty RS
ae
Mea
97.2
ee
en
OG 7,
This next table, taking 1950 as 100 per cent, shows what will happen to
the buying power of wages in the next five years under the terms of our
cost-of-living escalator clauses and annual wage improvement factors:
Year
Per Cent
LO SO yeahh ere et ie
LO Sib a t
scene
RESO eae teees unk
en
coger
Year
LOO
Per Cent
L545
SUPE
TOS
See agi al
Aiea
_
Clie
107.5
LO
If we can avert total war and America can get back to the task of
building for peace, our wage policy, if universally applied throughout
the American economy, offers unlimited possibilities for progress and
will establish the basis for greater stability and equity in collective
bargaining.
Vacation Pay
Since the last convention, substantial
increased vacation pay for our members.
progress
has
been
made
in winning
During the past year, we have won contract provisions that give
a large portion of our membership 120 hours of vacation pay. Based
on the average wage in our industry, this equals approximately $220
people all received a $700 eco-
Under our five-year contracts, the million workers covered, since they are
happened
Per Cent
1940 vse
nomic gain, this would amount to $42 billion economic gain for one year;
$42 billion is equal to the total national income in 1932 and if adjusted for
change in prices, it still is 56 per cent of the total 1932 income of all the
American people.
gains,
buy:
Year
dignity.
Workers covered by our basic wage contracts will receive economic gains
equivalent to 35 cents per hour during the period of the contracts. This
means that in the last year of the five-year agreements, workers on the overall will be receiving an average of 35 cents per hour increase in economic
benefits over what they had before these contracts were signed. On the
comparable
period.
just what
per cent, shows
people.
basis of a 40-hour week,
Department,
Motors
Art
UAW/-
The following table, taking 1940 purchasing power as 100
wages went.up.
To appreciate the over-all significance of the UAW-CIO wage policy,
we must translate our wage policy into our entire economy and measure its
impact in terms of not a million UAW members but more than 60 million
gainfully employed
Livingston;
Department;
than 1,000,000 members covered by such clauses, let us compare the World
War II period of 1940-45, when wages were governed by the War Labor
Board’s “Little Steel Formula,” with what our present contracts provide for
during the period of 1950-1955.
America, of all the nations in the world, has achieved the highest
development of its economic resources and technical know-how. The
world, however, will judge us, and we must judge ourselves, not by
our technical progress but by our ability to translate technical progprogress, human
General
W.
John
To illustrate just what the UAW-CIO
rather than as a means of the wealthy few reaping all the advantages and
dictating the destinies and welfare of the many.
ress into human
Vice-President
Motors
General
UAW-CIO
of the
Under the vicious Little Steel Formula, the purchasing power of UAWCIO members declined over the five-year period, 1940-45, even though their
POLICY
WAGE
Director
Assistant
A
a
Citiddad
Mle
tides
te inn llael
ak
iis
5
vacation
pay, with workers
in higher-paid
ately more.
This
is a long
way
from
out
early contracts
jobs getting proportion-
where
we
paid vacations.
In our first negotiations, management
for paid vacations as fantastic and unreasonable,
When
on
this
front,
our
early
contracts
provided
were increased to 20 hours, then to
In the future, we shall press
requirements,
The
real value of
for
10
hours’
40 and 80 hours,
160 hours’
had
no provisions
rejected our demands
we
first broke through
vacation
and now
vacation
for
pay,
then
they
120 hours
pay with
lower
paid vacations can not be measured
seniority
in dollars
and cents, for it is impossible to estimate the improved health vacations have
given workers, and the fun and enjoyment they have made possible for workers
and their families,
(Turn the page)
UNITED
AUTOMOBILE
Our 1949 economic goals were sharply outlined in the pictorial platform
«backdrop at the last UAW-CIO Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at
WORKER
intelligent
your
in the last years of their lives. Millions of old people who had worked hard
all their lives, lived in constant fear of want and insecurity.
.
s
;
4
Before the Union won the job security of seniority protection, old workers were thrown upon the industrial scrap heap after industry had robbed
them of their youth and they could no longer keep up with the speed of
the lines. Seniority protection stopped this inhuman practice, and older
workers continued to work, but they also continued to grow old, and we
had to meet the problem of giving workers security when they reached the
“age when they rightfully should be able to “retire.
The answer to this problem had to be met by having the corporation provide an adequate old age pension to supplement the inadequate Federal Social Security payments.
We first raised the demands for old age pensions during the last war,
but without success. It was again raised in 1946, but the scuttling of OPA
and the resulting tidal wave of ptice increases and profiteering that followed
compelled the Union to concentrate its collective bargaining efforts on the
wage front.
By the end of 1948, there was a leveling-off in the skyrocketing of living
costs and the Executive Board took advantage of this development to again
faise the question of old age pensions.
The Executive Board decided by
unanimous action to recommend to the membership that our social security
demands be
letter to all
™ formulated
two fronts.
given
local
by the
While
top priority in 1949. Following this decision,
unions, in which I said, “The social security
International Executive Board are a part of a
we move toward pensions and social security
collective bargaining,
we shall, at the same time, be working
I told
the conference,
“but
if management
con-
is prepared
to
I sent a
demands
fight on
through
for national
legislation covering retirement and health and medical care. On the legislative front, we can expect to win only basic national minimums for all our
citizens. These minimums, however, will not be high enough to meet the
needs of our members. They will require supplementation through collective bargaining.”
TEST
use
every
weapon
possessed
by
free
labor
to
Conference
in
CASE
Following
approval
of the demands
by a National
Ford
Aptil, since the Ford contract was the first major contract to open for negotiations, we asked the Ford Motor Company
to begin bargaining on May
16.
Before talks could begin, however, Ford workers were compelled to
strike in order to halt a speedup in the Rouge B Building and the Lincoln
plant. That strike was successfully settled on May 29, and negotiations for
a new contract including old age pensions began on June 2.
Spokesmen for the Ford Motor Company completely rejected the Union's
demands for pensions, hospitalization and medical programs, wage increases
and contract improvements. Instead, the Company proposed a freeze on
wages and all economic issues for a period of 18 months.
This headline
shows
The
Ford’s
answer:
Detroit
News
THE HOME NEWSPAPER FOR MORE THAN 79 YEARS
Priically Independent Publication Not AMlnated With Aty Growp of Newspapers
FORD AGAIN REJECTS
UAW PENSION DEMAND
———__—_—‘
It was obvious that the men in management,
aries
and
who
paid
themselves
fat
bonus
and
who enjoyed fabulous sal-
generous
pension
benefits,
were going to fight to the last ditch before they agreed to pay pensions to
the workers.
In behalf of the Union, I advised the Ford Motor Company
the workers’ demands
could not be put in a deep
“that
freeze for 18
months, that the needs of Ford workers and their families were real
and compelling, and that they could not be ignored or postponed.”
The Union
made
it clear that 1949 was
the year that we intended to
begin to break down the double economic and moral standards in our industries. We stated that if industry could afford to pay handsome pension
The letter further stated:
benefits to corporation executives who didn’t need them, it was also going
“We in the UAW-CIO are no longer willing to tolerate a continuation of double standards in our industry. Under these double
standards, top corporate executives provide generous pension plans
for themselves while denying them to the workers, who cannot possibly save for their old age out of current earnings.
to roll up huge votes favoring strike action, and Chrysler negotiations began.
“These economic double standards are economically stupid and
morally indefensible.”
Later in the same month, before 2,500 delegates to the National Education Conference in Milwaukee, I developed in detail what we were recommending as demands for pensions and hospital-medical care and our program of action to win them.
In February,
1949, the Union
called
an
International
Economic
Confer-
ence, at which time more than 250 delegates voted unanimous approval of
the 1949 economic objectives—headed by the pension demand.
“We are prepared to make every effort to find a satisfactory, constructive
to pay pensions to workers who did need them.
“To meet the solid wall of Company resistance, the Ford workers began
The situation remained tense and undecided as the International Convention met in Milwaukee, July 10-16. The delegates, by nearly unanimous
action, approved the bargaining demands and program, and backed up their
action by voting approval of a plan for emergency strike assessments to
provide financial support to workers and their families if management continued their unwillingness to meet the workers’ just demands and strike
action became necessary.
Health—Opportunity—and
was our slogan as we prepared
Security—For these
to move forward—
we
to remove the economic barriers to good health;
to provide new opportunities for our children;
to win security for older workers,
(See next page)
fight.
This
etme
The development of our complex industrial society has created many
serious and challenging problems. One of the more serious and tragic problems resulted from the growing inability of millions of old workers and
theit wives to meet the cost of sustaining themselves in dignity and decency
.
Union
achieve these objectives.”
FORD
-
solution,”
tinues in its refusal to meet their social obligations to their workers, then
The Fight for Security
.
1951
which the delegates voted overwhelming support of the successful struggle
we went on to wage for health, opportunity and security,
and
.
January,
~
Page 6
annary,
i
UNITED
1951
Page 9
WORKER
AUTOMOBILE
ve
ucti
prod
our
nce
bala
to
er
pow
ng
hasi
purc
the
ed
lack
have
le
peop
the
but
power.
The great depression following the crash of 1929 saw poverty and
hunger in the midst of plenty.
America knows how to split the atom. It must learn how to feed
people when there is enough to eat. We must learn how to provide
a job for every adult able and willing to work at wages geared to the
wealth our economy creates. To find tools to do this job is part of
the job of our Union. It is a challenge to the vision and imagination
of free men in every phase of our economic life.
In the past
15 years, your
Union
fought hard
and
has worked
to create
the tools with which democracy must do its job. Seniority protection, wage
increases, overtime and vacation pay, night-shift premiums, call-in and holtcare, cost-of-living and annual wage
and hospital-medical
day pay, pension
improvement, are all important tools. The guaranteed annual wage is next
on our schedule and certainly it constitutes one of the most important tools
in finding the answer to full and continuous employment in a free society.
During the period of our long-range agreements, we must apply ourselves to the challenging task of gathering the basic economic data and preparing our position to support our demand for a guaranteed annual wage.
We shall not win this by wishful thinking. This is a fundamental demand that gets to the root of our basic economic problem and, like other
will arouse resistance from
of our basic economic demands,
forces in indus-
try who are unable to understand and unwilling to accept their responsibilities in a free economy.
Elated at the end of the Chrysler strike which won him health and old
age security, the Chrysler worker above knows that the Emergency Strike
Assessment paid by his fellow workers provided the necessary hard cash to
win the bitter struggle.
The guaranteed annual wage is more than a matter of economic
justice to the wage earner; it is a matter of economic necessity to our
nation,
for
freedom
Democracy’s house.
and
live
cannot
unemployment
in
together
From here on out, we are going to start building our forces and mobiliz-
ing our arguments for the winning of a guaranteed annual wage. Since a
worker and his-family must eat, be housed and clothed throughout 12
The emergency strike assessment, voted for by better than 95 per cent of
the delegates at the last convention, made possible the victories we won in
the past 18 months.
The dollars collected from our membership fed workers and their
families during the hard weeks and months when the men on strike
were carrying the ball for everyone.
The emergency strike assessment was a practical demonstration of solidarity—it gave substance to our philosophy of all for one—and one for all.
The few dollars invested in the emergency strike assessment will bring all the
workers the highest dividends they have ever received on any comparable investment. Workers will collect the dividends of higher wages, guaranteed pension benefits, hospital and medical care, increased vacation pay and many other
benefits in the continuing years ahead.
In all, the International Union collected $8,910,060.60 in the Emergency
Strike Fund.
In accordance with the provision of our Constitution, the Emergency Strike
Fund may be spent only for aiding workers and their families and other related
strike purposes.
The following disbursements were made out of the Emergency Strike Fund:
Chrysler
Strike
~__-~--------$3,872,235.11
John Deere Strike
-----.----
Other
1,149,677.71
123,516.29
Bell Strike
82,870.55
Strikes
Total Spent —_--—- spo
Balance in Fund
why not a worker?
It will take more than sound reasoning and proven need, however, to
win this demand. There are technological problems involved in the smooth-
ing-out of traditional peaks and valleys caused by seasonal production. Cooperation of management: will be required to facilitate the necessary research, ground-work and preparation for launching a wage-payment system
that will give the worker a guaranteed annual income. We should, there-
fore, call upon
establishment
the
to join with our Union
representatives of management
industry t@ study
of
a
Labor-Industry
all possible
annual wage that reflects equity
tract standards.
ways
and
Wage
Annual
in
in our
Commission
of achieving a guaranteed
means
for all workers and protects our basic con-
Industry must also come to recognize that a guaranteed annual wage
would be an important step forward in giving security to millions of American workers and toward remoying the threat of unemployment and getting
the needed
balance between
productive
power
and
purchasing
power.
The guaranteed annual wage will be a practical stimulant for better
planning of production schedules, since, if management will have to pay a
worker a yearly wage, there will be a very real incentive to provide yearly
employment.
This will challenge the ingenuity
agement potential concerning which
gaining sessions with management.
we
and develop
hear so much
the vast man-
in our collective bar-
This is a fundamental issue. The stakes are high, the obstacles
great, and the fight will be hard, but I am confident we have the will,
the strength and the courage and basic understanding of the problem
to win this further milestone in our forward march to a happier, more
secure tomorrow.
833,638.62
Harvester Strike
months of the year, both logic and economic necessity demand that he
should receive an annual wage. Corporation executives get paid by the year;
$6,061,938.28
ans
Fight to Protect Wage
$2,848,122.32
__-
Contracts
It has been tfuthfully said that eternal vigilance is the price of freedom, It
can be said with equal validity that eternal vigilance is also the price of protecting the hard-won gains of workers,
Aside from dealing with the special problems that confront us during
the period of the present emergency, we must look ahead to our long-range
»?
the leadership
22,
ber
Decem
h
throug
12
ber
Decem
of
period
the
During.
of your Union worked day and night with key government offigials in Wash-
The most fundamental long-range economic problem faced by people
in a free society is to find a way to maintain full employment and full production, balanced by full and equitable distribution of the wealth created,
nual
problems.
in
It is tragic that we have learned to solve the problem of unemployment
war, forging the weapons of destruction, but as yet we have not been
able to provide
jobs for everyone
producing
the things
for a good
In 1939, we had approximately 9,000,000 unemployed,
peace.
early part of 1950 we had approximately 4,000,000 jobless, War
ration for war solved the problem,
Our basic problem
and
and
flows from
life in
in the
prepa-
the fact
that the tools of modern technology make it possible to create abundance,
ington in an effort to block a wage freeze and to avoid any other government
action which would set aside our cost-of-living escalator clauses and our anwape
IMproy
ement
provisions
A government order for a wage freeze in the auto indusery had
actually been drafted and was to have been issued simultaneously
with the government action of rolling back automobile prices.
Fully realizing that the fight to maintain
for cosc-of-living adjustments and annual
the UAW
wage
-( 1O contract
improvements
(Report continued on page 12)
provisions
was the key to
Page 10
UNITED AUTOMOBILE WORKER
January, 1951
SECURITY
-
Pictured on these pages is a representative group of retired UAWCIO members. They are a part of some 5,000 already retired. More
than 75,000 more will be eligible to retire during the next five years.
x*
*®
*
Edith
Lunt,
75,
of
Flint,
is
the first woman at the Chevrolet plant to retire under GM
pension plan.
BON VOYA
W— Mr. : and Mrs, Andrew H. Mungall f are
: GE
packing for a trip to native Scotland. Brother Mungall retired
at 65 after 35 years at the Buick plant. Upon returning from
Scotland, the Mungalls plan to buy a home.
f=
Harry
:
organize
B.
Airlie,
Ford’s,,
70,
helped
i
‘
fa
Crip
tt pled 36with arthrt itis
Ford’after
“a4
bef
Pe
aa PP he pe
gd tee the
lh
|” ¥~ Y°@TS Detore reulring.
He Detroit, Albert E. Bennett, TM,
has eight grandchildren, includ- is going to spend a lot of time
where
he put
ing Billie Airlie, above.
reading his Bible.
v
(Brother F
following imn
ag-eement. Hiv
upward now, i
Today I pie
I am‘
Plant.
which I was a k
I was hired}
There was no f
the rate was ¢
60c. In 15 yeali
THEN CAj}
60c to 72c; in§
the end of waib
the
Add
vap
payments by Company for unemplo}
recent pensions and insurance, and j
Averaging the increase
2,000, equaling just about
not
have.
fallen
any
more,
of $1.40
{i
$24,000, ;
after
14
At the end of my service, the 1
month.
My Prudential agent tells 7
month—for $15,300 cash! And a paid
items, we have a total of $39,950.
I have paid, in dues and assessm#i
time on picket lines. A total investrii
time invested, I have received $28 bat
This
William Butler, age 88, was a union molder in England—
came to America at the age of 61 and hired in at Hudson’s as
a sweeper, where he worked until retired on a union pension
in 1950
Eas
|
Secure
rs
a
in his four-room
““We worked like slaves till the Union came in,’’ said Garaped Hovsepian, who retired at 68 after 32 years at Ford’s
Rouge plant.
much
is simple
arithmetic.
|}
fulness to thousandsof
’ us, because |
get rid of “dead wood,” to bring in '!
tions that made it possible for us to}
Who can appraise the value of
}i
would be called back in our turn? YW
ment from supervision under the wi
Above all, what allowance for th\i
a better world to work in, that we }:
grandchildren?
SET
cottage—with
no
fears
of
the
won him a guaranteed pension—Walter Shaw holds a skein
while his wife Sarah winds it into a ball for her knitting.
future,
because
of yarn
his
Union
has
before the fireplace
in August of 1949 are these Ford workers—all of whom had n
than 35 years’ seniority with Ford’s at the time. The men set
,
\
\
ph
January, 1951
\@
AUTOMOBILE
UNITED
Page 11
WORKER
- DIGNITY
=
WNESS
Pensions were won in numerous small shops as well as in the big
corporations. In a number of instances, area pension plans were developed where a worker could carry his pension credits with him.
Lunch box in hand, Walter
Shaw, 73 years old, with 31
years of service at Ford’s
Rouge plant, heads for home
and a pension guaranteed by
the Union that he struggled for
years to build.
OR
KL
With 30 years at Nash-Kelvinator in Grand Rapids behind
him—Louis Lyon, 71, is going
to garden and read.
as a
Debs
Tom Wilson, 68—who
boy of 11 heard Gene
Ben Martin, of Detroit, who
spent the last 27 of his 70 years
speak to Pullman strikers—is working in, the GM Ternstedt
going to do a lot of fishing after Division, welcomed the pension
reward for his lo
just
icago.
i
i
"8
in Chicago ittear groadenee Arie
26 Pats with oe
Pensions come in small shops, too—and
Brozman
goes home
‘‘Grandma’’
;
Julia
at 78, her arms full of gifts from her fel-
low workers, after 28 years with O & S Bearing in Detroit.
\ ALEDICTION
tle, UAW-CIO Local 140, wrote the
ir the signing of the first Chrysler
Wirate then, would have to be revised
i2 new gains made at Chrysler.)
Hist clock card out of Dodge Forge
of
fy account with the UAW-CIO,
goer.
ght at Dodge in 1919 at 85c an hour.
ior
for
15 years
after
that.
In
1921,
jn 1933, after a series of cuts, it was
q@of 25c an hour.
HION. By 1936, the rate rose from
#39, $1.05; 1941, $1.20. From 1942 to
#e then, to the present rate of $1.83.
iiid holidays, vacation pay, increased
#locial Security, and the value of the
fm even $2.00.an hour.
eyear period, you have 17 X 70c X
at, without the Union wages would
stant reduction.
life annuity of $100 a
on for me a
tan sell me a life annuity of $100 a
iy of $1,000 for $650. Adding up those
have spent $1,200 worth of working
25. For every dollar of dues and lost
in calculate the added years of uselocked the plans of the Company to
—and held down the speed of operajitil we reached our pensions?
ige that when we were laid off we
ie grudgingly conceded decent treat# of Stewards and Committeemen?
inviction that we have been building
(jt an inheritance to our children and
Richard
Katie, 74.
T. Roberts,
78, gets a cup of coffee from his wife
Brother Roberts retired from Ford’s Rouge plant
after 33 years—and
now
is going to travel and visit.
BOSSES
te
VANE
'
om
MeAvOR
son
dhe front row all had more than 40 years’ service.
Pictured with
are UAW-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Emil Mazey,
\ ‘old timers’
ssident Walter P. Reuther, and Ford Director Ken Bannon,
een Oe a ee
73 years old, rests on the porch
of his home
with two granddaughters—after retiring with 34 years of service in the paint shop of Nash Motors in Kenosha, Wis.
4.000
wRTKE =
15
Ted Werve,
PLNSIONS
wisow
waADity
.
Fe se
ie
15,000
18.000
117,600
15000
49000
When
|
|
E, K, Daniel—better
known as ‘'KY,"’ short for ‘‘Kaintucky’’—gets lonely after
retiring at the.age of 69 with 25 years of service at Ford’s Chicago plant, he comes back to
the Local 551 hall to read and talk with his former fellow workers,
UNITED
AUTOMOBILE
Throughout the 104 days of the 1950 Chrysler strike for security and
sound pensions, mass rallies of the membership were conducted by local
the future economic position of all American
emergency,
your Union
labor in the period of national
left no stone unturned to win this fight and protect
our basic wage contract provisions.
Numerous
conferences were held with key government officials, including
President Truman, newly-appointed Director of Defense Mobilization Charles
E. Wilson, Chairman of the National Security Resources Board Stuart Syming-
ton, Secretary of Labor Maurice Tobin, Economic Stabilizer Alan J. Valentine,
Chairman of the Wage Stabilization Board Cyrus Ching, Director of Price Sta-
bilization Michael Disalle, and other officials in addition to three conferences
before the full Wage Stabilization Board.
I am happy to report that our aggressive intervention and hard
work was crowned with success. The order of the Wage Stabilization
Board and the Office of Economic Stabilization, issued December 22,
1950, does not in any way jeopardize or set aside our cost-of-living
escalator clauses or the provisions for annual wage improvements.
SOUND
AND
CORRECT
POSITION
While the order of the Wage Stabilization Board and the Office of Economic
Stabilization covers only the interim period between now and March 1, 1951,
we are confident that our position and the provisions of our contracts are so
sound and basically correct that, when the long-range decision is made, our
WORKER
January,
1951 |
unions to keep the workers informed on the issues of the struggle. Above
is a portion of the crowd that came out for the rally of Local 7 in Detroit.
program that the government does not intend to stabilize the cost of
living, but, on the contrary, proposes to inflict upon them the penalty
for its own failure to take effective action to hold prices down.
“Cost-of-living adjustments which auto workers and other workers have
written into agreements with employers provide a wage parity for workers
parallel with the price parity which the government guarantees to farmers. The
farmer gets parity for the things he produces, based on the price of the things
he buys. That is his cost-of-living clause. Certainly there is no justification for
denying workers parity in terms of their wages based on the cost of the things
they buy.
-
“The improvement factor in our contract is based upon recognition by
management of the right of workers to share in the proceeds of improved
technology and increased output per man-hour. It is not more for the same. It
is more for more. It does not raise costs. It represents the workers’ equity
in the expanding productivity of American industry. To cancel this provi-
sion of the five-year contract would amount to a decision by the Economic
Stabilization Agency that, throughout the years of national mobilization,
workers are to be compelled to turn over to employers their hard-won right
to share in the proceeds of increased productivity. There is no basis on
which a government agency can make this decision against the workers for
the benefit of their employers.”
contracts will remain intact and our members and their families will be assured
protection against increases in the cost of living and will receive their equity
through the application of the annual wage improvement provisions.
Success in our fight to keep our basic UAW-CIO contracts intact is not only
an important victory for the membership of our Union, but it will also assure
that American workers generally will be able to have their cost-of-living position protected and will be able to win a share of the benefits made possible
through technological progress.
Because
of the over-all
importance
of our fight to the entire labor move-
ment, we were successful not only in receiving the support of the national CIO,
but also that of the American Federation of Labor, the Railroad Brotherhoods,
and the International Association of Machinists, who all agreed to a joint policy
statement supporting the UAW-CIO in its fight to protect its cost-of-living and
annual wage improvement contract provisions.
The real significance and importance of keeping our basic contract
~ provisions can be fully understood and appreciated when we review
what happened during the last war when workers had their wages
frozen under the Little Steel Formula. Every worker remembers how
the War Labor Board froze wages and did not permit wages to keep
up with the rise in the cost of living.
Our task is not completed, but we can advise you that we shall continue to
follow through, confident that we shall win the long-range fight to protect our
basic contract provisions just as we have won the first round.
BASIC
ARGUMENTS
DEVELOPED
In defending our contracts with the numefous government officials with
whom I spoke, and also in my testimony before the Wage Stabilization Board,
I developed the following basic arguments. I said in part:
“Tt is obvious that the cost-of-living adjustments provided in our contracts
are not inflationary, since they follow the movement in the price index by 90
days. They do not determine the index. They do not cause prices to rise. They
reflect the increase in prices 90 days after such increases take place. The purpose of such cost-of-living clauses is to protect workers after such price increases
have already taken place.
“The only effective answer to the inflation problem is for the government
to talee prompt and effective steps to control the cost of living on an over-all
basis. If the government carries out its responsibility and stabilizes the cost of
living,
the ‘cost-of-living
clauses
in our contracts
will
be non-operative,
they only provide for increases if the cost of living goes up.
“Cancellation
of the cost-of-living
adjustment
would,
since
in effect,
serve notice upon workers at the very beginning of the mobilization
Mobilization and Nat'l Emergency
Following
the
outbreak
of
Communist
aggression
in Korea,
I wired
President Truman and advised him that we in the UAW-CIO were prepared
to cooperate in the fullest in mobilizing the strength of America in order to
defend our freedom against the forces of Communist tyranny.
Numerous conferences have been held with the heads of all the major
mobilization agencies, including Mr. Charles E. Wilson, Director of War
Mobilization; Stuart Symington, Chairman of the National Security Resources
Board;
William
H. Harrison,
Director of the National
Authority; with Cabinet members and with President Truman.
At these conferences, as the President of the UAW-CIO,
following basic position:
Production
I developed the
1. American labor, while pledging its fullest cooperation and support
in the job of mobilizing maximum productive power and military
strength to meet the threat of Communist
labor
be given
effective
representation
aggression, insists that
in the agencies
charged
with mobilization. Only such representation would afford labor
the opportunity to participate fully in the policy-forming and administrative functions of the mobilization operation. We pointed
out that such labor participation on an equal basis with industry
is not a matter of jobs, but rather a matter of affording labor an
opportunity to make its full creative contribution in the mobilization effort.
7
~
2. We stated that the experience in the last war proved conclusively
that free labor could out-produce slave labor. Accordingly, we
insisted that free labor could be mobilized on a voluntary basis
more effectively than through a system of compulsory controls.
3. That, while labor was prepared and willing to make whatever sacrifices were necessary to meet our national, military and security
requirements, we would insist that labor’s basic rights and stand-
ards be protected, and if it became necessary for labor to make
sacrifices, that we would insist that industry make comparable
sacrifices. We insisted that free people cannot be fully mobilized
nor can we build and maintain high national morale if millions of
workers and little people are asked to tighten their economic belts
while big corporations continue to enjoy the luxury of business
and profits as usual.
(See next page)
WORKER
AUTOMOBILE
UNITED
1951
January,
Maximum Strength —
AND JUSTICE
OF EQUITY
A PROGRAM
THROUGH
During the last war, the slogan, “Victory Through Equality of Sacrifice,”
was raised, but remained only an empty slogan. A disproportionate share of
the burden of sacrifice was placed on the shoulders of the working people
‘of America, and people best able to carry a larger burden did not carry their
fair share.
The price of freedom has always been high. I am confident that the
members of our Union, and working people generally, are prepared to sac-
rifice and pay whatever the price may be to defend freedom and our democratic way of life.
do
We
be
must
freedom
of defending
the cost
that
however,
insist,
shared fairly and that the wealthy, who already have more than they need,
will dedicate itself unreservedly and make its maximum
contribution to the task of mobilizing the strength of America to meet the
aggression
threat of Communist
are going
equal
to fight with
At the same time, we
on the battlefronts.
determination
who
profiteers
the
against
threaten our security on the home front.
determinedly
the UAW-CIO
than
for anti-inflationary
we have opposed steps that did not get at the root causes of inflation and
We opposed
which were being offered as a substitute for real price control.
government,
Tracy,
of
AFL's
Regulations
W
and X
an attempt
they were
Corporations, even with the new so-called excess profits tax,
now than they did during the war despite their scandalous profits.
politicians
of the reactionary
shell game
It’s the old
pay far less
giving
tax
relief to the people who don’t need it, and making the little people
as stated in our protest to the
because,
low-income
by pricing
to stop inflation
that inflation could not be
I presented figures showing
that the upper one-tenth of American families spent as much as the bottom 50
per cent and that Regulations W and X controlled the bottom 50 per cent and
left the top 10 per cent uncontrolled.
While fighting for a realistic and effective anti-inflation program,
Credit Control
Dan
Clothing Workers CIO President Jacob Potofsky;
IBEW; and Jim Carey, CIO Secretary-Treasurer.
I advised the joint Congressional Committee
met by pricing the little fellow out of the market.
The fight to control inflation must be won if our mobilization program
is to succeed. No organization or group in America has fought more con-
measures.
Murray; AFL President Green; IAM PresHarrison, AFL RR Clerks; Amalgamated
pay more than their share.
Regulations W and X
sistently or more
President Reuther; CIO President
ident Hayes—(back row) George
to profiteer and capitalize on our national emergency.
must not be permitted
The UAW-CIO
The United Labor Policy Committee demanded cost-of-living control before
wage stabilization. Left*to right: G. E. Leighty, AFL RR Telegraphers;
families out of the market for needed consumer goods and housing.
The Union's protest to top government officials states in part:
1. Regulations W and X represent a meat-axe approach to the complex and delicate problem of balancing civilian and military production to get the maximum of both within the limits of our resources.
The recent roll-back of car prices is a further example of the unrealistic
approach to the problem of controlling inflation. Food represents 40 per cent
of the average family budget—yet under the present law, no effective control
of food prices is possible.
It is little comfort to the wife of a worker to know that the prices
of Cadillacs, which she is not going to buy, have been rolled back—
while the prices of food and clothing, which she must buy, continue
to skyrocket.
There is no substitute for realistic, over-all price control of the basic items
that make up cost of living. Your Union will continue to fight for effective
price control of the everyday necessities that make up the cost of living and
for an over-all mobilization program that places the burden of sacrifice on
all groups on the basis of their respective economic abilities.
2. The Federal Reserve Board, living in a world of banker mentality
and unaware of basic production problems, has, through Regula-
Layoffs and Material Shortages
tions W and X, made a stab in the dark, and the knife is in the
backs of America’s low-income families.
W
3. Regulations
in that they threaten the
and X are dangerous
needless slowing-down of economic activity and forcing the layoff
of workers long before defense production is ready to take up the
slack.
4, The
workers
and
low-income
consumers
will suffer the brunt of
the effort to perform a delicate economic operation with the blunt
instrument
of these
regulations.
The
same
workers
and
low-
income consumers have already been selected as the sacrificial vic- tims of most other defense preparation to date.
5. There is no justification for forcing the great body of American
consumers out of the market for cars, houses and household equipment when at the same time well-heeled consumers are left free to
buy all they want, and bank credit flows without restriction into
inflationary business purchases and hoarding of scarce material.
December
8, I testified before the joint Congressional
Committee, at which time I pointed our how Regulations
discriminatory against workers and low-income families.
I pointed out that a fellow buying a new
W
Cadillac had no problem
X, but
I defended
|
a man
who
wanted
to buy a small
home
was
wage
improvement and our overtime provisions before this Congressional
committee, I insisted that Congress had placed an increasing portion
of the tax burden on the people least able to pay, and had cut the
taxes of wealthy families best able to pay.
Vamilies
with
incomes
of $5,000
or less
pay
the
same
taxes
now
serious
shortages
in aluminum,
copper, steel and other essential materials will develop
The chickens of monopoly and scarcity are coming home to roost,
and the American people must now pay the price of the refusal of
Big Business to expand its productive capacity.
As
before
far back as
a committee
succeeded in initiating hearings
1946, the UAW-CIO
of the United States Senate to check into the problem
of steel shortages which
were then causing
in the auto and other industries.
reduced work weeks and layofts
under
in trouble,
our cost-of-living escalator clauses, our annual
production,
defense
Big Business won this fight—they blocked government action, labeling
it socialistic, and refused to expand. The chickens have now come home to
Regulation W, but a little fellow trying to buy a low-priced car did, The
same was true with housing—you could build a million-dollar penthouse under
Regulation
accelerate
X were
“Watchdog”
and
we
I testified before the Senate committee and stressed the need for an expansion of production capacity of steel and other materials in short supply.
I advised the Senate committee that America could nor continue to permit
the apostles of economic scarcity, of high profits and low volume, to jeopardize our national security and our future economic well-being, and that if
the monopoly groups responsible for these material shortages did not expand, then the government, as the agency of the people, would be compelled
to do so in order to protect the interest of our nation.
We called upon the government to convene a joint Labor-ManagementGovernment Conference to work out the over-all problem of credit controls,
material allocations and related problems on a realistic and equitable basis.
On
As
as they
paid during the last war, A wealthy family with an income of $500,000 per
year pays $40,000 less taxes now than they did during the last war,
roost.
At the end of October, we received reports that orders were to be issued
by the National Production Authority restricting the civilian use of copper,
aluminum and other essential metals,
Like Regulation W, these restrictions
were to be issued without any regard to the problem of gearing increased
production for defense closely into the reduction of civilian production,
They were “shorgun” orders, unrelated to any over-all plan of achieving
and maintaining maximum total utilization of the nation’s productive plant
and man power.
We
Sawyer
immediately
and
with
filed
William
protests
with
H, Harrison,
(Turn
Secretary
Administrator
the page)
of
Commerce
Charles
of the National
Pro-
Pahari
UNITED AUTOMOBILE WORKER
J anuary, 1951
Our Un
This is the architect’s drawing of the new home of our Union which is
being built at 8000 East Jefferson Avenue on property acquired by the Union
back. in 1943. The new Union headquarters will be completed and ready
for occupancy this spring. UAW departments and offices, many of them
now scattered throughout Detroit in rented space, will be brought together
under one roof, thus saving expensive rentals and adding to the adminis-
duction Administration, and on November 10 conferred with both of these
officials in Washington and made specific recommendations, including:
1. Integration of defense contracts with civilian production to avoid
serious layoffs and unemployment.
2. Expansion of production-capacity of metals in short supply.
the necessary funds to supplement Unemployment Compensation for workers who are laid off due to governmental orders curtailing the civilian use of
critical materials or for other reasons resulting from the shift from civilian
4. Launch government scrap campaigns to get all available sctap remelted and back into the production stream.
to defense
In December, the worsening of the Korean situation prompted the government to take steps to accelerate the stockpiling of aluminum, and an
order was issued by the National Production Authority cutting the civilian
use of aluminum 35 per cent on all products, effective January 1, 1951.
LAYOFFS
AVERTED
The Ford Motor Company
advised us that a 35 per cent reduction in
aluminum would cause the layoff of approximately 40,000 workers, including office personnel. Other companies faced comparable layoffs. Using the
Ford figures as a basis, this aluminum ofder ‘could have resulted in a layoff
of approximately
industries.
350,000
workers
in the auto
and
agricultural
implement
I arranged further conferences with Stuart Symington, Chairman of the
Resources Board, and with Secretary of Commerce Sawyer and with William
H. Harrison,
who,
as Director
of the National
Production
Authority,
issued the order to cut aluminum 35 per cent, effective January 1st.
Unemployment Compensation
DURING SHIFT TO DEFENSE PRODUCTION
I have proposed to President Truman that he ask Congress to provide
3. Allocation of scarce materials, based upon the essentiality of the
end products. Restrict use of scarce materials for non-essential
production and substitute other metals where possible.
MASS
trative efficiency of the Union. With the new and adequate headquarters it
will be possible to bring about more effective coordination between various
departments of our International Union and thus they will be in a position
to provide local unions and the membership with better service.
The present headquarters building at 411 West Milwaukee Avenue,
which is too small to house the International Union, has been sold.
had
When confronted with the catastrophic unemployment that would
result from the order, the NPA agreed to change the 35 per cent cut,
production.
Such
federal
supplementation
of Unemployment
Compensation would be for the period until the worker can be re-employed
on either defense or civilian work, and the federal grant shall be equal to
the difference between the worker's wages, based upon a 40-hour week, and
what he receives in his state Unemployment Compensation.
Congress
has provided
subsidies for industry for new
plants and ma-
chinery and liberal tax rebates which guarantee corporation profits during
periods of conversion from civilian to defense production. Workers and
their families, who have little reserves to carry them through extended
periods of unemployment, are entitled to federal aid when they are laid off
due to government mobilization orders.
Helping workers and their families during the conversion period must
be considered a normal part of the cost of our national mobilization program. Failure to provide security for workers during the conversion period
will be highly discriminatory and will work undue hardships upon many
workers and seriously affect, their morale.
Failure to assist- workers during periods of conversion layoffs will
force workers to leave their communities in search of work in other
communities, which in turn will cause dislocation in the trained labor
force, dissipate skills, and further intensify the housing, transportation and school shortages, and overtax other community facilities.
effective January Ist, to 20 per cent in January, 25 per cent in Febru-
In the long run, assistance to workers during the conversion period will
insure that such workers will be available in the major industrial areas when
they are needed on defense production.
This gave us a short breather, but the failure of the aluminuin order to
allocate by end products created a further problem, because on such items
as pistons we could not substitute cast iron for aluminum without extensive
engineering and tooling changes which would require from 10 to 12 months.
Against Speedup
ary, and 35 per cent in March.
SPECIAL
ADJUSTMENT
WON
I held further meetings with top government officials and finally received
a commitment that special adjustments for items such as pistons would be
made. On December 26, this commitment was formalized by a further
change
in the aluminum
cent cut in aluminum
control
order, which
now
provides
for a 25 per
in March instead of 35 per cent on end production
such as automobiles, trucks, agricultural implements, etc.
On the day that Mr. Charles Wilson, newly-appointed Director of Mo-
bilization, took office, I conferred with him about the problem of integrating
defense work with civilian production and working out material controls to
avoid mass unemployment.
That is how the matter stands as this report goes to press. We are continuing every effort to protect the jobs of our members by insisting the curtailment of civilian production be coordinated to the fullest extent possible
with increased defense production. We are also working to expedite the
placement of defense work in plants affected by material shortages. With
proper planning and coordination, economic dislocation and unemployment
can be kept at a minimum.
FOR
BETTER
WORKING
CONDITIONS
The UAW-CIO long-range agreements will permit the Union to devote
a greater portion of its efforts to improve health, safety and working conditions in the plants. One of the compelling reasons for the birth of our
Union was the revolt of workers against the inhuman speedup in the pre-
Union days.
The fight against speedup and for a fair day's work
has been a guiding principle of our Union.
for a fair day's pay
The policy of the International Executive Board concerning fair production standards is set forth below in a part of its statement of April 28, 1949:
“The UAW-CIO is unalterably opposed to and will fight against
any attempt by employers to endanger the health and safety of workers by forcing them to perform an unreasonable work load. One of
the major reasons that our Union came into existence was the revolt
of workers against the inhuman speedup that existed in the automo-
bile industry before it was organized.
“It is our policy to authorize strike action in any plant, large or
small, big corporation or small shop, when
(See next page)
the facts show that an
hi
January,
e
«
UNITED
1951
With
President
Reuther
above
are, from
AUTOMOBILE
left, Vice-Presi-
4) dent Richard Gosser, Secretary-Treasurer Emil Mazey and
“epi Vice-President John W. Livingston, who along with the Interif
clearly illustrated
in the Ford
strike of 1949, when
the International
is
Union
authorized a strike of 65,000 Rouge workers after they had voted to strike
because of a speedup problem in the “B” Building and Lincoln plant. After
eae
TE
25 days, Ford workers won their strike and established ground rules on production standards.
The policy of the International does not permit the signing of any contract which denies the right of workers to strike during the period of the
contract on speedup problems. The right to strike on speedup problems was
the central issue in the recent International Harvester and John Deere strikes,
and the strikes were settled only after both companies had agreed to contract provisions which permit the worker to strike on speedup problems
during the life of the contract.
Strength in Democratic Unity
In my report to the 1949 Convention in Milwaukee, I reminded the dele-
gates that your present International leaders had taken office in 1947 under
the slogan of “TEAMWORK IN THE LEADERSHIP—SOLIDARITY IN
THE RANKS.”
It was evident in 1949, as it is a thousandfold more evident today, that we
have lived up to that slogan—that we have lived by it, worked with it and so
guided ourselves forward to set the pace in American labor's fight for security
and dignity. Today the membership of the UAW-CIO is reaping the fruits
from the seeds of unity sowed in our conventions of 1946, 1947 and 1949.
Guided by a united leadership operating as a team, our membership has closed
ranks to build the UAW-CIO to its peak of strength and effectiveness.
national Executive Board have worked together to build teamwork in the leadership and solidarity in the ranks of our
Union, making possible our great achievements.
a positive program of Union progress. Never before have we been
so seriously dedicated to advancing the welfare of our membership
the contracts every year.
reopen
They know
bility in American labor relations, for they fish best in troubled waters. If we
had all one-year contracts, they would be demanding six-month contracts.
The truth is that they have no respect whatsoever for any contract; the putpose of their propaganda is to create dissension and confusion in order to
disrupt our defense mobilization.
Despite the fact that our wage escalator clauses all have a fixed base rate
floor, and their operation gives positive protection against rises in the cost
of living, these
We
have been able to work harder, to struggle more militantly and to win greater
achievements since uniting our ranks from top to bottom.
hecklers
have
branded
such clauses as ‘‘sell-outs.”
will not discuss the escalator clauses negotiated
But they
by such Communist
Party
liners as Harry Bridges, who has tied the wages of certain of his members to
the price of raw sugar. Nor will the Communists discuss the escalator clause
negotiated by the Communist-controlled Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers,
which ties wages to the price of raw zinc. Under these escalator clauses negotiated by Communist leadership if the price of raw sugar or zinc go down,
wages are cut even though the cost of living is going up. Under the Communist-negotiated escalator clause, a worker, to protect himself, must support his family on a zinc or raw sugar diet.
Although this small clique of irresponsible propagandists has played the
sellout record until it has worn thin, the facts will show that the UAW-CIO
has been more militant in recent months than ever before. We have been
compelled to wage some of the longest and most difficult strikes in our history because management refused to meet the just demands of their workers.
The
Bell
Aircraft
strike in
1949
lasted
114
days.
The
Chrysler
strike in 1950 lasted 104 days. The John Deere strike in 1950 lasted
112 days. The International Harvester strike in 1950 lasted 73 days.
In addition, there were scores of strikes conducted militantly and successfully by smaller local unions of the UAW-CIO.
that
The proof of the strength we have built through democratic unity is in the
that the important thing to the workers, and what really counts,
you do reopen it. The Communists and professional disrupters are not concerned with what is good for workers. They want turmoil rather than sta-
With
while, at the same time, leading the fight for the welfare of the entire
community.
But they refuse to discuss the real issues.
is not how often you open a contract, but what and how much you get when
Never before in our history has there been more solidarity in the
ranks of our Union. Never before have we stood more united behind
concrete economic gains we have made in contract negotiations since 1947.
15
These hecklers have repeatedly condemned our five-year contracts, calling them the worst sell-outs of all. They insist that we should be able to
employer is attempting to drive his workers to make them produce
more than a fair day’s work.”
The determination of our Union to protect workers against speedup
Page
WORKER
respect to the Chrysler strike of 1950, it must be pointed out also
these
same
disruptionists
stooped
to
the
lowest
depth
of
political
con-
nivery by playing politics with the 12-week $1.00 strike assessment. They
agitated against collection of the assessment and they lied about and misinterpreted the use of the strike fund after it was collected. This open anti-union
conduct gave aid and comfort to the Chrysler Corporation at the very time
that Chrysler workers were carrying the pension fight for our entire membership,
have made—there are, unfortunately, a few Communists, reckless opportunists,
Fortunately, these dispensers of confusion and disruption are few in number and lacking in power. We only mention them here in passing to show the
at the UAW-CIO
The continuous disruption and acts of sabotage of a few Communist-controlled unions in the CIO forced the National CIO to expel these unions.
But, despite this high level of working unity, despite the great gains we
and unprincipled disruptionists who use the democratic privileges of our
Union to carry on a campaign of distortion and division. The attacks hurled
by this group, both from within and without the Union, fol-
low the same old propaganda line. Each new contract we have negotiated—
even though it is ratified overwhelmingly by the rank and file—is denounced
by these unprincipled elements as a “‘sell-out.’’ For supporting the efforts of
our country to defend itself and the security of its people against Communist
agpression, we are blasted as warmongers
and tools of Wall Street.
difference between truly democratic criticism and irresponsible disruption.
We in the UAW-CIO must remain ever vigilant in defense of our
Union and our country from acts of those who are loyal to a foreign
power and who as colonial agents of the Kremlin are prepared to
betray America,
The
UAW-CIO
belongs
to its members,
and we
shall resist every effort of
Most UAW-CIO members recognize this propaganda line of the
Communist Party for what it is—and have learned to ignore the poisonous outbursts. But, just for the record, we want to point out
briefly the sheer hypocrisy and irresponsibility of their position on a
the Communist
Union.
All through the past four years these hecklers have attacked what they call
cisms of the policies of their Union and to participate in the shaping of those
policies. The present administration welcomes and encourages this kind of honest and critical judgment of our policies and programs. The right of every
number of issues.
the “‘one-at-a-time’’ strategy. They argue that we should take on all the big
employers at one time and call a general strike to back up our contract demands,
But they never explain why the Communist-controlled UE settled for less than
our demands while we were on strike against General Motors in 1946,
they cannot explain now why the FE Division of the UE, which is still
munist-controlled, called off its strike against International Harvester
fall of 1950—while UAW-CIO strikers out at the same time carried
fight to a victorious conclusion, Apparently the general strike strategy
something to make a noise with in attacking the VAW-CIO,
used by the Communists in the unions they control,
And
Comin the
their
is just
but never to be
UAW-CIO
Party
members
or
any
outside
group
to
interfere
in the
affairs
of our
are more free now than ever to make constructive criti-
member to have his say and
strength,
to express his honest criticism
is the source of out
It is our conviction, tested and proved time and again, that
membership is law in the VAW-CIO, and we pledge ourselves
tain and strengthen this basic principle of democratic unionism,
stant devotion to the rights of the membership have we attained
unity which today makes our Union so strong and effective, We
to dedicate ourselves to this task,
(Turn
the page)
the will of the
again to mainOnly by conthe democratic
shall continue
Page
UNITED
16
AUTOMOBILE
Union
family.
cially,
so
also
has
its
cost-of-living
problem
every
other
increased
wages
since
Just as every worker has had a hard time making ends meet finanhas
the
Union.
Workers
have
had
some
1946 in order to take some part of the sting out of
however, is still trying to provide the same services
same income it was receiving in 1946. Everything
more . . . printing, office rent, telephone, telegraph,
inflation. The Union,
for workers with the
the Union buys costs
transportation, higher
payroll for office employees, and higher costs for everything else.
The International Officers have worked consistently to cut corners
and to minimize expenditures. We are simply up against the fact that
1946 income will not meet 1951 costs. This is a practical problem —
every member of our Union must understand.
Our
Union
carry on the necessary work
cannot
and provide the many
services that are needed to protect and advance the best interests of our
members and their families within our present income. We have the choice
of either finding a way to get adequate funds or curtailing essential Union
service.
NEW
PROBLEMS
tion effort. More staff will be needed in Washington to keep a check on
wage and price matters, to insure materials and defense contracts to protect
jobs of our workers, etc.
As we broaden the scope of collective bargaining into new fields, such as
pensions, it is necessary to employ highly-trained actuaries and specialized tech-
nicians, All of these things pay great dividends to our membership, but they
all cost money. Every time we succeed in winning a wage increase, pension
plan, hospital care program, increased vacation pay and other gains for our
membership in the plants, these gains are immediately translated into higher
operating costs for the Union because the office workers employed by the Union
immediately demand these same benefits.
In order to handle the work of our Union, it is necessary for us to maintain
53 Regional and Sub-Regional offices in various sections of the United States
and Canada. Our rents for these offices have shown sizable increases.
contributions
to National
justment in our income.
CIO
have been
increased
since the last ad-
In 1946, we paid per capita tax to National CIO of
five cents per month per member. In 1948, this per capita tax was increased to
eight cents per month per member; and in 1949 to ten cents per month per
member.
During the past four months, we have sent to National CIO per
capita tax checks in excess of $100,000.00 each month. For the same number
NEWSPAPER GuiLD
oi. workers
STEELWORKERS
TEXTILE WORKERS
PACKINGHOUSE WORKERS
The problems of youth, like the problems of the rest of the community,
are of concern to the UAW-CIO. Above are shown the UAW-CIO delegates
to the Mid-Century White House Conference on Children and Youth, held
in Washington December 3-7. Left to right: Olga M. Madar, UAW Recrea-
$1.00 $1.25 41.50
ental eee
Sieeaels
i
[Emmi
a
Hiei
Ean GE
[iis Ea GES
GAS,COKE AND CHEM. iia ME
ma
PAPERWORKERS [elMl
A
CLOTHING WORKERS Saemiaanaailll
SHOE WORKERS LoaEan
BREWERY WORKERS [email
mem
eon
eae
PLAYTHINGS,J & N Seaaennil
STONE AND ALD. PROD, Seema ess
Mad
RUBBER WORKERS [amma
BARBERS & BEAUTY cuLT, Ean Ed
MARINE €& SHPBLDG, Eee
AUTO WORKERS [eaeEl
ORGANIZING
THE
UNORGANIZED
We can help repay these workers who made it possible for our members
to have a better life by making our full contribution to aid the organizing of
the unorganized no matter what industry or field it happens to be in. Organizing the unorganized in order to raise their standards is more than a matter of
helping others. It is necessary if we are to protect our own standards. To meet
our own organizational problems, the UAW-CIO needs a larger organizing
staff in the Competitive Shop Department in order to be able to go after and
organize run-away shops and unorganized shops whose wages are lower than
ours and. who compete with our industry and whose low standards threaten the
job security of our membership. This job of protecting our membership cannot
be done in terms of 1951 costs with 19¢ 16 income.
No worker could meet 1951 costs of supporting his family if he
received the same pay now as he received
in 1946—yet this is the very
problem faced by the Union. Workers have always understood that
there was no Santa Claus and that if they wanted a strong union, a
of members, our per capita tax to National CIO in 1946 would have amounted
to a little in excess of $50,000.00 per month.
We do not begrudge these payments to CIO, because we are extremely conscious of the fact that WE DIDN’T RAISE OURSELVES
BY OUR OWN BOOT STRAPS. The organization of the auto industry was made possible largely through unselfish financial contributions made by the Miners, the Clothing Workers and the Garment
Workers.
$75
LITHOGRAPHERS See
OPTICAL AND INSTRMT. Poe
Aside from the normal problems that we have in collective bargaining,
there are many new problems that we must face, due to government orders
affecting wages, prices, material controls, and other phases of the mobiliza-
Our
UMIONS
#50
like
just
January, 1951
.
ulin
UAW’s Cost-of-Living Problem
The
WORKER
union with the resources to do an effective job for them, it was
necessary for the workers to pay for such a union.
WE
FOUGHT
TWO-BIT
UNIONS
In the early days of our Union, UAW dues were one dollar per month.
(See next page)
tion Director; Joe Lacey, Detroit; Carol Pellant, Milwaukee; UAW-CIO
President Walter P. Reuther in a discussion with the delegates; Fred
Holmes,
Fremont,
Michigan;
James, Baltimore, Maryland.
John
Vinson,
Grand Prairie, Texas;
Clifton
At
UNITED
AUTOMOBILE
Page 17
WORKER
GAINS SINCE LAST DUES ADJUSTMENT
The last adjustment made in dues and per capita tax was in 1946, at our
‘Atlantic City Convention, when the dues were increased from $1.00 per month
to $1.50 per month. Since that time, our members have received substantial
economic gains, while the income of the Union remained fixed.
The UAW-CIO membership covered by our basic wage policy have received
the following economic gains:
1814c per hour
oe Re
IQAG
UNION
15c
13c_
19c
194fe oes
LOGS eee ee
1949503222 ==
per hour
~— per hour
per hour
Cost-of-living adjustment 1950—September
1950—October
Cost-of-living adjustment
Total ayes oe
~--------------
5c
~----------------
3c
ee
ee
ee ee
73l4c
Further adjustments in wages will flow from the operation of the cost-of-living escalator clause and the annual wage improvement factor.
If the hourly increase in pay is multiplied by 40 hours, which is the average
work week in our Union, it will amount to $29.40 weekly increase, or a month-
ly increase of $127.39, since 1946. These benefits do not take into account numerous wage inequities which our Union has been able to win for thousands
of workers.
The first Delaware PAO Dollar of 1950 was collected by Verna Casey,
Shop Chairman of Chrysler Local 404 in Newark, from Dick Surbaugh,
Shop Chairman of GM Local 435 in Wilmington. Both poster and sweater
illustrate techniques used to arouse interest in political action.
The Union's cost-of-living problem is a -fundamental, bread-and-butter
problem for every member. Weakness in the Union’s resources translates itself into weakness at the bargaining table. While our financial resources are
eaten away by inflation, the corporations with which we bargain are swelling
their treasure chests through increased prices and profits.
Every UAW-CIO
that time, we had to fight the two-bit (25c) company unions. In our fight
against the two-bit company unions, workers understood that you could not
| build a strong union for two-bits a month, and they agreed to pay what it took
to build the kind of a union that would fight their battles.
International Union. We place this problem before the membership of our
Union because only the membership can find a solution. The solution to the
problem must be reached by sober and honest appraisal by each and every
member who has a real interest in his own welfare and the future of his Union.
When our International Union was born, the average wage in our industry
was less than
50 cents per hour, and therefore the one dollar per month dues
Wages
were low, there was no overtime pay, vacation pay, night shift
represented better than two hours’ pay. For two hours’ pay per month workers
received no tangible benefits from the Union because we were just starting to
build.
or call-in
premium,
seniority
no
pay,
procedure,
Political Action and Legislation
no
and yet the workers paid two hours’ pay
no medical care program,
pensions,
no grievance
protection,
local union has the same basic financial problem as the
per month in the hope of building a strong Union.
NO
MAGIC
FORMULA
FOR
_
GAINS
Today our membership has all of these things, and yet pays less than one
hour’s pay per month in dues to their Union. It would be nice if there were
some magic formula for making economic gains and safeguarding workers’
tights without the need of workers financing their Union. But we know that
the good things of life do not come that easily and that if a worker wants a
union that can effectively fight his battles and advance his interests, he must of
necessity pay for such a union.
. This problem is raised not because the officers of your Union are seeking a
salary increase. Most of the people in the leadership of your Union worked
and fought hard to help build the Union in thé early days at a time when they
did not receive streetcar fare. The salary of the officers of your Union are
modest
by comparison
be, for we
is as it should
This
unions.
other
with
believe firmly that the salary of union leaders should not be high and they
should have a reasonable relationship with the wages received by the membership.
salaries and salaries paid by
The following comparison between UAW-CIO
other unions will illustrate this point:
oe
oe
Organization
ee
G (@
SENAY
United Mine Workers
ana
.
United Steel Workers-CIO
Textile
HOW
OUR
Workers-CIO
DUES
.
,
COMPARE
Membership
President’s
Salary
1,250,000
$10,000.00
1,000,000
25,000.00
450,000
350,000
WITH
50,000.00
16,000.00
OTHER
Secretary-
Treasurer's
Salary
$
9,500.00
40,000.00
15,000.00
12,500.00
Politics is the everyday housekeeping job of democracy. In a democratic
society, politics is the people’s business. The 1949 UAW-CIO Convention in
Milwaukee adopted a resolution on political action which stated:
“We instruct the incoming Executive Board to intensify its efforts
to seek a practical day-to-day working unity of CIO, AFL, Railroad
Brotherhoods, bona fide independent unions and farm, small business,
white-collar, professional and other progressive non-labor groups
whose cooperation is essential to the success of a forward-looking,
independent political movement.
“We approve the decision of
expand the staff and broaden the
Action Department, to the end
active PAC Committee and that
365-day-a-year program.”
Within the limits of our
convention resolution,
Two
the International Executive Board to
activities of the UAW-CIO Political
that every local union shall have an
political action will be a continuous
resources,
we
have
carried
out the intent of the
basic problems confront us in the field of political action.
(1) We must do the practical day-to-day organizational work necessary
to mobilize people and get them to register and then get them out to vote
on election day.
We must break down the indifference that millions of people have with
respect to discharging their responsibility as democratic citizens. At a time
when freedom and democracy are being threatened by the forces of Communist tyranny, millions of Americans still do not carry their part of democ-
racy’s responsibilities by getting out to vote on election day.
UNIONS
Our dues and per capita tax are the lowest of any large union in America,
In 1946, only 35,875,000 people voted out of a potential 91,634,000,
either CIO or AFL. The Steelworkers’ Union has dues of $2,00 per month
and the International Union receives a per capita tax of $1.00 per month.
In
1948, only 48,834,000 people voted out of a potential 93,941,000,
The United Mine Workers of America members pay dues of $4.00 per
month. The International Union receives per capita tax of $2.00 and District
ofganizations receive a per capita tax of $1.00; and $1.00 remains in the local
In
1950, only
(2)
treasury.
must
people
voted
out of a potential 96,753,000.
carry on a comprehensive educational
campaign
to dey elop
an understanding among the people of the basic issues on which political decisions are being made and where the interest of the people lies,
The Textile Workers’ Union has dues of $2.00 per month, with $1.00 per
capita tax.
The Teamsters’
We
42,324,000
Union
has minimum
dues of $2.00 per month,
of the dues running between $2.50 and $3.50 per month.
with most
Our dues at the present time are $1.50 per month, with per capita
tax of 65 cents going to the International Union. We not only have
the lowest monthly dues, but our members receive much higher wages
a other economic benefits than do workers paying much hs
ues,
Millions of workers have not as yet learned of the relationship between the
bread box and the ballot box, Millions of housewives have not as yet learned
that their failure to help fill the ballot boxes of America
with good votes is
ae
related to their problem of keeping their ice boxes filled with good
food. If all of the people in America who believe we showd have effective
price control in order to stop the cost of living from sky-rocketing had turned
out to vote on election day, we would have a Congress that sincerely believes
in effective ie control and we would have a price control law with teeth in it.
Because on y 44 per cent of the people voted on election day, we do not have
(Turn the page)
UNITED
AUTOMOBILE
January,
WORKER
1951
The children above, forced to live in slum housing conditions during World
War II, are playing in filth and rubbish—while, at right, a group of kiddies
enjoy a volley ball game sponsored under the UAW-CIO Recreation program.
Healthful living conditions and ample playgrounds are UAW-CIO goals for
all American children.
effective
price control,
and
taxes of little people
are back
to war-time
levels,
while wealthy families are paying less taxes than they paid during the last war.
It is time the American
people learned the political facts of life.
is as much a bread-and-butter matter as are wage negotiations.
Politics
Wage negotia-
tions determine how much goes into your pay envelopes, but prices and taxes
determine what you are able to buy. Workers cannot hope to solve their basic
problems unless they build organization and carry out a joint program in the
political and economic fields. Your Union is cooperating with other progressive and liberal forces who are working for social and economic progress for
all of the American people through the enactment of the Fair Deal legislative
program.
andp,
Out of this 15-year period of thinking, training and learning, we
have built and bolstered the present broad social outlook for which
is noted.
the UAW-CIO
Because our membership is more alert, more
informed and more aggressive—as a result of our educational program—we possess the drive and the knowledge to pioneer on many
new fronts in collective bargaining and work in other fields, including
health, housing,
political action, fair practices, cooperatives and all
we struggle are still far in the future, and the current condition of the world
makes it our obligation to further refine and expand our methods of education for democracy.
Now that we have won contracts which achieve a new
. Expanded Social Security.
level of industrial stability, and we no longer face the necessity of fighting
3 . National Health program.
around
4 . Repeal of Taft-Hartley Law.
the clock
for the very
life of the Union—the
opportunity
devote much more time and energy to our educational program.
5. Civil Rights program.
We
6 . Adequate housing.
is ours to
can devote more study now to our goals, and to the tools
with which we must build, and the roads we must travel to reach our
7. Aid to federal education.
8
unionism
Proud as we are of this educational record, the ultimate goals toward which
1. Effective price control and a fair tax program.
4
of démocratic
the other activities in which our Union is engaged.
The major items on our legislative agenda are listed below:
2
through and understand more fully the motives
the mechanisms of democratic government.
objectives.
achievement
. Foreign Policy program to strengthen America in the face of
Communist aggression and to work with the free peoples of
the world to win the peace.
Fifteen years of hard work and militant struggle and great
have given
us a clearer picture of where
we are going.
|
|
|
Under the pressure of Communist aggression abroad and reaction at home
the need is sharper than ever to recruit and train a higher percentage of Union
We must redouble our efforts to mobilize the American people behind this
legislative program which represents the major items on American democracy’s
agenda of unfinished business.
members for the twin tasks of building the Union and defending democracy.
From here on out, we are going to work overtime at the job of enlarging}:
and perfecting our educational
program.
We
shall stand by the twofold afi
proach, blending the practical with the idealistic—so that our training programiy
we
will continue to strengthen the organizational structure of the Union at the}:
same time that we expand our activities, improve our thinking and widen our
horizons of progress.
is no stronger than its members,
The strength of our
members rests upon their understanding of their problems and a knowledge of
the tools the Union provides for their solution.
In a rank-and-file-controlled union, education and democracy go hand in
hand—each
is empty
and
meaningless
without
the other.
When
men
stop
learning, hope for freedom is lost and tyrants take over. Recognition of this
ancient truth has always been a powerful force in the building of our Union
to its present peak of strength and influence. So firm and lasting has been
our faith in the power of education that union people around the world have
come to respect and admire our UAW-CIO program of workers’ education.
It was our belief that we have not only to mobilize our muscles but to
develop our minds in order to make democracy work for the good of all. On
the basis of this conviction, we have constantly employed democratic educational methods for the purpose of training our people to be better union members and better citizens.
We have carried forward our educational work not only to equip
our members to build a better Union; we have also endeavored to
train our members
to participate in the more
building a better world.
We
Our
educational
program
has
been,
and
is, both
challenging task of
practical
and
idealistic.
have supplied classes, courses, teachers, textbooks and visual aids to our
membership.
With
these tools, two types of training have been developed.
Shop leaders have been instructed and made more competent in the business
of operating their local unions—to enable them to do a better job of settling
grievances, processing arbitration cases, keeping books and running democratic
Union meetings. And, along with this practical training for better unionism,
we have conducted
classes, courses and discussions to help our people think
this front, we shall be better equipped
to persuade our neighbors to join in the
struggle—better equipped to offer leadership to our country in this time of
peril—better equipped to defeat hate and greed—better equipped to build the
brotherhood of man.
We of the UAW-CIO
ap eter
A democratic union
The immediate objective of our expanded educational program must be to
encourage more participation by more Union members in the daily leg workls
required to win security, dignity, justice and peace. And, as we gain ground on}6
dedicate ourselves to this educational task.
Opportunity for our children—security for our older people—this is the}!
scope of our Union work.
If one could read the innermost thoughts of the men and women of the}: |
UAW-CIO in the days of their most militant struggles against the selfish ||
arrogance of organized wealth, one would have found that they struggled):
and sacrificed not so much for themselves, but rather for their children, I
have heard it said in union halls and on the picket lines over and over again3| |
“I am not fighting for myself. I am fighting so that my kids can have it
better than I did.”
The will to struggle to build a better tomorrow
is the soul of our Union.
for our children
The basic demands of our Union are all inseparately tied in with the fight
to provide our children with an opportunity to grow up strong in mind and|)
body into useful citizens in a free and democratic world.
—==—
Faith in Edueation
(See next page)
UNITED
Page 19
WORKER
AUTOMOBILE
of occupational disease and industrial injury, including hernia, lead poisoning, skin diseases, back and other strains, etc.
i exists. There is no division between the rank and file of labor—there should
dibe no division between its leadership.
A united labor movement would give us greater economic strength and
|
(broader political influence, and would enable us to make greater economic
va frijand social progress for all the American people. Efforts to bring about
i unity in the American labor movement must be acceleratéd, so that we may
qi
achieve organic unity on an honorable and constructive basis that provides
meemplete recognition of the principle of industrial unionism and the auton-
omous rights of existing International Unions.
An important beginning toward labor unity has been made in the estabLabor
lishment of the United
tives of the National
Policy Committee,
National
CIO,
composed
the Railroad
AFL,
Health
The
medical reasons, in finding jobs they can do.
regular part of the Institute's work.
work
because
The
Health
of representa-
Brotherhoods
are frequently
able to perform
in a
Institute
has
proven
invaluable
in
processing
claims
for
The medical-health and the industrial safety and hygiene programs supplement each other.
and
| of labor unity when they made a joint appearance and submitted a joint
} statement to the National Wage Stabilization Board.
in addition to presenting a united front before numerous
agencies, recently met with President Truman and submitted to
This committee,
of defense mobilization.
a joint policy statement on problems
The important beginning made by the United Labor Policy Committee
{) must be strengthened and carried forward until we have achieved a united
t| labor movement in the fullest sense. In this effort, the UAW-CIO pledges
its wholehearted
The Fight for Peace
cooperation.
The growing threat of war darkens the lives of people everywhere.
UAW-CIO
The UAW-CIO
Health
free men are being challenged, this time by the forces of Communist tyranny.
No
one can
Health Institute
Institute was organized to strengthen the work
in improving working conditions and protecting our members
against the hazards of industrial and occupational diseases.
The Health Institute is staffed with competent medical men, specialists
-and laboratory technicians, and is fully equipped with modern X-ray, electrocardiograph, basal-metabolism machine, fully equipped laboratories for
blood and other tests, and other equipment.
convention,
complete, and specialized
more
23,600
than
diagnostic examinations
Pies HoT
5:
Ae
ams
ts
given
for every conceivable type
workers
have
predict with
certainty
the next power
No one can be certain that war is or is not inevitable.
of is that America,
the strongest nation among
move
of the Politburo.
What
we can be certain
the free nations of the world,
has a moral obligation and duty to overselves and to the world to make an all-
out effort to avoid war and to build a just and lasting peace.
building
adequate
military
strength,
America
must
give
leadership in mobilizing the free world to regain the initiative by an
all-out waging of the peace. We cannot permit the Politburo to continue to exploit the universal desire of people everywhere for peace.
of the Union
last
The
world had not finished binding up the wounds of the last war when once again
While
the
defect,
15,000,000 organized workers, gave a practical demonstration
ing more than
Since
Workers, incapacitated for one kind of
workmen's compensation in cases of injury on the job.
On Thursday, January 11th, the United Labor Policy Committee, represent-
him
physical
This placement setvice is a
first-rate manner in another occupation or job.
the International Association of Machinists. This joint Labor Committee is
working on common problems as they relate to the mobilization program.
government
of some
laid off for
of workers,
hundreds
Instirute has also aided
The Union has organized an efficient Industrial Safety and Hygiene Department as a division of the Health Institute.
MADE
BEGINNING
IMPORTANT
Saat
n
In addition to work at the Health Institute, proper and special
medical and technical teams are sent right into shops to check health
hazards right at the place of work. Extensive reports, records and
case histories are compiled to aid in the prevention of industrial diseases and to strengthen the Union’s efforts to get needed improvetents in state health and safety laws.
been
The Stockholm peace pledge and the Sheffield-Warsaw Peace Conference
were both hypocritical fronts designed to hide Communist aggression. Nevertheless they were effective psychological and propaganda weapons because
they capitalized upon the overwhelming and compelling search of people ev-
erywhere for peace.
ALL-OUT
PEACE
OFFENSIVE
We who really believe in peace, freedom, and justice must strip the mask
of hypocrisy from the Communists by launching an all-out effective peace
offensive.
We
must out-work, out-organize, and out-maneuver
(Turn
the
the Communists
page)
‘
Soe
TR.
cat
il
eae
i cilia in. os ea
tee
IE:
The UAW-CIO Health Institute—revived and reorganized in 1943 to
provide facilities for diagnosing occupational diseases and industrial acci-
dents—is shown above,
the same quarters,
Our Social Security Department currently occupies
UNITED
Page 20
AUTOMOBILE
January, 195
WORKER
We must not only build a working relationship between
on the peace front.
governments of the free nations, but what is of greater importance, we must
build and strengthen a working relationship between free people of the world.
We must mobilize the spiritual forces of free people everywhere
and draw them together in a total unselfish common effort at waging
the peace. Total mobilization of the free people of the world for
peace, freedom and justice will create a moral force that will be as
devastating to Communist propaganda as a stockpile of H-bombs.
HEARTS,
MINDS,
MEN’S
FOR
STRUGGLE
LOYALTIES
The struggle between freedom and tyranny, between Democracy and Com-
is essentially a struggle for men’s minds, their hearts, and their doyal-
munism
ties. This struggle cannot be won and freedom cannot be made secure with
guns alone. We must avoid being maneuvered and provoked into a position
where we rely solely on military strength. The forces of freedom must regain
the initiative in the world contest for men’s minds and hearts and their loyalties.
America and its Allies must build adequate military strength without delay.
However, such build-up must be paralleled by an equally impressive all-out
peace offensive.
The Communists have perfected the technique of exploiting poverty and
human insecurity and are forging human misery into a political weapon of
aggression.
Only
action to
ning the
Kremlin
by a combination of fully adequate military measures and prompt, bold
wipe out human misery and desperation can we be successful in winloyalty and support of hundreds of millions of people and strip the
of its power to exploit them and sacrifice them in battles of aggression.
Only the United States has the material resources for the bold,
constructive action needed to banish the fear that holds the world
paralyzed on dead center, hypnotized by negative values based on
men’s fears and hatreds. The compelling necessity for quick, positive,
daring action is more than a matter of high purpose; it is a matter of
democratic survival.
Burr Parker, of Oldsmobile Local 652, Lansing, Michigan, is here placed
in position for an X-Ray at the UAW-CIO
If we fail now to launch a bold, tangible, prac-
tical program for peace, we will surrender the world to the apostles
of fear, hatred and hysteria. The negative values in which they trade
will contribute further to world panic and will make war inevitable.
CAN’T
We
STOP
COMMUNISM
BY MILITARY
STRENGTH
military strength alone.
tyranny
with
We
time, for all men to be able to enjoy a full measure
human dignity, and political and spiritual freedom.
We
ALONE
must avoid the tragic mistake of trying to contain. Communism
Communist
by
must be prepared to meet the challenge of
military
strength
wherever
aggression
raises its
ugly head, but at the same time we must take the offensive on the peace
front, for it is on this front that the free and democratic nations of the
world possess their overwhelming margin of superiority over the forces of
Communism.
Hundreds of millions of people throughout the world are in revolt
against poverty and injustice, against imperialism and colonialism. We must
help these people find a democratic alternative or Communism will move in
to fill the vacuum created by our failure. We must make it absolutely clear
that America stands on the side of those who fight oppression and tyranny
of the old colonial variety as well as the new Communist variety.
We
must abolish discrimination in America, for we cannot hope
to provide the moral leadership in the world needed to balance our
economic, military and political leadership if American democracy
fails to practice what it preaches.
Recently I submitted a proposal to President Truman calling for “a total
peace offensive,” a positive program of economic and social action to eliminate poverty, human
insecurity and injustice, which are the sources of Com-
munist power.
Health Institute.
I offered this proposal for the consideration of my fellow Americans in
the belief that all of us are convinced that military action alone cannot assure us that we shall achieve peace. I offered it with the conviction that
human misery and injustice can be wiped out, and that the present resources
and the knowledge of the world make it possible, within a definite period of
must move
of economic
secutity,
})
in that direction with all the strength of the free world,
|
and we must start moving now. In addition, we must start now to strengthen
and build, through the United Nations, practical and adequate machinery to
meet the problems of our world community, so that as rapidly as possible
the rule of Jaw shall displace the rule of force.
POSITIVE
FIGHTING
FAITH
Never has the future held more promise. Never has the future been
more pregnant with disaster. Democracy must provide man with a positive
fighting faith which will inspire the will and the know-how to translate
moral and ethical values into basic economic and political decisions.
We
can build a better world in which men can live in peace,
security and dignity. If nations can be mobilized to fight and sacrifice
for the negative ends of war, then we must find a way to tap the
spiritual reservoir of free men and get people marching and fighting
with equal determination for the positive ends of peace.
If people
will
make
the supreme
sacrifice in war because
they share a}
hate and fear, we can and we must find a way to get people off
common
good will, working and sacrificing together, to win the common
aspirations they share in peace.
hopes and}
|
i)
i
This positive mobilization for peace is democracy’s great challenge. We
in America share the major portion of world responsibility, and we in the
American
power
peace.
labor movement
must continue to use our strength, our
and our spiritual determination
{
aa
to win the fight for freedom and) Q
j
With
sincere and fraternal good wishes to all members
of the
UAW-CIO and their families, this report is
POSTMASTER.
of
address
on
Send
Form
notices
3578
of
(Canada,
Respectfully submitted,
change
Form
(haeef®
67B)
and
copies
returned
under
labels
No. 3579 (Canada, labels No, 29B) to 2457
E. Washington
St., Indianapolis 7, Ind.
President
(A full and detailed report on the activities of the various departments,
corporation
.
councils,
.
wage
.
and
hour councils, and on further activities andy:
.
.
oe
plans of the International Union will be presented to the International Convention in April, 1951.)
.
- Item sets