Walter P. Reuther Digital Archive · UAW Solidarity

Title

UAW Solidarity

Date

1965-02-01

Alternative Title

Vol. 8 No. 2

extracted text

Vol. 8
No. 2
February, 1965

EET

Second Class Postage
Paid at Washington, D.C.

INTERNATIONAL

U

AUTOMOBILE

OLIDARI

AEROSPACE

&

AGRICULTURAL

IMPLEMENT

WORKERS

OF

AMERICA

Historic Quote: President Johnson in his
inauguration address: “In a land of great

wealth, families must not live in
poverty. In a land rich in harvest,

must not go hungry. In
miracles, neighbors must
untended.”’

hopeless
children

a land of healing
not suffer and die

When

Federal

Cold Finger: East Germany’s communist
press pointed out James Bond and told readers to beware. Articles critical of Ian Fleming’s fictional spy denounced him as a man
of loose morals. Besides that, they said, he
is anti-communist.
Biggest Non-Surprise of the Month: The
Detroit
News
lead
_paragraph of Jan. 29: “General
Motors Corp. reported yesterday that it had record
sales and profits in 1964 for
the third consecutive year,
making it the most profitable company the world has
ever seen.” GM figures show
after-taxes profits closing in
on $2 billion! To be more
exact, omitting the hundreds
billion,

730

of thousands,
million.

GM

reaped

$1

Late Report: Negotiations
were
settled
with Champion Sparkplug in Toledo, Ohio.
Contract expired Feb. 1 but had been extended on a day-to-day basis.
Grab: While the nation’s steel firms maneuvered prices upward, the tiny print in
newspapers’ business pages showed how well
the industry did last year under old prices:
Republic Steel profits up 30.2 per cent to
$72 million; Bethlehem

Steel’s net income

up

44 per cent to $148 million; U.S. Steel profits
up 18 per cent to $236 million; Youngstown
Sheet and Tube profits up to $54 million and
Armco

Steel’s profit up to $80 million.

Reg. 3 Dir. Ray Berndt was among the
top Indiana labor leaders at the ceremonial
signing by Gov. Roger Branigan of a law repealing that state’s “right-to-work”’ statute.

Repeal was made possible by the election of
a more liberal state legislature and a. Democratic governor.
Following is the latest summary. ofthe
UAW’s Strike Fund as issued by Sec.-Treas.
Emil Mazey:
$32,592,928.32
Fund assets, Nov. 30...
Income for December ....... $._ 1,966,768.22
Total to account for..._.—s—. $34,559,969.54
$ 2,664,928.50
Disbursement, December...
Total Resources, Dec. 31 .... $31,894,768.04
At December’s end, 20 strikes were in effect, involving 11,500 UAW members.
G. O’Hara
James
Cong.
of Michigan has been elected
the
for
whip
Democratic
states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota in the
of Representatives.
House
He’ll share the important job
of mustering support for the
party’s legislative program.
O’HARA

UAW

Pres. Walter

P. Reuther

issued

the

following statement onthe
death of Sir
Winston Churchill: “A grateful world will
never forget that he led the cause of freedom
in its hours of greatest peril. He etched a
place in history through his courage, his unshakeable faith in the power of free men,
his indomitable will. He will be remembered
always by all who cherish freedom.”

California’s dept. of industrial relations reported ’64 “was another record year for
employment.” In an important aside, the
report went on: “The weakness in manufac‘turing was centered in aerospace-related activities—missiles,

electronics,

instruments—where
the
began
in 1963 continued
year.”

aircraft

downturn
throughout

and

that
the

Delayed Justice: The backpay claims of
20 construction workers, vietims of employer unfair labor practices on the Bull Shoals
Dam in the Ozarks, have been upheld by
an NLRB
trial examiner—15
years after
they occurred. Seven died since the case be-

(Continued on page 2)

Organizing:
The Challenge

organizing:
to stay
dynamic...

{

,

'

International
PUBLICATION,
OFFICIAL
and
Aerospace
United Automobile,
Union,
Agricultural Implement Workers of America, AFL-CIO. Published monthly. Editorial
office, 8000 E. Jefferson, Detroit 14, Michi60¢;
gan. Yearly subscription to members,
$1.00.
to non-members,

‘pay

day’

14,

ington,
N. W.,

bigger days
for retirees .

Mich.

postage

class

Second

gan to
justice.

directly
3579 attached
E. Jefferson Ave., De-

Form
Send
POSTMASTER:
under mailing label to 8000

troit

(Continued from page 1)

at

monthly
Published
D.C.
Washington, D.C.

at. Wash-

paid

1126

:

16th

St.,

Presidents

International

laws that'll
make the
Great Society

WOODCOCK

LEONARD

GREATHOUSE

Board |

Executive

George
Berndt,
Ray
Bannon,
Ken
Ballard,
Charles
Martin
Fraser,
Douglas
Edwards,
Jack
Nelson
Burt,
Charles Kerrigan,
Robert Johnston,
Gerber, Ted Hawks,
Ken
E. T. Michael,
McCusker,
Joseph
Kitzman,
Harvey
E. S. Patterson,
O’Malley,
Pat
Merrelli,
George
Morris,
Ken Robinson, Ray Ross, Paul Schrade, Bard Young.

.

Public

Staff
Lipton,

|

Members,

American

Newspaper
THUERNATION A]

4 LABOR PRESS#Z

eee,

some
at

figuring

time

it will

—
| generations the

Hartford,

Guild,

H

Se]

_

Howard

AFL-CIO

why

ever

they

all

affect

nation’s

doctors and many others will

be hard put to
opposed the bill.”

remember

foundry subAnnual meeting of UAW
conference is scheduled for March 12, 13 and
14 in Milwaukee, according to notices sent
cross-country by Nelson Jack Edwards, IEB
member-at-large and director of the union’s
Foundry Dept. UAW represents nearly 100,-

000 foundry workers.
Bethlehem
- Off the Hook:

breaks

tax-

would pass and “years from
now, when the benefits of
' Medicare for the aged are
being felt in every section
| of the community—because,

| indirectly,

Jerry

Dale,

years ago this month,
Security system began

ing benefits then. Nearly 20 million Americans now receive monthly benefits under the
Federal insurance program.
In Schenectady, N.Y., John
W. Edelman, president of the
National Council of Senior
Citizens, predicted Medicare

Relations Department
Joseph Walsh
Director

Jerry
Members:
George Ryder.

7

of

halls

elected
unanimously
of governors
board
Leonard Woodcock, UAW vice president, as
board chairman, a position he held for four
years until ’63.

Ray Martin
Editor
Managing

a chald
also has
rights ...

the

paying benefits to workers 65 and over. Still
alive are 1,961 Americans who started draw-

Secretary-Treasurer
EMIL MAZEY

PAT

through
|

The eight-member Wayne State University

Anniversary: 25
the nation’s Social

President
P. REUTHER
WALTER

Vice

way

its

inch

Steel

Corp.

escaped a scathing denunciation by pleading
no contest to two charges of price-fixing,
thus avoiding trial and publicity. The price
conspiracy extended over 13 years. Bethlehem was fined $80,000 for doing business

.

illegally with four lesser firms in a wing of

the steel industry reportedly involving $60
ARTES
ze
Ser

million a year.

Gee

t

from

range of

A wide

Bolivia:

a missioner
writes home

How Industrial —
noopers
nvade Your Privacy
anagement is

using

tening and spying
es that violate
s’ rights
, day, Jerry Dale
he SOLIDARITY Staff
rts

in

the March

issue.

Seite [ee
ns

Aa
Shy

subjects that, put to-

UAW

Reg.

1A

Co-dirs.

Joseph McCusker announce
leadership training program
14 locals in Michigan’s Ann
area.

Bard

Young

SOLIDARITY—February,

1965

a

and —

a special union
for members of
Arbor-Ypsilanti

The American Municipal Assn. changed
its name to the National League of Cities bes
tal
ini
its
of
ed
tir
d
an
k
sic
s
wa
it
e
caus
being confused with those of the American
Medical Assn.

In an economy move, the Presi-

p
to
ny
ma
g
in
ly
pp
su
of
d
en
e
th
d
re
de
dent or
government officials with fancy cars. Wall
p
sli
r
ro
er
l
ca
hi
ap
gr
po
ty
a
let
l
na
ur
Jo
Street
in when it quoted one of the affected officials:
big
my
ke
Ta
s.
ie
ar
et
cr
se
my
ay
aw
e
“Tak
office and my carpets. But not my ean!”
Now in the New York legislative hopper:
a state-wide sales tax proposed by Gov. Nelson Rockefeller and roundly denounced by
Reg. 9 Dir. Martin Gerber and Reg. 9A Dir.
Charles Kerrigan because of the heavy bur2 such a tax places on lower income families.

2—UAW

a

ae

gether, spells effective action against poverty will be studied at’a winter institute
for Region 2A locals, according to Dir. Ray
Ross. Site: Arlington Arms Motel, Columbus,
Ohio, March 14 through 19.
Woodrow L. Ginsburg, for
seven years research director of UAW, has been apto the same _ post
pointed
with the Industrial Union
ReDept. in Washington.
at Solidarity
placing him
House is Irving Beller, who
was an economist with AFLCIO and the Int’] Assn. of
Machinists and a history in©
structor at Drake U.
GINSBURG |
Negotiations to end a strike of 2,700 UAW
at Detroit’s FederalLocal 681 members
Mogul-Bower plants were continuing at press
time, Reg. 1 Co-dir. George Merrelli reported.
Workers struck Jan. 5. Some progress is
|
reported.

Whoops!

Page

ESS

a

tuy
*

A Challenge a Day
up with a cold statistic: 23,301 workers were
involved in the 238 elections the UAW won
last year.
“But, statistics tell very little about or-

The voice seeped in from the past:
this resolution is one of the most eee
that can possibly be put on this floor...
organizing the unorganized is the most vital
challenge facing our union.”
It was a cold March day in Atlantic City
and ocean dampness
drenched
the New
Jersey coast that opening day of the UAW’s
10th convention.
Ten years earlier, the UAW hadn’t existed
except in the minds of a dozen or so men.
Six months earlier, the last bomb of World
War II had been dropped.
Almost every
home in America and Canada was adjusting to the strangeness
of peacetime: those
sons who would be home from overseas were
home—and
many
men
and women
who
should have been working were home also.
When the shooting ended, the need for
many workers ended. Who needed a Sherman tank in ’46? Or a P-38?
The UAW’s membership that year fell to
677,310. It had been at 1,065,030 two years
earlier and every delegate at that convention knew that organizing was the major
task facing the union.

ganizers. Very little...”
What-~about one down in Hartwell, Ga.?
He talks to Monroe Auto Equipment workers
by day and curls up in his motel room at
night with a shotgun. He’s been promised
violence and a man is mighty alone at three
in the morning
a door.
What
about

being

our members were jumpy that we were
headed right back into another depression.”’
As postwar layoffs kept increasing, new
and unorganized plants opened for business.
They turned out the products of peacetime
for a nation hungry for long-denied con-

some

by

icy

winds

along darkened

2,000 workers

that there’s

dignity

and

Gs reathouse was back in time again:
The Korean war gave the UAW a few
more years to prove itself—to its members
and to their communities. With industry’s
peacetime production force swollen to meet
the need for wartime materiel, the frightening postwar sag was reversed. Membership
in UAW grew.
Members were being covered by pensions,

automation

“When Harvester built a new plant, the
new workers had to be organized quickly
in order to protect the organized Harvester
workers elsewhere,” Greathouse said.

In the five years the nation was on a war

pervised elections among
production
and
maintenance workers only.
“When you add all the figures, you come

chilled

McCarthy
haunts us,” said Greathouse.
“The years
right after World War II inspired the ultraconservatives—the Birchers—and the labor
movement was their real target. And when
one union could be exposed as corrupt, the
brush was applied to all unions.”

ities were old and tired and, besides, there
were rumors about a revolution in machinery, about a new era coming wound around

The thick mimeographed report in Greathouse’s hands covered 1964 organizational
activities that resulted in government-su-

who

security in the UAW crusade.
“Even .now the ghost of Joe

had helped turn out tanks or bombers. Rosie
the Riveter had no solid claim on riveting
a Buick.
How and where would industry expand
and renovate? Machinery and plant facil-

opposition.”

organizers

best to crack a language barrier and convince

sumer goods.
The nation wanted cars, any design, any
color. That meant work—but nothing was
ruaranteed to thousands who for five years

a
overcome
to
had
“Our organizers
Chicago Tribune front page with a leaflet,’
“In many parts of the
Greathouse said.
country, we still face the same kind of open

down

streets, when looking for the right address
of a worker. Or about conversations on
wooden stairways in Harlem tenements.
“‘And quite often there’s terror,’ Greathouse said. “It’s the organizer whose teeth
get broken.
“It’s also the organizer who must keep up
the courage of workers who've been told
their jobs go if the union comes.’
And what about the frustration of organizers in southern California? Besides its
sunshine, that area boasts the most active
John Birchers in the country, ready with
newspaper ads and leafiets to ward off a
UAW organizing drive because, if it were
successful, who knows where it would stop?
Maybe even the farm workers would organize!
Nor does the report tell anything of UAW
the chainlink
looking through
organizers
fences
that
surround
United
Ajircraft’s
sprawling Montreal plant, wondering how

called of ’46. ‘““The country’s economy seemed
to be convulsing. We were just nine or 10
years out of one depression and a lot of

that President Truman didn’t belong in the
White House and neither did any Democrat.

two

breaks

organizers who had to “sell”? their union and
a whole outlook on life to 1,700 workers of
Northern Ordnance in Minneapolis?
A report tells nothing of rainy mornings
spent meeting first shift workers. Or about

“That was a weird year,” Greathouse re-

footing, industrial wages had barely moved
up except just recently in organized plants.
And there, managements kept one eye on the
hungry market, the other on the labor movement which it itched to take on. Unions had
been tolerated during the war years but the
gloves were coming off.
These showdowns. came and were played
to the hilt in the nation’s press as evidence

the

someone

tramped the muddy red hills of southern
Tennessee to contact Electric Storage Battery workers in their homes?
What about the endless hours put in by

The other day, as to most people with a
vivid recollection of 1946, it all didn’t seem
“that long ago” to Pat Greathouse, now a
UAW vice president, then an International
organizer in Illinois, four years out of a
Chicago Ford plant.
He was going over the 1964 year-end report on organizing, an activity he directs.

a production technique called
that would mean fewer jobs.

when

all paid by the company. Master agreements
were being signed so that workers in multiplant corporations found that in Alabama
the rate was the same as in high-paying

|

Detroit and Flint.
“Our collective bargaining successes have
given
organizers
strong
selling
points,”
Greathouse said. “But there’s always that.
enemy—emotion, prejudice, or whatever you
want to call it. Right this minute, somewhere, an organizer is trying to overcome
emotion with logic. .. .”
The erratic economy of the Eisenhower
years saw the UAW affected like a yo-yo:
a rise to an all-time record membership as a
result of the 1955 boom year in car sales—
and then the plunge that came with four
recession years of the 1950s.

“You

can’t really

isolate hard

times

as a

bogging
organizing
for
reason
complete
down,” Greathouse said. ‘After all, industrial unions were born in the depression.
(Continued on page 16)

February,

1965—UAW

SOLIDARITY—Page

3

ee

AT

UAW Keeps
~ Another Promi

To Its Pension
By HOWARD
LIPTON
of the SOLIDARITY Staff
Le Klasey has been a UAW retiree from
Chevrolet since 1960.
When a telephone caller excitedly told him
a few months ago what the union had gained
in higher pensions

in the new

the

contracts,

68-year-old ex-machine operator’s reply was
taut, terse and typical.
“T won’t believe it till I see it,” he said.

He’s not only seen it; he’s now receiving
it. As a result of the union’s new agreements
with auto and agricultural implement manufacturing corporations, UAW
retirees are
getting close to $4 million a month more

in higher pensions.

Klasey, a Local 659 veteran who
“sat
down” in Flint’s Chevrolet Plant 9 to win
recognition of UAW in late 19386 and 1937,
figures his monthly pension of about $135 is
some $43 more than he was getting before
the union won the new agreement.
66

For Klasey and his attractive wife, Geraldine, the added income is quickly-spent pur- |
chasing power. They’ve used it to buy a new
car and household items they’ve wanted a
long time.
And they’re planning home repairs “in-cluding finishing the upstairs, a chore we’ve
put off and put off until we had the money,”

Mrs. Klasey said.
The new pension

gains also meant much
to John Wilson. A Local 140 veteran, he’d
been wanting to retire “as far back as last
May.”
|

Page

4——_UAW

SOLIDARITY—February,

1965

But the 62-year-old old Dodge Truck worker held off, he said, “‘because my wife and I

figured we’d need more retirement income
than we’d have got then.”’
Came UAW’s new contract with its mutual

early

retirement

pension

gains

and

Wilson

made up his mind.
“IT could have waited until next September and got more when
the supplement
kicked in,” he said. ‘‘But even without that,
the new mutual early retirement provisions
made it possible for me to retire on a higher

pension now than I’d have received last May.”
Wilson—like Klasey a sitdown strike veteran of the UAW—spent his final workday
at the plant Dec. 31. Starting Jan. 1 this

year, “I began staying home, putting my
feet up and getting used to retirement,”
he grinned.
|
“And I’ll be able to do the things here
at home that I’ve put off doing for a long
time,” he added.

The

son

new “mutual early” provision gives Wil-

a pension

income

of $262.10

a month.

That’s based on $4.25 a month multiplied by
each of his 31 years of service at Chrysler’s
Dodge Truck plant at Warren, Mich.—a total of $132.10—plus another $130 a month,
the maximum under the “mutual early” benefit of $5.20 a month times years of service.
Wilson and his pleasant wife, Ruth, will
get that—plus Social Security—until he’s

65. Then the “‘mutual early” benefit will drop
away. But Wilson figures it will be “pretty
much replaced” by the Social Security benefit
his wife will start receiving about that time.
“She’ll be 62 then and eligible for Social
Security,” he explained. “So we think the income drop won’t hurt too much.”
Important to Wilson is the fact that the
recent three-year agreement’s pension
made it possible for him to retire now.

gain
“My

wife hasn’t been well and needs me at home
and I’ve had some physical difficulties, too,”
he said.
“Now I not only can stay home and help
take care of things but my retiring at this
vat also opens up a job for a younger felOw.”

.

ln terms of the four auto corporations alone
—General Motors, Chrysler, Ford and American Motors—estimated increases in pension
benefits total approximately $3 million a
month.
At General Motors, for instance, the total
increase was pegged at about $1,340,000; at
Ford, about $948,000 and at Chrysler approximately $532,600.
For all regular UAW retirees at the auto
manufacturing firms, the individual pension
increase came to $1.45 a month for each
year of service. This alone is just under the
total pension won by UAW in 1950 at GM.
(Continued on page 5)

... Millions a month more go to UA Wretirees
(Continued from

page

+4)

The 1950 full UAW-GM pension amounted to $1.50 a month per year of service with

a top service credit of 30 years. Thus, the
company-paid total benefit was $45 a month.
That’s one-third what Tom Klasey gets from
GM now under the UAW-won program and
increases.
Figures for Chrysler alone tell the story of

new benefit increases in the various pension
areas. Before the new contract’s pension

boosts were won, for instance, the average
monthly benefit amounted to $68.15. Now
they’ve jumped to $107.11.
For retirees on permanent and total disability pensions, benefits now run an average of $108.18. Previously, they averaged
$70.29.
!
And for regular ‘mutual early” retirees,
the average benefit now comes to $79.88. Before the recent gains, that average was
$51.31 a month.
Those are Chrysler averages. But in terms
of percentage increases, they would be “‘pret-

ty close” for workers at the other auto firms,

UAW’s
Social Security Department
estimates.
The current pension benefit is based on
$4.25 a month per year of service. That’s
$1.45 a month more than the old rate of
$2.80. For workers who retired before last
Sept. 1, there also may be some special provisions at the company. they worked for
which affects the total benefit they now are
entitled to.
Thus, at General Motors, the additional
$1.45 a month is actuarially reduced for those
who retired early before the new provisions —
became effective.
In addition, however, the widow’s pension
has been boosted from 50 per cent to 55 per
cent of the benefits the worker would have
received if he had elected the survivor option and his widow were the same age.
Moreover, the widow of a worker eligible
for early retirement will get an automatic
Survivor pension if the worker dies before

tirees who had been feeling before that they
were left out in the cold.”
“The retirees are real happy,” said Mrs.
Klasey, who, with her husband, had been
active until recently in the Flint area retirees group.
“So many were having a rough time. Now
folks will be able to buy some of the things
they hadn’t been able to buy before. That’s
particularly true for those who were among
the first to retire after pensions were won.”’
Klasey and his wife smile wistfully as they
think back to the early days of the union.
Then, today’s security wasn’t even a dream,
they agree. Klasey got 42 cents an hour
when he went to work in 1927 at the Chevrolet plant.
|
“My father was a member of the old
Knights of Labor; long after the Knights
disappeared, and he had retired, he was gétting a pension of $14 a month in 1938. He’d
have been proud of the UAW and what it’s
won,” Klasey said.
:
“We don’t have to worry as much about
economizing as we did before the new pension
benefits,” Mrs. Klasey added. ‘‘We’re even
eating better.”’
The Wilsons’ retirement situation is different. Although John Wilson knows how
much his pension will amount to, he won’t
get his first benefit check until sometime this

month. That’s because he retired in January.
“I’m sure we'll make it all right,” he said.
“We can’t praise the union too highly for
what it won.”
But one aspect of the Wilsons’ expenses in
retirement points sharply to a problem encompassing
many
retirees.
This involves
their medical and prescription bills. Mrs.
Wilson estimated
her prescriptions alone
cost about $30 a month.
“If it weren’t for what the union has
gained for us in company-paid hospitalization over the years,’ Mrs. Wilson said, “I’m
afraid that just trying to keep up with our
medical expenses might have lost us our
house a long time ago.”
Wilson, too, vividly recalled the days when
he first went to work at the auto plant.
“For 149 hours in two weeks, including
Saturdays, Sundays, and overtime, I was paid
$62,” he remembered.
“The union changed all that. It won decent
wages and much more decent treatment on
the job. It’s made it possible to retire with
self-respect.
“But I can’t help thinking of one of my
friends who retired recently, too. When I saw
him a few weeks ago, he said, ‘If the boys
ever saw me washing all those dishes....’”
And Mrs. Wilson served him another cup
of coffee.

retiring.

ee
retirement with a company-paid supplement to heighten the monthly pension
benefits will be possible under the current
agreements starting Sept. 1.
Thus a 55-year-old worker who had a wage
rate of $3 an hour and 35 years of service
then can retire with a company-paid pension
of $86.13 a month plus a supplement of
$113.87 for a total of $200 a month.
A 60-year-old worker with 30 years of service and a $3 an hour wage rate would get
$110.54 in company-paid benefits on retirement under this phase of the pension program.
The
company-paid
supplement
of
tes would bring his monthly pension to
In certain instances under the UAW-gained
program, it’s possible for some workers to_
get $400 a month during “early retirement”
until age 65.

The supplement remains in effect until the
worker reaches the age of 65. Then it halts.
But Social Security benefits can start at that

age for the worker:
eligible for them.

and

his

wife

who

are

Voluntary early retirement is possible with
these benefits under the “point” system in
the current agreements. A worker can retire voluntarily from the age of 55 on, provided he has the required 85 “points.” The
points are the total of the worker’s age plus
his years of credited service.
Thus, a 55-year-old worker with 30 years
on the job would have the required 85 points
for voluntary early retirement. So would a
08-year-old worker with 27 years of service.
But it’s important to remember, in this
area, that the supplement will be paid only
to workers who retire on or after Sept. 1.
Both Klasey and Wilson had high praise for
all aspects of the new pension provisions.
Highly crucial to them and their wives, too,
was the gain of full company payment of
hospital-medical-surgical insurance coverage.
“That was all so many of us had looked
for, even though we hoped for the pension increase, too,’ Klasey said. “What UAW won
closed

the

gap

of dissatisfaction

among

re-

February,

r

1965—-UAW

SOLIDARITY—Page

5

Slogans won't make a more
wonderful America.

Here,

union delegates point to a
legislative path for a program
for all the people

of the labor-supported measures, Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey told the conference.
Labor’s legislative program, he added, involves “very much the same objectives and
purposes” as those of the Johnson Adminis-

The program: legislation to benefit people,
to help build President Johnson’s “Great
Society.”
The problem: getting quick action by Congress to pass these laws.
‘The procedure: started at the AFL-CIO’s
biggest-ever legislative conference in the nation’s capital.

tration.

These legislative aims also were stressed
by UAW Secretary-Treasurer Emil Mazey,
UAW Vice President Pat Greathouse and
UAW
Citizenship
Dept.
Director
Roy

Reuther when they met with UAW delegates
before the conference got under way.

During its four days of sessions, 800 union
leaders and delegates did more than zero in
on specific legislative goals.

They also spent part of the time spelling
out the need for these laws with senators
and congressmen from their home areas.
Highlighted at the conference were such
needs as improved Social Security, Federal
unemployment compensation standards, education aids and health insurance for the
elderly.
Also: Public works to combat unemployment, improved minimum wage legislation
with broader coverage as well as a higher
basic pay, repeal of the Taft-Hartley law’s
much criticized Section 14(b) which permits
states to pass ‘“‘open shop” laws, and the
Johnson Administration’s anti-poverty program.
U nion members will have to help “every
day, every week, every month” of both sessions of the current Congress to win passage

~

Said Mazey: the November national election was “a plebiscite for civil rights. It was
the closest thing to a national referendum
on this issue that our nation has ever had.”
Additionally, the UAW
officer said, the
Johnson landslide victory was “‘a mandate for
peace.”’ American voters had shown faith in
President Johnson’s efforts to maintain peace
while they overwhelmingly discarded Republican Barry Goldwater’s ‘‘trigger-happy pronouncements.”’

BD eicoutes to the conference represented almost all AFL-CIO unions and affiliates. ‘'They
came to the nation’s capital from all parts
of the U.S.

Keynote was sounded by AFL-CIO President George Meany when he noted that both

the Johnson Administration and the new
Congress “‘were elected by all the people, of
all social, economic and racial groups, in all
parts of the country.
|
“And because this vast majority endorsed,
through their votes, a program we have ad-

vocated for so long,” Meany said, ““we have
a special responsibility to make sure that
the decision is carried out.”
Vice President Humphrey was dramatically specific as he ticked off the goals and
intentions of the Democratic Administration.
By the time spring arrives this year, he flatly
predicted, ‘‘we will have passed hospital and
nursing home care under Social Security.”

war
Turning .to the Administration’s
against poverty, he emphasized this: “to

help those who need help does not deny the
good things of life to the people who already
have them.” The anti-poverty program, he
said, “is no share-the-wealth program; it is
an expand-the-wealth program.”
The nation’s vice president also stressed
goals for education legislation as well as

measures to aid health and combat cancer,
mental retardation, mental illness and other

devastating diseases. He also hammered on
the need to modernize the nation’s unemployment compensation system and to implement

the new
fairly.

But,

Civil

Rights

Humphrey

Act

also

effectively

warned,

both

and

the

recognize
and labor must
Administration
that the 1966 congressional elections also can
play some determining role in deciding the
fate of various Johnson proposals. There can
be no letup in working steadily to re-elect a
Congress next year with the same liberal
majority as the one chosen last November.
Mazey underscored this in a floor discussion about repeal of the Taft-Hartley law’s
(Continued

on page

7)

;
Vice President Humphrey
“A growing economy for the many

' Page

6—UAW

ka

SOLIDARITY—February,

“We’re

1965

IUD’s Jack Conway

committed

to fight poverty

.. .”

UAW’s

Emil

Mazey

“A mandate

with

Mr.

Humphrey

for peace...”

The Laws
We Need
(Continued

from

page

6)

Section 14(b). No union worked harder than
UAW to elect senators and representatives
who would make repeal possible, he said.
But so-called “right-to-work” laws—passed
under authority of that section of the Federal
law—stem from action by state legislatures
chosen on the basis of unfair representation.
He said the fight for ‘‘“one man, one vote”
legislatures must be carried into the current
“open shop” states to obtain fair legislative
apportionment. This will result in repeal of
their “right-to-work” laws, he added.

Joseph Beirne, president of the Communi-

cations Workers of America, warned that
far-right extremists and other anti-union
groups would wage an all-out fight to prevent repeal of the restrictive labor section.

i

other major conference speeches:
@ Sen. Eugene
J. McCarthy
(D-F-L.,
Minn.) urged consideration of six significant
areas for improving the Federal unemployment compensation program which, he said,
hasn’t been changed essentially since it was
instituted during the 1930s.
These six areas: the need to improve benefit amounts and duration; updating the law’s
provisions to keep pace with our economy;
making its financing methods current; revising the program to meet the new needs of
the 1960s; providing a Federal program with
national responsibility for unemployment,
and preventing inadequate benefits and taxes
that give some states an advantage over
those which try to maintain decent benefits.
@ Jack T. Conway, executive director of
the AFL-CIO’s Industrial Union Dept., urged
labor to give to the “war against poverty.”
If the nation uses its full resources in this
fight, said Conway, this ‘war’ can be won

Construction of needed community

facilities

in a generation.

(Conway had been on leave to serve as
deputy director of the Office of Economic
Opportunity, the agency established by the
Johnson Administration to wage the antipoverty fight.)
@ Sen. Pat McNamara (D., Mich.) called
for a national regional development council
to attack economic decay where it exists by
region, labor market or groups of counties.
Said McNamara, chairman of the Senate’s
Public Works Committee:
the President’s
Economic Opportunity Act was “part one of
the war on poverty because it called for development of human resources.” The economic assistance act he proposed could be
part two of the same “war” by aiding development of physical resources.
@ Sen. Russell B. Long (D., La.), now
majority whip in the Senate, urged unions
to oppose current high interest rates.
The current rate of more than four per
cent on Federal bonds compares with two
per cent before the Eisenhower Administration. This means “about $6.5 billion extra
that you are paying for no additional service,” he said.
“The public and private debt of this nation now is $1 trillion,” Sen. Long said. “You
push everything up by two per cent and the
extra interest works out to around $20 bil-

lion a year which

tends

heavy Democratic

majority. Rules reform in

Better

schools

for

coming

generations

to be a tax on the

poor for the benefit of the rich.”
@ Rep. John A. Blatnik (D-F-L., Minn.)
proposed a continuing $2 billion-a-year Federal grant program for construction of needed
community facilities. These would include
playgrounds, community centers, sewers and
other projects. Purpose would be long-range
help for the economy, Blatnik said.
@ Presidential assistant Lawrence O’Brien
warned
labor
to
“not
take
things
for
granted” in the new Congress despite the
the House, he noted, was won only with the
aid of 16 Republican votes.
“The climate is good and the opportunity

is here,” O’Brien told the conference.
Then he added a word of caution spoken|
by President Johnson at a Cabinet meeting
earlier that day: “But we can’t sit back and
relax.”

War

on

poverty

February, 1965—UAW

SOLIDARITY—Page 7

=
e*
-

f

I, July A. L. Zwerdling

is going to start on

a job that will last six years and that most
people believe any adult in his right mind

aS

Wr

ee Eee ee ee
ag

Why Not
Good |
Schools

For ALL

,

Children?

LBJ proposes $4 billion
in Federal aid.
board member

A school
looks at

the golden opportunities
it offers.
By GEORGE RYDER
of the SOLIDARITY Staff
ea

Page 8—UAW SOLIDARITY—February, 1965
pee

wouldn’t

touch

with

a

10-foot—no,

that a 20-foot—pole. Two people
from it last year.
It won’t pay him any salary. On
trary, it will cost him because it
precious time away from his highly
ful Detroit law practice.
On

this new

job, he stands

make

resigned
:
the conwill take
successchance

a good

of being plunged into almost constant controversy, besieged by all kinds of pressure
groups—indignant parents, angry teachers,
publicity-hunting politicians and just plain
:
fed-up taxpayers.
He will have the nerve-wracking responsibility of deciding how and where to spend
millions of dollars—and any decision he does
make may well be lambasted in the newspaper editorial columns and by crackpots

accusing him of everything from communism to idiocy.
But Zwerdling’s looking forward to the
job because he’s convinced it’s an opportunity for public service that may help re-

solve one of his city’s—and his nation’s—
most pressing problems.
“What on earth kind of job is that?” you
3
|
ask.
Zwerdling’s going to
city’s board of education.

serve

on

a

large

city is Detroit, the fifth largest in
The
the U.S. Not counting its suburbs, it has a
population of roughly 1.6 million, of whom
upwards of 300,000 are children of school
age.
Like every other major city across the
country, Detroit has too few classrooms,
too many obsolete. school buildings, a dropout problem, not enough qualified teachers

and too little money to attract more.
On top of that—to add to the problems
Zwerdling and his fellow board members
face—Detroit. has a shrinking number of
already-overburdened property owners who
reared up last year and went to the polls
to reject a millage increase in their taxes
to improve their children’s schools.

owner

property

“The

has

about

just

reached the tax saturation point,” Zwerdling

|
3
says.
Zwerdling, a onetime UAW staff member
who now practices labor law, was elected to
the Detroit Board of Education as a member of a three-man slate endorsed by the
city’s unions. The slate represented a citywide coalition of citizens concerned with obtaining better schools for Detroit.

Since

his

last

election

Zwer-

November,

dling has been spending a lot of his spare
time poring over all the statistics he can
find on the school problem. He hasn’t found

much

heartening

information—or

he hadn’t until Jan. 12.

at

least

That was the day President Johnson sent
a message to Congress asking for an exprogram
panded Federal aid to education
with authority to spend some $1.5 billion
in the next year.
All told, if President Johnson’s request
is granted, the total Federal outlay on education in his next budget will come to $4.1
billion, including, of course, $2.6 billion for
already-existing programs.
Every penny of the Johnson Administration proposal has Zwerdling’s resounding
approval.

Like every public official who’s caught in
the Federal aid to education wrangle, Zwer-

dling appreciates the President’s effort to
sidestep the political-philosophical-religious
dispute that has hung up the issue of Federal
aid from the time of the founding fathers.
Ever since Washington, Madison, Jefferson and Hamilton acknowledged that public education is a government obligation if
this democracy is to survive, public spirited

men have

taken

up the cudgels for Federal

ald.
Yet, for nearly 200 years, the issue has
been a political hot potato. Congress after
Congress has investigated, studied, debated

one House
and even—in
passed a Federal aid bill,

problem

or the other—
only to toss the

back into the laps of the states.
(Continued

on

page

9)

On the simple basis of ability-to-pay, the
Federal government could do a lot to take
the strain off worried
property
owners,
bankrupt cities and harassed state legislatures that dare not tap the taxpayer again.

This is important because the tragedy of
t
tha
n
bee
has
w
no
to
up
e
tal
n
io
at
uc
ed
the
these children of the poor have been the

very

ones

education

need

who

most

“But there’s still another side to this
problem that worries me as a school board
member,” says Zwerdling.
“Even if we bring Federal money into

if they

are to become skilled workers, with decent
incomes and the knowledge and information
that will make them responsible citizens.
ued
the
g
in
tt
ge
n’t
are
ey
th
t
tha
t
fac
e
Th
en
dd
sa
me
so
in
up
s
ow
sh
ed
ne
ey
th
ion
cat
ing figures:

@ That some
school without
e That 23 per
even meet the

the program, can we persuade our children
to take advantage of it?
“When I campaigned for this job, I argued
- that one of the most important aspects of

good
“I

30 per cent of our kids quit
even a high school diploma.
cent of our youngsters can’t
skill requirements of Selec-

tive Service.
dull
are
statistics
“I know
Zwerdling said, “but I’d like to
in

Relation

to

the one who’s
school. Why?
“T’m

reading,”
point out

time.

basis of
less than
on makhis life-

_

“Divide that into $129,000 and you'll find
can

expect

an

average

annual

income

most

he has

that

apt

to

drop

because

of

little incentive.

Yet he’s

out

his

His

of

sur-

par-

ents aren’t education-oriented and therefore
can’t instill in him the value of education

“On the face of it, that seems like quite
a lot of money. But, say such a person is
lucky enough to work from the time he’s
18 till he’s 65—or 47 years.
he

convinced

-roundings,

Education.’

_ “Miller’s analysis showed, on the
actual incomes, that a person with
eight years of schooling can figure
ing only a little over $129, 000° in

training.
the poverty-

of

roughly $2,745. Try living decently and raising a family on that.
“On the other hand, Miller figures a per-

son with four years of college can expect to
earn over $350,000 in his lifetime.
“Let’s say he gets out of school at 20
and works until he’s 65—or 45 years. Simple
division shows he can expect to earn an
8
average of $9,88
a year.

-

“That’s quite a difference.
“But, I don’t think anybody disputes the
income value of education to children. The
rub comes in paying for it.”
The U. S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare has pointed out the fallacy
in the financing of schools as it has been

training

in

ll
wi
at
th
nd
ki
e
th
t
n’
is
fe
li
e
m
o
h
“His

spur him to take books home and study, ©
because (1) the surroundings are depressing
and (2) he'll have no one there to talk
to about what he’s learning.
“You know a lot of people forget that
Abraham Lincoln’s father didn’t-approve of
Abe ‘wasting’ his time doing sums. Fortunately, he had a stepmother who encouraged him.”

“I couldn’t agree

more,” Zwerdling

said, _

“and if there is any way I can steer he
.troit’s education policy toward a correction
of this, I want to find it.”
:
Zwerdling recognizes the difficulties that
have
ning

plagued Federal aid since the beginof this country—and particularly the

issue of public versus
schools.

private

and parochial

“The founding fathers couldn’t even unravel this once they agreed, and rightly so,
on the policy of separation of church and
state,” he said.
“TI do think, however, that President Johnson has worked out an approach that offers
the greatest chance of overcoming this longstanding stumbling block.”
Zwerdling had to cut short his interview
with SOLIDARITY:
he had to get ready
for a trip to Washington to attend a conference
at which
officials
of the
Office

Wien Zwerdling campaigned for this job,
he advocated pre-school training for children from poorer families.
“I’m sort of proud of the fact,” he says,
“that when the educator and economist,
John
Kenneth
Galbraith,
author
of The
Affluent Society, came to Detroit last October, he put great emphasis on the value
of pre-school training.
“Then, President Johnson devoted a large
part of his proposal to this same subject.
“He pointed out to Congress for instance,
that in New York City, children from slum
neighborhoods
who went to nursery schools
performed better in the third and fourth
grades than those who didn’t.

of Economic Opportunity—the anti-poverty
agency—were going to explain how they

were prepared to work with local school.
boards. |
“That’s the kind of Federal aid I can
use personally,’ Zwerdling said, laughing.

—

ileus

Fl

done up to now.

or give him the rudimentary
reading and studying he’ll need.

Livrdting is convinced, for that matter,
that the child from the poorer family and
the slum neighborhood gets very little help
and public encouragement all the way up the
educational ladder—up to and including college.
He referred to an article by the educaSexton,
Cayo
Patricia
sociologist,
tional
published in SOLIDARITY last August. It
said, in part:
“On one side of the track, in high schools
attended by executives’ offspring, usually
100 per cent of students go to college.
‘“‘Across the tracks and into the working
class high school, we often find only about
five per cent hurdling the ivy walls.
‘“‘Are the executives’
sons
smarter?
|
have taught all kinds and I am convinced
they are not. They are richer, not smarter. —
They are better prepared for college because
they go to better public schools. But I see
nothing in what nature has put into their
heads that entitles them to special college
privileges.
“In the elite high school, typically, even
those at the bottom of the class go to col-.
lege. In the lower income school, even those
at the top often do not.”

rah A ea

~
eke
bee

Income

education is pre-school
think most of us agree

stricken child needs education most.

some conclusions made by Herman P. Miller
in a 1960 study he called ‘Annual and Life-.
time

allowed to
is paid for

R. mine Putrae ds ie

cent, to be exact—and yet is
spend only 4.4 per cent of what
education.

ia
st

what is spent toward educating our youngsters.
Contrast that with the fact that, as the
shows, the Federal government colHEW
lects well over half of all taxes—68 per

i ih ees

the answer
you know
home,
your own
every time you have to pay your taxes.
Aside from this adroit handling of a
ticklish political issue, Zwerdling appreciates the direction in which President Johnson pointed his aid program.
“The biggest share of the aid is aimed at
those who really need it—the children of
the poor, who suffer the most from runschools,”
understaffed
inadequate,
down,
,
Zwerdling said.

a

another mere 16 per cent and pay out more
than twice that amount—389.1 per cent—of

Ca

own

;

you

if

3

been—well,

has

Vee

result

The

gots:

The states, in turn, tapped the broadest
property
base of revenue they had—the
owner—to supply the funds for education.

“He also reminded Congress that in Baltimore, among children with language and
~~ eultural handicaps, two-thirds of those who
took part in a city-wide pre-school training
program made the top 50 per cent of their
first-grade classes, while one-sixth of them
| made the top one-fourth.
program
same
the
see why
“IT don’t
wouldn’t pay off as well in my city, Detroit,
or in any large city.”

figures show that local governments
mere 16 per cent of our taxes and
out 56.5 per cent—more than half—
is spent on education in the U. 8.
governments,
says
HEW,
collect

Sphlind

HEW
collect a
yet, pay
of what
State

;

(Continued from page 8)

e

@

a

Taught under 26, 000) different schoo! sysorne!

In ‘63, the per capita

- governments—Federal,

expenditure

state and

Federal government was beeimed

*§

on education

local—was $131

to spend

of al

of which

only $4.

7
4

3

a

the

@ initial hope in Federal aid to education is to assist school
systems with children of families with incomes under $2,000 a year.

@ Of the need for Federal oid, Anthony 5 Colebrezze, Secretary
of Health, Education and Welfare, says: “Nothing matters more
_ to the future of our country; not our military prepardness, for _
armed might is worthless if we lack the brainpower to builda _

world of peace; not our productive economy, for we cannot sustain.

_ growth without trained manpower; not our democratic system, tor
| freedom is. fragile if citizens are ignorant.”

.

February, 1965—-UAW SOLIDARITY—Page 9

3s

ING

OUTDOORS

Really Big Game: The Cougar!
By Fred Goetz

greased lightning when pursued.
Contrary to general belief, the
cougar does not leap on its prey
from a tree limb. (Sorry, Hollywood.)
When
leaping
upon
a

Now that the big game hunting season has tapered off, many

hunters are leveling their sights
on predators. One of the cagiest
and
toughest
to track
is the
cougar, otherwise known as the
puma, panther, mountain lion or
painter.
While the hunter stalks the
“big cat,’ chances are, the cat
is also stalking. For it, too, is
a hunter of big game—deer, wild
Sheep,
goat,
boar,
even
elk.
Where deer are plentiful, they
provide as much as 80 per cent

large animal it will bite into the
neck or throat.
It is not uncommon
for the
cougar to stalk the hunter who,

In

turn,

is

stalking

it.

Many

hunters have found evidence of
this—a cougar doggin’ their own
tracks. Such “reverse tracking’’

is credited to curiosity, for the
cougar has a deathly fear of man
although there are rare accounts
of them attacking a hunter.
A cougar
will feed upon
a

Mountain lake near Booneville,
Ark. Bill says Blue Mountain is
also good for bass. If the size of
those crappies is any barometer,
those bass must be monsters.
UAW members—and members

of the cougar’s diet.
Also on the cougar’s bill of
fare are livestock.
They
have
been known to attack a fair-sized
bull and raise havoe with calves
and
ponies,
even _ full-grown
horses. There is a record of a

of their families—can

The cougar

animal

ee

like

a tree

up

shinny

will

but

is a ground

Federal income tax returns, of course, are not due until April 15.

the

“But

legal

it will pay you to plan early on how

rules,

including

minimum,”

expert.

says

some

new

Sidney

earn

ones,

to

Margolius,

hold

to take advantage
your

taxes

SOLIDARITY

to

of

the

consumer.

“If well-to-do taxpayers use all available tax savers, but wageearners do not know them, or are apathetic, more of the nation’s

taxes are shifted to your shoulders.

a

“Along with this year’s tax cut, several changes
that you ought to know about,” Margolius says.

were

made

STANDARD DEDUCTION. If you don’t have enough deductions

to itemize, you now have your choice of two standard deductions.
One is 10 per cent of your adjusted gross income as before. The
other is the new “minimum standard deduction.”
It is especially important to low-income families and to youngsters who work part time, such as older high school and college
students. The “minimum standard deduction” allows you $200 plus

$100 for each exemption you claim.
A married couple with three children could claim a minimum
standard deduction of $700 ($200 plus $100 for each of the five

exemptions).
A part-time worker, such as a working student, now does not owe
any tax at all until he or she earns over $900 a year, although
he still has to file a return if he earns over $600.

People over 65 get an additional minimum standard allowance of
$100, as do blind people. A married couple over 65 thus could take
a minimum standard deduction of $600 (the normal $200 plus
$200 each).
A married couple with two children and income of $5,000 a year,
would take the new minimum standard deduction, which would
amount to $600, rather than the 10 per cent standard deduction

carcass until most of the edible
meat has been consumed, but will
not touch it after it has become
putrid. It will cover up its kill
with dead leaves and other debris and return to it for several
feedings.
For cougar hunting, we recommend: a light carbine—a 30/30

Send it to: Fred Goetz (LI), c/o
Solidarity,
8000
E.
Jefferson,
Detroit 14, Michigan,
Please mention your UAW local number.

or .32 special with as fast a load
as you can get. (Illustration by
Harold Cramer Smith.)
®
8
@

While chilly blasts and flying
snowflakes are whipping around
the cabin
door, here’s
a few

warming
thoughts—last
summer’s fishing fun by the membership:
. . . Joe Arit of Milwaukee,
Wis., a member
of Local 248,
recommends the waters of Pewaukee for largemouth bass and

takes his via the light and easy
method of spin fishing. Here’s a
snap of Joe with a full circle of

largemouth fooled with a Mepps
spinner.
. . . Here’s also a pic of Ed-

ward G. Sexton of Lockport, IIl.,
a member of Local 558. Ed dis-

plays an eight-pound catfish he
caught
from
No
Name
Lake.
That
youngster
in
the _ background is Mr. Sexton’s son John,
who is quite a hand at catching
bluegills—and he cleans ’em: himself.

. . . Chalk

up a column

record

(although this family might save further by itemizing). But the
same size family earning over $6,000, would take either the 10

per cent allowance or itemize.

CARE

OF

wives, widows
$900 for the
two or more
to be eligible
families now
This

deduction

CHILDREN,

OTHER

DEPENDENTS.

Working

is available

physically or mentally incapacitated.

to husbands

whose

wives

titled to a deduction.

|

For example, an employer may give you an allowance of $500
for moving. But your actual expenses may total $1,000. Thus
you can deduct $500. If the employer makes no reimbursement at
all, you can deduct your entire expense.
You can deduct not only costs of moving belongings, but also
your family’s transportation expenses, meals and lodging en route.

The deduction is allowed only if your new place of work is at
least 20 miles further from your former residence than your old

job. You can take this deduction in arriving at your income on
Page 1 of Form 1040, even though you take a standard allowance
for other usual deductions instead of itemizing.

10—-UAW

SOLIDARITY—February,

1965

ae

Mrs. Strebe

are

MOVING EXPENSES. Another helpful new benefit in these days
when workers sometimes must move to take jobs, is the new moving deduction.
If you move for employment reasons, you probably will be en-

Page

elena

and widowers now can take a deduction of up to
care of children and other dependents if they have
dependents. The $4,500 limitation on family income
for this benefit, has been raised to $6,000. So more
can take this deduction and take larger amounts.
also now

a coil

of SCOTCH line by sending in a
snapshot of a fishing or hunting
scene—and a few words as to
what the snapshot is all about.

large cougar that either killed or
maimed a total of 19 sheep in
one night.

Strebes take their fishing vacations in Canada. Fred says the
fish they catch there make the
illustrated finster appear as minnows. “Fishing’s so good sometimes, we get ’em on a _ hookrigged can opener,” says Fred.
. . . William F. Blanscet of
Kansas City, Mo., is one angler
lad that can really talk about
Saucer-sized crappie and here’s
photographic proof of that claim
—Bill with a bowed-in-the-middle stringer
eased
from
Blue

Joe Arit
on brown trout for UAW member
Ken
Lyons
of
Waterloo,
Iowa. He nipped a 414 pounder
from Otter Creek on the most
oft’ used lure in America—a: garden hackle, otherwise known as
a worm.
|
... UAW member Fred Strebe
of Owosso, Mich., says angling is
a top summer pastime for him
and his wife. Here’s a photo of
Mrs. Strebe with a great northern, nipped in the Lansing area
a
few
years
back.
Now
the

William

Blatiscet

n
o
i
l
l
i
M
$3

Pensioners’ Test Case
mated
case.

By STEVE SCHLOSSBERG
(Assoc. General Counsel, UAW)

What’s the biggest pot you’ve ever looked
at over a poker hand?
It may have looked mountain-high at the
time, but imagine the stake in trials and
hearings involving workers and, of course, in
negotiations.
In such cases, the “pot” can be in the
millions of dollars or it can be the fate
of workers or it can be something invisible: a principle!
All three are on the table now in an important test case embarked on by the UAW
against the Studebaker Corp.
Instances of fact will be played like cards,
one fact or one thought against another. Accepted principles of law are aces. And a judge
or arbitrator decides the winning hand.
The UAW is trying to prove that a
company obligation to pay health and
welfare benefits to retired employes lives
on after a collective bargaining agreement expires!
The fate of the health-life insurance benefits of more than 3,000 Studebaker retirees
rides on this lawsuit.
Under
the
UAW-Studebaker
contract
which expired last Oct. 30, the company
promised to pay life and health insurance
benefits “for each retired employe... until
such employe dies, is re-employed in any
capacity by the company, or engages in any
gainful occupation or work and is eligible for
coverage under another group insurance program.”
The contract said nothing about stopping
payment at its expiration date. As might be
expected, Studebaker and its lawyers don’t

see it that way. They reason that when the
contract expires, the benefits stop.
The union has won a temporary injunction from the Federal district court
forcing Studebaker to continue the payments until the matter is decided on
trial, probably this month or next.
The court also ordered UAW to post a $3
million bond to cover the company’s esti-

Herblock & Mauldin

liability in case Studebaker

the

wins

Studebaker
however,
In the meantime,
retirees are protected from the devasting
expense of serious illness and their families
are guaranteed the security of life insurance.

This is, however, only the first skirmish and
there’s more to come.
The case is bound to be in the courts for
a long time, not only because there is a
huge sum of money involved but because of
the principle likely to be established either
way.
UAW lawyers are of the opinion that collective

bargaining

animals’”—unlike

agreements

ordinary

are

Saye ates
On History

“peculiar

commercial

con-

tracts. Labor agreements, we urge, must be
construed in the light of human considerations.
The legal department believes that the
thrust of our public law is to protect the kind
of rights at issue here. While the exact ques‘tion here is novel, we hope to convince the
courts that other cases point the way and
lead, inevitably, to the conclusion that Studebaker cannot escape its obligation to these
veterans of the shop.

Obviously, reams of theoretical arguments
and citations of cases up to and including
the Supreme Court will be before the court.
But, somehow,

we

cannot

help

but feel that

the presence of the retirees themselves must
be felt by the conscience of a jury or a judge.
ee
@
5
Last month, SOLIDARITY dramatically
told the story of the Studebaker workers’
plight—and their guts—one year after the
company ended production of cars and trucks
in South Bend. That story will become part
of the industrial history of the United
States.
We wanted you to know about a sideline
issue of monumental importance to these
Studebaker workers—and all workers—and
that’s why we’ve outlined this battle-to-come
to secure the benefits of the oldtimers.
Win or lose, the UAW has to make a fight
of it. The union should be a winner but,
it’s not, it will not be for lack of trying.

if

Laws Hamstring
Federal Meat Inspectors
BRIEFLY: Dade County, Fla. health officlals, after counting up nine human dead
from indiscriminate use of pesticides last
year, are moving to ban the sale to the general public of parathion and 138 other “highly
toxic” insect killers. ...
Hyaline membrane disease, fatal to perhaps 25,000 infants a year, reportedly can be
cured by a safe, simple treatment supervised
by doctors: a two-step epsom salts enema
which, Children’s Hospital in Louisville, Ky.,
says, flushes clogged lungs and draws excess

water from body tissues.
ee
@

Safest meat you can buy is that approved
by the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture—but what
most shoppers don’t realize is that 20 per

cent of all meat

are largely

is processed

off-limits

in plants

to Federal

that

inspectors.

Without realizing it, you can buy meat

from four-legged animals that have been
used by experimental laboratories to test
the effectiveness or safety of food addi—
drugs, pesticides or other chemicals.
And only if that meat crosses state lines do
the Dept. of Agriculture’s inspectors have a
chance to examine it. A contradiction in the
laws says Federal inspectors can’t force their

attention

on

butchers

who

sell only

within

their own states. ©
Food and Drug Administration officials
have authority to test only processed meat
for chemical residues.

Health

Bulletin,

a liberal-minded

medical

publication, recently reported that substantial numbers of cattle, sheep, swine and goats
used by. both private and university labora-.
tories are slaughtered and, eventually, their

meat sold “if the operators of the laboratories decide that it is safe to eat.”’
Res@irchers at several experiment stations
claimed that some animals, or parts of animals, were destroyed when it was felt their

meat was dangerous.
“it apBulletin observed,
But, Health
peared that each institution was setting its

own

policy.”
Last April, the Dept. of Agriculture
drafted a set of tighter controls over the
use of test-animal meat. Health Bulletin
pointed the finger straight at experimenters and drug manufacturers and
said the tighter controls were quashed
because of their pressure.
Now the department hopes for regulations
that’ll allow inspection of research animals
before they are slaughtered—but the rules
will still permit sale of such meat to unsuspecting consumers.
ee
@
MORE IN BRIEF: Progesterone given to
pregnant women who appear to have a hormone
insufficiency may
prevent cerebral
palsy in the newborn, reports Dr. Marshall
D. Chefetz of Allentown, Pa., to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. He studied 200 cerebral palsy children
and the pregnancies of their mothers over
a two-year period. ...
Getting old people to move around more
may be all that’s needed to cure senility,
Pennsylvania Dr. Murray Miller says. To
the American Therapeutic Society, he says
60 per cent of patients over 60 who appear
to be senile “are simply not getting enough
air—they’re hypoventilating’”’. Stimulation of
breathing prevents carbon dioxide build-up.

February,

1965—UAW

SOLIDARITY—Page

11

lesson from everyday observations.
I had been in Cochabamba,
Bolivia, exactly six days. As a

A Chocolate

Maryknoll missioner assigned to
Peru, I was to study Spanish

Bar and
A Haircut
Bolivia: two common

incidents

show

economic

injustice more vividly than
most textbooks do.
By

The

Rev.

Gerard

W.

Beck

We had been warned about
“cultural shock.”
I wondered whether it came

in the night like a virus. Or per-

haps it came with a certain vio-

lence.
But

it

wasn’t like that
fact, it happened

all. In
imperceptibly
that
I
have
forgotten
the

at
so

would
whole
thing except that Pm crazy
about chocolate bars and I usually need a haircut every
three weeks.
What do they have to do with
cultural shock? Plenty. Those of
us who are not experts in matters economic and do not begin

each

day

Journal

with

often

Two thousand, five hundred,
indeed!
Wait
a minute,
I
frowned. Two thousand bolivianos equal about 16 cents,
and quinientos is about a nick-

the Wall
learn

Street

no _ small

{

for the next five months at our
regional language school with
other new missioners.
We had been at the language
school only a few days when,
armed with “thank you” and
“where do you get the bus?”
we headed timidly into town. I
would have preferred waiting
until we had mastered lesson
six: “How to Contact the American Embassy,” but the lure of a
new city was too much for all
of us.
On the main plaza I found a
barber shop. Service was good
and quick. The shop was well
kept. I did miss the buzzing of
clippers but things are a little
less electrical down here.
The
almost four weeks
of
travel from Maryknoll to Cochabamba had offered no opportunity for a barber, so I was delighted when the barber smiled
at his finished work..
My first lesson in Latin American economics began when he
removed the cloth from around
my neck and snapped it in one
dramatic
motion.
‘‘Cuanto
le
debo ?” I dared to ask in my uncertain Spanish. ‘Dos mil quinientos,”’ he said as he bowed.

Pride of St. Louis: VAW
ST. LOUIS, Mo.—AIl of the players have
some kind of leg disability; most cannot
walk.
ie
Yet the team has rolled to three national
basketball championships and has given this
area’s sports fans a new kind of athletic competition.
The team is the UAW-sponsored St.
Louis Rolling Rams, a nationally known
wheelchair. basketball team.
Founded by a UAW assembly line worker
in 1948, the team is now in its 17th season
under the sponsorship of UAW
Region 5
Director Ted Hawks and the UAW Citizen-

ship-Education Council of Greater St. Louis.
And true to past performance, the team is
leading the Western Division of the MidWest Conference with an unbeaten record.
Joe Gorke, a sprayer at Fisher Body in St.
Louis and a member of UAW Local 25, first
got interested in wheelchair basketball when

el. I owed my barber friend,
after 20 minutes of his time
and professional talent, only
20 cents!
Outside

the

sun

the

team.

sad

fact

I

farming

and

grazing,

the

two

steady sources of income in lessdeveloped
and
__less-populous
areas. So the economic story of
Latin America is that prices go
up, wages stay down.
Certainly
I had
read
and
heard of this dilemma of the underdeveloped areas of the world
in many books and lectures in
missiology and economics. But
until that sunny afternoon in
the
plaza
of Cochabamba,
I
never really felt the urgency
and injustice of it all.

cana. First, manufactured goods
such
as.
clothes,
mechanical
items,
canned
and _ packaged
foods are extremely expensive.
Because there is almost no industrialization _ there,
these
items are imported from Europe
and the U.S., and are priced out
of reach of the majority of the
people.

Father Beck, a
Maryknoll mis-

sioner assigned
to

this

Peru,

sent

dispatch

to
Maryknoll
Magazine,
which permitted SOLIDARITY to reprint.

Champs in Wheelchairs

Kansas City

Pioneers

wheelchair

team.

“Most of the players on my original team
were disabled veterans,” said Gorke. “I got
a lot of amputees, then later some polio
paraplegics.”’
.
At that time, there were only six wheelchair teams in the country but the sport
has grown until there are now 44 teams
throughout the country.
Donating nearly all his spare time and
energy to the project, Gorke took on the task
of getting labor unions and car dealers to
donate wheelchairs and uniforms for his first
“None

second

learned that afternoon is tha
Latin
American
labor
is
cheap.
In a_ society
which
values a man’s time in terms
of 10 or 15 cents an hour, it
is no exaggeration to suggest
that this society considers a
man’s
dignified
labor as a
rather inexpensive item.
The reason is that an increasing
population
cannot
find
enough
gainful
occupation
in

profound lesson in Latin Ameri-

Returning to St. Louis, he immediately
went to work organizing his own wheelchair

team.

We

circled the plaza and happened
upon a candy store. I decided to
dash in and pick up a few candy
bars to keep me going during
the long hours of class in the
weeks ahead.
But swapping numbers with
the proprietor took time. ‘‘Four
thousand bolivianos,” he said.
“Just one, not a whole carton,”
I explained. Then I understood.
What he was telling me was
that one chocolate bar cost almost 40 cents—or about double
what I had paid for the dignified
professional service of the barber. Incredible!
Within a half hour, then, I
had experienced a simple but

he attended an American War Dads convention in St. Joseph, Mo. and saw an exhibition

by

shone.

The.

of the guys

knew

anything

at

all about wheelchair basketball so we
started working out at the police gym
twice a week,” Gorke said. “Frankly, I |
didn’t know too much about basketball
myself but I used to play a lot of soccer
so I taught the boys a lot of soccer patterns.”
These soccer patterns and Gorke’s enthusiasm soon paid off. In their first game on December 30, 1948, the Rams lost badly to the
Kansas City team that had inspired Gorke.
But by the end of the 1949-50 season, the
team had compiled 14 straight victories and
was invited to the second National Wheelchair Basketball Tournament in. Hannibal,
Mo., where the Rams won their first of three
consecutive national championships.
Under Gorke’s guidance for 10 years, the
Rams finished second in the national tournament twice, third three times, and fourth
once.
Gorke’s Local 25 donated money to help
the team through these early years but
Gorke still had a hard time meeting operating expenses.
“We got by on a shoestring from one season to the next,” said Gorke, “until I met
Ted Hawks. He showed a lot of interest in
the team and helped us through some rough
years.”
The team

again ran into financial difficulties the last two years-and Hawks came to
the rescue once more, with the UAW pledg-

ing full financial support for the 1964-65
season.
Walter Petro, a member of Gorke’s original

1948 team, is now general manager and
player-coach is Ron Stein, a four-time

the
All-

American for the University of Illinois Gizz
Kids and winner of eight gold medals in the
1964 wheelchair olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
A native of O’Fallon, Ill., just across the
river from St. Louis, Stein was an all-around
high school athlete who was debating between pro baseball bonus offers and Big Ten
athletic scholarships when he suffered an
attack of polio.
Stein did not get his athletic scholarship
or his baseball contract but he-went on to
establish an outstanding record in wheelchair
athletics.
Stein’s performance is an excellent exam-

ple of the part teams like Joe Gorke’s Rolling

Referee

Page

12—-UAW

Don

Young

flips the

SOLIDARITY—February,

ball and

1965

away

roll the

courageous

Rams

Rams have played in proving
not disability, counts.”

that

“ability,

Sen. Thomas Kuchel:
“Stand up and fight extremists”

Cong. Adam Clayton Powell:
“Problems of joblessness severe”

= The Laws We Need
(See

pages

6 and

to
WASHINGTON—Delegates
the AFL-CIO’s massive conference heard many details about the
laws needed to achieve the “‘Great
to
talked
they
Society”—and
senators and congressmen about
the need for these laws.
About 800 delegates attended
the
109 from
the conference,
UAW. In a talk to the UAW dele-

gates,
house

Vice President Pat
that
emphasized

“wants to build
for all.”

Sen.

Clinton

Anderson:

are

“Laws

to

laws

a better

improve

that

help

Greatlabor

America

education

all

young-

7)

sters,” he said. “Laws that make
it possible to teach skills to the
so
unemployed,
the
unskilled,

they can get decent jobs—laws
to develop our cities, help our

rural areas, clear our slums—laws
to provide better facilities for
nursing home care, for hospital
eare, for recreation for senior
citizens—every such law not only
helps us, it helps all people,”

Greathouse said.
Senators and congressmen delivered major talks at the conference whose chairman was AFLCIO legislative department direc-

tor

Andrew

Biemiller.

Cong. John Brademas:
“Education is the key”’

“Medicare ...a logical extension”’

Congressman

talk

about

Raymond

economic

F.

Clevenger

problems

(D.,

of workers

Mich.)

and

in Michigan’s

UAW

Upper

Region

1D

Peninsula.

Director

Kenneth

W.

Robinson

<

Outlook
(right),

Roy Reuther, UAW
Citizenship
Dept. director, emphasized voter
registration when he met with
UAW delegates.

Wry
Jack

for Medicare bill’s passage brought smiles to Indiana Senators Vance Hartke
and Region 3 Director Raymond H. Berndt.

remark by first-term
Edwards (left), UAW

Michigan
executive

Congressman John Conyers
board member-at-large, and

(left) and Birch Bayh

(right) brought chuckles from Nelson
Nat Weinberg, special projects director.°
*

February,

1965—UAW

SOLIDARITY—Page

13

Postscript

South Bend

Among the former Studebaker
workers mentioned in the article
as having found new employment
despite his age was Jerry Taelman, UAW shop chairman at the
Kaiser Jeep truck plant in South
:
Bend.
Brother Taelman died of a
heart attack Jan. 11, shortly after
the January issue of SOLIDARITY had been mailed out. He suc-

a
adds
sadly
SOLIDARITY
tragic note to last month’s fea-

cumbed instantly sitting in the
very forklift truck on which he
was pictured in SOLIDARITY.
He was 59 years old.
To his widow, we express
sincerest condolences.

BUT STRIKE

our

IN AUBURN:

FORCED

8,000 B-W Workers

Hail Newest Pacts
The

Nine UAW settlements across
the broad Borg-Warner complex
wasn’t enough: deadlock at the
firm’s. 10th division has resulted
in. strike action.
Ken

Bannon,

director

of

the

dated method of bargaining was
bound to see some workers
hurt as well as the company.”

tors:

On strike is the Warner Motive
division in Auburn, Ind., where
400 are employed.
Bargaining with B-W began in
August and stretched out through
the year and into 1965.

at

responding to the Big Three pact,
including:
@ Improved pensions including
the $4.25 per month per year of

service, $1.45 per month per year
of service for present retirees,
$400
supplement,
special early
and disability retirement in the

for retirees. The average increase
in life insurance was $1,000, and
$10

per

sickness

week

and

for

52

accident

weeks

for

benefits.

2.5 per

cent

for

1965

and

annual improvement factor for
one year because of the cost
of the
pension
improvements.

divisions resulted in an economic
settlement for each division cor-

sions agreed to pay for all insurance for active employes and hospital-medical-surgical
insurance

in-

2.8 per cent for. 1966. Some divisions had to forego part of the

nine

amount of $4.25 per month per
year of service plus $5.20 per
month per year of service.
diviinsurance:
@ Improved

was

for UAW members and their dependents. In addition, the transition and bridge survivor income
benefits were also negotiated.
an _ additional
@ Vacations:
week plus additional pay increases
were negotiated for vacation allowances.
improveadditional
@ SUB:
ments in benefits. Simplification
of language and the continuation
of the five cents an hour contribution.
additional
two
@ Holidays:
holidays.
@ Jury duty and bereavement
3
pay.
facimprovement
@ Annual

of bargaining.
“While 8,000 Borg-Warner
workers are now far better off
due to the settlements we did
reach,” Bannon said, “this out-

bargaining

schedule

creased to provide more coverage

UAW’s B-W Dept., blamed the
last-step stumble on the absence
of a master agreement.
Negotiations had to be conducted on a division-by-division
basis, absorbing many extra days

Successful

surgical

-

Pension
costs varied
from
17
cents to 30 cents an hour for the
various divisions.
cents
nine
@ Cost-of-living:
was frozen in the base rate in all
plants.
“The Warner division refused
to meet the economic
pattern
negotiated at its other plants
and, in addition, the company is
insisting on a 20 per cent reduction in incentive standards.
“The UAW was willing and, in
fact, proposed that the standards
be investigated on an individual
basis,” Bannon said.
“However the company refused
to accept this approach and insisted on a flat 20 per cent reduction in standards.”
Thus
the
strike began
Jan.
6, 1965, after four months
of
negotiations.

LI Firm Stands Behind
Its $$$—Strike is On
NEW

YORK

600 members

CITY

of UAW

—

Nearly

Local 188

Motor
Standard
by
employed
in Long Island City
Products
struck the manufacturer of ignition system parts.
Strike action followed several
weeks of fruitless negotiations.
The old three-year agreement
expired on Nov. 30, 1964 but despite around-the-clock bargaining,
with the help of state and Federal mediation and conciliation
teams, no agreement
could be
resolved.
Several issues, including seniority and transfer rights, insurance
programs, production standards
and wage inequities, remained unresolved.
“The union negotiators made
every effort to reach a quick
and equitable settlement with
this company, but despite its
strong financial position, Standard Motors refused to bargain
realistically,’ UAW Region 9A
Director Charles Kerrigan said.
Dante DeSole, Local 188 presi-

dent, pointed out that at the time
of the walk-out no agreement had
been reached on any aspect of
the union’s economic demands.

“The modest demands, including the adjustment of several
basic wage inequities, made by
our members during these negotiations were fair and just, and our
reports show that the company’s
profits picture during the past
several years enables it to meet
our demands without damaging

its competitive position in the
industry,” DeSole said.
He praised the unity and solidarity shown by the entire mem-bership in support of the strike
and he singled out the women
members especially for the man-

ner in which they have responded

to picket line duty.
The local’s bargaining committee received a rousing vote of confidence and
support
from
the
members for its efforts to bring
about a fair settlement of their
just demands.
oe

n
i
W
0
0
0
,
0
1
$

Spurs Plant
Organizing

FLINT, Mich.—The UAW has

gained back pay totaling about
$10,350 for eight persons discharged
and
two
reprimanded
with lost time by Aluminum Extrusions, Inc., at Charlotte, Mich.
The union is conducting an organizational drive at Aluminum
Extrusions and had charged the
12 had been discriminated against
because of their pro-union activity.
Settlement of these 12 cases
was made prior to a scheduled
UAW
the
on
hearing
NLRB
charges.
E. S. Patterson, Region 1C director, is urging union members
knowing persons working at the
Charlotte plant to encourage them
to support the continuing organization effort of the UAW there.

Page

14—UAW

SOLIDARITY—February,

1965

—
I
O
I
T
A
T
U
P
M
A
,
2
6
1
1
,
S
H
T
A
E
D
2
1
2
,
S
H
T
N
O
M
IN 10

y
t
e
f
a
S
t
n
a
l
P
n
o
s
p
m
i
k
S
e
t
‘When a Sta
PRESS

State Rep. Robert

OME BM

Sy cg

niece

PRE I

tie

LANSING, Mich.—Can you be
affected when a state’s labor department does a poor job of curbing industrial accidents and hazards?

i

Sochinn, Pessinart meters rete

pl

RD

toa.

pe enna

-

Cts Rp IM

zs

.

BL

i

.

SRE ION,

1

ig

©

OM

of Michigan’s 58th District says
the answer is clear: yes.
Dingwell, a Lansing Democrat,
has demanded a legislative investigation into the sharp rise
in industrial accidents and _ ill- nesses in Michigan. He says these
are caused by incompetent administration of the state’s department of labor.
increases in indus“When
trial accidents and diseases are
as marked as these have been,”
Dingwell charged, “there’s almost no telling who may be hurt
next.”
Citing figures released by the
department of labor itself, Dingwell pointed out:
@ In the first 10 months of

PACKAGE:

54-CENT

e
l
t
t
e
S
e
t
i
h
W
UAW,

CLEVELAND, O.—A
strike of 3,400 members

Local

32

ended

here

month after the local
reached
agreement

12-week
of UAW

early

this

ratified an
the
with

White Motor Co.
UAW Secretary-Treasurer Emil
Mazey and Region 2 Director Pat
Q’ Malley, who headed the _ barn
o
c
w
e
n
e
h
t
d
i
a
s
- gaining team,
tract included wage increases and
fringe benefits totaling 54 cents
an hour for the next 38 months.
The settlement is similar to
the pattern established last year
_
in the automotive industry.
A major strike issue, production standards, was _ resolved
when both sides agreed to set
up a joint study committee on
incentives. The committee will —
- study the problem over a period of six months and report
recommendations based on its
findings.
A settlement was also reached

Alii

| a he

ee RN

mn

en

es

of
division
Autocar
the
with
White Motors at Exton, Pa., according to a report by Region 9

A Retiree
A perMich. —
LANSING,
turbed governor let slip a loud remark that matches Marie An‘“‘let them

Growled

Gov.

Massey Units
Win Strike

UAW members at all five Detroit Massey-Ferguson units are
back at their jobs, covered by the
benefits of their first three-year
master agreement won after an
11-day strike.
Massey-Ferguson was the last
of the nation’s major farm implement manufacturers to accept

- the master agreement concept.

~. Bard Young, UAW Region 1A
co-director, said the settlement
“provides substantially those improvements won by our union
throughout the agricultural implement industry—improvements
which, in some respects, outstrip
those won in auto bargaining.”
Gains were made, Young said,
not only in wages, hours and

eat

George

i

"&

Rom-

x
¥

tours during

~ costs,

etc., Matusek

said:

“Does

a guy have to be starving to ask
a simple question?”

Dingwell also is
more
put
to
“woefully inadethe department
Johns.
the department
final figures on
accident rate to

Michigan’s

16,500

manufac-

uninestablishments
turing
spected.
@ Despite inspections of only
5,000 of the state’s 100,000 nonmanufacturing outlets each year,
Johns made no request for addi_ tional inspectors for this purpose.
@ Johns asked for higher reinspection fees for ski resorts
but ignored the need to update
Michigan’s outmoded 1909 factory
inspection law.
Said Dingwell, “Gov. ‘Romney
has shown commendable conon our
cern over slaughter
highways. I am asking him to
show the same concern over
slaughter in our factories.”
Meanwhile, the labor department bulletin estimated the economic cost of occupational accidents and injuries in the state at
more than $300 million a year.
But who can estimate the cost
in anguish, misery and suffering
from the loss of an arm, a leg, an
eye—or a life?

‘65.

*TOURS IN NINE DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS

*TRAVEL, LIVING
Example: from
. Tel Aviv,

uly

EXPENSES

INCLUDED

A to July 25, explore the Land

Beersheba,

Haifa, Jerusalem,

Galilee

of the Bible

. . . followed

by a week in Rome, Naples, Sorrento and Capri. Cost foun
York, $876; from Detroit, $941; from Chicago, $966.

runner, either.
He and his wife live on a total
income of $176 a month. Since
retiring from the Chevrolet plant
at Saginaw, Mich., he has suffered two heart attacks.

After years of paying his medical and hospital bills, housing

George Romney.
Romney
urging
money into the
quate” budget for
recommended by
He noted that
itself expects the
1964’s industrial

charged:
Ingham
and
Muskegon
-@
counties, two of the largest inareas of the state,
dustrial
inspection
no _ factory’
have
services. Wayne County, where
400,000 factory workers are
employed, has only six industrial inspectors.
@ Industrial injuries in these
counties have risen more than
1,500 with at least a $15 million
economic loss plus untold human
suffering. But appropriations for
inspectors in the three counties
have not been put to work by
Johns, Dingwell said.
@ The 12 additional inspectors requested by Johns would
leave at least 40 per cent of

Just three of the enchanting ports of call
on the list of UAW members (and families)
who'll take advantage of low-price UAW-arranged

cake.”

starving to me!”
The occasion was a gathering
of some 1,000 UAW pensioners,
rallying in the state capital in
support of tax-relief legislation.
When the Republican governor
(who crashed the meeting) was
asked if he’d support the retirees’
request, he turned on the questioner from the floor who hap- pened to be Matusek.
Matusek doesn’t happen to be
starving. But he’s no Olympic

¢
e

in fringe

lung problems and lead poisoning.
The Michigan labor department
-is headed by Roy W. Johns who
was appointed by Republican Gov.

the legislator.
Dingwell also

e
e
l
i
l
a
G
.
.
.
o
t
n
e
r
r
o
S
.
.
.
Naples

ney to retiree Ludwik Matusek :
“You don’t look like you're

t

but

|

gan, an increase of 30 over the
182 deaths in the same period
the year before.
1964
10-month
the
@ In
period, 1,162 amputations reacciindustrial
from
sulted
dents, a 50 per cent increase
over the 773 for 1963’s 10
months.
todisabilities
@ Permanent
talled 1,195 for the 1964 period,
a jump of 393 over the previous
year’s 10-month total of 802.
@ Total industrial injuries rose
72 per cent from 26,407 in the
first 10 months of 1963 to. 36,175
for the similar time last year.
@ Industrial diseases totalled
1,541 for last year’s 10-month
to 969 the
grouping compared
year before. These included such —
- illnesses as silicosis, dermatitis,

benefits as well. |
Covered under the new agreement are some 1,200 men and
women.

Romney
Lashes

toinette’s

1964, there were 212 deaths due
to industrial accidents in Michi-

Gerber. There,
Director Martin
400 members of UAW Local 131
had been on strike.

working: conditions,

E. Dingwell

be the highest in 11 years. That
estimate came in the agency’s
monthly bulletin.
“When factories and shops are
not inspected, they’re likely to
Dingwell
injuries,’
more
have
said.
Despite this, Johns has asked
for only 12 additional inspectors although the 20 men now
on the staff annually inspect
fewer than 6,500 of Michigan’s
16,500 industrial plants, said

Other tours to Hawaii.
to Scandinavia. . . to
around America.

For

more

information,

write:

New

European countries... special
Mexico... to the Caribbean . . . plus
. . to six

UAW-ATA Tours, 8000
48214
Detroit, Mich.

E. Jefferson,

February,

1965—UAW

SOLIDARITY—Page

15

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re a

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Bea)

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oorees

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SNe em I

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Yoecanere it pice
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“But, when hard times, recessions, are
combined with economic terrorism and a
politically-approved open season on trade
unions, it’s a frightened and bewildered

worker

A

our organizers

UAW

strike

been foisted on the general public. For years
the conservative press, conservative politicans

meet.”’

against

Kohler

was

per-

the Kennedy-Johnson years is resulting in
important decisions based on the law of the

land: workers do have a right to organize
and the right of a worker to decide freely
should not be interfered. with.
business
the anti-union
because
Now:
. the
community of Hartwell, Ga., including
newspaper and radio station, intruded in an
organizing drive at the Monroe Auto Equipment plant, the NLRB saw that city’s power
bloc acting so atrociously thata new election
was ordered on grounds that unfair pressure.
prevented a free-choice election last year.
Now: a company can be ordered to recognize and. bargain with a union where
there’s proof the company set out deliberately and unfairly to destroy a union’s majority
claim in advance of an election.
General Motors has been told that its
“Tech Center’ rule denying workers the
right to possession of union cards and litera-

unorganized

worker.

privileges after we’ve

when

an

unorganized

We

ask for no

organized

worker

been the

special

a plant.

reaches

It’s

out

and tries to join a union that all the rules,
which come with a tirade against organized
labor, work fully against the unorganized

should

pay

off well

this

year,

in

union shops.” The issue: dignity. Management unilaterally had ordered a plant-wide
ee
i
change in job standards. )

ane.

“In many ways, it was easier to organize
|
in 1937 than it is today.”
There’s no law that says a banker can’t
refuse a worker a loan because the worker’s
leaning in favor of a union.

ae temperature didn’t get above 10 the |
next day. Organizers were leafleting Valley.
Die Cast where 300 workers are employed
in three plants clustered in a rundown in-

dustrial pocket in Detroit.

There, workers face an altogether different
problem than what erupted at Grand Steel.
‘We've
said:
Wilson
Gene
Organizer
got everything going for us here and everything against us.”
He meant the UAW’s gains elsewhere are

job if the union wins the election.
‘“‘All these threats can take place—and do
take place—and all we can do is gather evielection
dence and hope to have a new
ordered,” Greathouse said. ‘Meanwhile, the
terror has taken root. A free election becomes impossible.”

meaningful to every worker—but that every
worker is “‘worried.”’
Its
The plant is a Chrysler supplier.
owners owe their start as industrialists to
another union’s pension fund from which

they borrowed nearly $1 million.
By law, that union can’t organize workers
ina plant i in which that. union has an investanother
UAW,
the
challenge
To
ment.
“union” has been fermed—the General Industrial Employes Union—with headquar-—
ters in the bigger union’s head office!
“This could be a rough one,” Wilson said.
Sometimes you wonder how the UAW organizes any plants.
But the union does: 238 plants were organized last year.
That’s one for every work day of the year.

does the UAW manage to win any
How
election?
“There are a lot of brave people in unor“They
said.
Greathouse
ganized shops,’
see what organized workers have accomThey weigh a thing like personal
plished.
dignity and decide that the union way is
the way of dignity, the way to have a say in
what happens to them as human beings during their hours on the job.”
Last year, the UAW struck some of the
to
corporations’
powerful
most
world’s

session.
“We are finally getting some government
rulings which pay proper respect for the
law—the law that says a worker has a right,
as a free man, to make a free choice as to
whether he wants union representation,”

SOLIDARITY—February,

‘big labor.’
“But their real victim has always

year

terms of organizing,” Greathouse said.
(A few moments later, Greathouse’s phone
rang. Organizer William Keeter called to report that Grand Steel and Mfg. Co.’s 255
workers had just voted to come into UAW.
The plant was unorganized for 17 years and
considered ‘‘one of the better-paying non-

There’s no law that says a furniture store
can’t give credit to that worker.
There’s no law that says its illegal for a
company manager to write the wife of a
worker and say her husband could lose his

ture on plant property is a private rule that
can’t abridge the worker’s right to have
whatever literature he wants in his pos-

16—UAW

and

last

have

management

conservative

squawked for laws to control what they call

mitted to drag on for six years and seven
months and a final decision completely favoring the UAW was handed down exactly 10
years and six months after the strike began.
As the press reported the long dispute, it
had an adverse effect on almost every organizing campaign of those 10 years.
The makeup of the NLRB as a result of>

Page

heighten the dignity of workers on the job.
When contracts were signed, greater dignity
startling range of
was there and so was a
new economic benefits.
3
“Our successes at the bargaining table

Greathouse said.
But undue interference is still the rule.
‘You know, a colossal misconception has

(Continued from page 3)

1965
ee

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

Poor Peoples' Campaign

Poor Peoples' Campaign

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

Southern Christian Leadership Conference

Poor Peoples' Campaign

Poor Peoples' Campaign

UAW Solidarity

Item

Media