Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1922-07-21
A. F. OF L. ISSUES
STATEMENT ABOUT
Shipments STRIKE

fContlnueQ from aaG Ns%l q.
Of Labor III convention n Sinciiihaei
last month as follows: -.
II Is OF immediate importance thas
the rights Of the railroad workers 70
cease work, whenever the pressure
becomes toe great and whenever they
doom themselves justified in so doing
must be fully protected. 1t Is wei
enough to urge the need Of continued
TRANSFORMATION facilities in the inter
eets of the general public but 1t car
not be in Tie interest of the general
nublie To continue further and furthel
Inc enslavement of free workers un'
der the devious methods employed by
fbe railroads, to earn dividends ant
nrofifs for a few at the sacrifice OF the
very existence of the railroad work
ers. :,
We point to the fact that the rail
roads in practically every case havt
comnletelv ignored decisions which
they considered contrary to their IN
ferests and we state specifically thai
ninetv-two railroads in 101 cases have
thus ignored the awards of the Board
We repeat that in none Of these cases
has there been the slightest effort OF
the part of the government TO eoerct
railroad arrangements into acceptance
of displeasing awards. On the CON
trarv. in one of the most notable
cases involving the award against the
Pennsylvania Railroad, that railroad
obtained an injunction which pre-.
vented the Railroad Labor Board
from enforcing or even publishing the
decision. The government by It's
silence has been a party to the con-
duct of the railroads in ignoring the
awards of the Railroad Labor Board
and il must thus stand convicted not
only Of inconsistency but Of bad faith
in its present tremendous effort to
coerce the railroad workers into an
acceptance OF an award that is bitter
~ unjust and that violates every
tradition Of American fairness and
justice.
On July the Railroad Labor
Board adopted resolution, which 1t
has since neither Teseinded nor modl-
fed, declaring that the recognized
national organizations of railway en-
ployes who have suspended work have
ceased to represent those classes OF
employees and calling upon non-unlon
men employed by the carriers to form
organizations which would be recog-
nized by the Railroad Labor Board.
This attempt to sanctify and purify
strike breakers and strike breaking
can be construed as nothing less than
an effort on the part Of the govern
ment to assist the railroads and their
Wall Street owners in breaking the
strike and thereby destroying the
standards of wages and conditions
which have in many cases existed on
practically all railroads for period
of thirty years or more.
We construe that action on the part
of the Railroad Labor Board as an
effort to assist the general movement
of Bourbon employers and reaction
airy financial interests throughout the
country to destroy the voluntary or
CARNATIONS of the workers and to
open the door for the re-establishment
of am industrial autocracy in which
the workers would be helpless and in
which they would be in virtue of
bondage to the masters of the indus
trial world.
We construe the presidential proc
lamation issued on July IL as of the
same character and we call attention
to the fact that the proclamation,
while citing a single phase Of railroad
violation Of the Labor Boards awards
placed emphasis upon the stoppage OF
work by the workers, sought to create
the impression that the workers were
acting unlawfully, and called for ac-
ton everywhere to curb this alleged
unlawful conduct of the workers, but
called for no action to alter the con-
duct of railroad arrangements.
We call attention to the abject fail
ure of the Railroad Labor Board and
to every other court or tribunal es-
tablished by law to make strikes eth
er unlawful or impossible and we call
attention to the position which labor
has maintained from the outset to the
effect that these courts and tribunals
are undemocratic, that they destroy
the peaceful and constructive process
es of negotiation and joint agreement
and that they lead only to disturbance
of industry, replacing negotiation
with litigation.
The fact that any organizations
affiliated with the A. f. of l.. have
not participated in the strike up to
this time in no way lessons the justice
of the cause for which all other affil-
lated unions are striking. Indeed the
effort by the Railroad Labor Board
to plaeate these organizations is al
once an admission and confession that
the Railroad Labor Board has erred
in its decision and that it has now
stopped to the position of trying to
divide the ranks of the organized
wage eainers and is attempting to
10 fr,n -, 8, le
wage earners.
Let there be no mistake: This is q
strike against the Wall Street inter
ests and their hirelings, the managers
who control the railroads of the land
and not against the United States
Government. The Railroad Labor
Board is not judicial, executive OF
legislative branch of the government
1t is purely an advisory and recon-
mandatory body and the public haI
had no choice in the selection of the
personnel nor has the public any con-
troll over any of its members.
Samuel Gompers, President.
Frank Morrison, Secretary.
James Duncan, First Vice-Presi-
dent.
Joseph F. Valentine, Second Vice
President.
Frank Duffy, Third Vice President
William Green, Fourth Vice-Prea'
dent.
w. ID. Mahon, Fifth Vice-P President
I. A. Rickert, Sixth Vice-President
Jacob Fischer, Seventh Vice-Presi-
dent.
Matthew Vol, Eighth Vice-Presi
dent.