The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-09-22
.MACHINISTS KILL
FAKE INSURANCE
PLAN in DETROIT
Delegates DOwn Com.
pulsOry" Scheme.
Especial to The Daily wOrker)

| especial TO I no Daily Worker)
DETROIT, Mich, Sept. H.
The convention of the Inter-
national Association of Machin-
lists rejected the proposal Of the
general officers to turn the UNI
ion into a compulsory insurance
society.
1t was the first major defeat
of the Johnston administration,
and when the vote was shown
so overwhelmingly against the
insurance proposal, predictions
were rife in the convention that
this foreshadows an even more
bitter struggle over the "B. &
o." plan, which reactionaries
are even more determined to
establish and the radicals to de-
feat.
Chicago Delegates Lead Fight.
The progressive forces in the con
vention, led by Bernard Koretz and
Pete Jensen, of Chicago, and John
Otis and A. T. McNamara Of Pitts
burgh, made frontal assault upon the
insurance scheme, condemning it as a
part of the wholesale plans of class
collaboration of VIM. H. Johnston and
his lieutenants. Even the old-timers
in the union who have been sentimen
tally following Johnston voted against
him and his measure.
| In spite of all the well-planned ef
forts of the reactionaries, this conven
ton has not repudiated the class
struggle. Every speaker has admitted
the necessity of a fighting policy
against the capitalist class, and even
President Johnston, bowling to the
spirit of the convention, makes oc.
casional mention of the class struggle.
1t is the B. & o. plan that is going
to furnish the biggest battle OF the
convention. The real test between
progressives and reactionaries comes
on this issue. The entire Canadian
delegation is violently opposed to the
plan, and many delegates from cities
in the U. S. who came here still under
the influence of the efficiency engin-
eer, Boyer, and his propaganda, have
joined to forces pledged to sink this
collaboration scheme into oblivion.
Ask About "H. & o. Workers.
The fact that the Glenwood local
where this scheme was first put into
effect, has not even a delegate to the
convention, has had quite an effect
upon the delegates here. Delegates
are preparing to demand an explana-
ton also, as to why the locals on the
'B. & o." railway, where thousands of
machinists work in the shops, only
have 100 to 200 members. Why are
these men not organized? William H.
Johnston and his expert" Captain
Boyer, will have hard time explain.
ing to the delegates.
| According to the Pittsburgh dele
gates, the men in the "B. & O." shops
are themselves opposed to the plan
The railroad delegates here are so
overwhelmingly against the scheme.
that it is absolutely impossible for It
to be carried unless the delegates
from the contract shops vote it over
on them. The contract shop locals
are in majority in this convention.
Railroad Locals Demoralized.
At the Rochester convention, four
years ago, the reverse was true; the
railroad locals were in the majority.
But the railroad locals are badly de.
moralized as a result of the defeated
shopmen's strike, so that they have
been unable to finance delegates to
this convention. Johnston is counting
upon this fact as his only hope to jam
the B. & o. plan down the threats OF
the railroad machinists.