The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-08-20
Radical Veneer To
Deceive Honest
Workers
By A. B. MAGIL

than a union; it is secession from
an old one. The federal locals of
the American Federation of Labor
United Automobile Workers at the
Oldsmobile plant in Lansing, Mich,
and the Hudson Motor Co. in De-
troit have split away to form
Locals l and 2 respectively of the
Associated Automobile Workers of
America.
Two important facts are expressed
in the formation of this new union:
1. the ripening Of the crisis in the
A. F. of L. auto locals as a result OF
the dissatisfaction Of the rank and
file with the treacherous policies of
the top leadership; 2. the develop
ment Of a new tactic by the open
shop auto companies in their effort
to smash all genuine labor organi-
zation and to drive the workers into
company unions.
Both of these facts have far
reaching implications. and not for
the automobile industry alone.
The crisis in the A. F. of L. auto
locals may be said to have begun
with the signing of the famous
Washington settlement of March "a
in which President Roosevelt charted
his new course in social engineer
ing" This settlement was cor
rectly interpreted by the entire De-
troit press as a victory for the COM
panies and defeat for the workers.
Instead of achieving union recogni-
ton, the A. F. of L. leaders in fact
recognized tn hated company
unions, entering into a partnership
with them and practically signing
away the right to strike.
The chief immediate objective Of
the auto magnates, led by j. P. Nor
gans General Motors: the throttling
of the movement for general strike,
was achieved. Their next aim was
the prevention of strikes in the fu-
ture. For this purpose the Wash
ington settlement created the Auto
mobile Labor Board. AS chairman
of this board the government very
shrewdly chose that consummately
corrupt intellectual, DR.. Leo VOL
man, comrade in-armS of Sidney
Hillman, president of the Amalga-
mated Clothing Workers, and of
j. B. S. Hardman, editor of the Am
algamated's organ and leading light
of the Musteite- Trotskyite Amer
lean Workers Party.
The signing of the Washington
settlement compelled the A. F. of L.
leaders, headed by William Collins,
national organizer in the auto in
dustry, to resort to very dangerous
demagogy = dangerous for them
selves, as subsequent events proved.
To hide their treachery they had to
make all sorts of extravaganza claims
for the new Auto Labor Board and
for the proportional representation"
system that was supposed to be set
up, even trying at first to palm off
the latter as union recognition.
But it soon became clear that the
Washington settlement had settled
nothing. Five days after it was
signed, series of department stop
pages broke out in the Hudson
plant, led by members of the mill
tant Auto Workers Union, affiliated
to the Trade Union Unity League.
Five days after that, the Motor
Products strike, involving nearly
5000 workers, started-in a plant in
which 65 per cent of the workers
we're members of the A. F. of L,
This strike was called entirely on
the initiative of the rank and file
and over the bitter opposition Of the
A. F. of L. leaders.
IRON the first the role of Richard
l L. Byrd, so-called labor represen-
tative on the Board, was clear. The
actual labor policies of the Board
were dictated by the manufacturers
representative, Nicholas Kelley, chief
counsel for Chrysler Corp, who
worked in close collaboration with
Wolman. The job of putting these
policies across was entrusted to
Byrd.
Byrd had formerly been a safety
director in a General Motors plant
The duties of safety director are
supposedly to look after safety pre-
cautions and to see that everything
possible is done to prevent acct
dents. In actual practice safety di-
rector is generally reliable" man
whose job it is to save the company
money on safety devices and, when
accidents do occur, to make sure
that the workers get the blame
When the general strike situation
arose in the auto industry. Byrd was
secretary of the A. F. of L. locals in
Pontiac, Mich. He was picked to &C
to Washington where he Loyalty
"yessed" his A. F. of L. superiors
playing no particular role in the
negotiations.
But when Roosevelt chose Byrd
as labor representative on the new
auto board in preference to the A
F. of l.. Big Shots, he evidently
knew what he was doing.
Byrd made good at once; he be-
came the shock troop of the strike
breaking forces of the auto manu-
facturers. In the Nash strike at
Kenosha, Wis, in the Motor Prod
ucts strike, in the Cleveland Fisher
Body walkout, in the auto strikes at
st. Louis, Tarrytown, N. Y, Kansas
City it was Byrd who was constantly
put forward to persuade" the
workers to accept the companies
terms. He worked hard, he took
flying airplane trips, he pleaded, he
cajoled, he Unanswered until he
finally did the trick. But with each
new strike the job grew harder and
the prestige of the Automobile Labor
Board sank lower and lower.
Finally, in the Flint Fisher Body
strike in May the Board was COM
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