The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-10-06
BUILDING TRADE
SCHISM SPLITS
LABOR FARLEY
Council DEGREES Restoration
of Three Unions to
A. F. of |.

By United Press
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 6.--After
smoloering for days in secret con-
ferenceS, the acrimonious schism in
the building trades department of
the American Federation of Labor
came out into the open today in
hearings before the committee on
adjustments at the annual conven-
ton of the organization.
While many of the delegates were
picnicking and the convention was
taking the first of two-day recess,
the committee sought a new solu-
ton to the refusal of the present
administration of the building trades
to readmit three unions frankly
anxious to- elect new officers in the
department.
Almost belligerently, President
William Green announced that the
council had decreed that the ousted
unions-the carpenters, the electri-
clans and the bricklayers-be re-
stored Immediately to membership
in the department which they left
following a factional dispute sew
eral years ago.
Convention Held Illegal
The convention which the de-
partment held last week was illegal
because the delegates of the three
unions had not been admitted, the
report said. Election of officers held
by that convention also was illegal
according to the same authority. A
new vote must be taken, and a new
convention must be held at Wash
ington, D. c., within forty-f1ve days
after the present federation con-
vention comes to an end, unless the
building trades group accepts the
councils verdict.
Immediately after Mr.. Green had
finished reading, Michael j. Nc
Donough, elected president of the
department last week for three
years, announced he was appealing
the council decision.
But Mr.. Green was equal to the
situation, and he countered McDon-
oughs appeal by referring both the
report and the protest to the COM
mittee on adjustment. But a floor
fight seems inevitable, as the COM
mittee must report to the conven-
ton when the sessions resume on
Monday.
Industrial Unions Win
Advocates of the extension unions
under the wing of the A. F. of L..
won the initial skirmish of the Sec
ond big controversy of the conven-
ton when the first resolution to
come from committee was accepted
yesterday. 1t provided for organ
ization of migratory agriculture
workers into A. F. of l.. units on the
industrial type plan. But the pro-
posal appeared emasculated when
various sections of the plan were
referred to several different COM
mittees for consideration"
Labor Secretary Frances Perkins
long awaited address brought to the
labor men assurances that the
Roosevelt administration never has
contemplated making arbitration
compulsory in labor disputes and
that President Roosevelt did not
mean to have his plea tor industrial
peace interpreted as meaning COM
pulsory arbitration.
She promised that unemployment
insurance and old age pensions
would form part of the social secur-
ity program now being formed by
the New Dealers at Washington.
The promise struck responsive
chord among the labor delegates,
whose leadership has pledged to
fight for both forms of security as
well as for the thirty-hour work
week.
But particularly Madame Perkins
urged on the convention patience in
labor's attitude toward Section IA
of the recovery code.