The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-08-20
Associated Automobile Workers of
america, Disguised Company Union,
Formed to Stem Rank and File ReuOLt
Strong Opposition
Movement In
A. F. of L.


promptly went into the A. F. Of L.
He succeeded in having himself
elected president of the Hudson Lo-
cal and, like Byrd, was among the
"reliables" picked by the top leader
ship to go Washington and help put
over the sell-out. On his return,
finding the Hudson workers in fight
ing mood and threatening to follow
the example of their brothers in
Motor Products, Greer cracked down
on strike talk and started negotia-
tons with the company, supposedly
concerning the workers grievances.
Weeks passed, and still Greer nego-
tiated. The weeks passed into
months and men began being laid
off by the thousands. Those who
remained were speeded up and given
wage cuts. Meanwhile the Hudson
Local, which at one time had num-
bered 1000 was going to pieces many
workers dropping out in disgust.
THE new Greer-Byrd union, the
L Associated Automobile Workers
of America, is not simply another
union under reactionary leadership.
The personal careers Of Greer and
Byrd, the openly declared policy of
excluding all known militants from
the organization, the adoption of
application cards requiring the
member to give his entire life his
tory, as well as other features. lead
to one conclusion: the Associated
Automobile Workers is a disguised
company union. Greer and Byrd, if
not actually in the pay of the auto
manufacturers, are working under
their instructions.
1t cannot be said that unionism
is an immediate threat to the auto
magnates. The A. F. Of L. leaders
and the Auto Labor Board have seen
to that. At the present time the
majority Of the automobile workers
are laid off, most of the rest are
working only part time, and there
will be no pickup in employment
until the beginning of next year.
The Labor Board seems, in fact, to
have passed into a coma. Nobody
hears any more about the discrim-
nation cases it was supposed to be
| investigating nor about the pro-
portional representation" system
that was supposed to be set up after
the A. F. Of L. membership rolls had
been checked. The Automobile
Labor Board functioned only so long
as the companies needed it.
But the manufacturers have ex-
cellent memories. They remember
certain bad dreams: the strikes of
January and February, 1888, the
general strike scare in March of this
year, the series of sporadic walkoutS
that followed. Strikes are bad for
profits. They want to be assured
for next year. The A. F. of l..
leaders haven't been able to keep
the workers in check Workers who
leave the A. F. of L. may join mill
tant union like the Auto Workers
Union. The A. F. of L. locals them
selves may fall into the hands of
militants and start a movement for
a united industrial union-the June
1924 conference revealed this dan
ger quite clearly. The strategy of
the companies IS therefore to dis
rupt the A. F. of L. locals from
within, to catch the seething resent
ment of the rank and file and direct
it where it can let off steam and
nothing more. The ordinary COM
pany union is unable to fool large
masses of workers; it is necessary
to set up a company union in dis
guise, a so-called independent union,
organized in revolt against the A.,
F. of L. and therefore bearing a
radical veneer that can deceive many
honest workers.
1T is true that Greer and Byrd are
not very clever men. But
their association with the A. F. of L.
leaders has taught them enough of
the bureaucratic tricks of the trade
to enable them to play rings around
an inexperienced rank and filler;
political line" they get from the
companies.
For all Of this Collins, Green and
the whole A. F. of L. bureaucracy
are equally responsible with Byrd
and Greer. Both groups are help
ing to discredit the very idea of
unionism among large numbers of
auto workers.
Significantly enough, Greer, who
is being backed by the Hearst paper,
the Detroit Times, utters not word
of criticism of the betrayal policies
of the A. F. of L. leaders in the auto
industry, combining himself to the
question of the June 1924 confer
ence and to talk about outside Or
ganizers';; at the same time he
speaks of the splendid cooperation
from the management" Detroit
Times, August 81.
There is, however, fly in this
company union ointment: the
growth of a conscious opposition
movement in the A. F. of L. locals,
based on militant struggle for the
interests of the masses Of automobile
workers. Already the Cleveland
Fisher Body local has taken the
initiative: it has not only adopted
a resolution demanding the removal
of Collins, but has issued a call for
a conference to other Cleveland
locals, which several have already
accepted. There is strong posi-
bility that within the near future
a national conference of federal auto
locals, called without benefit OF the
officialdom, will be held, and the
ball set rolling for uniting the rank
and file of the A. F. of L., the Me
chanics Educational Society OF
America, the Auto Workers Union