The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-07-07
By WILLIAM W. wEINsTONE

THE first national conference of
the United Automobile Workers
Union-that is the federal locals of
the American Federation of Labor
has come and gone. This confer
ence was called upon practically
one weeks notice. The call for the
conference was in the hands Of the
officialdom of the locals one month
before the conference but was pur-
posely withheld for three weeks in
many of the locals in order to pre-
vent the rank and file from rallying
their forces for the conference. The
main problems of the automobile
workers remained unsolved by the
conference.
Company Union Growth.
The automobile workers that or
ganized their ranks chiefly in the
American Federation of Labor in
the past years were confronted at
the time of the conference with the
growth of company unions which
were being organized simultaneously
with the workers trade unions, but
since the Washington ageement in
March of this year have been
steadily pushing forward discrim-
ination against union men which
was to have been done away with by
the establishment of the Automobile
Labor Board has continued
undated and as admitted by the
officials has run into thousands. On
top Of this, unemployment is now
sweeping the industry. Practically
$4,000 have been laid off in the
Hudson plants in Detroit; thirty to
forty thousand have been shut out
in Fords; and lay-offs are on the
order of the day in all of the
plants. Low wages continue. Where
workers have been able through
strike action or threat of strike to
force their wages up, as in the Hud-
son plant, they are now suffering
wage-cuts. The hellish Speed-up
system which mains and brushes
the workers which was responsible
the other week for the explosion in
Fords resulting in the death of six
men and manning of many others,
which causes daily tragedies re-
mains unchecked and is even in
tensified In consequence Of the
policy of the A. F. of L. officials and
the propaganda of the company,
the unions Of the A. F, of L. have
declined in membership with the
resulting loss of confidence in the
union. The rank and file hoped
that the conference would give an
answer to these questions. But they
left bitterly disappointed.
Settling O. 1t.
The struggle against speed-up,
job insecurity, discrimination, low
wages and unemployment was dis
posed of by resolution introduced
by Collins calling the Automobile
Labor Board to investigate these
questions, repeating the resolution
which they had taken in Washing
ton which had likewise called for
investigation.
On the question of company
union, the conference adopted the
Collins resolution appealing to the
President through executive order
to empower and direct the Auto
mobile Labor Board to proceed in
the PRONUNCIATION of an order de-
signed to protect and preserve the
fundamental rights of workers in
the automobile industry in their
right to free organizations" The
resolution condemns the manufac-
turers who were part of this
agreement Washington with us
that have complied with neither the
spirit nor the intent of the agree
ment by reason of persistent and
determined effort to develop COM
pany unions through deception,
coercion and misrepresentation. +"
In this resolution, the officialdom
acknowledges that the Washington
agreement which according to
Green, Collins and Company grant
ing the right Of organization has
turned out to be the opposite. But
through the resolution, these A. F.
of L. chiefs continue their game of
deception by blaming the growth of
the company unions not upon the
agreement itself but upon chiseling
on the part of the employers. Yet
the Washington agreement never
excluded the company unions. on
the contrary, they were legalized by
the president. The officials are APP
pealing to the President who him
self was responsible for the growth
OF company unions, but there is
even a more sinister intention of
this resolution. BY calling upon
the Automobile Labor Board to pro-