Evening star., 1934-10-08
|A.F. OF |. NEARING
POLICY SHOWDOWN
Federal Workers Protection
Among Resolutions Now
Before Committee.
BY the Associated Press.

| BY the Associated Press.
SAN FRANCISCO, October g.
Delegates to the American Federation
of Labor Convention reassembled
today, ready to make the sparks fly.
Out of the heated debates which
they expect the convention probably
| will forge its policies on such issues
| as the 30-hour week, the building
| trades department and the national
recovery program.
Unlike many of the other issues,
the report Of the committee on the
shorter work week is not expected
to find strong opposition.
Labor leaders point out that work.
erS in numerous industries cannot
obtain employment for more than
80 hours a week and in the textile
| trades the average work week is but
"a hours. AS means of increasing
employment in other industries,
| however. the proposal is expected to
be adopted.
Three resolutions known as "sea-
mems bills" and two dealing with
| Federal employees are under consid-
Grafton at the fifty-fourth annual
convention of the American Fedora
tlon OF Labor here.
Moro Castle Incident AssaiIed.
The first OF the "seamen's bills"
deals with safety at sea through the
employment only of qualified seamen
and carried with it a denunciation of
the officers and crew of the liner
MORO Castle, which recently burned
of the New Jersey coast.
The second bears on treaties de-
signed to reduce hazards at sea and
the third recommends that shippers
be required to carry insurance to cover
possible loss through ship disaster.
Another resolution affecting marine
workers demands that employees in
private shipyards be given the same
wages, hours and working conditions
as those in Government shipyards
A resolution asking improved work
ing conditions for Federal employees in
the Panama Canal Zone and another
asking protection for the civil service
rights for Federal employees are ex-
pected to be favorably reported.
The fight in the building trades de-
partment probably will reach the floor
early in the week and promises to be
one of the most bitter of the con-
vention.
The federation Executive Council
| ruled that proceedings at the Building
Trades Convention, which preceded
the A. F. OF L. meet, were illegal be-
| cause it refused to allow the inter-
| national unions of carpenters, brick
layers and electrical workers to re-
affiliate with the department, although
its Executive Council and that of the
federation had approved the reafhlia
| ton.
The real fight, labor leaders say, is
over the officers of the department.
The l6 other crafts in the department
feel they will not be able to retain
their present officers if the three
| other unions with their tremendous
membership are allowed to return to
the fold .-
The president of the building trades
| department conducts negotiations and
confers with Sullivan Jones, recently
appointed by President Roosevelt as
chairman of the National Construc-
| ton Planning and Adjustment Board.
in the settlement of the strikes and
| jurisdictional matters. This power
was considered the basis Of the fight.
! Vertical Union Issue Up.
Another internal battle concerns
| formation of unions by industries
rather than by crafts, move spon-
| Sored by John Lewis, president of the
! United Mine Workers of America, the
largest industrial union in the country.
Charles Howard, president of the
international Typographical Union
declared he would offer a compromise
to allow those industries best suited
! to the industrial union to so organize
while others would stay within the
traditional craft organization
Lewis said it was not his intention
that the industrial unions should sup
plant the craft unions. Rather, the
| aim of the industrial unions would
be to organize the unorganized."
Another policy sponsored by Lewis
is the increase of the Executive Coun-
Gil, governing body of the federation,
from its present membership of 8 to
25. Lewis argues the present mem
bership leaves numerous crafts unrep-
resented.
Proposed resolutions condemning
and praising features of the recovery
program include one of l. NJ. Orburn.
president of the International Cigar
makers Union, asking President
Roosevelt to investigate the record of
S, Clay Williams, named chairman of
the N. r. A. Administrator Board
of five men The resolution declares
Williams had been unfair in his deal
ings with labor and had fought the
establishment of a code for the to-
bacco industry.
Whiteside Probe Considered.
RumorS were current the resolution
would be amended to include another
member of the board A. D. Whiteside
of New York, of Dun & BradSUreet's.
Labor heads asserted Whiteside, who
administered the chain store code,
broke up agreements several COM
panies had with their employees pro-
viding for a 40-hour week and a min
imum wage Of $40 for clerks, by fixing
the work week at SO hours and min
imum wage at S12.
An estimate that 16,846,322 persons
were either unemployed or working
only part time in the United States
the first three months of 1884 was
announced here yesterday by Bos-
ton delegate to the convention, on
the basis of a Government-spon
survey in Massachusetts,.
The total of actually unemployed
was placed at 9,326,514 by Robert J.
Watt, representing the Massachusetts,
State Federation of Labor, who made
public the report he will submit to
the convention either Wednesday or
Thursday.
The results of the survey, he said,
indicate previous estimates of the to-
tally unemplOYed or working only