St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1935-11-08
RANDOLPH FIGHTS
A. F. L. RACE
DISCRIMINATION
Continued from Page u

a cOndltlOn DuC CnaC nevertheless
it existed and that the A. F. of L.
could not force change through
legislation, that it had to come
through education. He insisted
that a few unions Disseminated
against Negro workers through
the color bar and expressed SYM
pathy and agreement in the matter
of the economic philosophy of
Delegate Randolph.
Delegate John P. Frey, Secre-
tary of the Metal Trades Depart
ment of the A. F. of L., spoke on
the substitute motion and ex-
pressed his hope that it would be
accepted and adopted. He spoke
feelingly of the problems of the
Negro workers, the matter of race
prejudice in some of the unions
and told of his efforts to bring
Negro workers into the Moulders'
Union. He observed that he had
attempted to enlist the co-opera-
tion and support of the late Booker
T. Washington in the organization
of Negro workers but failed.
Following the comments by John
P. Frey, Delegate M. P. Webster,
First Vice President of the Broth
erhood of Sleeping Car Porters,
took the floor and made a strong
plea for the passage of the sub
stitute motion, in which he pointed
out that the Brotherhood of Sleep
ing Car Porters was leading the
fight to bring the Negroes into, the
trade union movement and to make
them more favorable to the A. F.
of L., but that this fight was hand
icapped by discrimination prac-
ticed against Negro workers by
some of the trade unions. He COM
mended President Green upon the
support and cooperation he had
given to the Pullman porters' fight
and told of the great difficulties
Negro workers encountered in try
ing to organize through the federal
labor charters. He cited the case
of his organizing the express and
freight handlers in Chicago in CO.
operation with the Brotherhood of
Railway Clerks.
At the close of Delegate Web
ster's talk, Delegate George Harri-
son, International President of the
Brotherhood of Railway Clerks,
spoke on the substitute motion and
pointed out that Delegate Ran
dolph had misrepresented the
Brotherhood of Railway Clerks and
that his attack was unfair since
the Clerks method of organization
was unknown to him. He ex-
pressed his regret that the color
bar existed in his union, but hoped
that a change in the attitude in the
trade unions to Negroes would be
effected through education. He at
tempted to minimize the signif-
canoe of the race issue in the trade
union movement and to defend the
Executive Council in the report it
made on the question.
Following his talk, Delegate
Randolph again took the floor and
pointed out that the Railway
Labor Executives Association,
which was headed by Delegate
Harrison, had left out of the Rail
way Labor Act when it was formu-
lated with Joseph B. Eastman, Co.
ordinator of Federal Transporta-
ton, sleeping car porters, although
every other class of railroad work
ers was included by name in the
law. This statement Randolph
made was in rebuttal to Delegate
Harrison's observation that the
railway workers had given the
sleeping car porters great help
through adoption of the Railway
Labor Act. Randolph also pointed
out that there were more than 20
unions that Disseminated against
Negro workers through the color
bar or other devices, among which
were organizations that covered
some of the most strategic trades
such as the Plumbers, Electrical
Workers and Machinists. When
he finished, the President of the
Electrical Workers Union chal-
lenged Delegate Randolph's state
ment that the Electrical Workers
Disseminated against Negro work
ers, claiming that they didn't.
The report of the Executive
Council ended with the statement
that eve, therefore, recommend
that all national and international
unions and the A. F. of L. conduct
a continuous campaign of educa-
ton to bring to the white workers
the necessity for greater unity of
the workers in the labor movement
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