Montana labor news., 1936-12-10
President Green and Entire
Executive Council Reflect
ed Without Opposition
Company Unionism Hit
Convention Puts Question
of Honorable Peace"
Squarely Up to Lewis
By BUDD L.. McKILLIPS,
'Labor's'' Staff Representative

"Labor's" Staff Representative
TAMPA, Fla, Dec. 3.-Widening
the scope of the Social Security Act,
a universal 30-hour week, Federal
regulation of industry, a constitu-
tional ban on child labor and an
equitable adjustment of the c. /. o..
controversy are among the high
lights of the A. F. of l.. program,
adopted by its fifty-sixth convention
which closed here Friday.
AS a matter of fact, the conven-
ton was crammed full of high
lights from its very beginning. In
addition to the C. l.. o. question -
probably the toughest issue ever
confronting any labor question
the delegates disposed of 259 other
problems, many of them exceeding
ly intricate, during the nine days
they YER in session.
Executive Council Reelected
No change was voted in the per-
sonnet of the Executive Council.
From President William Green down
all II members were reelected with
out opposition. Neither were there
any contests in the election of fra
ternal delegates to the British Trad
es Union Congress and the Canad-
ian Trades and Labor Congress. R.
A.. Henning of the Machinists was
elected to the Dominion labor gath
ering. James J. Ryan of the Sheet
Metal Workers and William c. Biz
thright of the BARRIERS were chosen
delegates to the British meeting.
Denver and Philadelphia contested
for the 1887 convention city. Den
yer won by a two-to-one show of
hands.
The Tampa convention was the
most widely publicized gathering
ever held by the A. F. of l..
Press Well Represented
Forty-three newspapers and press
association correspondents, six press
photographers and four newsreel
camermen were on the job to relay
the conventions doings to every
nook and corner of North America.
Even one London daily paper was
represented in the press row.
Ten special telegraph wires were
required to transmit the news dir
ectly from the press row. There
were times when these wires became
so overloaded that four long dist
ance telephones yer pressed into
use by the correspondents.
More than 100000 words - ap-
proximately 1000 columns of news
- were sent out from the press row.
The previous high record was $4,000
words, filed by 81 correspondents at
the Atlantic City convention in 1885.
Doors Open to C. /. o.
The c. l. o. controversy, of course,
played a prominent part in the news.
As related in last weeks dispatch to
LABOR, it was disposed of by the
convention adopting a three-point
program which leaves the door wide
open for the 10 suspended unions to
come back into the Federation, up
on honorable terms"
incidentally, if the 10 suspended
c. /. 0. unions had been present and
voting on this issue, they would have
been beaten worse than they were
when they submitted their PROPOSE
ton to the Atlantic City convention
last year.
AT this time the vote was 18,024
to 1888 against them. If they had
all voted on the c. |. 0. when it came
up at the convention here last week,
they would have lost by 21,679 to
10,057. The actual vote was 21,679
to 2,043. The total voting strength
of the 10 suspended unions would
have added 8,014 to the latter figure.
Up to John Lewis
The question of settling the con-
troversy has now been put squarely
up to John l.. Lewis, chairman of
the c. l. 0. group. If he appoints an
adjustment committee to meet with
a similar n authorized by the A.
F. of L., peace negotiations can COM
mence at once.
"And," said President Green,
81 am confident that if a COM
mittee from the c. L. o. will
meet with our committee a set
Element can be reached. We will
give - we will go a long way
to make peace"
Major changes which the A. F. of
L. will seek in the Social Security
Act include extending its benefits to
agricultural workers and employees
of small institutions and increasing