Evening star., 1936-08-06
BY THEODORE A. HUNTLEY.

BY THEODORE A. HUNTLEY.
PITTSBURGH, August (NANA).
There is feeling hereabouts that in
attempting to organize the steel in
dustry John L. Lewis has bitten off
more than he can chew. Lewis doesn't
think so. Neither do his aides in the
Committee for Industrial Organization.
But this much is obvious after you
have had several days of contact with
the men in the mills and with people
who know what is going on beneath
the surface.
It's going to be a harder job to Or
ganize steel than it was to organize
coal. And it's going to be longer
job as we'll. 1t can't be done over
night. 1t isn't, as one of Lewis Or
ganizers put it, "in the bag"
He can't get away with it." says
the steel executives. Let him try.
Let him call strike. We can beat it."
Lot Depends on Method.
"We1l certainly organize the Pitts
burgh district this FALL" says Phil
Murray, soft-spoken field head of the
organizing drive and vice president of
the United Mine Workers Of America
1t is clear, too, that lot will depend
on the way Lewis goes about it. Right
now the situation is this: If a strike
should be called this Fall, the big COM
panies could probably break it. And
if it isn't, Lewis will have trouble sign
ing up enough workers as members of
the Amalgamated Association of Iron,
Steel and Tin Workers to make the
organization drive stick" The men
in the mills are on the spot. They want
the union. but they can't come into
the open in joining it without risking
their jobs-or think they can't They
don't want to strike. That's the nut
Lewis has to crack.
Three Conclusions Evident.
This much more can be said with
equal assurance, although there will
be dissent from those who take par
tisan view of the problem:
l. Unless something unforeseen
occurs there will be no strike now
on big scale. There may be
walkoutS in some of the smaller
plants. The little independents
are not so unalterably opposed to
unioniZation as United States
Steel and Jones & Laughlin-and,
elsewhere. Republic Steel, Youngs-
town Sheet &, Tube, Bethlehem
and their affliates. The big COM
panies will fight. And they are
prepared for trouble. Everybody
knows this, and the men them
orn rr1n u = ai,
work regularly after long years of
semi-idleness to want to run risks
now. If big strike comes, there
fore, 1t will come later-perhaps
much later. And it will depend to
some extent-nobody knows how
much on whether President
Roosevelt IS reelected.
2. For the first time in 20
years the Slavs, who make up 80
per cent of the labor in the steel
industry in this area and are al
most as literally represented
elsewhere, are conservative
force in industry. They won't lead
this strike, If there is one.
8. Lewis and his associates, In
collaboration with Democratic Or
ganizers, will use the organization
drive for all 1t is worth to help
President Roosevelt. They hope,
through it, to deliver solid labor
vote in Pennsylvania and else
where. Beyond this, it Is plain
enough that most of the men in
the mills are with Roosevelt now.
1t is equally clear that the time
has long since passed when indus
trial leaders could control the
votes of their workers-though
some of them don't yet know it.
Lewis Picks a Bad Time.
In Allegheny County (Pittsburgh)
there are 1000 Poles, 10000 Slovaks,
$4,000 Carpathian Russians, $4,000
Croatians. 10000 Ukrainians and
from 10000 to 10000 Bohemians,
Lithuanians, Slovenians and Serbians.
They have definite organization for
civic action. Recently there has been
tendency to use it for political pur-
poses. They are beginning to dis
cover the power of cohesion. Gen.
orally speaking, they are sympathetic
with the Roosevelt policies. They like
the union idea. They are politically
Independent, with Democratic predi-
lections at the moment. Yet. as one
of their chief spokesmen put it:
Lets look at this thing frankly.
Lewis couldn't have picked a worse
time to try to organize the men. They
haven't worked regularly since the
depression began. They're now getting
full pay for the first time in several
years. The older men have pensions
in sight. They know also that the
companies are only hiring young men
and that if they go out they may never
get back. About 20 or Is per cent of
them are home owners. Some of them
own steel stock. They know they
wouldn't starve If they did strike, but
they'd rather work than be on relief.
You can't blame them
Lewis Figures Don't Check.
There are other elements too, which
complicate Lewis problem Lewis says
management is impersonal," that the
mills are run by bankers, sitting be-
hind mahogany desks in New York,
while the men get an average wage of
$16.75 week. Well, that's hardly an
accurate, unbiased statement of the
case. AS to wages, the facts are that
although sl675 may be the average
over a period of years, including the
depression period, when the men only
worked day or two a week, if at ALL
they're getting minimum now of $23
week, and go up in the more highly
skilled classif1cations to four or five
times that.
1t is true, further, that the larger
companies, particularly, have better