The Washington times., 1936-11-07
REBEL UNIONS.
0FC.L.0. OPEN
PARLEY
By PAUL R. ALLERUP


head of the United Mine Workers,
10 captains of a new order in
organized labor in America-indus-
trial unioniSm-met here today
to look at the record"
They were the leaders of the 10
unions welded together by Lewis
into the Committee for Industrial
Organization, which in September
defied the American Federation Of
Labor and its plea for a continu-
ance by all it's member unions of
the craft union plan, and set out
to organize steel and allied indus
tries along industrial lines. That
the C. I. o. was subsequently Sus-
pended by the A. F. Of L. slowed
the drive not bit.
Accounting of Progress
Today's meeting and one or
more meetings here Sunday will
conclude the present sessions.
Focal point of the industrial
drive to date has been the gigantic
steel industry with its 100000
workers. The current conferences
were called by Lewis, ostensibly at
any rate, for an accounting Of
progress in that undertaking, the
C. I. O's first.
Lewis and his cohorts feel that
If they can successfully organize
steel, which steel management has
asserted they cannot, they can go
to work in other unorganized
fields with little trouble.
May Assert Independence
OF principal interest to labor
ct large throughout the nation,
however, was whether the c. I. O.
would in this meeting take the
wind out of the A. F. of LIS antici-
pated action in its annual conven-
tion at Tampa, Florida, a week
hence.
The federation is expected to
back it's c. I. o. suspension with
expulsion, but should the c. I. o.
now declare itself a body COM
pletely apart from the A. F.. of L.,
the expulsion order will be mean
inglesS action.
But on that point Lewis and his
followers remained mum for the
present. It was formally announced
that the current meeting was
called primarily for the purpose
Of looking at the record"
Phillip Murray, chairman Of the
steel workers organizing commit
tee, which from Pittsburgh has
been directly handling the indus
trial campaign, has already an
nounced enrolment Of 82,315 dues
paying members.
Pay Boosts Announced
The committee met today in an
atmosphere charged with posi-
bilities it could not have foreseen.
Only a few hours before, steel
management from coast to coast
announced pay boosts for factory
and white-collar workers aver
aging about 10 per cent. Colum-
bia Steel, Pacific coast subsidiary
of U. S. Steel, started the ball
rolling with an announcement yes
terday afternoon.
Shortly thereafter, Bethlehem
Steel followed with an announce
ment its employees wages, on No
vember 16, would be increased S
and Y cents per hour in basic
labor rates, with equitable adjust
ments in other pay rates.
Others Increase Pay
Then followed announcements
of wage boosts from Carnegie.
Illinois Steel Corporation, largest
single employer of steel labor, and
principal subsidiary Of U. S. Steel,
and Jones & Laughlin, one OF
the nations largest independents.
The j. & L. increase was also
roughly 10 per cent. and affects
10000 workers. 1t was believed,
and in some cases stated, that
other independents, including
Youngstown Sheet and Tube and
Pittsburgh Steel, were readying
similar announcements. In the
middle west, Inland Steel revealed
that workers receiving less than
$4,000 annually would be raised
an average Of 10 per cent.
What effect these company-of-
fered pay boosts, all of which
came, according to the statements,
"aS the result of collective, bar.
gaining between the employees
and the management" will have
upon the CLIO. drive, was a moot
question.