The Waterbury Democrat., 1936-05-28

NeXt on FrOgram ss hamu
 of A. F. of l.. Chief Forced
 on Support of Roosevelt.
 Washington, May 28.-C Conflicting and fragHnentary reports of develop ments in the labor field have tended to blur the important fact that John L. Lewis and his committee for ii1- dustrial organization in their carn- paign for mass organization of workers into industrial unions.
 Some labor leaders predict . summer of organization as big aS
 that which attended creation of MIRA.
 Meanwhile, President William
 Green and the craft union hler- archy of the A. F. of L., 1t bitter war with the 0. !. O., have sJIs- tained . succession of defeats.
 The most sensational move came in recent private conferences, when representatives of the Lewis group told pro.G Green executives of the steel workers union that if they continued to stall, follow ing the union conventions stand for an industrial union organiza- ton drive, the Q. I. o. would go ahead, anyway, with its proposed 45O0,00O steel organization cam paign.
 That simply meant Q threat to sweep the union right out from under it's old line executives, which would be by far the tough. est move in the Lewis-G Green bat- tie thus far.
 Vote for Lewis Plan
 The steel union (Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel c Tin Workers) held its convention ct Canonsburg, Pa. Delegates proved to be almost unanimous for indus trial linionisrn.
 Faced with . vague offer of 0r- ganizatiOn aid from Green and definite offer from Lewis. they voted for an organization cam. palgn along industrial lines, to be launched by . joint committee of such contributing international unions as would agree to waive all claims of jurisdictiOn in the steel industry and accept the jur- isdlction of the AImalgamated.
 Since craft unions which make claims for organized steel work CTS were believed unwilling to give such waivers, the way seemed left open for Q joint drive by the Arnalgamated and the nine unions of the c. I. o.
 When the steel unions execu- tive board, led by President Mike Tighe and Secretary Shorty" Leonard, indicated Q disposition | to daily, Lewis sent Director John | Brophy of 0. I. Q. and Vice Presi- dent Phil Murray of the mine workers to force meeting and deliver the ultimatun1.
 Auto Workers Next
 Another 0. I. o. drive will be made to organize automobile work CTS. This probably will proceed faster than the steel drive when 1t gets started, which means that the first big test of new industrial strength is likely to come in 1 the Michigan area.
 The automobile industry, as Is true of steel, is we'll organized only on the fFin9eg.
 The most important feature of the United Automobile WOrkers' meeting at South Bend, Ind, was . complete repudiatiOn of the rep- resentatives and desires of Green.
 Almost unanimous hostility was exhibited toward Francis J. Dil- | lon, imposed last year by Green as the unions president. The union voted for industrial union. ism and for a vigorous fight at the next A. F. of L. convention to pre- vent craft unions from raiding it's ranks. tle
 Other automobile unions as a result are eager to merge with U. A. w. Negotiations are in progress, probably to be followed 1 by Q vigorous organization drive next | fall. A S260,000 drive fund is con- ternplated. Other Blows at Green
 Green, meanwhile, has been harasSed on other fronts.
 After creation of a labor move- ment headed by Lewis, Sidney Hillman of the clothing workers, and George Berry of the press men to support Roosevelt for re- election, Green publicly warned organized labor to refrain from taking sides in partisan political contests.
 Almost immediately, at least half . dozen state federatiOns of labor formally declared their sup- port of the ewis-Berry- -HiIman movement and it looked as if many more were preparing to run out on Green.
 And very shortly Green himself was asserting that labor wanted to continue under the '.inspiring | and thrilling leadership" of Ro0se- welt.
 The Pennsylvania state fedora. ton put another tack in Greens chair when 1t endorsed the c. I. o. and the steel drive.
 If you like Q good fight, you'll probably find the A. F. of L. con- vention this year considerably more fun than either the repub. lican or democratic session.
 Copyright, 1036, NEA Service, Inc.)
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