Evening star., 1938-02-09
Maritime
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shoremen; Joseph Curran, president
Of the c. I. O., National Maritime
Union: all three members of the Ma
tional Labor Relations Board, particu-
larly Edwin Smith, and Secretary OF
Labor Perkins.
Ryan charged that Bridges and Cur
ran both are Communists and that the
latter has been on the communist pay
roll at s45 per week.
Ryan also testified that port tie
ups had diverted freight from Amer
lcan West Coast ports to Vancouver,
British Columbia Similar diversion
had been threat in the East, he
said.
Maybe Bridges doesn't do that as
Communist, maybe he's in the pay
of some foreign shipping company"
he hazarded
Ryan said he understood Bridges
uses the name "Dorgan" and also
"Reuton"
Bridges, he added. has been built
up by Secretary Perkins, Gilmore Her.
rick, Labor Board official in New York.
and Ed Smith. The latter, he said.
once made telephone operator and
other employees Of the Labor Board
work on a Saturday afternoon to hear
him make speech praising Bridges
as a great labor leader"
Talking without interruption. ex-
cept for occasional requests for veri-
ficatlon from a pair Of aides who
accompanied him, Ryan declared
there isn't anybody in the Labor
Board who knows anything about
labor.
Madden should still be dean of
the Law School at Pittsburgh" he
said bitterly. All he knows about
labor is what he has read"
With relish, he quoted description
of Boz Members Edwin and Donald
w. smltA as Smith brothers cough
drops"
i've got men working in. Curran's
group" Ryan boasted; Il know what
they're doing, naturally"
Complains on Mrs. Herrick. -
The union chieftain complained
that Mrs. Herrick had been instru-
mental in having New York police
search his nngshoremen for arms on
reports they were beating up seamen.
L know Joe Curran's union hired
men to beat up their own seamen,"
he added.
Telling of meeting with John L.
Lewis, c. I. O. head, Ryan said that
Lewis told him he (Ryan) no longer
had his previous influence with the
New York police.
The beef squade and COON SQUADS
are now directed from 1875 Eleventh
avenue" Mr.. Ryan said. They're
the squads who go down on the
water front and beat up workers."
Ryan's charge was an echo of
similar accusations which have been
made by the c. I. o. maritime lead
ers against Ryan's own organization.
"Lindeberg's Pacific Coast Inde-
pendent Seamen's Union and ours is
the only reason why the Communists
haven't got control of the shipping
industry" Ryan said.
Cites Former Cooperation. =.
The A. F. L. leaders said Curran
had been taken over by the Commun-
lists a few years after the I. L. A. and
the now virtually defunct Interna-
tional Seamen's Union, A. F. L. af-
f1liate. had co-operated to break a
Communist" strike.
Ryan conceded that many seamen
had Joined the N. M. U. because they
were tired" of the ineffectiveness of
the I. s. u, btu that the Communists
gradually were replacing them as Of
f1cers In the younger union.
Ryan testified that his union has
gained more favorable longshoremen's
wages than Bridges had received on
the West Coast.
I don't care anything about
Bridges" he added, "but I do object
to these men having to work on the
Pacific Coast for less than we could
get them if they came back to U.S."