Evening star., 1939-07-30

In appearance, Dennis Lewis mas
marked resemblance to John L., except
that his hair is blacker and his waist not
so far around. He laughs easier and
louder, smokes fewer cigars than his
brother, and has never been heard to
quote Hamlet or the Bible. But his eye
brows are heavy and his shoulders
broad, and while he more frequently
drapes his feet over his desk as he holds
open house" to newspapermen, he oc-
casionally takes to pacing the floor
Usually he refers to his older brother
as 'the boss or just as Lewis" The
younger brother is known to newspaper
men and most other callers as Dennie
His Office force addresses him as Mr.
A. D."
The only specific assignment in the
c I. O. which Dennie Lewis had received
previous to this considerable job of
tangling with the strongly -intrenched
A. F. OF L. building trades unions was
to membership of the committee organ
izing the United Federal Workers. Ac-
tually, however, this campaign was han
died almost entirely by Jacob Baker. U.
F. w. president and his immediate staff
outsiders
Background of Movement
While details of the organizing plans
for the construction field have not yet
been disclosed in full nor the precise
lines of attack and of inducement to
the building trades workers revealed, the
initial announcement of John l.. Lewis
and subsequent informal conversation
with "A. D." indicate that with obvious
shrewdness they are planning to CAPT.
talize on the weaknesses OF the Fedora
ton practices in this field.
To understand this, it might be we'll
to outline briefly the union background
in the construction trades.
Roughly, there are about 3,00O,00O
workers employed in some go classifica-
tions of work in the construction field.
OF this total the American Federation
of Labor lays claim through the various
unions of its building trades department
to approximately 100000. Dominant in
this group are the Brotherhood of Car
penters with about 100000 membership,
the Bricklayers' Union with about $1,000
and the Brotherhood of Electrical Work.
ers with about It's, 900.
Always jealous IN the protection OF
their craft rights and job opportunities,
the building trades unions have care
fully avoided opening their memberships
too widely for fear the result would be
detrimental to their strategic position
of commanding the labor market. In
exercising this care they have imposed
Initiation fees, in some cases as high as
$3.50, and dues that sometimes run to
So per month. In addition, they have
assessed work permit fees in cases where
members or non-members have moved
into the Jurisdictions of other locals or
other crafts.
Pointing successfully at high wage
structure, by and large the highest in
any such broadly ramified INDUSTRY, the
building trades organizations have real
lied that their best prospects of main
tanning such rates have been in big
contract work where labor costs more
easily may be blended into the total
price and where the headlines for COM
pletion Of jobs are of such rigidity as to
serve as leverage for demands and strike
threats by the unions.
Accordingly, their strength has been
concentrated in this sector to the point
OF shutting off in many localities the
opportunity Of non-union construction
workers either to get jobs at their trade
or even to join the union in order to
achieve eligibility for jobs. At the same
time, they have virtually ignored the
residential building field or small private
work In most parts Of the country