Montana labor news., 1939-03-23
HAPPENINGS OF THE
CENTRAL LABOR BODY

and Labor Assembly 3 tiled
Declaration for the Erad n of
Public Enemy No. One" lecla-
ration described the need c & nifty
ing the real enemies of I q ieople,
which according to the g e read
to the Trades and Labor lncil is
unemployment. Several minary
expressions of policy an beliefs
were contained in this laration,
particularly summarizing the atti-
tude of the trade union movement
toward the social and economic prob
lens which the working people are
facing, one of which, Section 4, is
as follows:
1--WE hold that a small amount of
common sense clearly indicates that
Public Enemy No. One is that which
is and long has been the cause of
unemployment"
After Secretary Kennedy had read
the declaration, Chairman Davis re-
ferred the whole subject to the legis-
lative committee for consideration.
Accompanying this declaration of
principles was a resolution asking a
joint committee of representatives
from the Helena Trades and Labor
Assembly, the Cascade Trades and
Labor Assembly and the Silver Bow
Trades and Labor Council, to deter
mine upon the place and date of a
general conference of all labor and
farm groups and individuals in the
state of Montana for the specific
purpose of describing ways and
means to identify and eradicate I'M
employment. The communication
submitted to the Silver Bow Trades
and Labor Council stressed the i'm
portance of clearly identifying in the
minds of the working people of the
state of Montana the unemployment
problem, its causes and effect.
= +
A request from the Electricians
Union that the Trades and Labor
Council lend its aid in requesting
individual unions to nominate Neil
Mcdonald, a member of their union,
for the position as board member of
the State Federation of Labor was
referred to the legislative committee.
=
A communication was received
from William Mason secretary of the
Miners Union, stating that the next
general meeting of the Miners and
Smeltermen in respect to a commit
tee set up to determine wages in the
mining industry will meet at Butte,
April %. This committee is a con-
tinuation of one held last winter in
relation to the Wages and Hours Act.
= =
A communication was received
from Mr.. Brandjord of the Public
Welfare Commission defending his
position and denying charges that
administrative costs have been ex-
cessive. The communication also
mentioned that the board was rely
ing on the support of the various
trades and labor councils for an I'M
biased and just determination of
charges.
The Trades and Labor Council
went on record to purchase 100
copies of a newspaper put out by the
Cooperative Publishing Company of
Helena carrying reports of all in
vestigating committees of the last
session of the legislature.
A communication was received
from the Electricians Union describ-
ing the proposition of extending the
lighting system now in vogue on
Harrison avenue up Utah venue or
Montana street. The letter explained
how much cheaper these lights were
than the ordinary lights.
The subject of garnishments again
came up. 1t was explained that the
Montana Power Company was CO.
operating with the miners in frown-
ing upon garnishments at this time,
especially men who are coming off
WPA and going to work in private
industry. From private sources, it
was mentioned that a mistake may
have been made when it was stated
relative to the number of garnish-
ments that had been issued against
the miners as having been excessive.
There was no reflection upon the
justices of the peace in relation to
the issuance of these papers but
merely an attempt to have the mer-
chants be a little more patient.