Evening star., 1940-12-29
.C.I. 0. Leader Asks
Use Of Idle Machines
To Produce Planes
Employing Short Cut Will
Allow Output Of 500
Ships Daily, He Says

Declaring that Hitler will not
wait while we pursue the usual lei
surely methods of production" WAL
ter Reuther last night urged that
idle machinery and idle skilled labor
in the automobile industry be put
to work building warplanes.
Mr.. Reuther, United Automobile
Workers official, outlined the C. I. O..
plan for producing 500 pursuit
planes daily after six months prep
aration. in a Nation wide radio ad-
dress that stressed the point that
warplane factories now under con-
struction will not be In production
for almost two years.
Meanwhile, he declared, the auto
motive industry contains idle plants,
as we'll as idle machinery and idle
men. He cited the Hupmobile fac
tory in Detroit as an example.
Says One-Third Unused.
One-third of the automotive tool
and die workers, "the most skillful
machinists in the world" are either
totally unemployed or working
temporarily on ordinary production
jobs bright boy off the farm could
handle" Mr.. Reuther said.
The c. I. o. proposal was pre-
sented to President Roosevelt last
week by Philip Murray, c.. I. o. pres
ident. Mr.. Roosevelt expressed in
terest in it at his Friday press con-
ference and said he had laid it be-
fore the new Office for Production
Management for investigation.
Briefly, the plan contemplates es-
tablishment of Joint aircraft pro-
duction board representing Govern
ment, management and labor, which
would survey the automotive indus
try to determine what unused Ca
pacity Is available, then break down
the blueprints for fighting plane
into component parts and assign the
manufacture of these parts to vari-
Gus plants in accordance with their
idle capacity.
Would Postpone Tooling.
Mr.. Reuther said the c. I. o.
plan would postpone the tooling OF
new automobile models six months,
but when men are being drafted
that Is little enough to ask of the
automotive industry"
Labor, said Mr.. Reuther, is con-
cerned with accelerated Warplane
production because "it believes a
strengthened defense essential to
our countrY's safety in this era of
axis aggression. Labor is concerned
because 1t believes that our coun-
try's main defense is the little
fortress isle holding off the bomb
Ing planes of Nazi-ism on the other
side of the Atlantic. Labor Is con-
cerned because wherever Eazi-ism
is victorious the precious liberties
that differentiate the free man and
the free worker from the slave are
destroyed"
Labor Would Contribute.
Urging that labor be allowed to
contribute its own creative expert
ence and knowledge" Mr.. Reuther
said special tools, dies. iigs and
fixtures would be required TO adapt
idle machinery to the making of
planes. But this, he asserted.
would be to shortcut a process
that would make it unnecessary to
build duplicates of idle machinery
of idle plants"
He added:
There stands idle in the huge
Cleveland Fisher Body plant toggle
presses huge enough to hold and
operate draw or flange die weigh
ing 10 to 80 tons. Such a machine
can stamp out airplane parts as
well as. automobile parts. Aside
from the tremendous cost, it would
take years to install in new air.
craft plants the same type of
presses which now stand idle much
of the time in Cleveland's Fisher
Body plant.
Equipment at the Chevrolet
drop forge plant in Detroit operates
at 90 per cent of capacity even at
this time, which is a peak period
for the automobile industry. The
machines and hammers in this
plant could produce all the drop
forgingS required for 500 airplaneS
a day and still supply the Chevrolet
companv with sufficient forgings
for 100000 cars during the COM
ing year. Why not use this equip
ment instead of duplicating it?"