The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1941-05-22
Facing The Foc+s
With PHILIP PEARL

Hihci iCdH IiuuSIIldi IcidIlOIlS VIII De
held on May 81 among some 10000
employees of the Ford Motor Company.
These employees will go to the polls
and decide for themselves by secret
ballot whether their best interests lie
in joining in the American Fedora
tion of Labor, the CIO, or no union at
all.
The employees of the Ford Motor
Company are representative group
of American citizens. They have
good, sound, common-sense. For that
reason, we are confident that they will
choose the American Federation of
Labor to represent them.
They will do this in self denise and
for national defense.
The self-defense and the. self-respect
of the Ford workers are deeply af-
fected by their decision. If they vote
A. f. of l.. they are assured of repre-
sentation that is Immediately and en-
tirely concerned with the protection
of their own interests. They will have
their own union. 1t will deal with
management in constructive way.
Of course, it will seek higher wages
and better conditions of work in any
contract that will be negotiated. But
it will not provoke unnecessary strikes
and it will not involve the workers in
a constant storm of strife with man.
agement. The A. F. of l.. will seek
to bring about peace, stability and
ho%
for the Ford workers.
CIO Means Destruction
What are their prospects under the
CIO? Vastly different. The leader
ship of the CIO Auto Workers Union
is heavily salted with Communists.
The motive Of the CIO in seeking to
organize Ford workers is not to help
these workers but to try to destroy
Henry Ford. The founder of the
Ford Motor Company is a smybol to
the Communists Of all that they hate.
They would not hesitate for a mo-
ment to jeopardize the future of the
workers if they could at the same time
| ruin Ford and tear down the great
| industrial structure that bears his
name.
The prospects of the Ford workers
under CIO leadership would be strikes,
strikes, more strikes, nothing but
strikes. There will be no peace. There
will be no stability. There will be no
security. There will be only picket
lines, riots, intimidation and Hunger.
| 1t seems to us that every Ford
worker must realize this and take it
into account before he goes to the
polls and casts his ballot. He must
realize that in voting A. F. of l.. he
is voting for his own best interests
and in voting CIO he is voting in the
interests of Stain and his henchmen
in this country.
Not only selfish, personal interests
must be taken into account by the
Ford workers, but the welfare of the
entire country, now engaged in stu
pendous national defense program.
The production of the Ford Motor
Company is vital factor in this pre-
paredness program. Under A. f. Of
l.. representation, the workers know
this production will continue without
interruption from strikes. The A. F.
of l.. has pursued no-strike policy in
defense industries which has been 80
per cent effective. The CIO, on the
other hand, motivated by Moscow, has
embroied most of it's membership in
destructive strikes which have serious
ly delayed defense production in many
lines. Ford is no exception to the
ClO policy.
| Welcome Into the A. F. of L.
There may be some Ford workers
who are inclined to vote against any
union. If they do this they are just
blocking their own progress and the
advancement of their fellow workers.
The lessons of industrial history prove
beyond question of doubt that workers
everywhere can help themselves only
through union organization. Separate
| ly the workers are weak and power
less. Joined together into strong
union they can bargain with manage
ment on equal terms. This truth is
4 so elementary that we doubt it neces-
sary to make more than casual refer
| cHCe 10 III.
One or two other factors should be
considered by Ford workers before
they make their decision. In aligning
themselves with the American Fed
Grafton of Labor they join hands with
more than five million other American
workers and enlist their help and sup
port. Yet at the same time they can
maintain their own identity and run
their own union without outside inter-
ference. That is democracy. That is
what the Ford workers must want if
they possess the spirit of independent
democracy.
But if they align themselves with
the CIO, the workers Of the Ford Mo-
tor Company are embracing a weak
organization which cannot help them,
and, in fact, has no desire to help
them. All it wants is to use them for
the advantage of the Communist
cause.
| Do the Ford workers want to be
used as catspaws by the enemies of