The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1941-01-02
Facing The Fac+s
With PHILIP PEARL

Perhaps no one in the country,
with the exception of her husband,
gets around more and gets into the
newspapers as often as Mrs. Frank
lin D. Roosevelt. AS the First Lady
of the land, as columnist, as a
member of a great many organiza-
tions (including a ClO union) and as
an intelligent and warm-hearted wo-
man interested in numerous causes
and individuals, Mrs Roosevelt man.
ages to keep pretty busy. 1t is no
wonder, then, that through haste and
superficial! knowledge of subject she
is liable, occasionally, to make mis-
take in judgment which she, herself,
would be the first to wish corrected
if the facts were fully presented to
her.
1t is, therefore, in wholly friendly
spirit that we beg leave to differ with
her off-hand denunciations of high
initiation fees required by the Wash
ington, D. c., local of the Internation-
al Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
as racket"
In this case, Mrs. Roosevelt's SYM
pathies were enlisted by the plight of
migrant worker who sought a job
as an electrical worker on an Army
construction project at Fort Belvoir,
Va, and was told he would have to
be member of the union before he
could get work. He testified he "lost
interest" when he was informed the
union initiation fee was $500.
The Other Side of the Story
Now, with no more information
than this a lot of people would be
inclined to agree with Mrs. Roosevelt
But there is another side to the story
that perhaps Mrs. Roosevelt and most
people don't know. SO we propose to
tell it here.
In the first place, the only reason
this migrant worker sought to join
the union was because he couldn't get
the job otherwise. If he had enough
skill as an electrical worker to qualify
him to become member, the prob
abilities are that he acquired his skill
working in scab shops as non-union
man because he cited no record of
previous union affiliation. Is it, then,
suffered and sacrificed to build a
union and make it strong to invite
into their ranks scot-free a man who
not only contributed nothing to help
the union but even worked against
it in non-union shops?
In the second place, what assurance
has the union that this migrant work
er, especially with his background,
will remain in the union after the
project on which he sought a job is
completed? Certainly, he showed no
previous appreciation of the value of
being a union member! How can an
organization function and exist when
it's membership is fluid? How can it
maintain itself when members jump
in when a certain job appears to them
and then jump out again? 1t seems
to us that this is the perfect example
of how necessary it is that a new
member Of union have stake and
an investment in his union which he
will be anxious to preserve and protect
In the third place, how does the
size of the initiation fee compare
with the benefits and advantages de
rived from union membership. This
particular migrant, when he ''lost in
terest" i'm the union, took a job in
Washington at $50 week, according
to the newspapers. But he would have
received $40 week or more under
union rates on the union job. Isn't
that difference worth the fee? And
that is not all. AS a member of the
union, he would have been entitled
to life insurance, old age disability
compensation and other important
benefits. During 1889, the records
show the |. b. T.. w. paid out to its
members more than million dollars
in such benefits. Does that mean
nothing? And how about job oppor-
tunities on other projects which the
union makes available to it's members
Mrs. Roosevelt Defends Labor
Finally, we wish to dispel the i'm
preston that high initiation fees are
established as a source Of revenue
Nothing could be further than the
truth. The chief reason for initiation
fees is to keep new members out
when there are not enough jobs to
go around for the members already
in. The moment the supply Of jobs be-
comes greater than the supply Of
union workers, initiation fees drop.
On this particular project, for in
stance, the union has forty-eight
hour closed shop. If it cannot supply
qualified men to work within forty
eight hours Of call, the contractor may
hire anyone he pleases. Surely, no
union is going to maintain an artificial
barrier Of high initiation fees at the
expense Of losing it's contracts!
We are anxious to bring these facts
to the attention Of Mrs. Roosevelt
and to the public in order to correct
any mistaken impressions. And we
would like to suggest to Mrs. Roose-
welt that there is in the Cabinet a
man well-qualifed to give her any