The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1941-10-30
UNIONS NECESSARY FOR DEFENSE

AT NO TIME are unions more necessary for
wage-earners than now when our nation is
Swinging into total defense program. BY the
lend of the year defense production will have
passed twenty-five billion level and will be
mounting steadily to absorb the more than fifty
billions already appropriated New defense fac
tories will be completed and getting into produc-
Ition. Modern warfare is so completely mechanlzed
THAT factories have to be mobilized to much
greater extent than in the last war.
The shift to defense production has been con-
|trolled by contracts let by the Army and the
Navy. Continuous efforts are being made to con-
Vince those in authority that costly mistakes
could be avoided and production stepped up by
making census of machine tools and alocatlng
contracts to plants with appropriate machines and
workers. AS defense production gets moving at
full blast, civilian production will be crowded out.
The government will control production and for
|egn trade. Unless defense production is planned
and contracts distributed to provide work for
|all, small business will be bankrupt and millions
Unemployed
When a war economy and Defense Admin
|istration replace normal industry and normal con-
tracts, workers need representation to protect
their interests in the making of new regulations
and decisions when normal methods of appeal are
prohibited. Every union should either direct It's
officers appoint special representatives to
handle this vital task at this time. Your employer
may shift his production at any time, and workers
may have to learn new work or find new jobs.
Make sure your officers know how to protect you.
The program recommended by the American
Federation of Labor contains these fundamental
principles:
Where jobs are available and retraining is
necessary, retraining should be on the job wher-
ever possible. When retranng is for work on de-
fense contracts in plants in which the workers
were formerly employed, there should be no re-
duction in pay during after the period of train
ling, and seniority and other rights earned by
former employment should continue cumulative.
Workers have right to indemnity for loss Of jobs
or rights due to no fault of their own. Work on
defense contracts is one way the government may
|protect them.
Workers who must refrain for work looking to
employment with other than former employers,
and whose training is outside of production in or
for industry, should be paid the maximum unen-
|ployment compensation. In addition, the federal
government should arrange to pay them during
! this training period the difference between unem-
|ployment compensation allowed and their former
wages.
| Every effort should be made to find jobs for
workers without transferring them to other
Towns But if transfer becomes necessary, the
workers should not have to pay for transportation
and they should be helped to dispose at fair prices
of homes and other property they cannot take
with them
Social security rights Of workers should not be
|disSip ipated or lesscned because of transfers or
|changes due to defense causes.
Union membership should be protected in all
|dislocations
We realize that we must preserve democracy
in our daily relations in order to win the war fol
democracy.