Evening star., 1941-06-20
Ford
Continued From First PageD


and cement as well as autos in Ford
plants)
T. All wage increases to be applied
are to be made retroactive to the
date of the signing of the agree
1nent and none of the prevailing
rates of pay are to be reduced
Service Department Dropped.
The contract also calls for the
elimination of the Ford service de-
partment and plant protection by
that department is to be performed
in future by employees identified by
badges as plant protection men.
Under the terms of the contract,
Mr.. Thomas statement said. the
company 'is accorded the right to
place the label of the union on its
cars"
The agreement also calls for the
payment of time -and-a-half over
time for work in excess of 40 hours
a week with double time for Sunday
and holiday work.
The laying off and rehiring of
employees is to be done on a senior
ity basis and seniority will accumu-
late for workers after they have
been on the company pay roll for
six months
Industry Fully Organized.
"The agreement reached today
with the Ford Motor Co. completes
the organization of the automobile
industry by the United Automobile
Workers, c. I. o." Mr.. Thomas
said.
The Ford contract eliminates the
only important holdout against
unionism in the automobile in
dustry"
Mr.. Thomas added that the his
tory-making Ford agreement estab-
fishing a union shop in the automo-
bile industry sets a pattern for the
industry which he said he believed
would be universally adopted before
the end of another year.
The union shop clause recog-
nizes the principle that all who
gain from the union" Mr. Thomas
added, should contribute to its
maintenance"
Will Go Whole Way"
In statement, Edsel Ford, preSi-
cent of the company, expressed the
hope that the agreement will result
in peaceable and uninterrupted pro-
duction and that the company's
operations in national defense
would not be hampered in any way
The Ford Motor Co. has always
considered every problem from the
viewpoint of its working men," Mr.
Ford said. "On May 81 at the N. L.
R. B. election in the Rouge and Lin
coin plants in Dearborn and Detroit,
Ford workmen voted Overwhelmingly
to be represented by union, and
designated the United Automobile
Workers as their collective bargain
ing agent.
AS the company views the Situa-
ticn, no half measures will be ef-
fective. We cannot work out one
scheme of things for some of our
workmen, and another scheme for
the remainder. And so we have de-
cided to 60 the whole way
Hopes for Good Results.
1.-The agreement signed today COW
ers the Rouge and Lincoln plants
and when they're organized, all the
other company plants throughout
the United States. 1t provides that
they shall be union shops, that the
company collect the dues of the
workmen for the union, that rehir-
ing of men, after layoffS, shall be
governed by seniority based on
length of service and ability to per-
form the work required. The agree
ment also provides for the dismis-
sal or settlement of all labor and
civil suits, brought or pending by
the union or its members against
the company throughout the United
States.
Until time has given us oppor-
tunity to see how the agreement
works out in actual practice, we are
not, of course, in position to COM
ment on its various provisions. But
we hope very sincerely that it at
tains the end sought and results in
peaceable and uninterrupted pro-
duction, that the companys opera
tions toward national defense shall
not be hampered in any way.