Evening star., 1942-01-03
Automobiles
Continued From First Page.

an open letter to the o. P. M, said
that 250,000 automobile workers
we're idle now and that a total of
400 900 would be idle by the end of
January.
Signed by Philip Murray. C. I. o.
president, the letter said union pro-
posals for all-out production would
be placed before the o. P. NJ again
in the conference of Government
officials, labor leaders and automo-
bile executives which has been
called to meet here Monday
You know that our automobile
industry is the greatest mass pro-
duction organization in the world"
said the letter I'VE have the basic
machinery, the plant space. the
skilled manpOWer, the managerial
force to produce tanks and planes,
guns and trucks. We can give our
country and our allies unquestioned
military superiority over our enc
mics.
Mr.. o. P. NJ. why aren't we doing
Mr.. o. P. NJ. more than a year
ago, the Congress of Industrial Or
CARNATIONS presented simple.
practical plan for utilizing and
adapting the available machinery
in the automobile industry for plane
production. The program, drafted
by Walter p. Reuther and other
members of the c. I. O.'s Automo-
bile Workers Union, was referred
to you for study and recommended
tions. You did nothing about it.
Ready to Do Part.
Labor is ready and determined
to do its part in the II tional war
effort. 1t is willing to accept the
bitter necessities of righteous war.
Labor has the right to expect
that industry shall also do its part.
"On Monday in Washington, rep
resentatives Of automobile labor,
automobile management, and of o.
P. M. will meet to determine what
part the automobile industry is to
play in Americas wal effort. It is
a conference long overdue,
The automobile workers pro-
posals for all-out production will
again be placed before you"
The c. I. o. said it would again
propose the so-called Reuther plan,
whose thesis was that a great deal
more of the automobile industry's
machinery than was generally
recognized could be turned to pro-
duction of aircraft Mr. Reuther
proposed that a worker-manage-
ment committee be appointed to
supervise such a shift
Takes Up Needed Space.
Mr.. Henderson told reporters the
automobile industry had an inven-
tory of s213,000 600 in new-car ma
terial, fabricated and unfabricated.
which was taking up thousands of
feet of floor space needed for mill
tary production. Continued produc-
tion of new cars this month will
use up nearly half of these stocks.
he estimated, leaving the remainder
as repair and replacement parts.
Automobile rationing, expected to
become operative about January Is.
will follow the general outline of
the tire rationing program.
Soon, Mr.. Henderson said, o. P. A.
will give formal assurance to auto
mobile dealers that they can sell
their present stocks Many of the
automobiles produced this month
will be distributed through them.
He promised that some plan of
financing, to cushion effects of the
blow. would be worked out for the
dealers.
British Plan Studied.
Conversion of all available auto
mobile facilities to war production
will take from to IL months, he
estimated.
Asked whether o. P. M. has con-
sidered the British plan of concen-
trating production of a few civilian
automobiles, in one small plant
during the war, Mr.. Henderson re-
piled that the civilian supply divi-
sion had not rejected the idea and
that it might become necessary.
He added that he did not believe
that production of consumer items
such as washing machines and
vacuum cleaners would have to be
halted entirely, but he indicated
that further curtailment of the out
put in such industries could be ex-
pected.