The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1942-07-09
Labor News From Brituin

with them is taken by the workpeoplc
as evidence of good faith on the side
Of management and as a sign that the
firm concerned Is more anxious to in
crease war production than to main
tain managerial autocracy.
Tribute to Women Workers
Another notable feature Of the En-
quiry into causes Of increa sed produc-
tion is the evidence Of q more general
acceptance of the presence Of we'll
trained female labor and the proper
use of up-graded labor. Quite a num-
ber of factories attribute increased
production to the Introduction Of we'll
trained female labor. This is all the
hindrances here is as this Union re-
port points out, undoubtedly the un-
satisfactory position Of Trade Union
ism amongst women.
The Trade Union situation in the
munitions industry and the war trades
as a whole, is somewhat anomalous. A
great many women munitiOneerS are
workers transferred from other indus
tries which are fairly well unioniZed,
and most of them hold the Union card.
The difficulty has been to arrange a
proper system of Interrogation of
Union cards. A satisfactory system is
now in operation.
The TUG. General Council dealt
with the question early in 1910 and
most of the Unions concerned accepted
the TUG. proposal for general inter
recognition of cards.
One of the Union secretaries, An
drew Conley, of the Tailors and Gar
ment Workers Union, many of whose
| women members have been transferred
| to the munitions trades, recently ad
dressed an Open Letter to these trans,
| ferred members. In it he said know
| that many of you are saying that ycll
ought to pay your contribution to the
| Union that negOtiates your wages and
conditions. This is a sound Trade
| Union principle But the matter
isn't quite as simple as it looks. If you
had left the garment trades perman
emily and had taken up other worl,
under the protection of another Union
1t would be only right that you should
join that Union and support it Loyalty
But that isn't the position. Your trans
fer to war work is temporary. This
Union your Union - has not trans
ferred you to some other Union: it has
| On nI IN n, far t, l,
trades, realizing that you will come
under the jurisdiction of other Unions
for the period of the war, but that yor
will come back to the garment indus
try after the war. We have an agree
ment with the other Unions by which
our Union card rs recognized. These
other Unions don't expect you to joil
as If you were Il new entrant to theil
industry. They know you are trade
uniOniSt. You have the Union card
The card shows you are IA member il
good standing"
This puts the position succinctly
Andrew COnley emphasized it as al
Illustration of the underlying unity o1
the Trade Union Movement and of the
interlocking arrangements they hav,
been able to make where the field OF
organization of one Union overlap.
that of another. There is abundan
evidence that the closer inter-relation
ships of Trade Unions have improved
the worker-management relationship
established in the Factory Committees
Membership Almost Doubled i'm Place.
Trade Unionism is growing amOns
women in the war trades, too. Full re
turns are not available yet, but in
complete statistics, collected by th'
TUG. show that the number of Union
lied women has been practicall,
doubled in the membership of som.
Unions connected with the war trades