The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1943-03-31
Behind the
Scenes in the
Kaiser Row
Part OF the Stoke
Soid to Be Treasury
Fottened by Dues
BY PETER EDISON

WASHINGTON Biggest stalk,
N any dispute between two rivs
labor organizations over who,
shan represent and protect N.
workers is control over n.
dues, and in these booming time.
when almost every workman Ia,
10 JOIN a union and pay dues be.
fore he can get a Job. the take /.
important money and the ROOT
Of much evil.
Take for example this Oregon
shipbuilding case Of Henry ]
kaiser's. hearings on which are
scheduled to resume soon in Port
land, before the National Labor
Relations Board. The basis of
entire scrap is which union will
get dues of the $4,000 or more
employees and this stuff about
protecting rights OF workers in
free selection Of representatives
Of their own choosing is Just so
much gosssmer.
clio TOO LATE
The simple fact is that the
ALE got there first. has waxed
lousy rich on dues collected. with
the natural result that the Clio
marine and shipbuilders union
would like 10 see a piece Of that
change in its own Golfers.
From this stark and ugly truth.
however. II should not be i'm
sgined that right and virtue in
this case are entirely on the side
of the federation. For the record
of what the AFL boilermakers'
locals in the Kaiser yards have
done with their booty makes one
of the snarly chapters in the
tangled story of labor union fl
nance.
COMES TOMMY RAY
Principally. this is the story of
Tommy Ray, a Brooklyn boy who
learned his trade in the east and
then was a tramp boilermaker
working here, there and every
where, moving from place to
place, Dragging little about how
he would soldier on the job to get
himself fired when troubled by
itch of the rowing foot
He came eventually to the
northwest, where he rose in the
labor movement, because secre-
tary and No. / man in the boiler
bakers local, and a good one at
that AS an organizer of 500 or
so men, he won confidence of
employers alike, who called on
Tommy Ray whenever they
wanted more men or a new con-
tract.
WAR BOOM
Suddenly. here came the war
effort and shipbuilding began to
boom. Henry Kaiser started his
revolutionary construction meth
DDS. He looked at ship and saw
that it was largely work with
steel plates. What more natural
than it be built by boilermakers,
since there weren't enough skilled
a n d experienced shipbuilders
about. Kaiser sent for Tommy
Ray, and Tommy agreed to sup
ply the labor One of his stunts
was a mass meeting in a Port
land ball park, at which he re-
cruited some 10000 potential
boilermakers and shipbuilders.
Before Tommy Ray or anyone
else realized it. his union had
5000 members. and the union a
closed shop contract with the
Kaiser yards. To work in a
Kaiser yard, a boilermaker has to
Join the union within 30 days
from the time he is hired. If
man gets three months behind in
his dues. the union can ask the
company to fire the man, and the
company has to do 1t.
81 $50. 900 IN DUES
Dues of a boilermaker in Tom
my's union run from $3.50 10
1925 a month. depending on the
skill and the particular job. Take
the smaller figure. For $4,000
members, that means a dues col
lection of S137 500 a month. or
81 $780, 900 year Nice pickings
in snybody's pocket
The money isn't all gravy
Every union member gets insur-
snce. with double indemnity If he
Is killed or permanently disabled