Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1943-08-20

smoothly, all things considered.
Now and then a dispute between
an employer and his workers
reached the final stage where
one or two day walkout, sit-down
or showdown would take place,
but on the whole, relations were
quite amicable. And good con-
tracts were signed.
These agreements brought
good-sized wage increases and
adjustments wherever inequali-
ties occurred. You didn't need a
Philadelphia lawyer to pile up
barrage of statistics TO prove
why the raise was justified. No
one had the slightest hope of
forcing the Union to write in
clauses which were not found in
other agreements around town
and which would make that par
ticular contract inferior to the
others.
WHAT NOW?
But now what have we got? A
certain War Labor Board panel
has recommended for final ap-
proval to the National Board in
Washington a number of clauses
written by the Panel which were
not suggested either by the Com
pany or the union in their recent
hearing. Get a load of this:
Every one of Local 12's con-
tracts stipulates that those who
leave for the Armed Forces will
have sixty days after their dis
charge in which to report for
work. The Company agreed to
this, so the Panel changed the
time to fifty days instead of
sixty. Why?
In peace time, and in written
contracts throughout our area at
the present time, it is written
that after the war, Saturday will
be paid at overtime rates. Only
one contract out of forty-seven
quoted to the WLB stipulates
that forty hours must have pre-
vously been worked. SO the
Panel recommends overtime pay
for Saturday if the employee has
worked the previous five days.
During the dispute the Com
pany asked the union to write a
preface to the agreement. When
it was written the Company
wasn't satisfied with it, so both
parties agreed to omit it. The
panel decided that one should be
written, so it writes a new one
which repeats everything con-
tanned in four sections Of the
contract which were settled eight
months ago and never submitted
to the WLB.
THE INITIATIVE
Then the Panel added a clause
stating that employees violating
the contract would be disciplined.
Was there anything written
covering the supervision who vio-
lated the contract, or are they
to be punished7 The Company
hadn't even asked for this clause
but the Panel took the "initia-
tive"
Not one single plant in the To-
ledo organization is bound by
compulsory arbitration, which
gives the arbitrator the powers
of dictator in any dispute in
which he is called. But the panel
recommended that this be done.
In their recommendation,
which, if approved, will become
legal and binding, 1t was sug-
gested that an employee must
have worked for the Company
ten years before he would re-
ceive two weeks vacation pay.
Last but not least among the
most outstanding examples of
justice was the point Of back
pay. The Company had agreed
in writing that all increases and
adjustments of any kind would
be retroactive to October 4th,
1912. Later the management
changed It's mind on this, so
what do you think the Panel
recommended You guessed it,
they concurred with the man
agement 1001o, and ordered the
back pay to begin as of January
/, 1943, which the Company
wanted to put into effect last
December.
Well, dear readers, and / hope
the War Labor Board appreci-
ates that we have thirty thou
sand Of them, this is the rotten
est example Of fair treatment
by a government agency yet ex-
perienced by any group of work
ers in Toledo. And the peculiar
part of it is that the Panel
Chairman is a labor relations
man from Cleveland, who de-
rived a nice income from repre-
senting Companies in labor ne
gotiationsl