The union times. (New Haven, Conn.) 1941-1948, 1944-01-22
LETS Win War"
Is Slogan OF All

While 1913 has been an
other year of unprecedented
progress for organized labor,
i'm terms of membership in
creases, union chieftains tenn
pered their New Years reports
of gratifying gains with grim
warnings that the labor move
ment is facing a crucial pc
riOd.
Year-end figures of the Ia
Dor organizations showed
membership rolls to be close
to l3.5OO,OOO, an advance of
more than a million during
the past year, bringing the
overall strength to triple OF
that of the last war. That in
cludes the A. F. of L., C. l. O.,
Standard Railroad Labor Or
carnations and various un-
affiliated unions, such as the
Miners, Brewery Workers and
'sTypos."
Some of the most impressive
gains were scored by the Standard
rail unions, both in and out of the
railroad industry. All of them add
ed substantially to their member
ship rosters, and some, like the Ma
chanists. Boilermakers and Electro
cal Workers, which represent a vast
number of industrial workers in
war plants, as well as in rail shops,
swelied their rolls by $4,000 to over
100000 each.
1--WE have had an encouraging
growth all along the line" declared
President Bert M. Jewell of the A. r
of L. Railway Employees Department
MANY remnants of company union
ism in rail shops were eliminated, and
our most outstanding victory was won
on the Santa Fe where $4,000 shop
men were brought under the banner
of the Standard unions.
But, we might as well lace the
fact that our enemies are seeking to
attack labor on every front, economic
as well as legislative. The workers
must be ready to fight to hold their
economic gains. Above all, they should
prepare now to rally their political
strength against their foes. That
means every worker and his family
should be registered and qualified to
vote in the coming elections"
On the debit side of the 1913 ledger,
labor leaders said, is the bitter fact
that anti-labor legislation has been put
over in Congress and many state leg
islatures, with foes of labor agltating
for even tighter manacles on the
workers.
Wages have been frozen more
sOIidly than ever before, while
prices of necessities have been
looming upward and the admins
tration's pledge to "take the profits
out of war; has remained unfulfll-
ed. The brunt of the wars sacri-
fees on the civilian front has been
placed on the shoulders of workers,
the labor spokesman declared.
AS a result, their New Year state
ments were considerably less opti-
mistic than usual and for the most
part they confined themselves to
appeals to workers to devote even
greater energies in 1914 to about
production and thus speed the war
to a triumphant close.
President William Green Of the A.
F. of L. asserted labor's slogan and
resolve at the turn of the year is
lets win the war in 1914.
American workers, who have won
the battle of production in record
time. are determined to do their ut
most in the months ahead to bring
the war to a speedy and victorious
conclusion" he said.
ssWe issue this New Year warm
ing to the enemy-that American
labor and industry will back up
the fighting forces of the United
Nations with the greatest output
of planes, tanks, gums and ships
the world has ever known"