Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1944-11-03

V, tilC obO1 VI LliS OoS VI MAJ
tracts between individuals and
employers which restrict or
specify the nature of work to be
performed hereby are sus-
pended"
Flagrant disregard of con-
tracts signed with mainland
workers by contractors doing
work for the Army and Navy re-
suited from the order. Hundreds
of cases charging abrogation of
contracts have been filed in the
California courts by civilian
workers who somehow managed.
to get back to the states. Early
this year, over 1900 civil suits
had been filed. Legal recourse
for such abrogation of contracts
was not available in Hawaii un-
der martial law for the only
appeal was from Army-backed
contractors to Army appointed
courts.
Insurmountable Obstacles
Workers who sought to return
home were faced by almost in
surmountable obstacles. Main
land workers who left jobs and
were refused a release by their
employers had to pay their own
passage back to the states, If
lucky enough to arrange pas
sage. Cases have been cited by
government officials where en-
ployers manipulated the Selec-
tive Service Act to secure the
induction of recalictrant en-
ployees.
A memo on Hawaiian labor
prepared by Ernest Burlem,
secretary AFL Street Car Union;
Mrs. Marion Kelly, secretary of
International Brotherhood Of
Electrical Workers, and Arthur
A. Rutledge, secretary of Team
tsers Union local, gave a vigor-
Gus description of the situation.
They said, The conclusion is in
escapable that in the labor
field the (military) government
has adopted the employers point
of view that labor unions are by
nature troublesome. When mar
tial law was established, the
military government turned to
the Big Five and associated
corporations for executives and
personnel to man many if not
most of the key positions in the
military government. In dis
cussing the general state of labor
relations they charge that from
Dec. 7 to Feb. 1943, when utility
workers forced the hand of the
military government, not a
single labor dispute had been
settled"
Support Contention
Supporting their contention
that the Army had done the bid
ding Of anti-labor employers, the
AFL union officials cited num-
ber of cases. One was the case
of Mr.. Ichiro Izunka, president
of Local 1-35, international
Longshoremen and Warehouse
Workers, CIO. The report OF the
labor officials charge that Mr..
Izunka was arrested for distribu-
ton of union newspapers and
"held six months without
charges in the country Jail, then
after hearings before a panel of
three plantation managers and
an Army officer, was held in a
military concentration camp"
Officials Knew
Though the whole story has
never been published, labor of
ficials in Washington who have
known Of the situation for
lllbillilN nave btNil AiliapiN w dii
derstand the slowness of the
White House to lift martial law.
eve are all through with the
military courts so far as civilians
are concerned in Hawaii" So
licitor Fowler Harper of the In
terror Department told LPA,
"The Presidents order rescinds
military controls so far as it af-
fects the civilian population"
II was knowledge of the Ha-
waiian situation which led many
of the union officials, particu-
larly those connected with gov
ernment agencies, TO be bitterly
opposed to anything resembling
a labor draft in the United
States.