Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1944-05-05

capitalists.
wen, mere Clayton w.
an argument
Especially in view of what
happened at the annual stock
holders meeting of the Ameri-
can Telephone & Telegraph
Company on April 19.
Representatives of tn e
United Telephone OrganiZa-
tions, speaking on behalf of
the A. T. & T. workers, ap-
peared at the meeting. Pos
sessed of a few shares of stock,
these spokesmen for the work
ers attempted to influence the
deliberations of the meeting.
SEEK BOARD POSTS
The major demand of the
A. T. & T. workers was for
representation on the corpora
tion's Board of Directors. They
proposed that one Charles H.
Parsons, union official en-
ployed in one of the corpora
tion's plants, and Mrs. Eliza
beth Walsh, a company clerk,
be elected to the board.
When the showdown came,
the workers were able to mus
ter only 1917 shares to vote
in their favor. IL, ,236, ,781
shares were voted against their
motion for labor representa-
ton on the board.
Another union proposal for
an improvement in the corpo-
ration's pension plan was also
voted down by a heavy ma
jority of shares.
This kind of leaves Mr.. Eric
Johnson up in the air.
Apparently his colleagues in
the high places of A. T. & T.
have not been listening to his
arguments. They don't believe
that workers are capitalists.
At least they didn't go for
the idea of having organized
workers on the Board of Di-
rectorS.
A LESSON
There is a lesson for labor
in this story of the failure Of
the A. T. g. T. workers to win
their points at the stockholders
meeting.
The deck was stacked against
them. They were up against
an aggregation of wealth con-
centrated in the hands of a few
powerful capitalists. In a sit
uation like that, the liberal
oratory of Mr.. Eric Johnston
takes a back seat. No capi-
talist is going to let labor come
into his den and pull him
around by the beard. Not
without a fight.
Suppose, however, that the
workers employed by a given
corporation did manage to ac-
quire a controlling block of
stock. Would this enable them
to walk into a stockholders
meeting and assume direction
of the organization?
/ doubt it very much. Long
before the workers could get
to the meeting, the great pow
ers of the corporation would
get their heads together and
issue more stock. They would
be sure to issue it to the right
people, too.
1t is money, not people, that
votes in a corporation. The
democratic provisions of a cor
poration'S bylaws are a sham.
Mammon rules the corporate
rooSt with dictatorial hand.
ANOTHER SYSTEM
There are business institu-
tions in America, however, in
which people, not money, vote.
The consumers cooperatives,
with their wholesale houses
and factories, are really demo-
cratic corporations. People
own stock in the cooperatives,
too. But each cooperative
stockholder is limited to one
vote, no matter how many
shares he holds.
Most of the people who sit
on the boards that direct the
cooperatives are workers or
farmers. They are not there 10
get rich. Their OBJ ctive is to
run their business in the man
ner best suited to the interests
of all the stockholders.
A. T. & T., on the other
hand, is run for the enrichment
of a few. That is why the
spokesmen for the workers
couldn't get to first base at
the stockholders meeting. They
were playing in the wrong
league.