St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1944-11-03

Manpower Commission, gave the
tipoff on the whole postwar situa-
ton, when he declared:
Worker in Temporary Status
"About rs per cent of the work
ing Negroes in war industries are
in temporary, emergency, mush-
room industries such as shipbuild-
ing, aircraft manufacture, NUM-
tions, etc. Two-thirds of these
Negro workers have acquired
skilled and semi-skilled ratings and
pay. Yet, it is precisely this group
which will, as contracts are con-
cluded, and as cut-backs are made,
be dumped on a labor market in
which it has been difficult for one
third of the working Negro popula-
ton to secure other than unskilled
and mental jobs"
Michael Ross, Washington repre-
sentative of the Industrial Union
of Marine and Shipbuilding Work
ers of America (CIO), warned the
conference that the shipbuilding in
dustry in the postwar period will
face a sharp contraction, bringing
with it substantial reduction in
payrolls. He thought that reduc-
lions among Negroes are going to
be heavy due largely to "strict ap-
plication of seniority rules and vet
Grams unemployment provisions. +"
He declared: "The problem of the
Negro here is part of the total
problem Of reconversion of ship
building workers. A large part
of the hope for fairer treatment in
the economic field resides in such
simple question as the obtaining
of the right to VOTE"
The Office of War Information
last May said that wartime en-
ployment of Negro shipyard work.
ers, has increased more than ID
fold since 1910. In 1914 there were
nearly $4,000 Negroes in the in
dustry.
Wants More Migration
DR.. Herman Feldman of Dart
mouth College wanted to see in
creased migration of Negroes from
the South into areas of more liberal
tradition; criticized the "ineptness"
of management in failing to do its
part in the introduction of new
workers, and went on to say that
trade unions and the constant edu-
cation of the people would be the
logical program to be carried out.
The Negro CT, nearly everyone
agrees, should be the first among
his race to enjoy immediate and
full employment benefits without
resort to dole or temporary relief.
Some will return to jobs they had
before they entered the service.
Other thousands will return to an
unemployed status unless some
thing is done to provide for them.
These men have undergone a pro-
found change, both in habit and in
ability. Army and Navy training
has given them new skills; made
many of them specialists in highly
complicated crafts and trades. If
dishwasher before Pearl Harbor,
the Negro CT who has learned to
be an expert electrician or radio
technician isn't going to be con-
tent with another dishwashing Job
upon his discharge from the armed
forces. He has been told he was
fighting for a better world in which
to live. He will feel that the price
he paid and that paid by his bud
dies has been more than enough to
guarantee him economic security
at home. He won't feel at all good
about it when he starts evaluating
the efforts put forth by those he
has been told are his leaders and
finds that much, if not most of such
efforts, have been selfish, conflict
ing, and inadequate to service his
needs.
Other Lines Also Included
The situation in the shipbuilding,
aircraft, automobile, railroad and
steel industries as regards the
Negro can be applied with slight
variation to other lines of work.
The temporary status of the Negro
home front worker may similarly