The union times., 1945-08-18
|V-JDay Finds Us |Unprepared For Fruits Of Peace
Overnight Depression Real Danger Unless Immediate Action Is Taken

Wltn lts biggest crisis since Pearl Harbor.
 Millions of Americas home front production soldiers, whose every waking minute has been tied up with the war effort for more than three years, now will find themselves without jobs and not enough savings to tide them over the lean months ahead.
 Tomorrow Is Here The tomorrow that the leaders of organized labor have repeatedly warned was coming is here. It finds the US. totally unprepared to make good on Pres. Roosevelt's s promise of jobs for all and full pro- duction.
 VI Day finds Congress on vaca- tiOn, due to reconvene shortly after Labor Day, with depression staring us i'm the face. Unions everywhere are joining in the demand that Congress be yanked back immedi- ately and set to work on score of emergency problems which must be solved if economic chaos is to be avoided.
 Only 30 million of America's 43 million non-farm workers are cov- cred by unemployment insurance. The benefits they do get-limited in most cases to SIS a week for about 16 weeks-are totally inade- quate for their needs. Pres. Tru- man has asked Congress to provide unemployment benefits of $25 a week for at least 26 weeks for all unemployed, including discharged war veterans. Congress has ignored that request.
 Big BottIeneck
 Congress has neglected another emergency request by the President to create a single administrator of sur plus property to speed disposal of about $100 billion worth of surplus property. Failure to make this prop erty quickly available for peacetime use Is the biggest single bottleneck in the reconversion program.
 Other essential legislation Con- gress must pass includes:
 l. The Murray full employment bill under which government guar antees it will maintain purchasing power at full employment levels.
 2. The Pepper-Mead-Thomas bill which would raise the present 4Oc hourly minimum wage to CSC.
 3. The Wagner-Ellender hous- ing bill which would provide one million new low-cost homes a year for the next year and provide thou sands of jobs for building and con- struction trades workers.
 4. The Wagner-Murray-D -Dingell social security bill to provide a na- tional unemployment insurance system on a permanent basis, raise social security standards and pro- vide a nationwide health insurance program.
 5. The Hill-Burton bill to ap- propriate $1OO million a year for construction of health centers, hos pitals, schools, libraries, commun- ity centers, roads, airpOrts and other public works.
 6, The Murray bill for a Mis- soufi Valley Authority and the Mitchell bill for Columbia Valley Authority, which would create huge power projects similar to IVA.
 '. The Norton bill for a per- mancnt FEPC to help preserve the gains minority groups have made in industry during the war.
 Tn addition organized labor is de- manding abandonment of the Little Steel formula which has kept a lid on workers earnings while corporate profits were allowed to soar to new unlimited heights. With imitation no longer a danger, labor spokesmen point out that wage increases must be permitted if workers are to main- tain their purchasing power during the critical days ahead.
 ACTION BY A.F.L.
 In Chicago, the AFL executive council called on the Natl. War La- bor Board ''tO end without further delay the wage freeze which is jeop- ardizing the well-being of the en- tire nation."
 Adopted before news of the Japa- nese surrender offer was announced, the councils statement pointed out that the WLB is now entering its final phase and said when peace
 Continued on Page Three)