Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1945-10-05
Whats
New!
OR ELSE!

The war is over, but still a
lot of people persist in at
taching a patriotic angle to
the present strike situation.
Others take the attitude
that production must be gotten
under way at any cost, that
this is the wrong time for the
unions to force the issue on
wage increases.
Still others fall for the
hokum that wage increases
will necessarily mean price IN
creases, with the result that
the wage Garner and consumer
will be still further behind
than he was before the raise
in pay was granted.
In regard to this last point
let me say that if industry
had its way, prices would
skyrocket. And let is be
granted that on many occa-
sions insignificant wage in
creases to employees have been
the basis for exorbitant price
increases far in excess of the
raise in labor costs.
But to accept the defeatist
attitude on the wage problem
is to say, whats the use of
even trying-let's take what
the corporations give us and
let it go at that!'
If this is to be the solution
to the postwar problems of
the American Workingmen,
what was this war fought for,
anyway? The right of collec-
tive bargaining, the right to
a decent standard of living for
all of us, and the right to ex-
pect that there will be jobs
for everyone are things which
everyone has been promised
by the government, by indus
try, and by everyone connect
ed with the war effort. Now
ed with the war effort.
HOURS SHORTENED
The hours of work have
been shortened. Taxes are
still being taken from the
workers pay checks. The cost
Of living has scared. Where
is the postwar prosperity in
this scheme of things, unless
wages are increased?
Hours should be shortened
further. Thirty hours per
week will provide sufficient
employment for good living
standard if wages are in
creased as they should be, pro-
viding that prices are held
where they belong. AS it is,
the unions are asking for a
forty-hour week at a decent
wage, and the big boys of in
dustry are raising hob about
it. How, then, do we get the
thirty-hour week, if we can
not get what such organiza-
tions as the Oil Workers are
asking now?
The Oil Workers fight is
our fight. II you don't need
a raise it is because someone
else Is supporting you.
President Truman told the
American public that it should
ready itself to enjoy a fifty
per cent higher standard of
living than it ever enjoyed be-
fore. | wonder how we are
supposed to get it, if wages
are not increased? There is
only one other way, and that
is for prices to go downward,
and any fifth-grader would
know better than to believe
that this will ever be done
voluntarily.
FULL EMPLOYMENT
This standard of living can
not be obtained unless full
employment becomes reality,
and that's for sure. Full en-
ployment will not become a
reality unless the hours of
work are shortened. Certainly
no one wants to work six or
seven days a week, because he
wouldn't be able to enjoy
life, no matter how much
money he made. Besides, with
the increased productivity and
m C h anica advancements
brought about during the war,
thirty per cent more produc-
ton can be obtained in the
American industrial m n
hour.
II would behoove a lot of us
to start taking an interest in
the fight which is just begin
ming, and to acquaint our
selves with the overall picture,
instead of repeating what we
read in the newspapers and
hear on the radio. The real
issue is whether we get good
deal for everyone or for just
the usual few. All this talk
about national debts, supply
and demand, foreign markets,
etc, is over the head of the
nNI s.,eA