Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1945-07-13
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deliberately tried to separate
the service man from his
folks at home who were work
ing to produce the materials
of war.
The second objective of
strike promotion by manage
ment is a follow thru from the
first. BY breaking down
unions they hope to obtain a
lower unit labor cost. The
high unit labor cost is crea-
ture largely of their own max
ing. AS long as there was only
one customer for their goods
and their productive facilities.
were at a premium, the piling
on of costs resulted in higher
profits. Now that they are
faced with competitive market
conditions they are struggling
to bring down these unit costs
so as to gain and maintain a
place in competitive business.
They have decided that the
best way to accomplish this
end is to use the sledge ham,
mer instead of seeking CO.
operation.
The present Spicer situation
is a very good example of
management trying to reach
these two goals. Lucille Bowes
of the accounting department
was discharged for hardness"
1t is peculiar, to say the least,
that Miss Bowes Is the only
worker in the accounting de-
partment that the management
is sure is a union member. ,
How did they know that?
Elementary, my dear Watson.
Miss Bowes filed a couple of
grievances and the union went
to bat on them. To think that
any worker in the accounting
department (say that name on
bended knee, pal) would have
the audacity to have a griev-
ance much less file one is lese
majeste of the worst type.
After all this is the citadel of
the dough pile, the inner
throne room of company pol
icy. To have a worker file a
grievance against the Melicks
is intolerable to the Melicks.
Therefore, the worker who did
it got the pitch.
You see the Union won a
collective bargaining election
in May, 1914, in the Spicer of
flee. Negotiations on the con-
tract were opened in July of
that year. After no agreement
was reached the contract was
certified to the War Labor
Board as a dispute about seven
months ago. The extreme
speedy action of the board has
resulted in no settlement to
date lIn peacetime the aver
age contract Is signed, sealed
and delivered in thirty to sixty
days.)
There Is no doubt that the
real reason Miss Bowes was
fired is the fact that she is a
member of the Union because
other people In, the same de-
partment who ride the same
Eleanor Avenue bus are late
just as often or oftener than
Miss Bowes. Miss Bowes is not
a new employee of this COM
pany as has been inferred. She
has been there almost two
years, and in that time the
company could find nothing
wrong with her work.
Union officers cannot auth
orize this or any other strike
or work stoppage because the
membership has voted by ref
erendum to retain the no.
strike pledge. However, man
agement keeps piling indig-
mites on workers until the
breaking point Is reached
When they do this and the
workers can stand no more
and strike, management hopes
to divorce the workers from
the Union by forcing them to
violate the rules that these
work ers themselves have
made.
The final result is. this,
folks: management asked for
1t. Management promoted II.
Management has IL now. This
Is the most complete shut
down have ever seen. Sooner
or later they are going to have
to sit down at the conference
table. So far they have re-
fused to do 50 unless the
people 60 back to work. The
workers 30 far have said to
management, You have made
the situation, it's your baby.
Up until last night (Mondzyl.
the War Labor Board has said,
Thanks for calling and letting
Us know that something hap
pened." Last night the WLB
ordered the people back to
work, instructfng them to fol-