Montana labor news., 1945-04-05
IATSU MEMBERS
MESSAGE TO
THE HOME FRONT

The HUME FKUNl
PAR1s-FP)-Tve just con from a
visit with union members among the
$500 soldiers at U. S. Army ordnance
DEPOT O644 here-the biggest in this
whole theater of war. It's 50 big that
even a recital oflts basic statistics makes
n a little weary. But by far the big
gest thing about it is the way those
d-own-to-earth, casual-voiced d%oughboys
work it
Work it "a hours a day, seven days a
week Handling more than $4,000
tons of equipment every month Sup
plying five American armies and n
French army with thousands of different
items, from tiny gadgets to tanks and
wheeled monsters so huge they look Ike
something out of a Buck Rogers fan
tasy Receiving Sorting Stock
piling Wrecking Wrecking m
speeding Repairing Junking Re
fitting Assembling Expediting.
That's the way they work at depot
0644 and according to operations officer
Mai. D%empewolff. the soldiers put in IA
hours a day more days than not. The
regular schedule is n day off in IA.
The other 10 are business-mighty big
business-as usual.
one of the busiest spots is the tire
retread and retaining shop, where
weekly 5000 huge combat vehicle tires
are stripped and given new treads and
an even greater number of tubes are
vilcanized. Three eight-hour shifts keep
the shop working top speed the full "a
hours. Corp. Ernest Calvert, United
Steelworkers (CIO) member from Gary,
Ind. works there anywhere from So to
so a week-sometimes even more. Quite
a difference from the conditions he had
as an %acetylene burner and welder in
the billet mill of U. S. Steel Corpora
TONS Gary works.
sure. wish I was back on the eight
hour day again. he smiles, but we got
ia pitch in and get this overt Hes
been pitching in now for two years and
is as anxious as any of the men I've
met to get back home-after they get
this over" calvert hears from his Steel
workers local sometimes and is glad
when he does.
Sergeant Coy Land used to work al
the Continental Machine and Foundry
company in East Chicago, md, where he
was a member of the International
Molders and Foundry Workers (AFL).
He's mighty pleased that every so often
he gets bulletins and letters from his
union. Its a good idea for unions to
keep in touch with their men in sery-
ice" he told me earnestly. What I get
is very welcome"
In the heavy automotiye maintenance
department talked to Sgt. Michael En-
atenok. formerly with the Precision Die
cast company of Cleveland, who learned
the O about unions long before the
war when the company tried to get tough
with the die cast union, now part OF
International Union of Mine, Mill and
smelter workers oCIO). Enatenok hasn't
forgotten the score, either. He Just re-
ceived a chunk of back pay under a La
Dor Board decision and he knows the
union helped get it for him.
Sergeant Roy Kinney Of Chicago Lo-
cal lO5, international Brotherhood OF
Transfers (AFL), is n Of the men in
the shipping department who keeps the
system going so the front gets what it
needs with least delay. Like so many
of the other soldier unionists, he is most
impressed by the assurance, thanks to
the union contract, that his seniority
will continue to pile up while he's in
uniform. But Kinney is disturbed, ano
he's not alone in this at depot O644, by
news O. strikes.
How do we feel about it? Why, just
that there shouldn't be strikes. MOI now
A lot Of these boys read about strikes
back home. especially in industries max
ing munitions and ordnance stuff. ]
tell you, it's quite a thing when We
read that. Here we are, busting ouI
necks Off, and
There was no need for him to finish
A man who's been working 10 and 30
hour weeks, week in and week out, with
a day off every fortnight, doesn't have
to make fancy speeches to explain that
he's been busy. IT shows in his face, in
his voice, in the very way he walks and
stands.
do we think there've been a lot OF
strikes? l dunno. Anyway, toe
many. You can't get sympathy for them
around here. What's my advice to the
workers back home? Simple-iust KEEP
ON TIE BALL. That's what We get
pounded into us all the time. The same
should go for the homefront.'
WASTING