The Wilmington morning star., 1946-05-10
Fair Enough
By PEGLER
Copyright By King Features Syndicat

prominent out perhaps equally enlightened OF
CARNATIONS of American war veterans, there
are now several new ones bidding for the
membership of service men and women of the
second war. OF these new groups the two most
aggressive and prominent to date are the
American Veterans Committee and the Arneri-
can Veterans of World War II.
AS far as my knowledge goes, none Of these
organizations has taken a stand in defense of
the right Of the veteran to work without pay
ing tribute to a union. I have been receiving
many protests, some of them f~iercely bitter,
from men who have been imposed upon in
this and other ways. This is only a continual
ton of the same fight that went on through
out the war on the home front when the draft
act was used as a bludgeon to force men
into unions in "essential' occupations as an
alternative to being drafted. They could buy
their way out of the draft by paying money
to unions. If they refused, they couldn't get
3'essential'' work and were certified for the
draft.
But what stand do these veterans organiza-
tons intend to take now?
Will they submit by silent consent? Will they
stand against the compulsion? Or will they
frankly hold that a man must waive a portion
Of the freedom which he risked his life to
preserve? Silent consent would be a coWardly
evasion. Any organization which upholds the
exclusion of non-union veterans from employ
ment and opportunity deserves more respect
for its honesty than one which ignores the is
sue.
They have a right to take either stand, but
all of them should decide. Then the new vet
Grams may choose intelligently. Those who. OBJ.
ject to the compulsion may organize against
those who favor it. They will be called COM
pany stooges, fascists and tools Of certain
powerful interests and many of the men will
go jobless for a time, at least, but the issue
calls Cor come courage.
Let me cite some cases:
A man who says he spent 18 months over
seas and eight months in the line got a job
with a parcel delivery company at $28 for a
40-hour week in New York where the cost of
living is the highest in the country. When he
drew his first pay the envelope contained not
$28 but $25. He was told that the other So had
been paid to the teamsters union. He then ask
ed for his union card but was told that he was
not a member.
1--WE can go to no union meetings and are
entitled to no vote" he reports. But we can
have the cost, approximately S., of a ticket to
a union ball deducted from our pay and we
can be assessed for any amount at any time"
Surely, considering the rate of pay in a
area, the union here cannot claim
that this combat soldier owes it anything for
the benefits" of unionism. And surely no vet
Grams organization can reconcile this case with
that item in the bill of particulars announcing
the American Revolution which complained of
taxation without representation.
A committee of members of the Disabled
Veterans reports that in Twin Falls,
Idaho, the local government has connived
with the electricians union to the end that any
man who would work at this trade must pass
an examination by three examiners from the
union. Should he pass, the license fee is $50.
1t needn't be mentioned that union men almost
invariably are partial to applicants willing to
join or that most contractors are compelled to
even the finest of workmen who do not
hold union cards or permits.
The municipal law prevents an electrician
from employing more than one apprentice
this committee reports. What then are the
chances Of these disabled veterans for on-the-
job training under their bill of rights in this
and many other localities and trades? What
are their chances of free employment?
In another individual case, the soldier re-
ports that he was called upon as a national
in Feb. 1910, spent five years in
active theatres of operation and was told
at the separation center that the u. S. En-
ployment Service was ready to help him find
work.
He says, however, that he found that the
USES. was good for nothing but to provide
Jobs for its operation personnel. After two
visits and much delay he learned that he
would have to pay $4,000 to the union, if he
could persuade the union to accept him at all,
for permission to work at his old trade. He
had been a moving picture projectionist and
the union here is the Brown-Biot underworld
racket whose leading characters went to pri-
son and whose reform since then is more an
than a reality.
Still another veteran living in Tooele, Utah,
applied for apprenticeship as a carpenter. He
received a letter from the apprentice
ship training division OF the Department of
Labor in Salt Lake City stating that he would
not qualify because ne was not affiliated
with the union This CT can find nothing
in the Gl bill authorizing unions to decide
veterans may receive on-the-job train
ing.
Il am employed with the Duffin Construc-
Company and learning rapidly without as
.sistance from the government or the union,''
he writes.
And so the fight drags on and organizations
which, during the war, took a toll OF every
dollar spent for construction and manufacture
and most of which had disgraceful records of
strikes and slow-downs, now require the men
who fought to join and pay or go jobless or
even forego benefits of their bill of rights.
How do they stand on this. the Legion, the
V.F.W., the ave-, and AMVETS and all the
rest? Do they really believe in the late Mr..
Roosevelt's freedoms and the Veterans Bill
of Rights or have the unions greater rights?
A little honesty would go very well here.