The union times., 1947-12-20
House Cleaning In Congress- Seen As Major Need
Advertising And Radio To Be Used To Inform
 Nations Voters

Washington, DC. - AFL President William Green de clared this week that the pur. pose of LabOr's Educational and Political League is to Cob tain a real mandate from all the American people in the l048 elections"
 Speaking on the AFL's regu- lar radio program, MT. Green said that failure of millions of cit lzens to vote in the last election made it possible for the forces of greed and reaction to capture control of Congress.
 HOUSE CLEANING"
 "We are trying to bring about a house-cleaning in Congress" he said, ga much-needed evict1on of those false representatives of me people whose only loyalty is to biz business and great wealth. We hone to defeat all of them.''
 The AFL president hit at the Ma. tiOnal Association of Manufactur. CTS for the stand taken at its recent meeting to work for Iengthening Ot the WOrkweek and the eIimina- ton Of overtime pay after 40 hours Ot work. He declared:
 Not a word was said at tbis ron Vent1on about the crying need for re- duc1ng the cost of living. On the contrary, the National Association of Manufacturers went on record as op- posing practically all of President Iruman'S recommendations for halting lnnatlon. About the only suggestion the NAM had to offer to increase produc- ton and bring prices down was an endorsement of longer work week.
 HIDDEN JOKER
 "Of course there is a hidden joker in the NAM plan. If anyone takes the trouble to examine the facts, he will ind that there is nothing in the Fair Labor Standards Law or in any union contract that limits working hours to 40 week. On the contrary, labor in this country would be glad to work longer than 40 hours a week to in- crease production. The only require- ment in law and in union contracts is that overtime rates must be paid for work in excess of 40 hours week.
 Naturally, the NAM will say that overtime pay increases production costs and therefore prices. That Is not &C., curate, to say the least. One does not have to be an economist to realize that a manufacturing plant, operating on 4O-hour week, is bound to gain con siderable savings in overhead if the WorkWeek IS heightened. For instance, Its rent bill and its property taxes would not be increased. In our ex- perlence, we have found that the sav- lngs available to industry in a longer WorkWeek are more than sufficient to absorb the extra cost of overtime pay"
 AGGRESSIVE ACTION
 MT. Green cited NAM's "line" as an example of the type of propaganda which labor's political organization will have to combat in their efforts to- present the truth to the American people.
 Noting the tremendous wealth be- hind the NAM and the millions which are spent by that organization each year in newspaper advertising and other forms of publicity work, MT, Green said labor, too, must enter the field and spend money to win support. He said:
 ''If labor hopes to combat these pOwerwul forces arrayed against it, we, too, will have to engage in news paper advertising and in radio pre- sentatiOns in order to expose the propaganda of our opponents and to bring home the truth to the American people.
 Such activities will cost a good deal of money and Labor's Educa- tiOnal and Political League will have to depend on the dollar bills contributed voluntarily by individ- uaI union members and their friends in order to raise that money.
 "The league also intends to examine the voting records of all members of Congress seeking reelection. These records will be published and made available to the voters in each district.
 Let me make it clear that if a candidate for Congress voted for the TaftHartley Act, he cannot hope to obtain the endorsement of the league.
 "A BETTER PLACE"
 "The league will endorse candidates whose record shows that they believe in freedom of labor, as well as for corporate enterprise. As the national chairman of the league, I may also say that to obtain its endorsement a candi- date for Congress must show real concern for making our country bet ter place to live in for the American people"