Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1947-02-21
Whats
New?
By
EdWdrd Duck

ing over the naIlOn ana InS
world, ruling the economic,
social, and political destinies
of all with whom they come
in contact, their representa-
tiveS seek to split the only
forces which are capable of
holding their activities some
what in check.
Nothing Is more silly than
for an executive of a large
corporation, Chrysler, for In
stance, to mount the soapbox
and rave about Tabor mon
opolies," competition In the
auto industry being what 1t
Is, and not what 1t Is sup
posed to be.
With ChrySler, Ford and
General Motors taking the
lions share of the business
and OF the profits, we find
that based on available fig
ures the auto industry will
net a cool rs billions in prof
its during 1947. producing 5
million units. With that kind
of money about to be made
one would think the bene-
ficiaries would be content to
settle down to the immediate
business at hand, instead of
spending valuable time and
money fighting the workers.
CHICKEN FEED
The 231hc raise, the retire
ment fund and social security
program of the UAW amount
to chickenfeed when COM
pared to the rs billion figure
the automobile corporations
will net from the daily toll of
of the men and women who
build those cars.
Yet when the 80 request
Is made to the huge cor
porations, to cover hospitali-
cation and social security ben
efits for these people, you will
hear them screaming to the
high heavens that the demand
Is exhorbitant and that they
are on the verge of bank
ruptcy.
II Is to prevent labor from
realizing Its Just demands that
industry spokesmen and con-
gressional stooges are making
an all-out effort to divide and
hamstring the larger labor
unions.
The insincere laments you
read on the front pages Of the
daily newspaper are nothing
more than the propaganda Of
all right for Ford, General Mo-
gressmen - plenty Of them
are nothing more than tools of
the wealthy corporate inter
ests. There can be no doubt
but that Michigan's Clare
Hoffman represents the auto
motive manufacturer, II any
one Is familiar with his rec
ord. Others have become no
torious for their congressional
work in behalf of the cotton,
tobacco, and oil interests.
Unions should not become
too large, they say. 1t Is quite
alright for Ford, General Mo-
tors, and others to have fac
tories In England, France,
and Germany, in addition to
dozens of plants from coast to
coast in America. But the
workers should be in different
unions, so that they may be
governed more easilyi
PAY WORRY
The issue of equal-pay-for-
equal-work is one which wor-
rieS many a corporation. II
the machine operator In At
lanta, Georgia gets the same
rate of pay as a machine op-
orator in Toledo or Detroit
there is no point in moving
the work to Atlanta.
Here In Toledo, for In
stance, the workers at Elec-
trio Auto-Lite might be In
terested to know that the peo-
pie in Auto-Lite's plants In
the Cincinnati area find 1t hard
to believe that Toledo's men
and women make more money
than they do for similar work.
They have been led to believe
that they are just about the
highest paid workers In the
world. All Of which proves
the effectiveness of the di-
vide-and-rule theory. They
have company unions and
LAM. agreements, which can
sometimes be worse than
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