Arizona sun., 1947-09-26

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Number
An AFL Carpenters Union
Develops Troining Program
For Negroes And Whites
By CARL WILLIAMS
- Richmond.

R1cnmOuQ.
Many years ago in the little town
of Camden, Ark, youngster
named Lain Howard could be seen
almost every day following his
father to and from work.
Lain was learning to be a car
penter.
And as time went on he learned
how to do more than carry tool
box and fetch the old mans ham,
mers and nails.
Everybody knew my dad," Lain
recalls, "And when I was a little
older they all got to know me.
"There wasn't any union. People
would just send for me to come
and fix their houses. They'd tell me
what they wanted done and I'd do
it-for IS cents an hour"
He grinned as he recalled how
'that six-bits seemed like big mon
ey back in those days."
And so, Lain Howard grew up to
be carpenter.
He grew up to be more than a
carpenter because mailing lumber
together was only part of the job.
Electric wire and plumbing and
paper and paint is all part of a
finished house.
And Lain Howard had learned
from his father how to do it all.
During the war years the head
quarters of the AFI, ShiDWriphtS
Joiners and Boatbuilders Local 1149
was as busy as any other battle
front.
Men from all over the United
States of all races, colors,
and creeds-hired out of the hall
night and day to do a job against
faSciSm.
Employers didn't ask the color of
mans skin in those days. The
shipyards were making too many
millions for their owners. And, af-
ter all, we were fighting a war to
end that sort of thing.
And when the shooting war was
finally won, thousands of jobs on
the home front ended, and thous-
ands of men like Lain Howard
found themselves waiting in the
hiring halls for work.
Many of these thousands had
come from the farms and fields of
the South and Midwest and South
west and had never been inside fac
tory gates.
During the years of the war their
little part on the production front
consisted of small, daily, repetitious
tasks.
And, when the war ended, and
the union sent them out on peace
time jobs, many thousands of them
were told they didn't have the ex-
perience to hold down a specialized
job.
And many thousands more-like
Lain Howard-were told the same
thing when some employer found
they were Negroes.
Today, because the union went to
bat for its members, both Richmond
and Oakland have free training
schools for journeyman shipwrights.
The schools are there because
the union fought for those men
who, for one reason or another,
were being sent back to the hiring
hall because of "lack of expert
ence."
The classes are open to any men,
ber of the union who finds it diff
cult to hold a job.
When the instructor feels they
are ready, they are sent to the hir-
ing hall with a recommendation
that they be sent out on job.
Many of the students are work.
ing by day as carpenters and join
ers and come to school at night to
improve their knowledge of their
trade.
And, because of the efforts of the
union on behalf of it's members, the
bills are paid by the board of edu-
cation.
The little Negro boy who used to
follow his father to work back in
Camden, Ark, now has a wife and
three grown children.
He likes it out here and wants to
stay.
And, although he learned from
his father how to build a house
from scratch, he goes to school two
nights a week to learn to be a car
penter.