Evening star., 1948-10-16
C|0Uti|ityUnion
Gusts Officers
0fFour Locals
Suspensions Follow
Charge Of InfiItrotion
Of Reds in California

Acting to counter what was saio
to be Communist inf1ltration into
four California locals, the Utility
Workers Union of America, CIO.
today authorized the unions Execu-
tive Committee to suspend the Of
ficers Of the four local unions.
The Utility Workers Union is
holding its convention in the Wash
ington Hotel.
Suspended officers of the locals
would be given hearings as pro-
vided in the union constitution.
The unions Executive Committee
was empowered to appoint admin
tStrators for the locals in the place
OF officers suspended.
The union also adopted a declara-
tion of policy carrying Endorsements
OF President Truman and Senator
Barkley. 1t asked repeal of the
Taft-Hartley Law and stated its op-
position to all candidates who voted
for that act.
The four California locals which
were said to have been infiltrated by
Communists are in San Francisco,
Redwood City, Martinez and Santa
Rosa.
Rotten Apples in Barrel
One California delegate speaking
on the resolution for summary ac-
ton in the cases of the four locals,
said:
I'VE are not Communists in Cali
fornia. But we have some rotten
apples in the California barrel"
Another Californian said the sign
Ing by the national officers of nom
Communists afidavits helped the
union on the West Coast to get rid
Of Communists
The Reds fear only the FBT," he
said. They're shrewd and they sell
their program, come hell or high
water. The non-Communist affl-
davit was the straw that broke the
camel's back"
He said in one union the officers
announced they had signed thesaffi-
davits, but they filed them with the
business agent of the union and not
with the National Labor Relations
Board.
Price Controls Asked. !
The convention also adopted a |
resolution calling for restoration of
price controls, a minimum wage of
81 an hour for employees in the light
and power industry and a 70 per
cent increase in Social Security
benefits to compensate for living
cost increases.
Senator Pepper, Democrat, of
Florida, was to address the conven-
ton this afternoon.
James B. Carey, national CIO
secretary-treasurer, in an address
yesterday, charged Senator Taft,
Republican, of Ohio, With trying to
Sovietize American trade unions by
bringing them under Government
regulations He declared both the
Senator and Representative Hartley,
Republican, of New Jersey. are try
ang to make unions in the United |
States as impotent as, those in the t
Soviet Union.
Takes Slap at Lewis.
>>~' w. ~ SoSOCO 4t24 44dl IlCy dS
saying, in new book, that the
Taft-Hartley Act is just the begin
ming and that the Republicans were
unable to complete their antilabor
program, because this is an election
year
John L. Lewis, United Mine Work.
ers' leader, came in for criticism for
Mr.. Carey, who declared: Lewis
was only right once in his entire
career, and that was when he sup
ported Roosevelt in 1886" He added
the miners are going to support
President Truman and Senator
Barkley.
The delegates applauded when
Mr.. Carey said: Maybe we won't
have Dewey as President, the way
things are going" He urged the
members to get out and vote for
the friends of labor"
This is no time for the workers
OF America to sit out an election"
Mr.. Carey asserted.