Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1949-02-18
CONGRATULATIONS And Good Luck


TN LINE WITH constitutional provisions
Il all UAW-CIO Local Unions and Local
Shop Units have already elected officers
and committeeman for the coming year or
are about to do so. 1t is therefore, only
proper that we say to these men ana
women: Congratulations and the pest
of luck to all of you"
We say this not because we just want
to be mice" We say it because we realize
the heavy responsibility and burden that
goes with all of these offices. Those or
YOU who have been officers and commit
teemen in the past know this without US
telling you. And those of you who are
"new" in this field will soon realize what
we mean.
To be a leader in a union is tough
enough in so-caled normal times. 1t
is a thousand times more difficult In times
of stress And we realize only too well
that we are - all of us, without exception
- entering period of hard times" Men
and women are being laid off by the
thousands. From every indication at least
in the immediate future, lay offs will con-
tnue. We hope that there will be pick
up soon, but no one knows. We can only
hope.
Naturally this means tough going"
for officers and committeeman 1t means
the strict supervision of our seniority pro-
visions in our agreements. And that is
not easy. We know that whenever our
seniority provisions are disturbed by lay
offs, it means that some member will lose
his or her job. And that's tough
But these abnormal t. m IS mean
other things, too, besides lay offs. Com
panies - feeling the pinch of contracting
markets and ever increasing business
competition - almost automatically en-
bark upon a policy of "tightening-up."
The word goes down the line from the
front office" to watch costs" That
usually means cutting prices on jobs and
a drive towards speed-up.
All this adds up 10 terrific pressure on
our officers and committeeman They,
more than anyone else, must first stop
this drive against the workers before it
gets underway. They, more than anyone
else, must see to it that we give up none
of our contractual rights; that our men,
bers are protected right down the line.
Officers and committeeman alone,
however, no matter how loyal and cou-
rageous they may be, will not be able to
do this job alone. They must recveive the
full and complete support of their re-
spectve membership. Any breach in our
ranks anywhere - in these critical
times will spell disaster for all of us.
And by the same token, officers and COM
mitteemen must give complete and loyal
support to those who elevated them into
their new positions.
There must be harmony and unanimity in
purpose between the local organizations
There is yet another side to this story
their membership and officers and COM
mitteemen - and the International Union
and its elected officers and representa-
tives. We do not mean by this that we
would deny the right of anyone to dis
agree on any given point. But we do mean
that irresponsible and at times vicious
character assassination ought to stop. We
repeat: all of you have right to your
own opinions. But we reiterate with just
as much emphasis that none of us have
the right to damage the fighting power of
our Union by engaging in personalized
mud-slinging against any other member
or officers of our organization.
4 4 4
All of us ought to know by this time
that whenever any such attack takes
place, the enemies of our organization are
always quick on the job to exploit the
situation to the detriment of all of us.
This is even more serious and so much
more reprehensible 49, when these basic
violations of union principles are commit
ted by people who should know better.
The DAYS that are ahead of us will be