Evening star., 1949-05-24
Rubber Workers
Continued From First Page

\ Rubber Workers
Continued From First Page)
, the crowd surged toward the pat
: form. Mr.. Buckmaster was pushed
along with o. H. Bosley Of New
ark, N. j.. district director O
|, the union; Fleet Perrine. Akron
general organization director, ant
Fred L. Howard. internationa
Representative from, Norris
town, Pa.
"A Mr.. Howard's glasses wer'
broken and his face cut.
Mr.. Buckmaster and Mr.. Gar
ber had been teuding since th'
unions last national election. Mr.
CARRIER charged that some of th'
Pottstown locals votes were mo-
counted.
Mr.. Buckmaster was succeeded
as international president by II. r
Lloyd of Akron. former vice presi.
dent. This step up for Mr.. Lloyd
is in accordance with the unior
constitution.
Southern Director Moves Up.
Also moving up was r. M. Dick
enson of Memphis, Tenn, the
unions Southern director who ad-
lvanced to vice president.
Mr.. Buckmaster. reached at Chi
cago where he withdrew from con.
tract negotiations with B. r
Goodrich Co., made this state
ment::
II have not received oflcia
notice of this action yet, but
there is no question In my mint
that the whole trial was conducted
in an unfair manner and that th'
decision was not based@on thu
facts or union law. It lssee
entirely upon political motives
with s,group trying to get powel
and not caring how it was done
The basic laws Of the union wer'
j totally disregarded." -
Mr.. Buckmaster's only recours,
is to appeal to the unions inter.
1 national convention to be held II
Toronto in September.
He was first elected presiden,
Of the 180,000-member union II
| 1945. He won reelection In 194t
and l947 without opposition.
At Omaha last fall George r
Bass, president Of Akron Good.
rich Local S opposed Mr.. Buck.
master, charging that his op'
lponent was not. militant enough
tMr. Bass was beaten In the $40 x
s08 vote.
/ Militancy has been . watchworc
with the rubber workers, who
staged sit-down strikes some
years ago. During the three and
. half years Mr.. Buckmaster has
been president. there have beer
no major strikes in the industry
Negotiations Were Peaceful
Negotiations were concluded
peacefully for postwar wage In.
creases Of 1914 cents on hour In
1916, 11h cents In 1947 and II
cents last year. The average
hourly rate for rubber workers
Is between $1.60 and $1.65 in
Akron. where more than half the
unions membership is concen-
trated. The scale is slightly lower
in other parts Of the country.
Mr.. Buckmaster is . tall. gaunt
soft-spoken Hoosier who was ont
of the founders Of the United
Rubber Workers in 1895. Born II
Geneva. Ind. IS years ago. he va,
la country school teacher In 1ndi.
ana before he entered World Wa,
II. He served overseas q year. ther
went to Akron in 1919 and became
q tire f1nisher at Firestone Tire
& Rubber Co.. He was elected
president of Firestone Local 7 In
1885.
1 Lloyd Issues Statement.
On being elevated to the union
presidency. Mr.. Lloyd issued this
statement:
Policies Of our union in respect
to observance Of contracts will be
scrupulously enforced. - We
shall vigorously light for the pro-
gram adopted by our unions In
ternational Policy Committee call
ling for q 2S-centS-an-hour wage
increase. company financed pen
sions of 500 . month and Inn
proved health and welfare serv-
Ices.
+ Employers and Communist,
may attempt TO take advantage ol
this situation. I warn both groups
that we viii not tol8ate any In.
Iterference by them In the affair.
of our union. My own persona
position in relation to communism
Is well known. I have no use fol
lit. ] viii fight any attempt b,
4 Communists to infiltrate or In
lfluence our union in any way.
j "I indorse 100 per cent ths
position Of CIO President PhiliI
Murray and the National CIO II
regard to this outside element
Some employers may believe tina
/ this situation win so divide oul
j union that we cannot put up I
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