The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1950-01-05

dent Martln L. DurkIn or Inc PluI
vice for unions and workers. The
House passed a $2,500,000 appro-
priation for a IVA steam plant
which had been refused the year
before by the 80th Congress.
European unionists arrived in
this country to study production
methods under ECA.
March: AS northern Republicans
and southern Democrats united to
block important legislation in the
Senate with a two-week fillbuster,
President Truman talked about
taking the Fair Deal program dir
ectly to the people once more.
John L. Lewis called two-week
strike of all miners east of the
Mississippi to protest the nomina-
ton of James Boyd as director of
the Federal Bureau of Mines. The
Presidents Safety C o N f e r e n C e,
meeting in Washington, agreed
that safety of workers on the job
! is the "moral and legal response
bility of management"
The climax of what Rail Brother
hood chiefs termed the greatest
wage movement in US history
came with an agreement on 40
hour week at 4S hours pay for 50
percent of the incorporating en-
ployes of US railroads. Packing
house workers put wages at the top
of their '49 demands.
A 5 to A Supreme Court ruling
left the way open for state strike
bans. NLRB ruled strikes by unions
and their members to obtain a
closed shop contract were illegal.
Both AFL and CIO were hit by
NLRB in its campaign to tighten
up enforcement of Taft Hartley's
anti-secondary boycott provisions.
Both AFL and CIO backed the
North Atlantic Pact. AFL Presi-
dent William Green and CIO Pres
ident Philip Murray met with visit
ing British union leaders to discuss
formation of new international
federation of Democratic trade
unions.
The Hoover Commission on gov
ernment organization urged that
the Labor Department be enlarged.
April: The Wood Bill to repeal
Taft Hartley was introduced by a
Dixiecrat and violently attacked by
labor as no better than what it
purported to repeal.
Int'l Longshoremen & Ware
( housemen's convention in San Fran
cisco made it clear the union would
not follow CIO policy. Michael j.
Quill, who in 1948 resigned as pre-
sident of the New York CIO Coun-
Gil because of Communist influence
in the group was selected president
of new CIO city body.
In special message to Congress
President Truman urged quick
action on National Health Insur-
ance. He also asked for a Columbia
Valley Administration for the Pac-
ific Northwest. Secretary of Agri-
culture Charles Brannan outlined
a new farm plan that would give
the consumer a break. John Car
son, nominee for vacant post on
the Federal Trade Commission,
was strongly endorsed by both AFL
and CIO. Carson, research direct
or for the Cooperative League
USA, was under fire from NAM,
Fulton Lewis Jr., and other busi-
ness interests. I
Several states passed improved
unemployment pay and workmen's
compensation laws.
May: Labor and administration
pressure succeeded in defeating the
Wood bill but Taft Hartley was
still the law of the land. Congress
men supported by labor in the 1913
elections opposed the Wood bill al
most to a man.
Franklin d. Roosevelt, Jr., sound
ly trounced his Tammany machine
Democratic opponent, as well as
Republican and pro-Communist
for vacant seat in the
House of Representatives. After
32 years of rule, Frank Hague's
Jersey City machine went down to
defeat. Organized labor played a
big part in the campaign.
AS 65,C00 members of United
Auto Workers struck against a
speedup at the Ford Rouge plant,
JAW started bargaining with Ford /,
on pension and pay demands. Car
negie-I Illinois Steel Co. notified