Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1951-04-06

The people have needs, but they do not have Ill
money TO satisfy those needs and that is why we,
in trouble. All of the basic wage policies of the U
directed to solution of getting into balance n
ability to consume the wealth we create by haN
adequate purchasing power. That is why in 1945I
General Motors talked about wage incret
without price increase.
Time after time when we won a wage increa
they took it away in higher prices In ten years VI
union won sixty-six cents an hour in higher pay,
at the grocery store we won only six cents in p5
chasing power Sixty cents of that sxtysix cents u
paid to the workers in the wooden nickels of in1l
ton. That is why in May, 1850, we decided 70
negotiate the cost-of- living escalator clause
annual wage Improvement clause in the Genek
Motors Contract because believed that inflati4
ary pressures were going to drive the cost Of livs
up and right.
We were right in our basic assumption, and
cause we did the job we did, the GIN workers goE
19-cent package the first of June. They got anota
nickel in September; they got three more cents
December; and they got another nickel in Mar
making total of 30 cents in nine months. And /
end of the road is not yet in sight say that there
at least eight cents due in June-four cents cost
living and four cents annual Improvement. That
mean 40 cents an hour in 12-month period. We
say without fear of contradiction that no other I'm
in comparable period in the history of the Amerit
labor movement has won that kind of gains for 1
numbers of workers that we represent.
We know that the cost Of living thing doesn't g
you any more purchasing power. 1t just protects VI
We know that the four-cent annual wage impro
ment is not enough We know we are entitled t0mJ
cenLS,
which we can build in the future. And brother, pr
cipleS more important than couple of penn
because if you win principles you can build on tn
principles in the future. That is the basic wage s
egy of our union.
Now, we are in trouble We are in serious trov
in Washington because there are people down th
who would like to take away from the automo
workers the gains they have won and the protect
which they have embodied i'm their basic contract
am happy to report to this Convention that to q
we have been successful in defending our contra
and that we have had the complete and united s
port of all branches of organized labor through
United Labor Policy COMMITTEES.
The fight of labor in Washington transcends 4
interests of labor alone. This is fight for all 4
American people. We are fighting for wage earne
for farmers for consumers generally. We are fight
for people who are living fixed incomes. ,1as, \
are fighting for the wives and the kids Of the kvd
men who are trying to make ends meet on their i
adequate service pay. And to the extent that \
associate struggle with the needs of all the peol
to that extent we shall be successful.
We are not fighting the government although
newspapers would have it appear that way. We a
fighting big business which is trying to take
government They are trying to do through the ba
door what they could not do through the front dc
at the ballot box in 1948.
They passed a price control law which you an
know and every American housewife knows is
fraud upon the American people. Why did they pas
this phOny control proposition? They wanted a.
excuse to freeze wages. The price of everything WI
buy is going up, and yet they talk about freezir
wages. 1HcTc arc HO qudHty cOntrOIS Inc cn1Sclclk
and the prOfiteers take you through the wringe
not only on the price end of the thing but thl
quality end as well.
The whole program in Washington is to make I'll
little guys pay the whole bill The rich are vett
richer and the poor are getting poorer. Il
We know that the price of freedom is high az
we are prepared to pay share of the cost of d.
Tending freedom, but we insist that everybody pay
proportionate share.
What we are really saying is that that we have
cut down on the standard of luxury of the peoI
who have too much before cut down the standa
of living of the people who have too little.
The little people are paying the tax bill thl
paid in the last war; and family with a $4,000 i
come is paying $4,000 less. Corporation profits a
scandalous ,and yet they not paying their sh
of the tax bill. The government gives tax rebates
provisions to guarantee high profits, but the little
is paying the bill. "
If you have too little they take it away from y