AFL executive council in ort to the 64th national on. he same time the report @iended that the APL lead sment te assist interna- imions in organizine worl ; the low paid industries, per fields in which no such § exist. 8 program was laid down phe council had reported » spectre of poverty hangs ') of every 100 American BS in the postwar period Bihe Little Steel formula tén now and wages are ibove their present, froz- 1s. ned by. the wage freeze. meil pointed out that “we shat hours will be reduced er week after the war to t ‘ull employment, and that — pay envelopes will con- ty the straight time hourly site paid for 40 hours. ‘odays prices and today’s time hourly wage rates ra 40 hour week, only ver cent of all American WILLIAM GREEN employed in private in- will have enough income Hort a family of four in Eand efficiency (according aHeller’ committee budget) ' percent will be below e Wabor Dept.’s mainten- udget, which provides a bsistence living level for 'ganizational Drive | unned To Lift Wages EW ORLEANS—An organizing thout the nation, coupled with a ca as an hour minimum by drive to lift wages mpaign to raise the law was advocated Nov. 20 The convention was told that “Tt is significant that the acting commissioner of labor statistics Stated early this year that it has been ably demonstrated ‘that at a level even as high as $50 a week there is at the present time a very narrow margin of | living.’ ? PHILLIP MURRAY | pledge to the ~ | America’ Saturday, December 2: 1944 — Page 9 Chicago Convention Of The CIO Reaffirms ‘No - Strike’ CHICAGO— (FP) clo convention delegates |firmed by solemn standing vote Nov. 21 labor’s no-strike President, the armed forces and the people of after an impassioned plea by Pres. Philip Maurtray. Denouncing rumors that the no-strike pledge is undermining unionism, Murray pointed to the 669,000 new members won by the CLO in the last 12 months and in Chouneuds of new con- tracts. “The hope of labor,” Murray said, “les first and foremost in Winning this people’s war. If we lose the war we lose all, includ- ing’ unions, democracy and hope for the future. We can never for- get that unions in the occupied countries were the first to be destroyed by fascism.” CONTRACT HONORED Hitting at pessimists outside the labor movement who foresee a decline in union membership Racial Urged Employees, Railroad Department, Hotel Restaurant Employees In- ternational Alliance. Several resolutions the problems of racial discrimina- tion ,and the President’s Com- mittee on Fair Employment Practice were offered through the resolutions committee and the issue was also brought into on been placed before AFL conven- ey of four.” sharp focus by the speech of War Manpower Commissioner Paul V. MacNutt. MORE THAN MORAL ISSUE Smith’s memorandum pointed cut that heretofore discrimina- tion against negroes has usually tions only as a moral issue, but, he said, the entrance of other organizations into the labor field, such as the GL1O, with more lb- eral policies regarding the negro, demands that the AFL» examine eurrent discriminatory practices for their effect on the future of their organization. “Beyond reasonable doubt,” he wrote, “the average negro Wwork- er is pro-ClO in sentiments. Be- eause of this, I am certain that in the organization of workers in war plants, the AFL lost out on several occasions because of pro- GIQ sentiment among Negro workers who probably. held the balance of power in the voting.” Smith said that unless the AFL accepts a “progressive, lib- eral and concerted program’ it iscrimination At AF of L Convention NEW ORLEANS— (FP) ==New emphasis was placed on the problem of racial dis- crimination November 21 as the 64th convention of the AFL received a memorandum on the subject from Secretary-Treasurer Richard VW. Smith of the Joint Council of Dintee « Car fan Is tracts.” . He charged that “our findings have been that this at- ‘titude was greatly strengthened by the €fO Political Committee during the presidential campaign because of the ‘CIO's stand at tion.” TIME TO SPEAK OUT After warning of postwar changes that may further strengthen the hand of the CIO among the Negroes, Smith said two things should receive seri- ous consideration now: ' “(1) Leaders and presidents of large international unions should speak out against discrim- ination at this convention. (2) Leaders and presidents might well take the minimum forward step by seeking passage, by a resolution, to the effect that all international unions affiliated with the AFL eliminate all dis- eriminatory clauses based. on race from their constitutions, rituals, bylaws and practices, within a certain period of time.” Smith asked that the resolution be referred to all affiliates for a membership vote and if a ma- jority favor the proposition, it would then “become mandatory for other international unions to follow suit, or lose their affilia- tion with the AFL.” He also called upon the AFL leadership to support and work for a permanent FEPC, the anti- will “Jose out in some of the very plants where we Now hold con-{ poll tax bill and anti-lynching legislation. that time on the Negro ques- | Foreign Labor Greets CIC CHICAGO (FP) Delegates to the seventh an- nual CIO convention here heard greetings from the Sov- iet, Chinese, Latin American and Canadian labor movye- ments. President Vicente Lombardo Toledano of the Confederation of Latin American Workers ask- ed for continued united labor ef- forts to crush Nazism and fas- eism. USSR Vassili Kutznetov of the Sov- let Central Council] of Trade Unions urged CIO help in ‘org= anization of a militant, active world trade union federation to promote the early defeat of our common hated enemy, Hitlerite Germany, and establish a last- ing peace for all of mankind’s welfare.” CHINA President Chu UHsueh-fan of the Chinese Association of La- thanked the CIO for In strengthening the free bor its help democratic labor movements of the world and for contributing to an allied victory. Pledge reaf- in the postwar period, Murray said: “There is no force big enough in America to destroy or even weaken the influence of the CIO.” Murray referred to discussions of the pledge in: various interna- tional union conventions. In his~ final plea he declared: “Our con- tract is with the armed services and it must be honored and maintained.” - Dock & Ship Flay EB prowh Condemnation of Major Harold Brown’s attack on Premier Stalin of the USSR, at a recent meet- ing of the Advertising and Sales Bureau of the Vancouver Board of* Trade, has been voiced by members of the Dock and Ship-. yard Workers Union, Local No. 2, in a statement endorsed at. the local’s membership meeting last Sunday and released to the press this week. —~ The union statement refers Major Brown to the books and pamphlets of the Rev. Hewlett Johnson, Dean of Canterbury, for the truth about the Soviet Union as a country in which the prin- ciples of Christianity are put into action, and condemns such utterances as “aimed only at dis- rupting the unity that has been established between the Soviet - Union and the rest of the United Nations.” Major - Brown’s - reference to “free enterprise versus socialism” as the decisive issue of the post- war is also attacked in the state- ment, which points to the defeat of Thomas E. Dewey, Senator Gerald P. Nye and Representa-: tive Hamilton Fish in the Amer- ican elections as a repudiation of this slogan as an issue. The Statement says that socialism is not the issue today, and ques- tions Major Brown’s interpreta- tion of the phrase “free enter- prise,” by stating: “We hope it is not the free enterprise of R. B. Bennett in the hungry thirties with its slave.camps, relief rolls, soup kitchens and no money poli- ey.” The membership meeting also endorsed the Winnipeg City coun- ‘cil resolution on amendment of the National Housing Act to pro- vide for federal assistance for low-rental housing projects. A delegate was elected to attend the body -being set up by local trade union centers to deal with the housing crisis. In another resolution which was adopted_by the meeting the provineial government was urged te proceed immediately to tale over all the properties of the BC€Hleetrie and its subsidiaries in order to develop adequate power resources for industrial expan— sion and the provision of jobs for all in the postwar.