By RAE MURPHY E current dust-up between Walter Reuther, president * of the United Automobile Pes and director of the In- ae Union Department of _ ale AFL-CIO and George Meany, _ 48ing president of the AFL-CIO, Painises to have wide implica- Ons in the North American abor movement. would appear that the is- F es involved in the dispute are a basic nature, and the align- ent (and realignment) of forc- 4 mavithin the trade union move- Bich, in the United States are c.,, that make it difficult to Nceive of a saw-off develop- Se Or of a long continuing set of «cumstances that will keep the lid on.” iad the confrontation deve- Ss, American monopoly inter- BSUS re getting into the act. In Men tora in ‘the American ‘ cath Market. a journar WHich ‘alls itself, “The authority of . Steel and metal industries Ce 1882,” the feud is dis- Ussed in some depth. € editorial states: u ‘Mr, _Reuther, visiting the _ dtversity of Pennsylvania cam- +S, told students that organ- om labor presently ‘is failing a 'ts broad responsibility to the ™munity.’ And he laid the ame for this squarely on the palders of George Meany & ‘Meany group — Reuther group’ “The word ‘community’ was a key one. Until now, most observ- ers of the labor scene believed the two top union officials were at loggerheads mainly over for- eign policy, a rather nebulous matter when it comes to the bargaining table. Although the pair can trace their rivalry back long before merger of Mr. Reu- ther’s CIO (Congress of Indus- trial Organizations) and Mr. Meany’s AFL (American Fede- ration of Labor) into the AFL- CIO in 1955, it had been thought most of their disagreements over domestic and internal union policies had.been resolved.” The “rather nebulous” matter of foreign policy to which the editorial referred is approached again in the article. : “It’s been public knowledge for some time_that the two top union leaders don’t see eye to eye on the AFL-CIO Executive Council’s firm support of the President Johnson, particularly of his Vietnant policies.” It is hard to understand how -.a disagreement over the war policy in Vietnam can be con- sidered “nebulous” given the reality of present American politics. Yet when this contra- diction is tied in with Reuther’s criticism of some domestic as- pects of Meany’s reactionary policies in the area of civil rights, social security and anti- poverty programs, the essential connection between a_ dirty foreign war and retrogressive domestic policies is pointedly brought home. As important as the wide sweeping and basic nature of policy differences in the Ame- rican labor movement may be, it is of equal importance to glimpse the line-up of forces emerging and general political ramifications this is bound to create on the American scene. The editorial speaks of a “Reuther group”, and there are strong indications that this “group” includes the leadership of the United Steel Workers as well. as other key. industrial The American Metal unions. Market writes: “The AFL-CIO’s ‘Reuther | Camp’ is seen highly critical not only .of Mr. Meany & Co., but of current labor relations philoso- phies of big industrial concerns and ‘many policies of President Johnson. The ‘Reuther Camp’ further is viewed as_ strongly backing XS: Sen. Robert Ken- nedy in whatever future poutical ventures he gets involved in.” The Metal Market links this dispute inside the AFL-CIO with the trend toward joint bar- gaining, mergers and other forms of inter-union cooperation and is plainly quite concerned. “Lately many union leaders and their propaganda arms have American unionists By PEARL WEDRO. hae progressive, peace- Bt Person in the United by €s and Canada is distressed aiy the unconditional support Bet by the AFL.Cin—i.. up Fs . . IT) aeBoel” resident Johnson’s bru- $5 rack on the Vietnamese Teen, €. But it is important to raqeze that there are many ‘th g aa Union leaders and tens of ers end of rank and file work- aa ho oppose the war in Viet- AFL and the policies of the “CIO Executive Council. Desc “Trade Unionists for Nave b in Vietnam” committees tes een organized in different One In the USA. Speaking at ae meeting in Detroit, : iste Livingstone, president of oa 65, Retail Wholesale and ent Store Employees issue ene “We must take the . - peace or war for debate eak € local unions; we must the wall of silence and wad 'n that way will the work- a a chance to learn. It is aie of democracy in unions | Permits the backing of the _'n Vietnam.” ar ,b8stone added “This dirty ke 'S poisoning us. Expose it, me to the workers for a great The Ww Ww Amalgamated Clothing ‘S-union ‘has adopted Important statements on the war at its conventions ‘and other meetings. At a meeting in Detroit to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the ACW’s Cen-, tral States Joint Board. Soon: tary-1reasurer Frank Rosenblum said: “The war in Vietnam is not a popular one. It's a war we can’t win. We in the labor move- ment, when we find ourselves in a war we can’t win, find a way to extricate ourselves. To lead ourselves to a lost cause doesn’t make sense.” “The important thing today,” he said, “is to make our stand and to challenge the forces of reaction. The ACW does not agree with the overall AFL-CIO policy on this war, and I hope we wil not be cowed into sil- ence.” Patrick Gorman, secretary- treasurer of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Work- ers, to which the Fur and Lea- ther Workers are affiliated, has also taken a stand against the war in Vietnam, and has ex- pressed himself on the subject many times. He accepted an in- vitation recently to speak to a meeting of trade unionists in Detroit but when he was unable to attend he delegated Sam Pol- lock, president of District 47 in Cleveland. In his speech, Pollock, stressed the need for defending ‘the rights of the Vietnamese to oppose imperialist aggression Speak up for peace and to be a united people and rule themselves. Abe Fineglass, vice president of the Amalgamated Mectcut- ters and director of the Fur and Leather Department, has made many important statements on the fight for peace in Vietnam. Highly critical of the Meany- Lovestone line and condemning the American imperialist attack against the Vietnamese people, Fineglass said at a large meeting of trade unionists in New York that “this is the time for union- ists to stand up and be count- ed, this is the time to speak up for peace.” The Fur Dressers and Dyers Joint Board in New York has also carried on action to stop the war in Vietnam. Many dis- cussions have been held in mem- bership meetings about the war and a special leaflet was issued in support of the Madison Square Gardens meeting to halt the war on Dec. 8. res These important activities In the name of peace, which have developed in the American trade union movement, point up the need for Canadian unionists : to act on the policy statements adopted by our trade union movement, and to initiate action for peace. This is not in contra- diction to the bread and butter issues, but an important addi- tion. ow wide the split? been playing up a trend toward more inter-union and _ intra- union co-operation and coordina- tion. The UAW has played a major role in this trend, as have the United Steelworkers of America (USW), the Interna- tional Union of Electrical Work- ers (IUE), the Mine Mill & Smel- ter Workers (MM&SW), the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), and the railroad brotherhoods. The National Association of Manufacturers recently pinpoint- ed this move, telling its mem- bers, ‘There is a new trend toward coalition bargaining with different unions getting together to bargain jointly, or the same union representing employes in a company’s several plants want- ing to bring their contracts to a common expiration date.’ Said the association’s NAM Reports. ‘The tactic of combining goals, stategies and demands can only result in even greater concentra- tion of union power, not to men- tion an: inflexibility in tailoring contracts to meet local needs’ ” The “concentration of greater union power” which the Natio- nal Association of Manufactur- ers worries about, :combined with the irresistable winds of change in the political attitudes of the American labor movement developing in the context of a crucial bargaining year, is bound to have a rather large effect on the whole range of American politics’ and economic life in 1967. This will also have its effects on the trade union move- ment in Canada. TEACHERS’ DEMANDS ‘More like trade unions’ The chairman of the Toronto Board of Education, 32rrv Lowes, has predicted that To- ronto teachers will demand a 25 percent wage increase during the next bargaining session. “Teachers are becoming less professional in their manner of asking for increases and more and more a union when it comes to bargaining,” he added. Lowes said his prediction was based on a study of the labor scene rather than direct know- ledge of what the teachers in- tend to ask for when Negotia- tions begin in January. Officials of the Teachers Federation have already indicated that Lowes predictions are close to the mark. The current pay scale for teachers in Toronto ranges from $4,100 to $5,700 in the first cate- gory and $6,800 to $11,200 in: in the seventh and top category. went to bed.” “It must be sleep that made me sick; | felt terrific when I Australian Tribune Draftsmen The 12-week old strike of draftsmen at Otis Elevator Co. in Hamilton has ended on the basis of a 14 percent wage hike. William Tully, chairman of the Draftsmen’s Association, an- nounced the acceptance by the men of a three-year pact which aside from the wage increase contains a considerable improve- ment in seniority clauses, a re- evaluation of classifications and _ the inclusion of an automatic December 23, 1966—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 5 end strike progression in wage rates. A committment was also made by- the company that the union’s certification would con- tinue when the plant moves to Burlington shortly. The strike Was marked by a determined effort on the part of the company to smash_ the union, and by the degree of mili- tancy shown by the hitherto un- organized white collar and seml- professional workers. ph