ng

i

is

fall be bindine

>
nal trade secretariats should
ptimue to exist as separate en_
Fes and how the general coun-
F of the new organization will
)tormed, Mikhail Tarasoy, se-
tary of the All-Union Gentral
incil of Trade Unions of the
: SR, disclosed. this week.
nm an article in War and the
‘thang Class published follow-
his departure for the meet-
' of the world labor conference
Painistrative committee in
p Shington this week, Tarasov,
$> with AUCCTU chairman Va-
 Kuznetzov is Soviet delegate
|the committee, revealed that
pse issues were not resolved at
| Paris meetings in March, im-
liately following the close of
' London conference.
‘When the administrative com-
tee Commenced its work,” Tar-
lv said, “I more than once re-
Fed the speech of Lombardo
/2dano (president of the Gon-
peration of Matin American
tkers) at the world confer-
F>, im which he uttered a str one
-ning ageinst the inclusion of
'eesentatives of the Amster-
E: International (International
"eration of Trade Unions) in
administrative committee.”
5 ile there was no apparent rea-
to object to their inclusion
principle,” he asserted, “their
Acipation in the work of the
/anistrative committee has of-
| | hindered rather than helped
bwork.”?
[AFT REJECTED
he administrative committee
}not have time to draft the sta-
'S of the new federation, Tar-
AM Said, since many members
Fe oblized to leave. A draft
P7n up by IF TU secretary Wal-
» Schevenels was rejected, he
fed, because “it was based on
ly the same priciples as those
which the Amsterdam Inter-
onal operated.” The adminis-
€ committee therefore ap-
ited a subcommittee consist-
of Sidney Hillman of the CIO,
’ Walter Citrine of Belen.
is Saillant of France, H. T.
of China and himself 45 draft
» Statutes, he said.
»1 Citrime’s motion, he stated,
7? ©venels was added to the com-
and later, on the motion
he Soviet delegates, Toledano
also included. The draft which
cominittee prepared will be
\‘mitted to the full committee
Washington for endorsement,
wall then be circulated among
4 trade union organizations of
countries represented at the
‘don conference. The recom-
’idations of all national trade
m centers will then be in-

erated into a full report to

UssR Delegate Tarasov
-ites Issues For World
labor At Washington

MOSEGOW =— Phe most pressing
. ) ashineton meeting of world labor de
scisions of the proposed new

questions facing the
legates are whether
world trade union federation

on affiliated organizations, whether interna-

be presented to the world con-
ference when

it reconvenes in
Paris in _September.
The “most complicated and

controversial” question that arose
during the Paris meetines, Tar-
asov asserted, was the existence
of international trade secretar-
lats. Sc¢hevenels “strongly in-
sisted” that these Sseeretariats
Should be allowed to affiliate to
a uew world organization on the
Same basis as they were affiliat-
ed to the IFTU, he said. These
Sécretariats convened jinterna-
tional conferences before each
world congress and discussed all
problems independently.

INDUSTRIAL SECTION

The sub-committee decided
that the new world federation
“must be as solid and united as
possible,” Tarasoy said, and
therefore proposed that it have
industrial sections, which would
Exist as departments functioning
under the direction of its execu-
tive committee. If necessary,
the industrial sections could hold
“conferences on a specific indus-
try, but only on the decision of
the executive committee and all
decisions would be subject to the
latter’s approval. This proposal
will be put forward at the Wash-
ington meeting _ as the commit-
tee’s opinion, but Schevenels
stated that he will enter a dis-
senting: report.

On the question of whether
conference decisions should be
binding, Tarasov continued, the
committee will propose that the
decisions of the world conference
or its general council should be
binding on all affiliates after
they have been endorsed by two-
thirds of the national bodies.
Schevenels also dissented on this
point, arguing that the decisions
cf the world congress or its elec-
ted administrative bodies should
not be binding on national organ-
izations.

On the question of a general
council, Scheyenels opposed its
election by a world congress, pro-
posing: instead that it be consti-
tuted of representatives of the
various trade union centers and
then endorsed by a world con-
gress. A clause which did not
cause a controversy in Paris “but
is likely to be challenged later,”
Tarasoy added, provides that all
trade union centers of all demo-
eratic countries shall be eligible
and “makes it obligatory for the
leading bodies of the world fed-
eration to take all necessary mea-

sures to achieve trade union
unity in those countries where
there is more than one trade

union federation.”

Volume 1;

No. 25, April 21, 1945

World Labor Pays Tribute In
Memory Of Franklin Roosevelt

WASHINGTON: (ALN)—World labor ae its tribute to the late President Frank-
lin D, Roosevelt when the Administrative Committee of the World Trade Union Confer-
ence, which opened its sessions at CIO headquarters, adjourned out of respect to the meme

ory of the late President.

“At its first session in Wash-

iugton today, the Administrative
Committee of the World Trade
Union Conference records with
a deep sense of loss its grief at
the death of President Franklin
Delano Roosevelt, stricken with
tragic suddenness jn the hour of
victory for the cause to which
he dedicated. all his outstanding
powers of leadership.

“The Committee offers to Mrs.

The committee iss ued the following statement:

Roosevelt and family its sincere
sympathy in their bereavement,
with the assurance that the or-
ganized labor movement through-
out the world will remember for

all time the unique contribution

made by Franklin Delano Roose-
velt to the task of setting free
all the peoples of the world from
every form of servitude and op-
pression.

An industry - wide insurance fund providing health, life,
accident and other imsurance benefits was established for
100,000 members of Amalgamated Clothing \Workers (CIO)
employed in the cotton garment industry with the signing of
collective agreements by union officials and employers. Above,
Gladys Dickason accepts the employers’ initial cheques.

Urges Labor Delegates

On Security Council

PARIS—Labor representation
in the councils of the proposed
new world security organization
must be “firmly guaranteed,”
Louis Saillant, secretary of the
French General Confederation of
Labor (CGT) declared recently
before the first meeting of the
CGT national committee to be
held since ‘the German occupa-
tion. The meeting unanimously
ratified the decisions of the Lon-
don world labor conference, de-
manded the rupture of diplomatic
relations with Franco Spain and
eonsolidation of the collective se-
curity system through pacts with
the Allied nations similar to the
one recently concluded between
the USSR and France.

Nationalization of banks, key
industries, sources of power, raw
materials, social insurance and
transport and an energetic purge
of industrial and administrative
bodies were also unanimously
urged by the committee. While
stressing CGT independence, the
committee also decided to permit
regional unions te participate im
united lists of resistance candi-
dates in the forthcoming muni-
cipal elections.

The vital role to be played by
labor in the organization of the

peace and the rebirth of France
Was stressed by all speakers at

the meeting, which represented
4.500,000 members. Discussing
economic recovery, CGT secre-

tary Benoit Frachon called upon
the workers to exceed production
quotas and to extend the system
of factory committees. Hmpha-
Sizing that the raising of living
standards is essential for econo-
mic revival, the committee de-
manded a minimum of 23 francs
(46 cents) an hour for unskilled
labor. equal wages for women
and an immediate improvement
in food supply by raising farmers’
Prices and abolishing the black
market.

The committee also decided
that May 1 will not be a holiday
this year, but instead will be
dedicated to production to show
solidarity with soldiers and pris-
oners. Members of the new CGT
Bureau are Leon Juohaux, who is
still a prisoner in Germany but
whose pre-war post of general
secretary is being kept open for
kim; Saillant and Frachon, acting
general secretaries; and Bother-
eau, Gazier, Buisson, Daniau, Le-
brun, Mommouseau, Racamond,
Raynaud and WTollet, secretaries.

Stated:

“The visiting delegations to
the Administrative Committee
bear with our American collea-
gues their sorrow at the grievous
blow that has fallen upon the
people of the United States and
the whole democratic world. They
share, too, with them in thank-
fulness and pride that the United -
States has been led so far on the
read to victory by such a man of
high courage, strength of pur-
Pose and clearness of vision as
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, to
whom the ideals of democracy.
and freedom are principles call-
ing for the fullest measure of de-
votion.

“Conscious that Franklin Del-
ano Roosevelt fell in the battle for
the rights of the common man,
this Administrative Committee
pays tribute to his memory in! the
hame of the World Trade Union
Conference and pledges the or-
ganized millions represented at
the conference to continue the
fight in the spirit which inspired
and guided the life and work of
Franklin Delano Roosevelt.”

The statement was signed by
Philip Murray and Sidney Hill-
man for the ClO, Sir Walter Gi-
trine and Ebby Edwards for the
United Kingdom, Louis Saillant
and Benoit Frachon for France,
Mikhail Tarasoy for the USSR,
Vicente Lombardo Toledano and
Angel Cofino for Latin America,
Walter Schevenels for the Inter-
national Federation of Trade Un-
iens, and J. H. Oldenbroek for
the International Trade Secre-
tariats. Two other members of

the Administrative Committee,
Vasili Kuznetsov of the USSR and
Hi. T. Liu of China, were not in
Washington.

STAUNCH FRIEND

CIO President Murray declared
in a separate statement that by
the tragic death of the late Presi-
dent, “the nation and the world
have lost a great leader and a
great soldier, and labor its no-
blest friend.” AFI President Wil-
liam Green stated: ‘President
Roosevelt. gave his life for his
country. He was the great human-
itarian who will forever be re-
garded by the men and women of
labor as their true friend and
champion.” e

Ina separate statement, Chair-
man Sidney Hillman of the CIO
Political Action Committee said:
“We must make the high resolve
tc carry forward the far-sighted
and progressive program for
which Franklin Roosevelt fought
and died.” In New York, Thomas
A. Murray, president of the State
Federation of Labor (AFL),
“His death is a particu-
larly sad blow to organized labor,
which had recognized him as a
staunch friend from the earliest
days of his public career.”