The Potters Herald

WAGE CUT RESTORATION BY AMERICAN
BRASS COMPANY

A typical illustration of the beneficial results obtained by American Federation of Labor unions in protecting and improving the living standards of the workers by adding more wages to their pay envelopes is set forth in the recent action of the American Brass Company in wiping out a wage cut of ten per cent in the Spring of 1938.

Restoration of the wage cut was considered at a conference held at Kenosha, Wisconsin last March attended by officials of the American Brass Company, officers of A. F. of L. Federal Labor Union No. 19322, and a representative of the International Association of Machinists.

Following thorough discussion of the wages situation, the spokesman for the company promised that the company would restore the 1938 wage reduction as rapidly as possible. The spokesman said the company would not wait until they were able to restore the full ten per cent, but that if business continued to improve they would restore at least five per cent, and that if after the five per cent was restored the business pick-up continued they would not only liquidate the remaining five per cent but would in all probability increase wages beyond that figure.

In September, cognizant of the increase in production and the rehiring of some 200 employes that had been laid off for a long period at the Kenosha plant, the A. F. of L. committee called the attention of the company to the promise made in March and suggested that the time was ripe for the restoration of the original ten per cent wage reduction. Mr. Clark Judd, vice president of the company, went from Waterbury, Connecticut, to Kenosha, Wisconsin, to take up the matter with the representatives of Federal Labor Union 19322, which includes the employes of the Kenosha plant.

The result of the conference was that the company notified Federal Labor Union 19322 that starting September 17, 1939, the company would increase the rate of pay ten per cent in the Kenosha plant, and that this increase would be made generally in all of the plants of the American Brass Company in the United States. It will be noted that instead of making the restoration by piece-meal advances, the company restored the full ten per cent on the basis of already improved business conditions and a contemplated further improvement.

It should be noted that this wage cut restoration for employes of all the plants of the American Brass Company in all parts of the United States was initiated and finalized by the American Federation of Labor unions and that the C. I. O. braggarts had nothing whatsoever to do with it.