United Automobile Worker

Board Statement on Policy

CHICAGO BOARD MEETING APRIL, 1946

On the basis of the decisions of the Atlantic City Convention and the problems that were referred by the Convention, the International Executive Board hereby adopts the following statement of policy:

WAGE POLICY

Higher wages did not result from any so-called partnership of Industry and labor. Our big wage victories had to be fought for and won. These wage increases must be obtained from the technological advances in industry and profits and not through higher prices. They must not be sweated from the workers through a speed-up. Hence, we repudiate all plans attempting to link wage increases to increased manual productivity, since such plans encourage the cutting of workers' wages if they fail to reach standards of production arbitrarily set by the company without employee participation.

We further declare that while profits must be considered as a factor in asking for wage increases they must not be the deciding factor in determining our wage demands. We reaffirm our historic position that capital is entitled to a fair return on its investment, but that the worker must not be penalized because of the technical production inefficiency, faulty merchandising policies, or other shortcomings of management.

Within this policy our union decides as follows:

(a) "Industry-wide bargaining and national wage agreements" has far too long remained an empty slogan in our union. This goal can be achieved only by having all wage contracts expire simultaneously industry-wide. The immediate steps toward this goal shall be.

(1) The International Executive Board shall appoint an International Wage and Contract Policy Committee.

(2) This committee shall work with the assistance of the Competitive Shop Department and Research Department, the Wage and Hour Councils and other departments of the International Union to establish minimum uniform wage and contract standards to cover the main classifications of work in plants under UAW-CIO jurisdiction.

(3) That no agreement on wages or other issues of collective bargaining shall be approved by the International Union, its officers or representatives which fails to meet the minimum standards thus established.

(b) The effort to eliminate wage inequities in a single corporation or plant is not a departmental problem but must be the concern of the entire union. This policy must receive the full attention of all officers and Regional Directors and must be undertaken in the plants of all Corporations. The elimination of wage inequities within the plants is an important step toward elimination of wage inequities in the industry.

(c) For the purpose of working toward wage equalization at the higher levels of the skilled workers' rates in captive and jobbing shops and to work out other skilled trades policies, each regional director, in cooperation with the International Wage and Contract Policy Committee and the Skilled Trades Department of the International, shall call regional conferences of skilled workers within 60 days. This shall be followed by a national conference within the following 30 days. On the basis of the decisions of this conference the International Executive Board shall adopt a comprehensive skilled trades program for our union.

(d) Our Union has not yet decisively won the battle for equal pay for equal work for men and women workers. In many plants we are still plagued by the lower-paying "female classification of work." The terms "comparable quantity and quality of work in comparable operations" are narrowly interpreted by management in violation of the equal pay principle. To protect both men and women workers we must break down these narrow interpretations and win equal pay not only in contract words but also in deeds.

(e) Where piecework systems still exist the companies in most cases are proceeding to cut piecework rates in order to take back part of the blanket wage increases which they were forced to give. We must fight these cuts and continue our efforts to eliminate the piecework system entirely. We reaffirm our policy established at the 1943 Buffalo Convention that piecework systems of compensation shall not be instituted or extended.

(f) Besides these immediate aims our union must conduct widespread education for our long range goals such as the guaranteed annual wage and the 30-hour work week with 40 hours pay.

(g) It shall be the policy of the International Executive Board to fight for the establishment of a vacation plan which will provide for time off upward to 30 days after 10 years' service.

(h) It shall be the policy of the International Executive Board to fight for the establishment of old age retirement plan; funds to be provided for by the employers.

(i) In order to eliminate as much as possible the seasonal rise and fall of production of automobiles due to merchandising and mechanical problems, it shall be the responsibility of the International Wage and Contract Committee to work toward more equalized production thus eliminating the seasonal lay-offs as a result of model changes, etc.

CONTRACT POLICY

(a) Because of the concerted drive to break down price control we must oppose long term contracts and long term frozen wage clauses. The Chrysler formula which gives us the right to reopen wages on 60 days' notice is more attuned to the workers' interests under present conditions than closing our contracts for a two-year period and freezing our wages beyond a one year period, such as the union was forced to accept in General Motors.

(b) We believe that wages must be separated from other contract provisions in collective bargaining negotiations. We denounce the efforts of some corporations to use wage issues as a bargaining point in an effort to weaken or destroy union contracts.

(c) We reaffirm our stand in favor of complete union responsibility in the execution of existing contracts and oppose, as detrimental to our union strength and solidarity, all forms of unauthorized or "wildcat" strikes, stoppages or organized slow-downs. We must win settlement of our just grievances by actions that are in accord with our democratic constitutional procedures.

(d) We affirm that it is in the best interests of orderly collective bargaining relations between management and labor and in the best interests of the nation as a whole, that all managements grant union security clauses in contracts in the form of the union shop and the check-off of dues. We must fight to prevent any weakening of our union security. We must regain our lost ground on this issue in General Motors and win such union security for the first time in Chrysler and other corporations which have not yet agreed to this important phase of better labor-management relations.

(e) We stand unalterably opposed to, and will struggle to prevent or eliminate, any and all types of arbitrary penalty systems which the corporations have falsely labeled "Company Security." Such arbitrary penalty systems undermine normal collective bargaining relations, which are essential to effective and genuine settlement of labor disputes.

(f) The lack of a coordinated CIO strategy within the last wage drive was one of the major shortcomings which must not be repeated in the movement for better contracts next year. Our representatives in the national board of CIO must commence working now for a unified strategy under the leadership of President Phil Murray for the battles that lie ahead of us.

(g) Our opposition to any peacetime "no strike pledge" must find its reflection in all contracts signed by the UAW-CIO.

PRICE POLICY

(a) We support President Phil Murray in declaring that members of CIO must join with millions of other Americans in repelling attacks on price control. If price and rent ceilings are destroyed and inflation results it is the worker who will suffer first. With the same persistence and energy that has marked our historic fight for wage increases we must resist all attacks upon price control. If the reactionary forces in America succeed in their drive to wreck price control, and prices skyrocket, thus plunging the nation into inflationary chaos, such a situation will force the opening of the wages which have been frozen by contract provisions.

(b) To succeed in this struggle we must eradicate all illusions that we have already fought and won the price battle; that we prevented a price increase in General Motors products. G.M. cars already range from $66 to $417 higher than 1942 prices and will go up still higher under the OPA "adjustable price increase" formula for new automobiles. The battle to maintain price and rent controls far from being won, has just begun.

(c) In our efforts to keep prices down we should not concern ourselves with whether the Corporations are protected in maintaining their high profit levels. The Corporations are adequately capable of protecting their own profit levels without any help from labor spokesmen. In this connection we oppose in principle any plan to raise prices for Corporation products during certain periods and lowering them during other periods of the year under the false theory that thereby employment will be evenly spread throughout the year, for the reason that this theory must inevitably lead to correlated proposals to reduce wages as prices are cut. We oppose any plan to cut workers' wages if living costs decrease by a certain percentage. Such a wage cut plan was incorporated in a St. Louis contract signed by the garment workers union. It must not be incorporated in any UAW-CIO contract.

(d) We stand unalterably opposed to the recent wage-price order of the Truman administration. CIO and all other labor groups opposed to inflation are fully justified in demanding that there be no more freezing of wages such as was imposed under wartime conditions while at the same time labor demands of government strict and effective rent and price control to keep down living costs.

POLITICAL ACTION

Not only the forces of reaction but also certain groupings posing as progressives are striving to undermine the political arm of CIO—the PAC and to damage the National Citizens PAC. We hereby reaffirm our support of the political action policy of the CIO and decide that through independent political action we shall:

(a) Work for the nomination of and give full support in the 1946 primaries to progressive candidates of either major political party who have pledged themselves to advance the domestic and foreign policies of the late Franklin D. Roosevelt.

(b) That where no candidate supported by a major party is acceptable to labor and the progressive elements in the community, we encourage the entry of independents or third candidates in the race.

(c) That we work toward the eventual formation of a broad Third Party based on the thinking and interests of millions of the labor, farmer, professional and other progressive people of our nation. Such a movement can succeed if it is not prematurely launched on a narrow basis.

(d) In our political activities we shall not only expose the Republican and Democratic reactionaries but also shall make clear that President Truman and his administration are yielding and capitulating on issue after issue to the forces of reaction.

WAR VETERANS

The veterans of World War II are generally playing a progressive role in our nation. Their special problems as veterans will continue for years to come and hence we must favor the continuance and expansion of special organizational forms to care for the needs of our war veterans members. The International Executive Board hereby decides:

(1) The Veterans' Department of the International Union shall be under the direction of a war veteran.

(2) Each Regional Director shall appoint a member of his staff who is a war veteran to coordinate under his supervision the handling of veterans' problems in the region.

(3) Periodic UAW-CIO veterans conferences shall be held within the regions and also on a national scale.

(4) The decisions of the Atlantic City Convention on Army hospitals and aid to disabled veterans shall be promptly implemented.

(5) We call upon Congress to amend the GI Bill of Rights to include:

(a) Unemployment Compensation benefits to veterans wherever a strike is in progress (and we shall work toward amending strike laws on similar basis.)

(b) Expansion of education and vocational training opportunities so that the veteran shall receive a subsistence allowance of $100 monthly with an additional $25 per month for each dependent.

(6) Adjusted service discharge pay to all veterans based on length and place of service: $3 for each day of domestic service; $4 for each day overseas service; minimum of $100 and maximum of $3,500 for those performing no overseas service; minimum of $500 and maximum of $4,500 for those who served overseas.

(7) Endorse and promote the passage of Senator Wagner's Bill to give all members of the armed forces and the Merchant Marine credit of $160 to their social security account for each month or fraction thereof spent in such service.

(8) Promote an increase of 30 per cent in pensions to all disabled veterans to compensate for the rise in living costs.

WOMEN

Besides the struggle for equal pay for equal work, the International Executive Board decides:

(1) For the inclusion in all UAW-CIO contracts of the model clause against discrimination and the model clause on maternity.

(2) That all Regional Directors stand instructed to disapprove any contract that discriminates against our women members.

(3) For the protection of seniority rights of women workers. We shall work toward the elimination of separate seniority lists for women and to end unfair bumping and lay-off procedures, the final solution of which is to be found in the elimination of job classification based upon sex.

ORGANIZE THE UNORGANIZED

The UAW-CIO must undertake the organization of the unorganized together with the Steelworkers, Electrical Workers, Farm Equipment Workers and the other CIO unions. Hence, we favor the establishment of machinery by the CIO structure of all jurisdictional conflicts.

The Convention decisions on organizing the white collar workers, dealing with the problems of runaway plants, and the assignment of an adequate staff to organize the unorganized workers in our industry, must be speedily carried out. Each Regional Director shall lay plans in conjunction with local unions to organize the unorganized workers in the plants now covered by collective bargaining agreements.

EXTEND INTERNAL DEMOCRACY

(a) The full resources of the International Union must be extended to the Convention Committee which is now investigating the reports of gangster coercion against our membership.

(b) The Fair-Practice and Anti-Discrimination Department of the International shall, with full backing of the International Executive Board, undertake to eliminate unfair practices against minority groups and to promote through education the fundamental principle of equal rights, regardless of race, creed, color or national origin.

(c) The constitutional rights of our membership to belong to our union regardless of religion, race, creed, color, political affiliation or nationality, shall be fully protected from all forms of Catholic-baiting, Protestant-baiting, Jew-baiting, Negro-baiting and Red-baiting.

(d) Regional Directors shall report to regional conferences of their local unions after each Board meeting so that the membership can be mobilized for the execution of decisions.

FOREIGN POLICY

The UAW-CIO re-affirms its consistent stand for the defense of our own country. All of contemporary history proves clearly that the defense of our country rests on the solid foundation of collective security by the peace-loving nations. The Winston Churchills and William Randolph Hearsts who are trying to divide the United Nations are thus striving to lead our country to disaster. We favor independence for all colonies, the outlawing of peacetime military conscription and support world-wide economic cooperation. We urge the Big Three—Britain, Soviet Russia and the U. S. A., to iron out their differences and work unitedly inside the United Nations just as they successfully fought unitedly to defeat fascism during the war. On this issue we stand on common ground with international labor organized in the WFTU. We wholeheartedly endorse the WFTU, and we shall do all in our power to induce our government to secure representation of the WFTU, on the Economic and Security Council of United Nations.

UNEMPLOYED

While carrying out our other tasks we must not lose sight of the fact that large numbers of our members remain laid off and thus have special problems. The UAW-CIO must continue to build its Unemployed Committees in every local union, call meetings of its unemployed members, handle individual compensation and
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UAW Policy
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welfare cases and campaign for favorable state and federal legislation for the unemployed. We must energetically fight for our just demand for a federal minimum unemployment compensation standard of $25 for 26 weeks and fight for the federalization of Workmen's Compensation.

INTERNAL UNITY

The UAW-CIO, an industrial union, cannot be united on an orientation toward the AFL, which is based upon craft union theories. The top officers, regional directors, locals and membership must be united around the policies of the CIO and under the stalwart leadership of President Phil Murray. The opposition to labor unity and to internal unity in our own union stems from the policies and actions of men like Lewis, Dubinsky, Woll and Hutchinson of the AFL. These men are determined to split and destroy the CIO. They must not succeed. Unity behind the CIO program is the desire of the men and women who work in the plants under our jurisdiction. The International Executive Board pledges itself to work for the achievement of such a durable unity inside the UAW-CIO.

Upon the adoption of this policy statement, the International Executive Board shall select a committee of 7 members, 4 of whom shall be the top officers, to bring in recommendations for the implementation of these policies.