Book of Facts for Shipyard Workers, October 1935

Camden, New Jersey’s New York Shipbuilding Corporation was the birthplace of many famous naval vessels, and a host of commercial ships as well. Just as notable, the workers who built those ships also built the Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America, which was founded late in 1933.

The following booklet was published in October of 1935. Much can be learned from it, much that one may generally NOT find in newspaper accounts of the time. Certain elements of the press then were as biased against organized labor almost as much as certain elements of today’s press are biased against our own government.

It is generally forgotten that the struggle by workers for decent wages, working conditions, and a 40 hour week took far longer and cost far more lives than the struggle for civil rights. From the first attempts to organize after the Civil War right up until modern times, union organizers and union members were often met with persecution, prosecution, and in many, many cases, execution. Attempts by Soviet-trained and funded agents to infiltrate the unions in the thirties and forties did not help the situation.

Camden saw its share of labor strife during the 1930s. Besides the two strikes mentioned below, RCA-Victor experienced labor trouble, as did several other large companies in the city.

In the latter part of the 20th century, for a variety of reasons including the takeover of several unions by organized crime, the labor movement in great measure lost the respect of a large segment of the American people, who in past decades would have been predisposed to supporting its measures.

That being said, we should not forget the bravery and steadfastness of those who fought and in many cases died for the working conditions that we take for granted in America today. Any comments, corrections, or additions that you the reader would like to see made are very much welcomed.

— Phil Cohen

This little book was written by shipyard workers for shipyard workers. We ask you to keep it in your pocket and read it carefully, because it is full of meat; and it affects your welfare and your wages as well as ours.

In here you will find the truth about conditions in the shipbuilding and ship repairing industry. You will learn what amount and what kind of unions there are in the shipyards, what wages are being paid, how much work there is, and what the general working conditions are.

We also tell in here the story of the two great strikes in the Camden shipyard in 1934 and 1935; the story of the growth of the Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America, and our plans for the future. These plans include YOU.

When you finish reading this book, don’t throw it away. The time may come very soon when you will want to check up on something you are not sure of. Then you can look into this book and find it. You can be sure of anything you read in here, because all the statements in this book are FACTS.

We are confident that after you learn this story you will join with us in our fight for more work, higher wages, and better conditions in the shipyards.

Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America, October, 1935

Contents: History of Conditions in the Shipyards — 3 • Present Conditions in the Industry — 4 • Rise of the Industrial Union — 6 • Story of First Camden Strike — 7 • Organization of Other Yards by Industrial Union — 7 • Story of Second Camden Strike — 9 • Outlook for the Future — 12

Appendix: Profits on the Naval Work — 15 • Wage Scales and Comparisons — 16 • Industrial Union’s Program — 19 • Answers to Questions — 19 • The Red Scare Spiked — 21 • Recognized by the President — 22 • List of Unions That Donated to Camden Strike — 25 • Relations with American Federation of Labor — 28 • Treachery of the Metal Trades Department, A.F. of L. — 29 • List of Ships Under Construction in Major Yards — 32

Conditions in the Shipyards, and how they got that way.

In nineteen hundred and twenty-one
The shipbuilding business went on the bum.

Many of us can remember well enough what happened in the early 1920’s. Thousands of men were thrown on the street, wages were slashed, the A.F. of L. unions were practically wiped out. Business was bad, and the bosses used the opportunity to get rid of the unions and cut the rates. There were a great many strikes, and most of them were lost, and the workers found themselves worse off than before.

In many cases, in those days, one union would come out, and all the rest would go on working; with the result that the craft unions were licked one at a time. The machinists, boilermakers, sheet metal workers, and other unions were in a bad way. They lost money on strikes, and members were thrown out of work so they couldn’t pay dues. Some of the union officials and business agents ran away with the treasuries, and some grafted, and some got good jobs for themselves at the expense of the rank and file membership.

At about the same time shipping and commerce started to go bad, which meant less work for the repair yards. This put more shipyard workers on the street.

By 1924 the shipbuilding industry was open shop for all practical purposes. The A.F. of L. craft unions were finished in the shipyards.

The records show that between 1920 and 1924 the membership of the International Association of Machinists declined from 331,000 to 78,000, and the Boilermakers from 103,000 to 17,500. These were the leading A.F. of L. unions in the shipyards, and they became so weak that the big corporations no longer took them seriously. That is still the case today.

The weakness of the old A.F. of L. craft unions was that they divided the workers instead of uniting them. With a dozen different unions in the shipyard the boss could play off one against the other. There was jealousy and rivalry between the crafts. We have learned now from bitter experience that all shipyard workers must stand together in one union and use their united strength if we are going to get anywhere.

Once the real unions were cleaned out of the industry, the big corporations proceeded to build up company unions. Bethlehem started off and was followed by New York Ship, Newport News, New London, and others. These company unions kept the workers fooled for a long time, and meanwhile wages stayed low and working conditions got worse and worse. Speed-up systems were introduced, with piecework, incentive, and bonus systems for every kind of a job. The shape-up system was invented, and shipyard workers were forced to stand in line day after day for the privilege of being told there was no work for them.

The shipbuilding corporations had everything their own way. Whenever they felt like it they called in the company union stools and said, “Boys, business is bad. For the good of all concerned we will have to have a wage cut.” The company stools, as always, answered “Yes, boss,” and the wage cut went into effect.

The company union leaders held their jobs in good times and bad, keeping the rank and file of workers under their thumb by spying and lying, graft and favoritism. Work was so scarce for all these years right up to 1933, that most men were afraid to kick for fear they would lose their jobs. They took it on the chin and kept their mouths shut.

In nineteen hundred and thirty-three
The Navy Department went on a spree.

The Navy Department in 1933, hooked Congress for over 200 million dollars to build up the Navy and put men to work (they promised to put 60,000 men to work in two years, but the time is up and they haven’t put more than 40,000 to work.) This money was parcelled out to the navy yards and the private yards — most of it going to the private yards. The big corporations got their heads together (see the Nye Committee investigation) and divided up the loot: 40 million for you, 40 million for me, and 40 million for Charlie Schwab over there. There was a lot of profit in these contracts, and still is. In 1934 they got a little more. In 1935 they got another slice. In 1936, with a war scare in Europe, the melon will be bigger and juicier.

When the NRA was set up, the government forced the corporations to raise the wage rates. But hours were reduced at the same time, leaving us just about where we were before, except that we had more leisure time to worry about the rent bill and the installment on the Ford, if any.

The shorter week put more men to work, but the speed-up of production put them on the street again. Efficiency systems and incentive systems have been developed to such an extent in the big yards, that two men now do the work that three or four used to do. We produce as much now in 36 hours as we used to do in 40 or 44.

Craft lines are being broken down. The old style mechanic who could do about everything in the shop isn’t wanted any more. Every man is a specialist nowadays, and because it doesn’t take as much skill or experience to be a specialist, he gets a lower rate. We have helpers and handymen doing mechanics’ work, and mechanics getting helpers’ wages.

As a result, the mechanic who comes into a shipyard from outside, finds himself getting 20 or 30 cents an hour less inside the yard.

Today the mechanic in the shipyard gets 20 or 30 cents less per hour than the mechanic in building construction, and 20 or 30 cents less per hour than the mechanic in the Navy Yards, where the wages are fixed by Congress (see Appendix in back of book).

Shipbuilding is one of the most skilled industries in the country; it ought to be the highest paid, but it isn’t.

Today there is no shipbuilding in the country to speak of outside of naval shipbuilding. This is divided amongst the following shipyards (exclusive of the navy yards): Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine; Bethlehem’s Fore River Plant, Quincy, Mass.; Electric Boat Co., New London, Conn.; United Drydocks, Staten Island, N.Y.; Federal Shipbuilding, Kearny, N.J.; New York Ship, Camden, N.J.; Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, Va.; and Bethlehem’s Union Iron Works, San Francisco. These yards are now employing 18 to 19 thousand men. There are 8 navy yards doing government building, employing 25,000 men.

Repair yard work is still slack, besides being very uncertain and irregular.

The vicious shape-up system is in general use, and in most ports the wage levels are very low.

Now that the NRA is dead, there is no restriction on hours whatsoever.

This is especially true of the repair yards, where men are working as many as fifty and sixty hours a week. The big shipbuilding plants are still on the 36-hour-week, but there is absolutely no law that can force them to maintain it. Meanwhile, 40 to 50 per cent of the shipyard workers of this country are unemployed.

There are a few crafts that are in demand, and in these crafts there is a shortage of men; but the corporations are operating schools to teach men these crafts so that there will soon be an oversupply there too, and the army of unemployed will increase.

Some of the worst abuses now common in the industry are the following:

1. No classifications of work or wage standards. Unskilled men, helpers and apprentices are made to do mechanics’ work at low rates of pay. Often a group of unskilled men are put to work on a particular job under the supervision of one or two mechanics, and expected to do skilled work. As they become more proficient and experienced they gradually displace the skilled men altogether, although their pay remains the same. Skilled men are kicked out in the street, and perhaps hired back later as second or third class mechanics at reduced rates. The result is that in many shops and departments only a small minority of the men are getting the first class rate. Also it is the practice to have six or eight different rates for exactly the same type of work. Differentials of from ½c to 5c an hour are maintained in each classification in each department. The great number of different rates set up in this way enables the management to chisel and discriminate.
2. Night work, without extra pay.
3. Dangerous and dirty work, without extra pay.
4. Welding on galvanized metal, without rest periods or respirators.
5. North-South differential. Wages in the South are 10 to 20 per cent lower, for no reason except that the bosses can get away with it.
6. The Shape-up. Report for work every day, and stand around for hours waiting to be told there is no work for you, but only for some company stool.
7. The Speed-up. Bonus system, piecework. The faster you work, the sooner the piece rates or bonus contract will be cut. You do twice as much work and get maybe 10 per cent more money. Chiseling, graft, favoritism are common under these incentive systems.
8. Furloughs and lay-offs. Very few men in the shipbuilding or repairing industry work as much as 9 full months a year. The average annual income of workers in this industry is only about $1000. Who can maintain a family decently on that income? Especially with food prices up 15 to 20 percent more than they were a year and a half ago.

These conditions can be changed. They must be changed. The Industrial Union needs your help to change them; because it can’t be done in one yard. It has to be done throughout the whole industry. (See Union program in Appendix.)

Rise of the Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America

In the summer of 1933 wages and conditions were so bad in Camden that the men began to get really sore about it. We had all heard about the NRA and the promised New Deal, but our earnings were lower than ever. At the same time food prices and the cost of living were going up.

There was a company union in the Camden yard, but it was worse than useless, and its leaders didn’t even try to get more money for the men. So Johnnie Green, a tinsmith in the yard, together with a handful of other men, got together and decided to start a real union of their own. The American Federation of Labor would give us no help. They wanted the machinists to go into one union, the chippers into another, the coppersmiths into another, etc. We knew that unless we were all united in the same organization we would be licked before we started, because we were up against a rich and powerful Corporation. We called secret meetings and talked it up in the yard. Then we printed some application cards and started passing them around.

The idea caught on quick, and within a couple of months we had a majority of the yard signed up. By this time, of course, the company had heard about it, and the company union officials were up in the air. It was decided to conduct a secret ballot to see which union the men wanted. The vote was taken in December, and the Industrial Union won by a majority of 20 to 1. That settled that.

We sent committees down to Washington to see the Labor Board and other NRA officials about getting us a wage increase; but all we got was delays and red tape. The company agreed to meet with us, but all they did was talk — they wouldn’t come across.

First Camden Strike

Finally, a set of demands was drawn up. These were presented to the company early in March, 1934. We told them we wanted more money, or else.

The Company, in the person of Clinton L. Bardo, said No; so on March 24th, 1934, a strike vote was taken of the Industrial Union membership. It carried, and the company was given three more days in which to make up its mind. Bardo still refused to give in, so a mass meeting was held Monday night where the strike vote was reaffirmed. The following morning, Tuesday, March 27th, the whole yard walked out on strike, even to the leaders. The plant was shut down 100 per cent.

As soon as the men saw the Union meant to fight, they rushed in to pay up their back dues. But even with all this money coming in there was only a few thousand dollars in the treasury — not much to spread amongst 3,000 men. However, the other unions, local merchants, and friends of the workingmen came to our support. We ran the strike economically, borrowed and chiseled, and made every dollar do the work of two or three, so that when the strike ended we were better off financially than before.

The strike lasted seven weeks. Every week or so the company would offer us a little more. First it was 6 per cent; then it was 10 per cent; then it was 13 per cent. But the men continued to stick and the picket line held fast. Nobody wanted to go through it and nobody tried to.

Finally the strike was settled on May 11th for 14.8 per cent increase and other concessions, including a week’s notice of layoff, a reduction in the number of rates, preference for former employees in hiring, and most important — recognition of the Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America.

Mr. Bardo signed the agreement, and we went back to work on May 14th with the first union contract signed by any big shipbuilding company for 15 years.

Within 3 months, the men at Fore River, Bath, New London, and Newport News were given general wage increases!

Organizing the Other Yards

We realized that Camden could not reform the whole industry by itself.

It was necessary to bring other shipyards into the same organization. Within the next year the men of Camden put up over $8,000 to send organizers to the other yards, and help them build up Locals of the Industrial Union. By the spring of 1935 we had Locals in the following places:

Local No. 1 — N.Y. Ship, Camden, N.J.
Local No. 2 — Sun Ship, Chester, Pa.
Local No. 3 — Dravo, and Pusey & Jones, Wilmington, Del.
Local No. 4 — Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine.
Local No. 5 — Fore River Plant (Bethlehem), Quincy, Mass.
Local No. 6 — Electric Boat, New London, Conn.
Local No. 7 — Union Iron Works, San Francisco, Calif.
Local No. 8 — Newport News Shipyard, Newport News, Va.
Local No. 9 — Repair Yards, San Pedro, Calif.
Local No. 10 — Repair Yards, Seattle, Wash.
Local No. 11 — Repair Yards, Oakland, California

The struggle to get these yards organized is a long story and we will not tell all the details here. It is enough to mention Newport News, which we tackled in the winter of 1935. In two months’ time we signed up close to a thousand men, mostly welders and shipfitters. Then the company got worried about it and decided to kill the Union before it could grow strong.

Early in April the Newport News management picked out 30 leaders of the Union and fired them out of the yard. They knew they could get away with it because the old Labor Board was dead, and the new Wagner Labor Board not born yet. We were forced to call a strike; and for three long weeks, the town of Newport News saw the first real picket line in its history. As there were close to 6,000 men working there at the time, our picket line was not big enough to hold them out. The whole town, the bankers, merchants, lawyers, and businessmen were against us, and the company had most of its employees so terrorized that they were afraid to come out in our support. We could not get county relief for our men, and the grocers shut off their credit. Camden, with some help from the other Locals, carried the burden of paying the Newport News strikers’ benefits to keep them going. But Camden was facing another strike of its own, and we were finally forced to call off the Newport News strike on May 8th — but with the determination to come back and organize the yard right.

This is a sample of what we are up against in fighting the big shipbuilding corporations. They will use every possible method to keep their employees from organizing a real union that will fight for the men’s rights and decent wages.

After we left Newport News the Metal Trades Department of the A.F. of L. came sneaking into town and tried to make a deal with the company on the strength of the company’s fear of the Industrial Union. (See Calvin’s letter in Appendix.) They made the deal with the company all right, but they couldn’t organize the men, so it did them no good.

The Union’s agreement with New York Ship was to run out May 11th, 1935. For six weeks before this date we tried to reach an agreement with the company for a new agreement, or renewal of the old one with a few changes, including an increase in wages. The company not only refused to negotiate a new agreement, but even refused to extend the old one. There was nothing for the Union to do but call a strike to enforce its demands, and protect its members.

The company was insisting on a company union type of set-up which would have meant the quick death of the Industrial Union if it had been adopted.

The yard came out as before, 100 per cent — 4,000 strong. The picket line extended along Broadway for fully half a mile, four men abreast.

The management had a few conferences with our committee, but would not concede a single point. Instead they tried to foist their company union agreement on the men over the heads of the Union officers. They sent letters to all the men and tried to get them to vote to go back to work. But the Union held meetings every day, and decided that the men would back up their committee to the limit.

A strike kitchen was set up, which fed about 3,000 pickets every day.

Food and other donations were contributed by local merchants and sympathetic farmers. Raffles and tag days were run to raise money, and donations started to come in from the other Locals of the Industrial Union and from many other labor organizations (see list of unions in Appendix). Hundreds of strikers went on relief and so did the officers of the Union.

The Union sent committees and delegations to Washington to enlist the aid of the Labor and Navy Departments, and also the Nye Committee and various Congressmen and Senators. We got a great many promises, but practically no help at all. The Navy Department had a deaf ear for us. The Labor Department sent in a conciliator, but he didn’t have any power to force the company to settle. Although $50,000,000 worth of naval construction was tied up, the government wasn’t interested enough to force the Company to come to terms with the strikers.

Meanwhile the management was trying other tricks to get the men back. They ran big advertisements in the newspapers calling the leaders radicals and Communists, and telling the men to come back on the company’s terms. When this failed, they got a big advertising company, N.W. Ayer & Son, to conduct a “survey” of the strikers. They got a New York lawyer by the name of Major Henry L. Holthusen, and he hired a bunch of college boys to canvass the strikers at their homes, to see if they could be persuaded to break ranks and return to work.

The Union got wind of it the night before the great “survey” started. We had cars waiting at the entrance to Camden and followed the college boys around the city. We rounded them up, gave them a lecture on the evils of strike-breaking, and sent them back home. The survey was a flop.

The major then got hold of some local American Legion officials, and had them agree to cooperate in holding a vote amongst the strikers on the question of returning to work on the company’s terms. As soon as we heard of this, we put on a couple of demonstrations at Legion headquarters, and the rank and file legionnaires raised such a protest that the officials quickly backed down. So the vote wasn’t held.

The company then put on a great drive to reopen the yard on July 23rd. They wrote to every man that the yard was going to resume work, and sent foremen around to the men’s homes to tell them to come in on that day.

When the morning of July 23rd arrived, however, over 3,000 men reported for picket duty instead of work. With the aid of the police, a few scabs were rushed through the gates. But two days of running the gauntlet was all these scabs could stand, and on July 24th the company again abandoned its attempt to operate.

Instead they went into court and tried to get an injunction against us. While this injunction was hanging fire, Secretary of Labor Perkins proposed that the men should return under the old Union contract and arbitrate the new demands. The Union accepted the offer but the company refused. They didn’t succeed in getting their injunction, however, so they went to work on the Navy Department, and got it to make a different proposal for settlement. This proposal didn’t provide for recognition of the Union, so the men turned it down.

Back into court, the Federal Court this time, went the company in another effort to get an injunction against us that would break up our picket line.

Meanwhile, Congressman Marcantonio, of New York, and the House Labor Subcommittee began to open up on the company for its anti-labor tactics, and on the Navy Department for supporting the New York Ship as against the strikers. The Committee called all parties concerned down to Washington, and investigated the causes and condition of the strike. In his statements to the press, Marcantonio made it clear that he thought the blame fell entirely on the company, and that it was using the red scare to try to dodge its obligations to the men and the government. Protests began pouring into Washington against the government’s delay in taking strong action to force a settlement. But the company still refused to arbitrate or to recognize the Union.

Finally, on August 22nd, President Roosevelt issued an executive order creating the Camden Board of Arbitration, which was instructed to attempt to settle the strike on the following terms: recognition of the Union, all men to return to work under the old contract; and the board to arbitrate all the Union’s demands and to embody its awards in a Union agreement to be signed by both parties. The company was licked, and had to accept. The President’s settlement was signed on August 27th, and the men returned to work August 29th the same way they had come out — all together. The strike had lasted about 16 weeks.

The Camden Board of Arbitration, consisting of Admiral Henry A. Wiley, Robert Bruere, and Colonel Frank Douglas, conducted hearings in Washington for a month and a half after the strike was settled, considering the Union’s demands and the company’s answers.

On October 12th the final decision was handed down in the form of a contract to be signed by the Corporation and the Union which is to run for about two and one-half years. It provides for a 5 per cent general wage increase, 5 per cent increase in piece rates and bonus contracts, week’s notice of layoffs, maintenance of the 36-hour week, machinery for handling grievances by the Union Shop Stewards, and an Arbitration Board to settle all disputes that can’t be settled by negotiation between the Company and the Union. There is also a provision that bad days cannot be averaged up with good days on piece work; and the piece rates and bonus contracts must be shown to the men before they start work on any job.

This Union agreement is now in effect in Camden. It gives us the highest average wage rates on the east coast, and conditions that no other big shipyard has. We have some protection against unfair discharges, cutting rates, transferring men, setting piece rates, etc. Prominent labor leaders throughout the country have hailed ours as one of the outstanding strikes of the year, and, with the single exception of the coal miners’ strike, the most important victory for organized labor that was won in 1935.

Where We Are and Where We Are Going

As things stand today, the Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America is the only important union in the shipbuilding industry. It is the biggest, and the strongest, and is growing all the time. It is recognized by the corporations and by the government.

This Union has raised wages in Camden by 20 per cent in the past year and a half. It has forced the other big yards to raise their wages 10 to 15 per cent. We have ten locals on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. We have the sympathy and support of some of the biggest labor unions in the country.

There is still much work to be done. If we are going to win good wages and conditions (see Union program in Appendix) we have got to build strong Locals in all the major shipyards throughout the country. Navy yard rates are still 25 per cent above Camden, which is the highest paid private yard on the east coast. We can carry out this program only by solidarity and united action.

Your place is in the Industrial Union with your fellow shipyard workers.

Join the ranks of those who are marching forward.

Shipyard workers of America, Unite!!

ON TO VICTORY!!!

Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers of America
General Office, 572 Fairview St., Camden, N.J.

For additional information of any kind, or for help in organizing, write to the Industrial Union — 572 Fairview Street — Camden, N.J.

Radio and Metal Workers Industrial Union, Camden, N.J.

United Mine Workers of America, Washington, D.C.

Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, General Executive Board, N.Y.C.

Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Philadelphia Joint Board.

Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, New York Joint Board.

Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Local No. 75.

Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Local No. 143.

Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Local No. 156.

Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, Local No. 110.

International Ladies Garment Workers, Dressmakers Joint Board, New York.

International Ladies Garment Workers, Camden Joint Board.

International Ladies Garment Workers, Local No. 128.

American Federation of Hosiery Workers, Branch 1, Philadelphia, Pa.

American Federation of Hosiery Workers, Branch 70, Camden, N.J.

American Federation of Hosiery Workers, Branch 10, Reading, Pa.

American Federation of Hosiery Workers, Branch 706.

American Federation of Hosiery Workers, Branch 10, Ladies Auxiliary.

Paperhangers Union, Local No. 306, Philadelphia.

Suit Case, Bag and Portfolio Makers Union, Philadelphia.

Taxicab Drivers Union, Local No. 156, of I.B. of T.C., and S.H. of A.

International Oil Field Workers, Local No. 253.

American Federation of Teachers, Local No. 192, Philadelphia.

National Federation of Post Office Clerks, Local No. 89, Philadelphia.

Allied Printing Trades Council, Philadelphia.

Painters Local No. 997, Philadelphia.

United Garment Workers of America, Local No. 149, Gloucester, N.J.

Pressmans Union, Philadelphia Local No. 4.

Wool Pullers Union, Local No. 3.

Bakery and Confectionery Workers Union, Local No. 201.

Axminster Carpet Workers, Local No. 2053 of United Textile Workers.

Brewery Workers Union, Local No. 5.

Stereotypers Union, Local No. 7, Philadelphia.

Upholstery Weavers Union, Local No. 25.

Electrotypers and Finishers Union, Local No. 72, Philadelphia.

Amalgamated Lace Operatives of America, Branch No. 1, Philadelphia.

Stone Masons Union, Local No. 3.

Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Employees.

United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of A., Local No. 1050, Phila.

United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of A., Local No. 393.

Westinghouse Employes Union, Federal Local No. 18872.

Brewery Drivers Union, Local No. 132, Philadelphia.

Typographical Workers, Local No. 86, Reading, Pa.

United Brewery and S.D. Workers of A., Joint Local Exec. Board of Philadelphia.

Battery Workers Federal Labor Union, No. 18551, Philadelphia.

Hod Carriers, B. and C.L., Council, No. 471, Reading, Pa.

Millinery Workers Union, Local No. 24, New York.

Upholsterers and Frame Workers Union, Local No. 77, Philadelphia.

National Leather Workers Union, Local No. 21, Peabody, Mass.

Federated Trades Council, Reading, Pa.

Central Labor Union, Camden, N.J.

I.A.T.S.E., Local No. 97, Reading, Pa.

Bricklayers, M. & P.I.U., Local No. 21, Reading, Pa.

Plumbers and Fitters, Local 42, Reading, Pa.

Journeymen Barbers, Local Union 203, Reading, Pa.

United Textile Workers of America, Local No. 1733, Paterson, N.J. (Dyers).

Motion Picture Operators Union, Camden, N.J.

Printing Pressmen and Assistants, Local No. 160, Reading, Pa.

Moving Picture Machine Operators, Local No. 306, New York City.

Brotherhood of Shoe and Allied Craftsmen, Brockton, Mass.

International Longshoremen’s Association, Philadelphia Local.

Federation of Art Workers, Philadelphia.

I.A.T.S.E., Collingswood, N.J.

Tool and Die Makers Local, Radio and Metal Workers Ind. Union, Philadelphia.

International Association of Machinists, Newport, R.I.

Milk Drivers Union, Local No. 70, Philadelphia.

Metal Workers Industrial Union, Newark, N.J.

Metal Workers Industrial Union, Local No. 301, Brooklyn, N.Y.

National Biscuit Workers Federal Labor Union, Philadelphia.

Painters and Decorators Union, Local No. 11, Boston, Mass.

Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen, Camden, N.J.

Storage House Employees Union, Federal Local No. 18571, Philadelphia.

Southwark Baldwin Local No. 9, Metal Workers Industrial Union.

United Meat Cutters and Poultry Workers, Philadelphia.

Total: 73 unions. Also the following Locals of the Industrial Union of Marine and Shipbuilding Workers: Quincy, Chester, San Pedro, Bath, San Francisco, Seattle.