October 1955 National Right to Work Newsletter Summary

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THE NORTH CAROLINA SUPREME COURT – – has ruled that a union shop contract signed under the Railway Labor Act as amended is legal, despite the North Carolina Right to Work Law which prohibits compulsory unionism.

3,000 MORE – – A five column black headline in The Machinist, weekly newspaper of the International Association of Machinists, brags of winning a “full union shop at Underwood, world’s largest typewriter plant, and the story says that for the first time the 3,000 employees in the Hartford, Conn., area will now be forced to join the Machinists union or lose their jobs.

VOLUNTARISM FOR UNIONS! – – Mr. John L. Lewis, with his comment that the AFL-CIO merger, as proposed, would have the lasting endurance of a “rope of sand,” touched off an interesting comment in the AFL News Reporter.

CONCESSION – – The National Right to Work Committee believes that management which signs away the rights of its workers to join or not to join a union is destroying a basic American freedom, just as is the union leader or organizer who forces it.

GROWING EVIL – – The Department of Labor made a study of 1,716 union contracts in effect during 1954 and found that nearly two “thirds, affecting five million workers, contained union shop clauses. Another 14 per cent had maintenance of membership clauses. This study only included contracts affecting 1,000 or more persons – – and not all of them – – and thus does not give a full national picture, but the percentage relation it discloses is alarming.

ONE STATE’S EXPERIENCE – – Mr. David W. Swarr, leading Omaha, Nebr., attorney who has been an active supporter of that state’s Right to Work Law, recently made some interesting observations as to its effect on labor-management matters.

WISCONSIN – – Strong effort was made to put a Right to Work bill through the fall session of the Wisconsin legislature. However, determined union opposition from the state’s highly industrialized areas was apparently too much, and latest reports were that the measure would not be introduced.

MASSACHUSETTS – – Arthur W. Woodman, State House correspondent for a number of Massachusetts papers, reports that “advocates of state laws guaranteeing individuals Right to Work without belonging to a labor union are mulling over plans for a new drive.”

NEW UNION – – Non-operating railroad workers on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, many of whom refused to go out on the recent strike called by their unions in an attempt to force compulsory health and welfare program on them, have formed a new local union affiliated with the United Railroad Operating Crafts – – which stands firmly against compulsory union membership.

INTERNATIONAL ATTENTION – – Two speeches before the recent Philadelphia session of the American Bar Association have attracted wide attention, including editorial comment in many leading newspapers. Together they have helped a great deal in awakening people to the evils of compulsory unionism.