TO REGULATE LABOR ORGANIZATIONS TUESDAY, MAY 25, 1943 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON LABOR, Washington, D. C. The subcommittee met at 10:30 a. m., pursuant to adjournment, Hon. Thomas E. Scanlon, chairman of the subcommittee, presiding. Mr. SCANLON. The subcommittee will come to order. The first witness this morning will be Mr. Russ Nixon, Washington representative of the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America. STATEMENT OF RUSS NIXON, WASHINGTON REPRESENTATIVE, UNITED ELECTRICAL, RADIO, AND MACHINE WORKERS OF AMERICA, CONGRESS OF INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATIONS Mr. SCANLON. Please give your full name and address to the reporter, Mr. Nixon. Mr. NIXON. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, I am Russ Nixon. I am the Washington representative of the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America, whose local address is 1029 Vermont Avenue NW., Washington, D. C. Mr. SCANLON. You may proceed, Mr. Nixon. Mr. NIXON. The United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America, C. I. O., which I represent, is a union consisting of approximately 500,000 war workers. I come here representing them, obviously to state the unequivocal opposition of this union to the so-called Landis bill, H. R. 1483, and the so-called Woodruff bill, H. R. 804. In our judgment, these two measures take their place with a good number of other measures before the Congress and before other committees of the Congress and which comprise a vigorous, vicious, reactionary offensive against the organized working people of this country. It is our very considered opinion that the introduction of this type of legislation disrupts the basic, essential unity of the people of this Nation at this time, because the disruption of the unity of the Nation hinders the war effort.. The so-called Woodruff bill, as you all know, prohibits aliens from holding any office in, or their representing or their participating in the democratic processes of any labor organization. This proposal is in flagrant violation of the basic principles of democratic tradeunion organization, which involves giving to every worker within an industry or within the jurisdiction of the union an unhindered and equal opportunity to join the union and to participate in the determinations and activities of that union. Obviously the trade-union functions to give collective bargaining, collective action, and collective strength to the workers in industry as they seek to protect their interests and the interests of those workers. This obviously makes it imperative that there be no discrimination among the workers within such an industry or such a jurisdiction. The constitution of my union reflects this basic democratic procedure. In our constitution we make membership in the union, and. full rights of membership in the union, available to "all persons whose normal occupation is in the electrical, radio, and machine industry, regardless of skill, age, sex, nationality, color, religion, or political belief or affiliation." It is on this basis of democratic equal opportunity and equal rights within the organization that we are able and have been able to build a strong, democratic, rank-and-file trade-union. The Woodruff bill seeks to introduce important qualifications into the basic democracy of every union in this country. The Woodruff bill is purely and clearly an antiunion measure, because it would apply that old familiar tactic of divide and rule by attempting to weaken the unity and organization of the workers. It is this unity, this undivided units, which is the sole source of the strength of organized labor. This measure, the Woodruff bill, would really drive from membership all aliens in this country, insofar as trade unions are concerned. Mr. SCANLON. May I interrupt you there, Mr. Nixon? Mr. NIXON. Certainly; at any point. Mr. SCANLON. I dislike interrupting you. Mr. NIXON. That is all right. Mr. SCANLON. Could you tell the committee-we have asked this question of several others-how many of your members or approximately what percentage of your members are aliens? Mr. NIXON. I could give you a very rough approximation; I would not be able to give you an exact approximation. Mr. SCANLON. That is all right. Mr. NIXON. I would say that out of our 500,000 members, we do not have more than 25,000 aliens. I must tell the committee that this is a very rough approximation because by the very nature of the democratic procedures which we follow, we do not ask these people whether or not they are aliens. In various situations we have promised to aid aliens to become citizens. We encourage that, of course, but we do not ask, as a matter of discrimination, the question whether a person is a citizen. The point I was first making is that this bill would drive aliens from membership in the unions. You may be sure that the employers who are hiring aliens, who are not too happy about having organized labor inside their shops, and who like to have workers who are not members of unions, greet with a great deal of pleasure this measure which would make one group, at least, that would not become members of a trade-union in their particular plants. This is clearly and definitely an antiunion measure, one that has implications. Mr. SCANLON. May I ask another question at this point? I do not like to interrupt you. If you want to continue without interruption, please say so. Mr. NIXON. No; go right ahead. Mr. SCANLON. At this point I should like to ask you: You do not have a closed-shop agreement in many of your shops, do you? Mr. NIXON. There are many of our shops where we have no union shop arrangements. We have nowhere what you would call a closedshop agreement, if that term is used properly. "Closed shop" means that only a member of the union can get a job in the plant. Mr. SCANLON. Only members in good standing in the particular union that has a contract can work in that closed shop? Mr. NIXON. Well, I was making a little distinction there. I think it is important to realize it. In some places only members of the union can get a job in the plant. We have no such restriction. There is no plant in our jurisdiction where a man has to be a member of the union in order to get a job. We have plants, Mr. Chairman, where after a man becomes an employee he must then join the union. That is in the case of a union shop. Mr. SCANLON. Why I asked the first question was to lead up to this question that I am now going to ask you: In that case, where you have no jurisdiction over the hiring of men, the company could hire noncitizens, and then if H. R. 804 should happen to become a law, you or your union would be responsible for taking these men into the union, and you would be subject to the penalty, and not the employer? Mr. NIXON. That is true, of course. That is true. Mr. SCANLON. Therefore, you have no say about who shall work in these plants, whether or not they are aliens? Mr. NIXON. That is true. Mr. SCANLON. But you would have to find out whether or not they were citizens before you could take them into your organization? Mr. NIXON. That is right. Mr. LANDIS. Do you say that in some of your plants there are union and nonunion men working together? Mr. NIXON. Oh, yes, sir. There is unquestionably a large number of plants. Mr. LANDIS. The nonunion men get the same wages? Mr. NIXON. They share all the union advantages which the contractual workers gain for the plant. Mr. LANDIS. Is that satisfactory? Mr. NIXON. It is satisfactory to the nonmembers; it is not satisfactory to the union. Mr. DAY. That is the way the National Labor Relations Act operates. After the bargaining unit has arrived at its objectives, then all the rest get in on it. Mr. LANDIS. Do you mean if two-thirds of them want to get into the union? Mr. DAY. The bargaining power for the employees, after the election is determined, is the one that gets the successful vote. Mr. LANDIS. That is true. I am thinking of the other third that do not belong to the union. They could still stay out. Mr. DAY. They would not have to join the union, but they would be entitled to the benefits obtained by the union men. Mr. NIXON. There are no distinctions in any contract I have knowledge of between the advantages received by the members and the advantages received by nonmembers. There is no distinction. there whatsoever. I just want to follow up one point with the chairman. These people who are aliens, who are members of our union, are selected by private employers and work in the plant of their own volition. They are never obliged to hire these people. When they hire them, we think that they then should have the right to join a workers' organization, the labor organization in that particular plant. I wanted to proceed to make another point here: That it seems to us that the entire spirit of the discriminatory action against noncitizens, which is involved in the Woodruff bill, is in basic contradiction of the best traditions of this country and the democratic ideals of the United Nations which are fighting against the Axis. I think that we must all be impressed with the fact that today the United Nations, in the struggle in which we are engaged, symbolize a certain kind of unity among people of different colors, different races, different nationalities, and different political views. There is a basic coalition of all these people in the fight against the Axis. But contrast that with a most flagrant discriminatory action within one of the most important of the United Nations. This is, of course, a most contradictory activity, and that is bad, because, with this unity of all the forces against the Axis, the whole spirit of the United Nations is flaunted by this proposal of Congressman Woodruff's. I think that the committee is well aware of the many statements that have been forthcoming from President Roosevelt, from Attorney General Biddle, from War Manpower Commissioner McMutt, and other high Government officials to the effect that aliens should be employed in war industries; that they should not be discriminated against in war industries; and that merely because a person is not a citizen, or not yet a citizen, does not mean that he is a disloyal inhabitant of this country. That, I think it is proper to say, is the established policy of this Nation with regard to the employment of aliens My union has had occasion frequently to aid in the employment of aliens, to see that they are not discriminated against in some of our plants, and to maintain relations with the Army and Navy security divisions, so that there would be no undue discrimination against aliens; and in doing this, we have been acting consistently with the national policy of the Nation insofar as the employment of aliens has been concerned. We have been aiding, as a matter of fact, the manpower situation in this country by trying to make the most of these alien workers in the Nation. This bill, which involves alien baiting, which involves discrimination against aliens, should not, it seems to me, merely be opposed, but it should in these times be completely and vigorously repudiated because of the antidemocratic nature of the bill and because of the harm the actual harm-it does to the unity of the Nation in winning the war. I should like to make this point very clear: It is the feeling of our people that in some of these measures it is not enough just to say, "We are opposed to it," or, "We are not going to support it." We have got to realize that some of these measures have definite, specific, negative, harmful effect on this country, and we have got to fight as vigorously as possible. We feel that way very definitely about the Woodruff bill. I should like to say now a few words about the Landis bill. Mr. DAY. It has been suggested that perhaps Axis prisoners would be brought to the United States to relieve the farm labor shortage. What do you think of that? Mr. NIXON. Well, I must tell you, Congressman, that that is a subject to which I have not given a great deal of thought. I hesitate to make anything more than an off-the-cuff personal answer to your question. It would occur to me that prisoners of the Axis, wherever they are, should be put to work to help produce things to help lick the Axis. Mr. LANDIS. At a smaller rate? Mr. NIXON. Rate of pay? Mr. LANDIS. Yes. Mr. NIXON. I would envisage no pay whatsoever. Mr. NIXON. My view toward Axis prisoners would be enough maintenance to keep them able to work to produce the things that are necessary. Mr. LANDIS. Would you distinguish between the ones who are captured and the ones already interned here in the United States? Would you distinguish between those two groups, such as the Japanese who have always lived here? Mr. NIXON. Surely I would not use the term "Axis prisoners" with reference to the interned Japanese of this country. I had a different thought in mind. Mr. SCANLON. You had thought of Congressman Day's question with reference to those who are being actually captured in combat zones? Mr. NIXON. Yes. I see no reason, for example, why we should treat Axis prisoners more favorably than we treat our domestic prisoners. Our domestic prisoners are working to produce things to win the war. As far as I am concerned, I would use every hand which we can get to the utmost to produce the instruments to win the war. There is nothing I would like better than to see an Axis prisoner building something to kill another Axis agent. It appeals to me. Obviously there are many surrounding questions of how these people should be put to work and what their relationship should be to domestic working forces in a specific situation. That, I could not discuss very briefly. Mr. LANDIS. In your organization, of course, everybody has a right to work? Mr. NIXON. That is right. Mr. LANDIS. Under your system, it would not be a closed-shop proposition necessarily? Mr. NIXON. No, sir. Mr. LANDIS. If you get union men and nonunion men in there together, many labor leaders, of course, say that that is unsatisfactory, because the nonunion men get the same privileges as the union men without paying the dues or doing the other things that the union men do. Mr. NIXON. We have a union shop in a large proportion of our plants. We do not have it universally in the plants. Mr. LANDIS. I should like to ask one other question here. I do not know exactly the purpose of H. R. 804, but this comes to my mind. I think the purpose is to prohibit subversive individuals 87639-43-9 |