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WorthReprintingTWENTY-FIVE ( ENTS A WEEK(From New York Herald Tribune)The lowly quarter two dimes and one nickel—can create an intricate problem in advanced calculus involving Nazi prisoners of war, union labor, capital, the Army and the Treasury. The essential facts are not in dispute,Seabrodk Farms, of Bridgeton. N. ,Jneeds labor badly and employs 165 war prisoners. The company pays the army prevailing wages of 50 cents an hour. The army pays the prisoners 80 cents a day under international agreement for voluntary work. The treasury receives the balance. In a forty-hour week a prisoner would get $4 and the treasury $16. The union has a closed-shop contract with the farms and wants its regular 25 cents a week for migratory workers’ dues.Mr. Leon Schachter, business manager of Local 56 of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butchers' Workmen of North America, an A. F.. of L„ affiliate, sets forth the union’s position. It agreed to the use of prisoners, I t which Mr Jack Seabrook ,vice-prosi- itdent of the company, states was nmightv decent.” It seeks ro protect I its contract, provide against a deluge | a of prisoners, preserve its strategic position for the day when member | c veterans return. Its attitude might l enjoy greater public support if it had not demanded dues from 150 soldiers f from Fort Dix who helped save the ] tomato crop last summer. It would have been wiser then to have looked the other way and considered that lifeis a flexible arrangement made up of give and take.It is clearly unreasonable for the union to impose on the prisoners, al- } though it might make them feel more . at home and less fortunate in being over here. It seems equally unfair to exact a premium from the company, which has already paid fairly for work done. The sporting alternative is to v collect from the treasury, a procedure c which would be watched with interest by many taxpayers. But the war department has ruled against this, andthe treasury does have more important 1 demands to meet. Since no solution presents itself, Mr. Schachter would -c do well to forget his complicated and harassing dilemma and place his faith in an equitable future. lt;THE HUES RACKET| From Pittsburgh Post Gazette) ITiere’s one thing to be said for Local 56, Amalgamated Meat Cutters arid Butchers Workmen of North America, an AFL affiliate. It plavs no favorites. Last year it levied a weekly assessment as union dues on the wages earned by soldiers from Fort nix- who volunteered to help harvest a wasting tomato crop. This year it seeks to levy the same weekly assessment as union dues on the wages of German prisoners of war who are working on the same farms.In the present controversy, however,international law complicates the situation. Whereas the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butchers Workmen of North America shook down the tomato-picking American soldiers withno great difficulty, they are havingmore trouble with «the farm-working German prisoners. It seems that un-uei the Geneva convention prisoners ^ “ * ’■ ' * A | / A Ai l Vofwar who are willing to work eatcollect 80 cents a day and that unde he an ingement between our Governmont and the farms corporation 5cciks an hour is paid for their worl i. no difference between this 50 cent an hour paid their work and the 8 cents a day they received goes straigh into tin* l mted States treasuryNow it remains to be seen whethethe Amalgamated Meat’Cutters anButchers Workmen of North Americacfmvn everybody els with their dues racket, can actual!get its cut out of public funds kept ithe treasury vaults.roato
Newspaper Details
Somerset Daily American
Somerset, Pennsylvania, US
Tue, Feb 15, 1944
Page 4
Full Page
Clipped by
Gettysburg C.
PA, USA 22 Apr 2021
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