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Students for a Democratic Society, 1965-1972

1969-12-10 Confront Dept. of Labor Recruiter Page 1

Confront Dept. of Labor Recruiter
Support G.E. Strikers
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 10

On Wednesday, Dec. 10 SDS will lead a confrontation with recruiters from the Department of Labor in support of the G.E. strikers.
During the last week of october, 150,000 General Electric workers went on strike demanding higher wages. The average wage as G.E. is $3.25/hr. -- a full $1.75 less than the hourly wage the federal government estimates is need for a moderate living with a family of four. General Electric has offered its workers a contract that gives them a "raise" of $.20 an hour. Not only does this offer not compensate for inflation, but it actually would amount to less buying power for the workers than they had last year (the average worker makes less REAL wages this year than he did 5 years ago). Labor Secretary Shultz has called the workers demands "inflationary" while ignoring the tremendous growth of G.E. profits for their bosses (an 11% increase in the third quarter alone!) LAst time the G.E. workers went out on strike, the Department of Labor got an injusction against the strike because it was against the "national interest" (bosses interests).
G.E. = Warmakers, Strikebreakers
Twenty percent of G.E.'s sales and even more of it profits come from war production. G.E. profits from the war, but it has a greater stake in keeping U.S. control of Southeast Asia. G.E. has plants in 22 countries, mainly because cheaper labor in foneign countries means bigger profits for G.E. and a lever to drive down wages of workers at home by taking work overseas. Labor Secretary Shultz is right that this strike is against the "national interest" - against the interests of billionaire corporations which profit from the war. 
Another tool of G.E. and other corporations to increase profits is racism. Black workers are given the lowest paying and hardest jobs, seldom promoted, and discriminated against in many ways including racist harassment by foremen. This helps G.E. in two ways--it gives them a racist excuse for paying some of their workers less than others and it divides the workers against each other by building. racism. G.E. workers in a supposed stronghold of racism,--Cicero, Illinois--andother places are fighting back against this tool under the leadership of black workers against racist firings and pay differentials. 

"LABOR" DEPARTMENT ATTACKS WORKERS--SERVES THEIR BOSSES
The Department of Labor is spearheading a new plan to "fight inflation". On September 22 Labor Secretary Shultz set up a 12-man panel called the Construction Industry Collective Bargaining Comission "to develop ways of ending contract disputes, avert strikes and get smaller wage settlements." (US News & World Report, Oct. 6, '69) According to them, inflation is caused by raising wages--if wages go up, prices must too, so the solution to the problem of inflations is to cut wages: break the wage-price spiral. We disagree!!! U.S. Labor Department's own statistics show that in the last 10 years that although wage dollars have gone up, the value of those dollars has gove down. This means that the so-called Spiral doesn't exist! Since real wages are going down and the Labor Department's plan intends to force them down further--this plan is an attack in every worker in the country. On the other hand, profits for all major U.S. corporations have gone up in the same 10 [???]

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Confront Dept. of Labor Recruiter Support G.E. Strikers WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 10 On Wednesday, Dec. 10 SDS will lead a confrontation with recruiters from the Department of Labor in support of the G.E. strikers. During the last week of october, 150,000 General Electric workers went on strike demanding higher wages. The average wage as G.E. is $3.25/hr. -- a full $1.75 less than the hourly wage the federal government estimates is need for a moderate living with a family of four. General Electric has offered its workers a contract that gives them a "raise" of $.20 an hour. Not only does this offer not compensate for inflation, but it actually would amount to less buying power for the workers than they had last year (the average worker makes less REAL wages this year than he did 5 years ago). Labor Secretary Shultz has called the workers demands "inflationary" while ignoring the tremendous growth of G.E. profits for their bosses (an 11% increase in the third quarter alone!) LAst time the G.E. workers went out on strike, the Department of Labor got an injusction against the strike because it was against the "national interest" (bosses interests). G.E. = Warmakers, Strikebreakers Twenty percent of G.E.'s sales and even more of it profits come from war production. G.E. profits from the war, but it has a greater stake in keeping U.S. control of Southeast Asia. G.E. has plants in 22 countries, mainly because cheaper labor in foneign countries means bigger profits for G.E. and a lever to drive down wages of workers at home by taking work overseas. Labor Secretary Shultz is right that this strike is against the "national interest" - against the interests of billionaire corporations which profit from the war. Another tool of G.E. and other corporations to increase profits is racism. Black workers are given the lowest paying and hardest jobs, seldom promoted, and discriminated against in many ways including racist harassment by foremen. This helps G.E. in two ways--it gives them a racist excuse for paying some of their workers less than others and it divides the workers against each other by building. racism. G.E. workers in a supposed stronghold of racism,--Cicero, Illinois--andother places are fighting back against this tool under the leadership of black workers against racist firings and pay differentials. "LABOR" DEPARTMENT ATTACKS WORKERS--SERVES THEIR BOSSES The Department of Labor is spearheading a new plan to "fight inflation". On September 22 Labor Secretary Shultz set up a 12-man panel called the Construction Industry Collective Bargaining Comission "to develop ways of ending contract disputes, avert strikes and get smaller wage settlements." (US News & World Report, Oct. 6, '69) According to them, inflation is caused by raising wages--if wages go up, prices must too, so the solution to the problem of inflations is to cut wages: break the wage-price spiral. We disagree!!! U.S. Labor Department's own statistics show that in the last 10 years that although wage dollars have gone up, the value of those dollars has gove down. This means that the so-called Spiral doesn't exist! Since real wages are going down and the Labor Department's plan intends to force them down further--this plan is an attack in every worker in the country. On the other hand, profits for all major U.S. corporations have gone up in the same 10 [???]