T - International Brotherhood Of Electrical Workers

THE JOURnAL OF
ELECTRICRL WORKERS Ano
OPERATORS
OFFICIAL PUtLICATION OF THE hMTtflATIONAL BROTHERtHOOD OF ELiTtifItAL WOflflft
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VOL. XLI WASHINGTON, D. C., NOVEMBER, 1942 NO. 11
" UNION COOPERATION
Somewhere on the Pacific Coast
T any time shortly before midnight on
the loadns learing aiin Port.and,
Oreg., or lay other city where the
Kaiser shipyards push their 24-hour
schedules, youl may see men and women in
helmets, looking very much like soldiers,
com ing down to bus tops a d a king
for the night bus to carry thein to the
plant. These quiet, poised figures dramatilze,
as well as anything, the substantial.
eager spirit with which the workers in
the maiacle shipya'ds of the Kaiser C(ompany
pursue the 365-day schedule to turn
out ships at terrific rate.
A rep rQIeeii.ftltv of tile ELECTRICAL
WORKERnS JO ..URNAL wais alhed to v tsi
one of these yards-probably the same
unr that the Piesident, f the inited
States visited a ,eek later anid Lt View
the organzatlon, the physical setup and
the systm, of employee elations which
have made the Kaiser eIn..Cies so £atnous
within a few moiiths.
BACKGROUND OF ACHIEVEMENT
Picture a long arm of the sea jutting
anp into a e,,ve, wherle only a short time
ago Was aI d..n. 1 , heap, low covered w'ilh
attractive white buildings uneamoufiagel,
which glisten in the sun and give the mipressieri
of well being and success. Guards
in natty linorlms are everywhere, without,
howe Ler, the sugestlon of force or
coercion, but of ania[lie traffe directors
and guides to visitors and to the working
force.
All great ideas, whether they be in, production
or in phlysics, are simple. The
Kaiser shipyantls are simtale. It is sami by
the working force that Henry Kaisee took
romance olt of shipbuilding, which mens,
of cou.rse, that he smashd precedents
and destroyed traditions. The organization
that can Wuild a great ship in a few
days must be a triump,,h in physical setup
l.. it bllust a an al lelaetrical ijtb
Thlese bIilllihngs that are strung along
this arm of the sea arc therc with wise
intent so that tiine is saveld in every op
ejstilo, and the sub-struchn'e s of shilps
built in one bublindg can be swiftly naered
to anlother m.d finally assembled on the
Miracle
yards become communities
with common interest in production
and war's success,
shared by all
ways, ready to be launched into the waiting
water. At this moenat three invasion
boats xere rapidly taking form; one was
to be launched the next day as the oiling
of the ways attested. Everywhere it was
aplparent that woi.anjIower was being
used to supplement manpower in the
great push of production.
WORKERS' SPIRIT HiGH
One has only to stop and chat with
workers to understand their feeling of
the pulse of the grent enterprise anid thir
comphete accord with uanageient. They
like the way Hen'ry Kaiser does things.
They feel a part of an impor-tant enterprise.
They like the good welfare facilities
everywhere apparent in these buihlings.
They like to see the guards in their natty
uniformisThey fee that the Kaiser Cornpany
does not spare cash when it collies to
giving the workers the best conditions
under which to work. They say, too, that
Henry Kaiser is a fighter who opposes
them when he believes they are 'vrong,
but he always fights above the table and
is fair. Loyalty is appa.rent.
What Kaiser appears to have dlone
differently from any ither company is to
embrace the ideas of union-manag.eenct
conperation in sincerity and to tapitalia,
the eommunity feeling of workers on the
job. The workers . eel a part of an industrial
commnrunity that is going places and
doing things, and they are made to feel
that they aie part of th, show and are
going to be faily trealed no matter what
problems or emergency arises.
headers of this description of the great
Kaiser enterprses may ,e sure also that
tile great push for ship production is
transfe .in i mg cities onl the West ( Cuast
and also raising new problems for unions.
One local union of another craft .. po,-
tWAt iil Oregan by I'agoIni of its connection
with the shipyards, has now reahed the
stupendous figure of fi0,000 men.bership.
The inside local union of the lnternational
Brotherhoofd of Electrical Workers
in Portland has 6,(00 members and expects
10,000 by June., 1943. The union has
cause to expand in rlw offices, take on
new business agents and Lo overflow into
hired halls where a large staff places men
after a thorough-going questionbig as to
their attainments. Moreover, the employment
of women has presented new problems
not only in personnel but in union
Lmanagement. We may say here that forelitcn
and stiperintendents of electrical
construction in shipyards are on the
whole well ildeased with women employees.
They are assigned jobs they can perforn
adequately. They are stable, in earnest,
and, according to one superintendent of
construction, they know what teamplay
is and do not bring minor grievances for
adjustment, as do ien.
Henry J. Kaise, ha! probably sulfed
a mate rjg evolution in his policies of
relationship with employees. le first
came into public notice as head of the Six
Companies group that built Boulder ls)an.
It may be re.alled that the eiployee Ie
lationships or' that job Vera rot at fist
of the best and that the International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers headed
a m..v..e.ent to pj.o... to Con, .r..ss the
bad working eodiiens on the job. The
Six Companies have new grown iitei nine
companies. They have a Dooprative
workbig arrangement, and anl aiiabla
personal relationship between directors.
These colpanies are: Henry J. Kaiser
Co,; J. F. Sheas Co., Inc.; W. A. Iechlt1l
Co.; General Construction Co.; Bechtel-
McCone-parsons Corp.; The Utah (o, .-
str..tion a Co.; Morrison-Knudsen Co.,
Inc.; MacDonald & Kahn, Inc.; and Pacific
Bridge Co. Whenever a job is gives,
the facilities of all nine companies and
the capital of all mne colpanies are
poured into the enterprise. According to
th, Wall Street Journal, here is the setup
of the Kaiser interests:
MANY RELATED ENTERPRISES
HENRY J. KAISER CO. Apex of the
pyramfid is the Henry J. Kaiser Co., of
Oakland. A street paving, rock, gravel
and cemnt concern ... caIly days, iL still
carries on these activities, and also has
become the guiding company for the laiified
Kaiser interests which include oiwership
or part interest il chemical, ce-
,ent, shipbuilding, steel, niceile tool,
cargo ship engine, heavy construction,
and other enterprises. MT, Kaiser is ptesideal
of the Henry J. Kaiser Co.. which
also manages ether layers of the pyramid.