But it is going to be a step in the right direction. We like this Congress, we think we have had one of the best Congresses we have ever had. We cleaned out a lot of deadwood and this is an active, energetic, eager Congress. I refuse to believe that this Congress wouldn't step up to this kind of an employer and give us some kind of relief. You know, there are other important things in Congress, no question about it. This doesn't cost any money. You are not spending any Federal money. We are not asking you for jobs now; we are asking you for some kind of decent justice to give workers a chance to make the promise of the Wagner Act become some kind of a reality. Unfortunately, there is still feudalism in places like Hartwell, Ga. Now, I don't know what we have to do to make our case, because if this doesn't make the case for doing something about the Labor Board and the procedures that we use for dealing with rogue employers, and rogue unions, if you have any of them in this country, if we can't do something better than that, then we are all bad architects of social and legal policy. Having said that, I am going to ask the people who were involved in this to tell you about it, and I am going to start with the man who has organized there and who has been in it from the beginning, Lou Echols. STATEMENT OF LOU ECHOLS, ORGANIZER FOR THE UNITED AUTO WORKERS Mr. ECHOLS. Thank you, Steve. I came up here with one handicap, and following Steve is another one. But I do want to thank you for the opportunity to get to appear before you. Eurie and I were here in 1966. In 1963 when we started the campaign and they used all this kind of literature in the paper, we were hoping from that time that we would come out with some kind of relief, but undoubtedly, it wasn't forthcoming. Let me say this Mr. FORD. I would like to interrupt you just a moment. Mr. Echols. Yes. Mr. FORD. It did get some results. We discussed the J. P. Stevens case at those same hearings, which resulted in my being publicized widely in the State of North Carolina for using, quote, "Communist tactics" as a member of this committee, which apparently is the way our actions were interpreted by the J.P. Stevens Company. Mr. ECHOLS. I apologize for that statement, maybe I meant we didn't feel it down there. Mr. FORD. We didn't feel much for that statement either. But to continue then, I want it understood that in 1966 when we won this election, this is not one that UAW put on a big campaign, or was trying to organize, this was a plant where the employees themselves wanted to organize. We couldn't meet in the town, and I met 25 guys 15 miles away from the city. They ran the campaign. There was never a handbill distributed by the UAW. They handled the whole campaign within themselves. What is happening in these type campaigns is the company attorney puts out this kind of stuff in the recent election, and in the second or third paragraph, he puts that you can call the National Labor Relations Board in Atlanta, and he even gives their number to call, so he is not too fearful of the National Labor Relations Board. That is like buying bootleg liquor in Georgia, and if you don't like the taste of it, he can give you the sheriff's name and you can give him a buzz. That is exactly what it amounts to. This thing amounts to a drive, and it is my job to coordinate the drives from the Eastern Shore of Maryland through Mississippi. When the company makes their captive audience speeches, they will have a note in the chair for the employees, prior to sitting down, ask the organizer about Monroe, ask them what they have done in Hartwell; if they can't do it in Hartwell, why do they think they can do it here? It has grown to the extent now, and I have been organizing for 18 years, 10 or 12 years ago, once you reached certification, the company was ready to sit down and bargain. That is just not true anymore. They are refusing to bargain; I would say 90 percent of them are refusing to bargain, after we get certification, based on this case, and it has even got to the extent now that those that we have under master agreement, which used to volunteer negotiations, they are even starting to fight now. They found out that they can get away with it, too. So I don't have a long statement, I just want to say this: that when they use the National Labor Relations Board, in a sense that, to help protect. them in this kind of situation, and if I read it right, Section 1 of the Act gives the people the right to self-organize. I actually think it is time for some change, or some kind of legislation to correct this situation. We at the UAW, I am sure, will be able to survive under this kind of stuff, and I am sure Monroe Auto Equipment will survive. But I am not sure people can survive with their rights to vote being violated in the sense to which it is, because actually what the companies do, they create economical conspiracy through the town fathers and the Chamber of Commerce, to deprive these people of their right to vote. They have bankers. When you fill out application in one of these plants to get a job, they flip it over, and you have to have two or three recommendations from some of the city fathers, and when the union knocks on the door, they flip it back over and they call the city father that recommended you, and he is in your home talking with you against the union, and it comes through all kinds of pressure. If they can't get to you, they will get to your brother that's got a job, or your father that's got a job, and these people have to live in this kind of environment. I think there will just have to be some relief somewhere to correct this kind of situation. Mr. FORD. Do you want to submit the newspapers that you made reference to in your testimony? Mr. ECHOLS. Yes. I brought all types and kinds. Who do I submit them to? Mr. FORD. Select the ones you are referring to in your testimony and without objection, they will be inserted in the record. Mr. ECHOLS. Well, all these, they used them in the campaign, and you might add this, this newspaper comes out every Thursday, it is the only communication to the community. [Newspaper articles referred to follow:] [From The Hartwell Sun, July 30, 1964] MAECO DEFEATS UNION 466 TO 147 (By a Sun staff writer) Monroe Auto Equipment Company employes last Thursday "killed" the United Auto Workers union 466-147 in a National Labor Relations Board election, and Hartwellians promptly buried the remains in a ceremony on Public Square. The union's crushing defeat came after about eighteen months of organizational activity here, and company officials hailed the outcome as a decisive victory for individual freedom. Announcement of the results came shortly before 1 a.m. Friday, and a few minutes later a figure of the UAW was hung in effigy on the Square. On the effigy hung a sign, "Here hangs UAW/ Caught trying to steal jobs/ from Monroe employes." A Crowd of about 150 mingled on the Square in the early morning hours, and the effigy hung through the night until noon Friday when about 700 people assembled for "funeral" services. To the tune of country music the effigy was cut down and pronounced dead by Coroner Broughton Sanders. It was then placed in a pine casket and paraded around The Square followed by most of the spectators. Following "services" the casket was buried in a sand pile on the Square to the strains of "Just One Rose". The mock funeral was interspersed with oratory all pointing out the consequences to any union coming to Hartwell. The crowd cheered time after time when Hartwell's union-free climate was mentioned. A wreath of pine and bitterweed was placed on the grave, and a headstone was set in place. The headstone read, "Less (sic) we forget here lies UAW/ born in greed/ died in defeat/ July 23, 1964/ Hartwell, Georgia." NO TEARS... There is reason for Hart County to be proud today, for the action of 466 Monroe employes cleared the air in no uncertain terms. The United Auto Workers now know how MAECO employes and the citizens of Hartwell feel, and as they know it so does the rest of the nation. For more than a year citizens from every quarter of the county combated the lies and half truths of the union, and while union organizers have nothing else to do, all of our citizens had to fight back in what time could be made. The job was done and done well, and there is time now for a feeling of pride and relief. Perhaps the UAW will be back-we wouldn't come back under the circumstances-but if it does we're sure that efforts will be redoubled to keep Hart a union-free county. The objectives of unions are quite clear in the minds of most people here. and we have yet to see any good come from their presence anywhere. Goodbye UAW. No tears have been shed here. WHO SAYS MAECO Employees Have NO Seniority Rights? E. D. Nannie, Chairman of the U. A. W.'s Negotiating Committee at M AECO 8-17-1959.... Began work at MAECO as a sparehand 8-31-1959. ... Advanced to Maintenance Department 11-12-1973... Electrician to Toolmaker (3rd shift) (bid 10-21-1974... Toolmaker to Assembly & Spec. Due to his plant seniority rights he was allowed to "switch" departments in Due to his plant seniority rights he was allowed to "switch back" to his form- The Above Facts Prove That MAECO Employees DO HAVE Seniority Rights! This message paid for by many CONCERNED EMPLOYEES of the Monroe Auto Equipment Company Plant in Hartwell, Georgia. The Hartwell Sun, January 22, 1976 |