DISSIDENT UNIONS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXX, 26 November 1936, Page 3

DISSIDENT UNIONS

SUSPENSION BY AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOUR

(United Press Association—By Electric ■ Telegraph—Copyright)

TAMPA (Florida), 23rd November. The resolutions committee of the American Federation of Labour recommended suspension of the Council of Industrial Organisation. With 10 of the suspended unions unrepresented, the convention of- the -federation approved of their suspension.

On 12th November the executive council of the American Federation of Labour reported that by 9 votes to 8 it had decided in favour of the expulsion of Mr Lewis, president of the Mine Union, and the suspension of the unioiiis associated with the Council of Industrial Organisation. The decision reported in the above cablegram is a step further in the conflict that has been raging in American Labour circles for some time. Mr John Lewis and his Council of Industrial Organisation is engaged in a battle with the American Federation of Labour on the question of craft versus industrial unions, Mr Lewis’s forces advocate one union for each industry, while the federation champions the cause of craft unions whereby a machine operative, in whatever industry he is engaged, would belong to the machinists’ union. Since the followers of Mr Lewis comprise onethird of its total membership, the seriousness of the federation’s problem can well be realised.