IV. Unions that have dropped "white" from their constitutions: American Federation of Labor: 1. Commercial Telegraphers Union of North America. 2. National Organization of Masters, Mates and Pilots of America. 1. Sailors Union of the Pacific (affiliate Seafarers International Union of America) (no record of admitting colored). 2. International Brotherhood of Boilermakers and Iron-ship Builders and Helpers of America (without constitutional or ritualistic provision, Negroes are expected to be members of auxiliary locals expressly organized for them). The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Johnson, what do you think the attitude of the labor unions will be toward Negroes after the war? Have you anything that you would like to say on that subject? Mr. JOHNSON. Yes. In October 1940 the old Office of Production Management had a signed agreement with the key A. F. of L. and C. I. O. unions that were functioning in war production that whether or not they had restrictive membership policies they would not let those policies stand in the way of securing labor in the war effort. That is only a wartime understanding or agreement. Certain unions have very definitely geared their machinery to having labor placed on a seniority basis where they will get every protection that organized labor can give them, working with management, on lay-offs. There are other unions that have permitted Negroes to work in plants where they had previously closed-shop agreements. They work under temporary permits and auxiliary membership status. Those are temporary jobs that have no seniority status. Then it seems that by and large many of those people with no seniority status will be dropped out of the picture, and that would be in fairly large numbers in certain sections of the country. I assume that answers your question. The CHAIRMAN. I assume from what you have said that you believe discrimination in employment is the No. 1 evil affecting Negroes in America; is that right? Mr. JOHNSON. That is right. The CHAIRMAN. Something was said today about strikes. Is it not a fact that strikes have occurred in plants where there is segregation? Mr. JOHNSON. Yes. Strikes have occurred in plants where there is segregation, that is true. The CHAIRMAN. Was there not a strike at the Wright plant because of that? Mr. JOHNSON. That is not a good case in point. I would say that possibly a better case in point would be the Alabama drydock situation in Mobile, Ala., which happened some time ago. It was one of the most severe we have had in the Nation, and there was quite marked segregation in that plant. You asked about a plant that has had strikes and racial conflicts. That was one that had segregation and a conflict. The CHAIRMAN. I think there are figures to prove that many strikes have occurred in plants where there is segregation. Mr. JOHNSON. That is right. The CHAIRMAN. From your knowledge and background, can you tell us in general what the experiences of Negroes were after the last World War, so far as getting places in peacetime industry is concerned? Do you recall anything about that period? Mr. JOHNSON. Yes. There was quite a migration of Negro labor to the northern industrial communities in the last World War that was used mostly in unskilled and semiskilled operations. During the lay-off period, they were laid off in large numbers. There was some holding of gains made-and when I say "gains made," I mean that industry did continue to use Negro labor-but Negro labor was laid off in large numbers and consequently became an unusually large number on the relief rolls at that time. The CHAIRMAN. And presented a very grave problem. Mr. JOHNSON. That is right. The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Fisher. Mr. FISHER. For the purpose of the record, you are a member of the Negro race? Mr. JOHNSON. That is right. Mr. FISHER. You have given us some statistics on urban employment of Negroes in various industries in the past. Have you collected any statistics at all on the percentage or the proportion of Negroes employed in farming operations over the Nation in the past? Mr. JOHNSON. Farming operations? Mr. FISHER. Yes. Mr. JOHNSON. No; because we are an urban organization. Mr. FISHER. You do not know what the percent is, or how the ratio would run with reference to farm employment? Mr. JOHNSON. I have no record here with me on that. The CHAIRMAN. Do you think that the States could take care of this matter themselves, or do you believe that legislation is absolutely necessary? Mr. JOHNSON. I think that there can be cooperative relationships between the States and the National Government, but past experience has indicated that very few of the States have attempted to do much about this type of thing. The CHAIRMAN. From your experience, would you say that discrimination against the Negro in employment is confined to any particular State or areas in the country, or is it a Nation-wide problem in scope? Mr. JOHNSON. I would say the denial of employment opportunity is a Nation-wide problem as far as Negroes are concerned. The CHAIRMAN. Not confined to any particular section of the country. Mr. JOHNSON. With greater emphasis in some areas than others. 60811-44-vol. 1-15 Mr. FISHER. You were just referring to the question whether the States could properly legislate on this subject. Of course, there is nothing to keep the States from legislating on it if, in the wisdom of the State legislators of the various States coming from the local communities, they should feel that it would be wise and proper to so legislate. Mr. JOHNSON. That is right. The CHAIRMAN. I assume that you believe a permanent F. E. P. C. would aid the Negro in getting a job after the war is over. Mr. JOHNSON. I will carry it further and say that it would assist all minority groups as well as Negroes. The CHAIRMAN. But being the largest minority group, it would help the Negroes more than any other race; is that right? Mr. JOHNSON. That is right. Mr. FISHER. Of course, the United States Employment Service will continue after the war, presumably, do you not think? Mr. JOHNSON. I judge so; yes. Mr. FISHER. The United States Employment Service is a jobgetting agency, is it not? Mr. JOHNSON. It is a job exchange. Mr. FISHER. Yes. The F. E. P. C. is not a job-seeking agency, is it? Mr. JOHNSON. That is right. The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Mr. Johnson. We are grateful to you for your splendid contribution to this hearing. The committee will stand adjourned until 10:30 o'clock tomorrow morning. TO PROHIBIT DISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYMENT FRIDAY, JUNE 16, 1944 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, The committee met at 10:30 a. m., Hon. Mary T. Norton (chairman) presiding. The CHAIRMAN. The meeting will come to order. Mr. Ross, we appreciate your coming here today to answer questions and give us the benefit of your knowledge of this very important subject. Mr. Fisher, when we adjourned the other day, you asked Mr. Ross to return for some questions, so he is here now to reply to any questions you may ask. Before proceeding with questions, I have a letter here that I would like to read. It comes from Bishop Haas, who was formerly the Chairman of F. E. P. C. It is dated Grand Rapids, Mich., and addressed to the chairman. I will read it. (The letter was read, as follows:) Hon. MARY T. NORTON, Chairman, House Committee on Labor, DIOCESE OF GRAND RAPIDS, Grand Rapids, Mich., June 16, 1944. Washington, D. C. DEAR MRS. NORTON: I regret that my duties will make it impossible for me to appear in person to testify before your committee in connection with the pending bills (H. R. 3986, H. R. 4004, H. R. 4005) outlawing discrimination in employment based on race, color, creed, or national origin, and setting up a permanent Fair Employment Practice Committee. Since the subject of these bills evokes my deepest interest and concern, I am desirous of filing the following statement of my position with the committee for its consideration. * * Recently, I had the honor to be appointed a member of the American delegation at the International Labor Congress held at Philadelphia, Pa., as an adviser to the workers' representative from the United States. I participated in the deliberations of this body at the plenary session and had occasion to state: "* We, in the United States, have, within our boundaries, and mind you, not in distant colonial lands, a tenth of our whole population to whom the other ninetenths of us deny in varying degrees the exercise of their full rights as human beings. The vast majority of us subject some 13,000,000 Negroes, endowed by Almighty God with an origin and destiny no less sacred than our own, to various forms of discrimination, all ending in the same result that these oppressed people are treated less than men and women. One indicated remedy for this intolerable condition within our country is congressional action, establishing an agency which would assure as a minimum, economic equality. Further, I am happy to say that growing sentiment manifests itself for the creation of such an agency-that is, a permanent Fair Employment Practice Committee. I mention it only to illustrate the awkward position in which a citizen of the United States finds himself when he supports any measure urging other nations than the United States to abolish such evils as forced labor in their territorial possessions" (provisional record, sixteenth sitting, Thursday, May 11, 1944). 225 As I restate these words, I am again conscious of the embarrassing facts which motivated this utterance embarrassed as a citizen of the United States, embarrassed as a prelate, embarrassed as a former Chairman of the Fair Employment Practice Committee set up by Presidential Executive Order 9346. We are witnessing in this world-wide war that sacrifice and death are not drawing any color or religious line. In the test of fire and battle, all people are alike before their Creator. Common suffering has bound us together in our common destiny. The freeing of Rome, the spiritual center of Christianity, presages that victory and peace for which we all aspire and pray. The doom of our enemies approaches with our invasion of the French coast. While the fires of war rage highest, the glimmer of peace already appears. Post-war problems intrude themselves in our national consciousness, thinking, and planning. During this war emergency, implacable necessity dictated the establishment of some Federal agency to deal with the issue of discrimination in employment against our minority groups. Manpower was desperately required. We could not afford exclusion or underutilization of the skills of a single segment of our able-bodied working force. We likewise acknowledged the adverse effect of discrimination on morale, knowing well that this discrimination became a subject of exploitation by the Japanese and German propaganda machines with the object of causing disaffection among our colored minority groups. Unequal treatment of Negroes and other minority groups represents the great paradox and dilemma in American life. The American principle of equal opportunity is repudiated whenever discrimination is practiced; the resultant condition leads to a cleavage and confusion in our national thought. The contradiction demands solution now. Postponement is no longer possible. The present Fair Employment Practice Committee is only a war agency. It will expire with the ending of the war period, which gave it its birth and existence. In the post-war world, other problems will arise and some present ones will be carried over. Discrimination in employment against Negroes and other minority groups will survive the war in a more complex and aggravated form. I can pose the challenge in no sharper form than by submitting a few questions. Shall we permit the doors of industry to be closed to returning Negro soldiers because of their color? How will they react? Will the returning veterans be satisfied to have the restoration of the status quo ante with its inequalities in denying employment and advancement to them because they are of minority groups? Who will regulate the disputes during the period of reconversion where racial issues are involved? Who will answer the challenge presented in employing the shifting minority group working population on a fair basis? Is the competition for jobs to be relegated to the unrestricted play of jungle ethics and age-old prejudices? And in the post-war world, after the period of reconversion, will the same problems which existed unresolved in the pre-war period intrude themselves and press for an answer? These and a host of related inquiries indicate the complexity of the crucial issues and persuade me to the conclusion that the tasks ahead are formidable and national in scope. The present existence of racial and religious discrimination is witnessed by the 4,000 complaints received by the present Fair Employment Practice Committee during the last year. The spade work of the Fair Employment Practice Committee has introduced patterns of fair employment practices, paving the way for attitudes which will resist any reverse process. The probable rise of racial tensions in an emerging unsettled economy presents the specter of race riots and bloodshed. The inevitable pressures of minority groups for fair employment treatment, involving the fundamental right to make a livelihood, and the release of the democratic impulses of the war will stand to combat any expected assault to turn back the clock of progress. The promotion of a world reconstruction of nations, envisaging the full enjoyment of rights of all nations, great and small, is inconsistent with nonrecognition of equality of opportunity in our domestic life. The precepts of Christian morality prod the conscience of America to eradicate the blot of discrimination and to reassert the dignity of men. America bespeaks the desire and need for stability. The urgency of a discipline to create peaceful and harmonious relationships between all our working groups cries out for the solution of supervision in a delicate and specialized field. Both management and labor will gain by the enactment of a bill proscribing discrimination in employment against minority groups. The advantages to employers stem from the extrusion of interracial industrial conflict with its consequent destruction of production and the weakening of our social fabric. Unions |