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Vol. XXXIX JULY 1947 No. 7

THERE WILL BE NO MEMBERSHIP MEETINGS DURING JULY AND AUGUST.

WE WILL HAVE A SUMMER OUTING AT THE CAMP LATER IN THE SUMMER.


LEGISLATION

Equal Pay Bill

The Illinois General Assembly adjourned June 30. The Equal Pay
Bill, House Bill 394, introduced by Representative Lottie Holman
O'Neill on April 8, was killed June 27 when Representative C. A.
Bruer of Pontiac, made the motion to strike all House Bills off
the Calendar in the House and our Equal Pay Bill was stricken.
This was our major Bill this year and it was supported by the wo-
men's organizations in the State. -It was reported out of the Ju-
diciary Committee with an almost unanimous vote and in time to
pass. It was amended on second reading to exempt the retail stores
and then was not called on third reading, although each day for
more than a week we waited for it to be called on passage. The
Speaker assured'Mrs. O'Neill from day to day that it would be
called. Again our Equal Pay Bill was killed by not being given the
opportunity for a roll call on passage.

The Illinois Federation of Retail Associations, reporting in their
legislative publication, Retail News Briefs, said: "Although re-
tailing was exempted through the amendment to the Bill last week...
we continue to strongly oppose its passage." This shows, as we
have always said, that such amendments are not proposed in good
faith.

Equal Pay Bill for Teachers

Progress was made in Equal Pay legislation through the passage of
H. B. 55, providing that women teachers employed in the same grade
and doing the same type of work, with the same years of teaching
experience and training as men teachers, shall be paid at the same
rate as men teachers. This applies to teachers outside of Chicago,
because the Chicago teachers already have equal pay. This Bill,
if signed by the Governor, will bring many downstate teachers into
the brackets of pay with the men teachers as there are many differ-
r, r, entials in pay existing now.







Federal Equal Pay Bill Introduced

On July 2, Senators Pepper (D., Fla.) and Morse (R., Ore.) intro-
duced an Equal Pay Bill for Women. The campaign for Equal Pay leg-
islation will now shirt to the Congress and this will be one of the
major bills the women's organizations will work for.

State Anti-Labor Bills

In all, seventeen anti-labor bills were introduced in the State
Legislature this past session and we are glad to report that they
were all defeated. Three were advanced to the passage stage after
being referred back to the Industrial Affairs Committee of the
House and for a second time were favorably reported out. They were
House Bills 600, 601 and 602. They covered denial to solicit self
employed persons, as is the practice in many of the older unions,
the secondary boycott and the third would limit the right to picket
only where a strike was underway. These Bills were recommended by
the Small Business Commission, having an appropriation of $15,000
and these were the only recommendations made by the Commission to
aid small business. The Commission failed to have its work ex-
tended and another appropriation granted, so its work ends.

Pension Legislation

Several bills were passed to improve the pension laws for the Muni-
cipal, County and State Employees along the lines as recommended by
the State Commission, reporting to the Governor on all pension pro-
posals.

Taft-Hartley Act

The Taft-Hartley Act, the complex and confusing anti-labor law, is
giving great concern to the trade union officials who will soon be
making new agreements with the employers. Although these unions
have been operating under union shop agreements, elections will
have to be held under the National Labor Relations Board before
another union shop agreement can be signed and to secure such an
agreement, the majority of the workers in the plant must vote for
the proposal. This means that every worker failing to vote will
be a vote against the union shop.

It is estimated that over 74 percent of the 15 million organized
workers in America are employed by managements who have negotiated
and signed union shop agreements. These agreements, numbering some
40,000, will have to be processed by the National Labor Relations
Board which is already behind in its work to the extent of 5,000
cases and it takes about nine months to settle elections in similar
cases today. The fear is that there will be great delays in these
elections and confusion and difficulties are ahead for the unions
under this new Act.

Industrial relations are changed from collective bargaining between
the employers and workers to the field where lawyers will be needed,
turning efforts to litigation because decisions of the Board will
be subject to Court Review. Damage suits in the Courts are pro-
vided. This all means a drain on the union treasuries and will de-
stroy union peace and co-operation with employers. Already it is
being predicted that this Act will provide a windfall to lawyers.
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July 1947


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