THE UNION WITH A FUTURE

[Music] [Music] [Applause] you have a future with the chemical Workers Union because the chemical workers are on the go our nation's top leaders have recognized the key role we're playing here's what the late President John F Kennedy told our 1960 convention we will require the cooperation of the members of the chemical union we will require the cooperation of the leadership of Mission the kind of studies which you are undertaking today I think the thirds of you who are members of this important union recognize that the sixties are going to bring your unions problem because it's going to bring the United States many industrial changes and many problems which will affect your union and also affect the men and women who work in the chemical industry yes the chemical workers nearly 100,000 strong US and Canada know the problems of job security in our society we hold bargaining rights with all the major chemical companies and it plants where automation was a fact long before the word was coined [Music] chemical workers headquarters are in Akron Ohio it is from here that field activities had guided reinforced and coordinated the flow of communication with nine regional offices and four hundred local unions is unceasing letters are carefully routed copied and given prompt reply the chemical workers know that an informed member is a good member each month every member receives the union's newspaper the International chemical worker with full accounts of activities on all levels manuals assisting local unions and their many functions are also sent out regularly highly mechanized office equipment assures efficient handling of local union financial reports [Music] the end of a headquarters day means full bags of outgoing mail [Music] at headquarters building our the legal department the research education health and safety department the public relations department staff conferences with President Walter L Mitchell secretary treasurer Marshall Shafer channel the efforts of the Union specialists we're a local union faces special problems a crucial arbitration or a legal question for example appropriate help is given the chemical workers are the largest chemical Union in Canada with 15,000 members a Canadian director of research in education assists the Canadian vice-president and arranging summer schools and Institute's [Music] in Ontario Canada the chemical workers operate white sands a scenic spacious training centre for members and staff its facilities are shared by other Canadian unions they plays host to Union delegations from abroad [Music] each quarter the International Executive Board meets to review to discuss to plan policy on the basis of reports from staff specialists like the chemical Workers Washington representative board members generally serve as regional directors supervising the work of the unions nearly 100 field representatives heading up organizing campaigns assuring that proper attention is given each of the unions more than 600 bargaining units [Music] here's what what knowledgeable observer says about the job we're doing Walter P ruther president of the afl-cio industrial union department what we've got to do is to get the American labor movement to commit its resources in a measure equal to the dimensions of the organizational challenge I want to take this occasion to thank Walter Mitchell of the officers of your Union for their contribution to the success of what we have done to date and their pledge to continue to support this effort if every union in the American labor movement would to assume that kind of a constructive cooperative attitude the leadership of your Union has taken then I believe we can get the American labor movement marching forward on the organizational front the chemical workers believe every worker deserves a decent break and so our union willingly signed its pledge of cooperation with the President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity we were one of the first unions to set up a civil rights committee president Mitchell I congratulate you and the members of the International chemical Workers Union from signing this pledge this plan for progress you are reaffirming a practice of long standing of the chemical Workers Union that there can be no such thing as rights just for a few there must be equal rights for all while there is no democracy democracy and justice belong exploited workers was the goal of the chemical workers strike at the scripto plant in Atlanta Georgia with a 750 negro employees had been denied job rights and a chance of promotion and were paid only $1 in a quarter an hour the Reverend dr. Martin Luther King jr. lent his support in the strike and we can get much more to an organized effort and we can get to individual effort every Negro and every white person up to scripto ought to be supporting the labor union it's no accident strip tourists fighting not to deduct the wage dues from the salaries of the individual is no accident because they don't want to labor union up there because they know they've got to treat you right the aid of the civil rights movement and other afl-cio unions we won that strike the chemical workers have more than a million dollars in a strike fund that pays guaranteed benefits to establish local unions which find it necessary to strike I am confident that your union will continue to march in the path of equal opportunity nothing that has happened to me since I became president has given me more hope for the future and more pleasure for the president our union has achieved a firm organizational and political structure we have negotiated contracts successfully waging strikes where necessary to attempt to provide our members with economic benefits more nearly appropriate to the booming high-profit chemical industry but we would be remiss if we arrested content with our present situation you can play an increasingly important role not only in advancing the economic well-being and the interest of your own membership and their families but helping the whole labour movement move forward with broad bold actions and only as we I think can get the labor movement marching again can we be the kind of force we must be in our free society it takes a long time to rile a substance that sometimes it seems as all that you can walk over us and everything will be alright but it seems as though we have to tell them that we've come from a long long way and there's nothing they can give us if we haven't already received [Applause] buzzes we have walked also through the dim nights of serfdom but now we've been able to stand at the bottom of the hill and then we walked up the rocky sides of union organization and it's been too hard and too long for us to give up unions now [Applause] so she was satisfied with things as they are those who wish to stand still those who look back to the good old days I don't think they should come with us in the 60 [Applause] oh you want to move this country those who think we can do better those who think that there are better days go ahead those who think that it's time with the government and the people devoted themselves to the great unfinished business of our society as Franklin Roosevelt did and his administration and Wilson it is and Harry Truman in his I hope they come with us we don't promise an easy future the chemical workers don't promise an easy future but we promise you a full voice with a full share in a union that has a future an important future so meet your responsibilities support the International chemical Workers Union [Music] you