Meet the Candidates Boosted by the SWP!

From Labor Action, Vol. 13 No. 18, 2 May 1949, p. 2.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.

Another angle on the “Rank and File Group” in Local 424 can be gotten by looking at the type of individuals this group ran in the recent election:

A candidate for sergeant-at-arms: had worked in the shop for over 2½ years but had been a member of the union for only 10 months. He had to be declared ineligible by the election committee.
Two candidates (one for Guide and another for sergeant-at-arms): had never attended a local union membership meeting.
Two candidates (another Guide and vice-president): had attended only one local union meeting during the whole year – the meeting at which nominations were made. One of these, the candidate for vice-president, has been in the local ever since it started (12 years) and has shown his “militancy” by signing his name to exactly one grievance during that entire period. (Remember, this is a GM shop!)
A candidate for trustee: attended two meetings during the year; demonstrated his “militancy” to one and all by winning a prize in GM’s essay contest: My Job and Why I Like It.
A candidate for financial secretary: qualified for the “Rank and File Group” by having participated as an official in a company union at the very time the company was attempting to drive the young UAW out of existence.
Candidate for recording secretary: openly declared himself against wage increases for Chrysler workers and openly criticized the local union paper for being too tough on supervision.
Candidate for president: has been in this oldest UAW local in the East for the munificent period of 15 months! The group was obviously hard-pressed for material.

One can’t say much more; the group had only nine candidates.

Last updated on 2 August 2019