Memorandum on Line Material Company | Papers of Clarence Mitchell, Jr.

To: Mr. George M. Johnson

From: Clarence M. Mitchell

Subject: Line Material Company, 5-BR-167 through 171 and 5-BR-180 through 182

Date: Oct. 19, 1944

I have read Mr. Reeves memorandum on these cases and find myself in disagreement with it.¹

The file shows that on November 4, 1943, Mr. William Clark, Chairman of the Grievance Committee of Local 767, UER & MWA, complained to us about the company’s hiring policy. Mr. William Harris, of Local 767, also took the trouble to send us an affidavit notarized by Helen F. Baker. I do not observe in the file any statement from the company which charges that the Union is responsible for the alleged attitude of white employees. In my opinion, it would be unwise to involve the Union further by requesting it to face the company with its statement of policy. Apparently, this has already been done by the Union itself without success.

In cases of this kind, the responsibility seems clearly upon the employer, and I am respectfully returning this with the hope that the Committee will give consideration to it as a possible hearing case.

Attachment (File)

MS: LH, DI HqR84, Correspondence Relating to Cases. (L–S) Line Material Co., Zanesville, Ohio.

[1] Frank D. Reeves’s memorandum to Johnson of 9/26/44, forwarded to Mitchell on 9/28/44, is filed with this text, along with other related materials. It recommended returning the case to the regional office of the Division of Field Operations for discussion with international officials of the United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America before scheduling a hearing. All the cases derived from complaints by African American women whose applications for factory employment were rejected by the company. The firm argued that it employed the largest number of nonwhite workers in the area but that resistance to working with black women was far stronger than that against black men and that a walkout of their white workers would result if they attempted to hire black women. Absence of adequate toilet facilities to permit separate restrooms for each race was cited as a contributing factor.

At its meeting of 11/11/44, the FEPC authorized a “Hearing Examiner type hearing” on the case, which was held in 1/45. Maceo Hubbard, the hearing examiner, directed Line Material Company to “recruit and hire new employees, including Negro women, without discrimination.” The firm complied by integrating black women into its production line within a month. See the hearing on Line Material Company, in HqR21, Records Relating to Hearings; Kersten, Race, Jobs, and the War 87–88.