Mr. Will Maslow
Director of Field Operations
Clarence M. Mitchell
Associate Director of Field Operations
Weekly Report for the Week Ending Saturday, January 13, 1945
January 15, 1945
OUTSTANDING EVENTS
For the sake of continuity I mention that the Delta Shipbuilding case which was included in the report of last week has been settled successfully and Negro welders are now employed.1
Region XII has sent in a critical statement concerning working relationships with the Navy Department. We have asked for more specific information and when we receive it we will be able to take it up with the Navy Department.
D.F.O. cases against the Railroad Retirement Board have been returned to Regions II and IV. It will be interesting to note what progress is made under our new understanding.
After meeting with Messrs. Houston and Shiskin I have prepared a new summary of Machinists cases which, as I understand it, will be left with Mr. Harvey Brown for study.2
ASSIGNMENTS
The following cases have been received by me during the week:
U. S. Naval Drydocks, 12-GC-1701.
Goodyear Aircraft Corporation, 5-BR-350.
The following cases have been returned to the regions:
Railroad Retirement Board, 4-GR-368, 2-GR-571, 2-GR-671.
U.S. Naval Drydocks, 12-GC-1701.
District Engineers, 7-GR-526 (VIII).
The following FDR’s have been received and acted upon by me:
| Region VI— | 10 | Region IX— | 4 | ||
| Region VII— | 8 | Region X— | 15 | ||
| Region XII— | 21 |
| cc: | Mr. Johnson |
| Mr. Davidson | |
| Mr. Jones | |
| Mr. Davis |
MS: copy, MP.
[1] See Regional Director Don Ellinger’s final disposition report on this case, 1/19/45; the section on the Maritime Commission in the headnote on Relationships with Federal Agencies and the headnote on the Shipbuilding Industry.
[2] Some weeks earlier, the Committee had appointed two of its members, Boris Shishkin and Charles Hamilton Houston, to meet with IAM president Brown on a number of complaints alleging that locals of the union were violating EO 9346. In an effort to expedite the processing of those complaints, George Johnson provided an example of the problem from Region VII that the Committee faced:
On Thursday, December 7, Dr. Dodge left Atlanta for a trip to Jacksonville, Pensacola, and Panama City, Florida, where he is investigating several cases. In Jacksonville he conferred with officials of the St. Johns River Shipbuilding Company with regard to Cases Nos. 7-BR-90, 409, 470, 508, and 516. He was told by these officials that due to the fact that the Company has a closed shop contract with the Metal Trades Council of the A.F. of L., all employees are furnished directly through the Union; and that skilled Negro mechanics are not acceptable as members of the various unions present. For this reason, it was stated, the Company cannot hire such Negroes. The Company avowed that it has a policy of nondiscrimination and that the unions alone are responsible for the alleged discrimination cited in the above cases.
According to Dr. Dodge, Mr. J. Rae Simpson, Business Agent of the Metal Trades Union, stated that his union did not accept Negro members and that for this reason Negro welders, burners, etc. could not be assigned to jobs along with white employees; that if such action were attempted, there would be violence resulting in the Negroes being thrown into the river. He added: “However, these Negroes can get jobs at the Brunswick and Charleston yards where they have unions, so that we cannot be accused of discrimination.”
Dr. Dodge feels that nothing more can be done on the regional level to settle these cases. (Johnson to Shishkin and Houston, memorandum, 12/19/44)
Johnson provided Shishkin and Houston with a copy of Mitchell’s memorandum of 9/6/44, which he prepared at the request of the Committee for use by them in their conference with Brown. HqR4, Records of the Legal Division, Office Files of George M. Johnson. Committee Matters. For Mitchell’s more recent memorandum on the union, see 1/8/45; for context, see the section on the International Association of Machinists in the headnote on the FEPC and Unions.