To whom it may concern: HUDSON LOCAL UNION, No. 2, ASSOCIATED AUTOMOBILE WORKERS OF AMERICA, I started to work for the Hudson Motor Car Co. in December 1928, and was laid off in May 1930. From 1930 until the spring of 1932 was unable to be reemployed by the Hudson Motors owing to the low production. During 1932 I worked 1 month, and was not again rehired until 1934. It is the claim of the employment office that on December 24, 1930, I was sent for. I didn't receive the communication which was sent me. During that particular time I was living at the Howard Institute on city welfare, but was in constant touch with the address at which letter was claimed to have been sent, namely, 1724 Hibbard. I particularly recall that on December 25, 1930, I was at that address for dinner with my mother. I particularly recall that on January 16, 1931, I was told by the employmentoffice management that "I would be lucky if I got a job with the Hudson that year." On February 5, 1935, I was released from employment and was told that if I could get proof showing that I didn't receive any word calling me back during 1930 that I would again be rehired. I submitted the proof, and was reemployed February 7, 1935, and was laid off again. My pay-off slip was marked "Services not needed." The foreman told me if I could get my record straightened out I could go back to work. On February 1, 1935, I had in my possession, in my pocket, handbills relative to the election being conducted in the plant by the Hudson Motors, that had been printed and were being circulated by the union with which I am affiliated. While at work one of the plant-protection watchmen, badge no. 120, came along and took them out of my pocket, without my permission. This was followed by being definitely laid off on Tuesday, February 5. It is my belief that my active participation in the campaign for these elections was the ultimate reason for my being laid off. STATE OF MICHIGAN, County of Wayne, ss: LESTER P. REED, Subscribed and sworn to before me this 20th day of February A. D. 1935. My commission expires January 22, 1938. To whom it may concern: HUDSON LOCAL UNION, No. 2, ASSOCIATED AUTOMOBILE WORKERS OF AMERICA, Detroit, Mich., February 20, 1935. For several years I, R. Meldrum, have been employed as repairman for department 730, working in the repair department off the end of the final assembly line in department 750. I have always been permitted or required to go to other departments, stock rooms, etc., for tools, replacement parts, etc., for use in my work as repairman. Since becoming an Associated Automobile Workers of America candidate for representative, I, together with all other Associated Automobile Workers of America members employed in this particular repair department, have been restrained from leaving the department for any reason, even being prevented from going to our own department for tools, stock, or to get instructions from our foreman. We are required to get all stock, tools, etc., through the subforeman or driver in the repair department, who are the only men in the department not members of the Associated Automobile Workers of America. The repairmen on the line not members of the Associated Automobile Workers of America have not been so restrained. STATE OF MICHIGAN, County of Wayne, ss: R. MELDRUM. Subscribed and sworn to before me this 20th day of February 1935. [SEAL] My commission expires January 22, 1938. MELVIN A. OWEN. To whom it may concern: HUDSON LOCAL UNION, No. 2, ASSOCIATED AUTOMOBILE WORKERS OF AMERICA, During the week previous to the nomination election at the body plant, our men were stopped distributing literature at the gates, both by the watchmen and the city police. The police stopped them on complaint of the watchmen at the plant. On one occasion they were stopped in the morning and the same noon the Hudson Industrial Association were allowed to distribute their literature inside and outside the gates freely and at will, but were not stopped either by the watchmen or the police. STATE OF MICHIGAN, County of Wayne, ss: CHARLES A. HEYS. Subscribed and sworn to before me this 20th day of February 1935. [SEAL] My commission expires January 22, 1938. MELVIN A. OWEN, Notary Public. I believe on account of my activity asking other employees if they wished to belong to our organization or not, I was transferred to the main plant. I also believe it was for the purpose of defeating me as a candidate I was retained until the day before the final election. STATE OF MICHIGAN, County of Wayne, ss: CHARLES A. HEYS. Subscribed and sworn to before me this 20th day of February 1935. [SEAL] My commission expires January 22, 1938. MELVIN A. OWEN, Notary Public. To whom it may concern: HUDSON LOCAL UNION, No. 2, ASSOCIATED AUTOMOBILE WORKERS OF AMERICA, Detroit, Mich., February 20, 1935. Upon making complaint of favoritism shown the H. I. A. in the nomination, it was understood by the Labor Board we were to receive the same privileges as the H. I. A. The day before the final election some of our men went into another department to hand out bills to other men, which same was being done in other departments by H. I. A. men. On this occasion there were 5 or 6 members of the Government election board present with us to watch the distribution of these bills. In the afternoon my superintendent, Manson, came to me and said I had better tell the A. A. W. of A. men to keep in their own department; if they didn't they would be fired, although the H. I. A. men were going from department to department making speeches and handing out literature. STATE OF MICHIGAN, County of Wayne, ss: CHARLES A. HEYS. Subscribed and sworn to before me this 20th day of February, 1935. [SEAL] MELVIN A. OWEN, Notary Public. My commission expires January 22, 1938. To whom it may concern: HUDSON LOCAL UNION, No. 2, ASSOCIATED AUTOMOBILE WORKERS OF AMERICA, Clock cards of Joe Brooks, department 465, and Lamar Sissons, department 460, were O. K.'d for Monday, February 18, 1935, 100 a. m. to 3: 15 p. m. with note "H. I. A." STATE OF MICHIGAN, County of Wayne, ss: F. W. SHILLING. Subscribed and sworn to before me this 20th day of February. [SEAL] My commission expires January 22, 1938. MELVIN A. OWEN, Notary Public. HUDSON LOCAL UNION, No. 2, To whom it may concern: ASSOCIATED AUTOMOBILE WORKERS OF AMERICA, Clock cards of L. Sissons, department 460, and Joe Brooks, department 465, were rang Monday, February 18, 1935, from 10 a. m. until 3:15 p. m. and O. K.'d "H. I. A.” STATE OF MICHIGAN, County of Wayne, ss: Subscribed and sworn to before me this 20th day of February. [SEAL] A. MCNEILL.. MELVIN A. OWEN, Notary Public. My commission expires January 22, 1938. HUDSON LOCAL UNION, No. 2, ASSOCIATED AUTOMOBILE WORKERS OF AMERICA, DISCRIMINATION I was elected as a company-union representative in the fall of 1933 to represent a certain group of men in collective bargaining with the management of the Hudson Motor Car Co. I was also a member of the Hudson local of the American Federation of Labor at the same time. After about 6 months as a company-union representative, I was firmly convinced that nothing could be accomplished for the workingmen through that organization, and I therefore resigned my position as representative. I immediately became a steward in my own department from Hudson Local, No. 18312, representing the men as an affiliate of the American Federation of Labor, and then the fireworks started. The first thing the foreman tried to do was to force me to speed up production by asking me to give him more production than the time study called for, and I told him that I was doing all that I could do the way the job was speeded up. He then told me that he was going to put me in another department, and I said that I did not want to work in any other department and could not see any justice in the way he was speaking to me. He told me that if I didn't want to go to the other department I could quit my job; so, after considerable thinking on my part, I knew that this was being done on account of my union activities, and I went over to the other department and worked, but the next day I did not go back to the department, and he told me again that I could either go back or quit my job, and I then decided to have a showdown and find out just where I stood. Both the foreman and myself went to the superintendent's office, and while there the foreman told the superintendent that I was holding up production, and I told them that that was not true and I could prove it, but they would not listen, so they asked me to compromise with them by going over to the other department for 3 days, and this I did, after which time I was sent back to my own department but was continually threatened until 3 weeks later, when they laid me off. I then took my case up with the employment office and told them that I was not laid off according to my seniority. The employment office kept me coming back there every morning for about 18 days, and then told me to look for work elsewhere, as they could do nothing about it. I then asked them for welfare help, as I knew that they were giving it out to other employees, and they told me that they could not do anything for me. I had my last pay of $14 on which to live and keep my wife and six children, and after having been told by the employment office to look for work somewhere else, I could not find other work because of the slow condition in the industry, and also that all my seniority was at the Hudson plant. I further feel that I have been discriminated againt because my case was presented before the Automobile Labor Board and there proven that I had more seniority in my department than five other men who were still working at that time. Not being able to get any other work, I had to get relief from the city welfare commission for a period of 61⁄2 months, or until such time as I was recalled by the Hudson Motors, and even then my foreman did not want me back in my old department, and the only reason that I was put back there was on the responsibility of the employment man, Mr. Ed. Tholl. After being rehired in my old department, my foreman told me that he would fire me the first time that he caught me talking to any of the other men about the union, and he said that it was either his job or mine. Things have been going along fairly well lately, but now that I have been elected as a district representative of the Associated Automobile Workers of America in the elections held by the Federal Government to represent the men in district no. 2 at the Hudson plant, I feel that discrimination and coercion are going to be stressed to a greater degree by this same foreman. STATE OF MICHIGAN, County of Wayne, ss: JOHN KRULOCK. Subscribed and sworn to before me this 19th day of February, A. D. 1935. [SEAL] My commission expires January 22, 1938. MELVIN A. OWEN, Notary Public. HUDSON LOCAL UNION, No. 2, ASSOCIATED AUTOMOBILE WORKERS OF AMERICA, Detroit, Mich., February 18, 1935. DISCRIMINATION On Wednesday, February 13, 1935, the job setter, Mr. Booth, was overseeing an operation on a milling machine. After the operation was completed it was found that it was not as expected. It was reported to the foreman, Powel Elrod, who, without using good judgment, sent the regular operator home till Friday morning and left the job setter, who was overseeing the operation, stay on the job. This is a common practice in the Hudson Motor Car Co., and it is the opinion of the men that the job setter should have been sent home as well as the operator. Before the operator went home the job setter told him to take it like a man." 66 Another irregularity is the fact that some men are hired in for certain operations at a stated hourly wage and after they are put to work they are switched over to another operation that calls for more money but they are never given the raise in pay that they are entitled to, then again, the boss allows his friends to work on the lower-priced jobs and still receive the pay for the higher-paid jobs. These conditions are as prevalent today as they have been in the past. MERIT SYSTEM 66 The merit system as used today is nothing more than an extortion system it is used to dispose of the men who are opposed to the unjust methods used by the bosses and the management, as well as the men who belong to the outside unions. At present, a man who has worked for the company for 10 years could be replaced by a man who has worked for the company 1 year because he is a friend of the boss and also a "yes man" for the company. Many men have received long jail sentences for extortion, but under the Automobile Code at the present time, extortion (merit system) has been made legal and allows every boss to practice the same. STATE OF MICHIGAN, County of Wayne, ss: P. J. DENESHA. Subscribed and sworn to before me this 18th day of February, A. D. 1935. [SEAL] MELVIN A. OWEN, Notary Public. My commission expires January 22, 1938. HUDSON LOCAL UNION, No. 2, ASSOCIATED AUTOMOBILE WORKERS OF AMERICA, Detroit, Mich., February 18, 1935. Report of alleged discrimination by the Hudson Motor Car Co. against George G. King. I have been laid off twice since June 1934, although I have 8 years and 3 months' seniority in department no. 210. At the present time there are several men working in this department having much less seniority. I have been rehired twice since June 1934 but each time I have been placed in other departments at a much lower rate of pay. Being an active member in the Associated Automobile Workers of America, I firmly believe that this action on the part of the Hudson Motor Car Co. is a deliberate attempt to force me to resign from active work in the union before I will be reemployed in my old department. STATE OF MICHIGAN, County of Wayne, ss: GEORGE G. KING. Subscribed and sworn to before me this 18th day of February, A. D. 1935. [SEAL] My commission expires January 22, 1938. MELVIN A. OWEN, Notary Public. To whom it may concern: HUDSON LOCAL UNION, No. 2, ASSOCIATED AUTOMOBILE WORKERS OF AMERICA, Detroit, Mich., February 20, 1935. I hired out at Hudson's August 2, 1926, and worked until August 14, 1930. Came back September 5, 1933, and worked until May 1934, and was firing all except about 9 months, and hired back December 1, 1934, as ash man and oiler with a cut at 12 cents on the hour, and there are five firemen firing now with less seniority and more money. I would like to know why I am not firing at my old rate, 72 cents an hour. DENNIS J. MCDANIEL. STATE OF MICHIGAN, County of Wayne, 88: Subscribed and sworn to before me this 20th day of February 1935. [SEAL] MELVIN A. OWEN, Notary Public. My commission expires January 22, 1938. To whom it may concern: HUDSON LOCAL UNION, No. 2, ASSOCIATED AUTOMOBILE WORKERS OF AMERICA, Detroit, Mich., February 21, 1935. I, the undersigned, wish to set forth certain facts concerning the elections held at the Hudson Motor Car Co. on February 1 and 15. During the period between February 1 and February 15, supervisors, foremen of various degrees, did participate actively in the campaigning for the nomination and election of certain candidates which were to be acceptable to the |