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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (March 25, 1957)
Jf Labor Unions Said Big Business Paying High Salaries With Large Investments Editor's not: Bir unions are bic butlne too. The labor reporter of lb L'J. Washington bureau teUs how bif In the lolloolnt dupateb. By MAUREEN GOTHLIN Unit.d Press Correspondent Washington fU.R) How big a business is the labor union business? Big enough for a number of unions to have millions of dol lars invested in government backed mortgages; For many to build expensive headquarters buildings; For some to invest in multi million dollar housing projects and office buildings; For a few to invest in stocks and bonds. Several unions own or control banks or insurance companies, a couple have even lent money to businesses, and one is engaged In on outright business venture with employers. Big Salaries Paid It's big enough for unions with memberships ranging from 100.000 to one million to pay their presidents salaries ranging generally from $20,000 to S50,- 000 a year plus expense ac counts, and for union leaders to hold business meetings at the most expensive resort hotels. It is well-known that a number of these leaders of workers ride in chauffeured limousines and some maintain several homes. There is no accurate figure on the net worth that has been built up by the roughly 200 national and international labor unions from dues averaging around S3 a month from 18 million mem' bers. The total financial worth has been estimated at somewhere around $700 million, with an an nual income of perhaps half a billion dollars split roughly 50 50 between national and local treasuries. Pension, Welfare Funds Several billion dollars, per haps, could be added to this to represent reserves of pension and welfare funds which some unions, alone or jointly with employers, administer. The money accumulated in all health and welfare funds and 8 j www itwHk mf mm f i I .i i f I 1 i - i ' if m 1 . 3 turn numu ,. www ntsnth a .... ; 1. 1 nly once in a century has -" - ' . . ...... i i pvobuczb . .. . .. :';;-,j:)y LIGHTER.-MILDER..-88 PROOF r 2 ;ssi5M I star 1W superb quality of lighter, milder T , W Proo' Ota Crow has made it v ittcrmrt mnor nnn? rr hrntrhnn f ; ee proof KENTUCKY STRAIGHT BOURBON WHISKEY Pu 4Qt. JOQ Proof Bottled in Bond available as uwat OLD CROW DISTILLERY CO.,FRANKFORT,KY.,OISTRIBUTED BY NAT.DIST.PROD.CORP. pension trusts is estimated at more than $30 billion with an annual income of several bil lion. But employers control the administration of funds for about 90 per cent of covered workers. The nation's largest unions are the 1.250,000 member United Steelworkers with almost S22 million in national treasury as sets; the 1.385,000 member Unit ed Auto Workers with almost S35 million; the 1,500,000 mem ber Teamsters union with more than $39 million, and the 900. 000 member Machinists union with $17 million. Miners Probably Richest Probably the richest union is John L. Lewis' 400,000 member United Mine Workers with be tween S40 and $50 million in assets, plus $130 million in wel fare and pension fund reserves jointly administered by union and employer representatives. The Steelworkers, Auto Work ers and Machinists, like most unions, own large and imposing headquarters but keep most or all of their money in cash and government bonds for use in paying strike benefits, legal fees and other emergency costs. The steel and auto workers President Pampered, Columnist Declares Chapel Hill. N.C. U.P.) A Washington columnist has criti cized the press for "pampering" President Eisenhower and for a "tendency" to "look through Eisenhower's rose - colored glasses." Doris Fleeson, Washington col umnist for United Features Syn dicate, told the North Carolina Press Women Saturday that "the press was often unfair to Presi dents Truman and Roosevelt" but that "it is better to be unfair to a president than to pamper him as they have done Eisen hower." "The tendency of the press to look through Eisenhower's rose colored glasses and to overlook the failure to give creative lead ership," she said, "has given peo ple a totally wrong idea of the situation." Miss Fleeson said the Eisen hower administration was "dedi cated to the status quo," adding this was quite wrong and quite dangerous." Bad News Rebounds On Telephone Caller Hattiesburg, Miss. U.P.) Bad news rebounded on J. T. Little when he telephoned his son in Albany, N.Y., to tell him of the fatal heart attack of the son's close friend, Julian Frye. Little's son, Charles, 53. could not be called to the phone, the father learned. He had been placed in an ambulance after suffering a heart attack, and died on the way to a hospital. A MEMO FROM THE OFFICE OF GENE THOMAS, MANAGER OF OREGON FINANCE COMPANY 45 South Central Avenue We hear that some banks and finance companies are short of funds. We wish that good fortune would happen to us. We could use a lot more good loan customers right now, and we riave the funds to take care of them, i With all the companies offering practically the same thing, it must be difficult for the person planning to get a loan to decide on a particular company. We think our company does offer you some advantages. We are under owner management, and you do deal with the owner when you come to our company. We are on the ground floor (corner of 8th and Central) in a convenient location. We have been in business here in Medford for a long time since July, 1928, and the company is still under my manage ment. We offer every type of loan plan that anyone in the county has. Remember, we have them all. We hope that we will have the opportunity to serve you. Sincerely, OREGON FINANCE COMPANY By Gene Thomas, Manager have around 1.000 employees on their national union payrolls. Strikes generally are financed ty local treasuries. But the Auto Workers, for instance, paid out more than S9 million in strike costs last year to aid locals, even without a big strike in the auto industry. This expense re duced its national treasury re serves by $4.7 million. Teamsters Shift Holdings Under Dave Beck, the Team sters union has been shifting its holdings from government bonds to higher -paying govern ment - backed mortgages and loans to business. The . union has S3 1.8 million in securities, of which at least half is in mort gages and one fourth in govern ment bonds. The mine workers union to day controls the second largest bank in Washington. It has one third interest in American Coal Shipping, Inc., a coal export en terprise capitalized at S50 mil lion and launched jointly last year by the union, a number of coal producers and several coal carrying railroads. The company has had labor troubles since it started because the UMW also is signed to represent licensed deck personnel on its ships. Mar itime unions have objected, with pickets. Paid for Beck's Home McDonald, Beck and Lewis each receive $50,000 a year in salaries, and enjoy chauffeured limousines provided by their unions. In addition. Beck's union has paid for his $162,000 Seattle home, and underwrites all travel expenses for him, his wife and whatever secretarial help he wants to take along. AFL-CIO Vice President Wal ter P. Reuther is a personally modest man with union money. Reuther, head of the United Auto Workers union, gets $18, 000 a year and has overruled proposals to put him in a higher bracket. Adenauer Asks Reds To Free East Germany Bonn, Germany ,UP.) So viet Premier Nikolai A. Bulgan in told West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer in a note dis closed Saturday that the only way to reunite Germany is by di rect negotiation with the East German Communists. Adenauer promptly rejected the idea. Bulganin ignored Adenauer's appeal to "set free" the 17 mil lion Germans in the Eastern zone of the divided country. In his first brief comment, re leased by the Federal Press of fice, Adenauer confirmed that there would be early talks as B-ilganin proposed on cultural exchanges. Monday, March 25, 1957 MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE FIVE ENJOY CAREFREE RETIREMENT witti no money worries through Life Insurance careful!y planned NOW. Ask the Man from Manufacturers for details. District Representative C. "CHUCK" COX 210 Elm St., Medford, Oregon - Tel.: 2-8420 'Commandments' Said Worst Film Cambridge, Mass. U.R) The Lampoon, Harvard university's humor magazine, today named its "Movie Worsts of 1956." It tagged "The Ten Command ments" as the worst Hollywood motion picture of the year. Gregory Peck was dubbed "Worst Actor of the Year" for his performance as Captain Ahab in "Moby Dick," while Jennifer Jones won the dubious distinction of being "Worst Ac tress of the Year" for her part in "The Man In the Gray Flan nel Suit." Bosomy Anita Ekberg was awarded a special "Emilo Bos coe "Award" by "Lampy," the magazine's imaginary donor of "Worsts." Miss Ekberg was named for having "breasted the tide of cri ticism in regard for her triumph ant inability to act by spreading herself, in film after film, over the cinemascope screen like a great fleshy smorgasbord, prov ing once and for all that delica cy can be as un-Swedish as it is un-American." Rock 'n' roll singer Elvis Presley was named "Worst Sup porting Actor of the Year" for his role in "Love Me Tender," while Anne Baxter got the "Worst Supporting Actress" award for her portrayal in "The Ten Commandments." International Suez Control Urged Chicago U.R) Rep. James j Roosevelt (D-Calif.) suggested : Sunday night that the United States make an experimental of- ; fer to place the Panama canal under international control. Roosevelt told an Israeli bond dinner group that "at any rate, i the time has come to insist on the internationalization of the ; Suez canal." The Panama canal should be ' included in the process, if need i be, to prove this country's goodj faith in international affairs and i to lend weight to America's pro- I posal at Potsdam in 1945 that all : strategic waterways be placed under international operation, he said. Roosevelt also proposed that the United Nations set up a Mid dle East authority to distribute , social and economic aid to the nations in that area. He said the United Nations should appoint "countries that have no economic interests in the Middle East" to operate the authority under direction of the world organization. Douglas Fir Millmen Plan Annual Sessions Portland (U.R) Some 250 Douglas fir millmen are expect ed to attend the 46th annual ses sions of the West Coast Lumber men's association which will be here March 27 and 28. How to sell more West Coast lumber will be the main theme of the two-day business sessions, according to H. V. Simpson, ex ecutive vice president. THE FASTEST SELLING TV U MEDFORD . . .THERE'S A REASON! 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Notice how it's located on the right hand side of the viewing screen for stand-up, one-hand tuning that easily lets you see the screen while you tune your G-E. Of course, this fine G-E TV has the famed ALUMINIZED PICTURE TUBE PIONEERED BY GENERAL ELECTRIC . . . It's enough to say: G-E has pro duced more Aluminized Picture Tubes than all other manufacturers com bined . . . That's real "Know-How" . . . and it's all yours in this fine General Electric Big-Screen Console. , - f LIVE BETTER... Z ELECTRICALLY O "Better Schools Build Better Communities . . . Think About It Lit APPLIANCE CO. V
