Claims   Coast   Issm
Centered  About
Communism.
The American Federation o:
Labor has a stranglehold on thf
C. I. O. in their jurisdictiona!
fight in the Pacific northwest
lumber industry, Leo Flynn ol
Seattle, A. F. of L. organizer
reported here today.
"Leadership of the C. I. O. groups
is out on a limb, with no more
background than a chip floating or
a millpond," Mr. Flynn told members of the executive committee ol
the Spokane Central Labor council
"It will take some time to wear
them down, but eventually the C
I. O. members will come back
where they belong.
Centers in Portland.
"The issue on the Coast is not C.
I. O. versus A. F. of L. It is communism versus what Americans believe in. If the A. F. of L. didn't
raise a hand, those C. I. O. leaders
would eventually break up their
own movement."
The main fight, he reported, is
centering in the Portland district.
Sailors, affiliated with the C. I. O.
marine federation, refused to handle C. I. O. lumber, master , mates
and pilots refused to haul logs into
the C. I. O.-controlled mills, and
the teamsters' union refused to
haul them out, with result all but
two mills have closed, Mr. Flynn
asserted.
Lumber Is "Hot."
"In every metropolitan center
where we have strong membership,
C. I. O. lumber is 'hot,'" he continued. "After present contracts are
completed, our .carpenters will not
work where C. I. O. lumber is used.
"So it's not all milk and honey
for the C. I. O. in the lumber industry. In fact, to say they have
25 per cent of the workers in the
northwest lumber industry is exaggerating things."