Four British working men and their four American counterparts on an exchange visit to the United States enter a building in World War II. They are seen inside, seated at a table opposite representatives of American labor organizations including the American federation of Labor (AFL), the Congress of industrial Organizations (CIO) and the Railroad Brotherhood. During the meeting, one of the American workers states that they had just returned from England. One of the American labor representatives asks the English workers what they think about these exchange visits. They respond in support of them, and note they had an similar exchange with Russians as well. They also discuss international labor unity and its importance in winning the war. The British contingent note that they need more time to meet rank and file American workers to make any assessments. The subject of women filling jobs in war industry was viewed as affecting the lives of all women during the war and afterwards.
British working men and their American counterparts on exchange visit in the United States. The group enter a building of the Star Electric Motor Company. Inside they are seen sitting in on a labor-management committee meeting. The British workers ask whether the company's worker suggestion program is successful. The company managers say it has and helped increase war production. The British ask about having any deadlocks in labor-management relations, affecting war production, and are told the U.S. War Production Board would be called upon to resolve such a matter. The issue of continuing such labor-management cooperation after the war is discussed. (World War II period)
A British guest on labor exchange program visit to the U.S. is staying as a house guest of his counterpart American in Los Angeles, California. We see him with several friends of his host, who also work at the Lockheed aircraft plant. They are teaching him the card game of poker. The leave to attend a meeting of District Lodge 727, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO (Lockheed-California Company). There the British guest is allowed to ask questions of the union. He and his American counterpart are seen at a podium as the Briton asks about the strength of the union inside the Lockheed plant. The local union Secretary responds that they have 45 thousand members in the Lockheed plant and, noting that the British man was a shop steward back in England, mentioned that the local also had 3000 shop stewards in the Lockheed factory. The British visitor asked how the union would be affected after the war, when labor requirements would be reduced. A member answers that the first action would be to return to a 40 hour work week (from the wartime 50 hour week). He states that some workers would return to pre-war work and jobs. Finally, he says they expect Lockheed to expand the scope of its manufacturing to include consumer goods. The union is asked about accommodating workers returning from the military and answers that it is covered in the union contract, which calls for their seniority to continue to accrue while in service. The union also provides for war injured handicapped workers to return to work, and sponsored legislation to provide post-service education opportunities for all returning veterans. Asked about women now employed in the plants, one woman union member stated that many would return to their homes. But the immediate need is to employ more women to the help the Allied forces win World War II as soon as possible. Regarding the prospect of post-war employment, one union member noted the national need to convert from wartime production to the manufacture of consumer goods. The union members favored the idea of continuing labor union exchange visits between the Allied countries in the future.
A British guest on labor exchange program visit spends his last day as a house guest of his counterpart American's family, in Los Angeles, California. He is seen with the father in their living room with two children, while the mother prepares dinner in the kitchen. The children are sent to bed and the men and the wife, named Ellen sits down to dinner with the two men. The British guest waves goodbye to the family at their doorstep. Scene shifts to another of the British labor exchange visitors leaving the family where he had been hosted in a different city. Next, the four British labor exchange visitors are seen seated opposite representatives of American labor organizations including the American federation of Labor (AFL), the Congress of industrial Organizations (CIO) and the Railroad Brotherhood. They had met them a few weeks ago when they first arrived in the U.S. One of the labor representatives asks them about their impressions of America. They uniformly praise the effectiveness of the U.S war effort, extolling the efficiency and productivity of her war plants. One of the commenters calls for more international unity in the labor union movement. A spokesman for the American labor representatives expresses need to support the United Nations movement. Film closes showing the four British exchange visitors boarding a U.S. Army Air Corps C-54 transport plane to fly them home to England. They are checked in by an airman who wears a leather jacket with the Air Transport Command logo on it. The aircraft is seen taking off and climbing out over hangars at the airfield. (World War II period)
Film opens showing large factory building with all its lights on at night. Smoke stacks at industrial plant emitting white smoke against dark sky. Sparks flying outdoors from a steel plant at night. War production workers inside a fabricating plant drawing a ribbon of hot steel from a roller and dragging a newly made sheet of metal across the floor. Two men with shovels stoking a furnace. Men shaping parts on forging machines. A group of men using sledge hammers to drive down pipe supports under a large piece of sheet metal. Women employees at work inspecting U.S. Army helmets on an assembly line. Workers in a crowded machine shop. A sign reading: "500 workers needed NOW Training on the job." A display of job recruitment announcements in newspapers. A room full of idle manufacturing machinery (ostensibly due to labor shortages). Sign on iron fence outside a building, reads: "Essential WAR WORK Day or Night Men and Women" and "We have a war job for you. Apply here." Some more similar signs. Animated chart of Labor Needs with Labor supply lagging behind, superimposed on a drawing of a defense plant. Map of the USA highlighting areas of industrial might where labor shortages exist. Camera zooms in on Dayton, Ohio on the map. Aerial views all over the city of Dayton, Ohio. View from a tall building overlooking a major Dayton commercial street. The Gem City Savings building, with clock tower on top, at the corner of Third and Main streets. On April 7, 1943, two hundred leading citizens of Dayton are seen attending a meeting at which Stanley C. Allyn, President of the National Cash Register Company, is speaking. He speaks about the danger of Dayton falling behind its war production goals because of manpower difficulties. View of the audience, which includes several military officers in uniform. Allyn speaks of the potential for war work being moved elsewhere because of this, and challenges Dayton's leaders to solve the problem without requiring action from Washington. Next, an emergency committee of community leaders is seen around a table. Camera pans over attendees, including labor leaders from AF of L and CIO; Government officials present, including Area Director and Deputy Regional Director of the War Manpower Commission, and Chief of Program Requirements for the Region; leading industrialists and retailers are shown. Local officials seen include the Mayor of Dayton and Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce as well as the Commanding Army Air Forces Generals of Wright Field and Patterson field. In final scene, Stanley Allyn is seen at the head of the table, speaking to the group. He outlines three ways to obtain more war workers from the Dayton population during World War II.
Exteriors of a new Army Post Office in New York City. Railroad train arriving at post office station. Mail bags are unloaded from the train. Thousands of Postal mail bags filled with Christmas packages, parcels, and letters are seen stacked inside the post office. Mails being sorted inside the post office. Packages and letters on a moving conveyor belt. Bags being moved by multi-car trolleys. Troops' mails being unloaded from a truck at the war front. Packages and letters being handed out to U.S. soldiers in World War II. Soldiers standing by a Christmas tree and receiving mail. A soldiers patrols on guard duty in front of a Christmas tree.
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