
          Interchange: In This Issue
          By Chaney, Betty NorwoodBetty Norwood Chaney
          Vol. 1, No. 9, 1979, pp. 2
          
          This issue of Southern Changes is devoted
primarily to the plight facing the workers of the South. We dedicate
it to A. Phillip Randolph who died May 16 at the age of 90. Not only
did he give 70 years of his life to the labor movement, he is also
called the father of the civil rights revolution. Inhis birthday
mesage to America on April 15, presented in "Soapbox," he lauds the
role of trade unions: "It is the trade union movment that has fought
to preserve the minimum wage, to keep the CETA jobs programs in
tact. And it is the trade union movement that has mounted a major
effort to organize low-paid and exploited workers throughout the
South."
          In this issue, we carry two in-depth articles about the struggles
of workers trying to organize in the South and the obstacles they
encounter.
          Tony Dunbar in "The Old South Triumphs at Duke" relates the efforts
of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
(AFSCME)union to organize wage workers at Duke University. Duke, a
cener of learning, erected upon the lofty principles "to develop a
Christian love of freedom and truth" and "to promote a sincere spirit
of tolerance," responded by hiring an anti-union consulting
firm. These "Chicago union busters" as AFSCME called them, launches
the kind of campaign against AFSCME and Duke laborers that makes
Dunbar conclude that the "New South so ably represented at Duke
University is not really much different from the old."
          The second piece, Phil Wilayto, a member of the Center for United
Labor Action, offers a vivid, heartrending account of the Steelworkers
strike that brought silence to the yards of the Newport News
Shipbuilding and Drydock Company for 11 weeks this past winter as
workers fought to win recognition for their union. Although
unsuccessful this tim in their attempt to establish a union, the
attitude of the workers following the strike is "We aren't
broken. We're regrouping, we'll be back and we'll get our union."
          Probably the most important affermative action case since  Bakke is the  United Steelworkers
of America v. Brian F. Weber, known familiarly as  Weber. It could affect all voluntary affirmative
action for racial minorities in the nation's work force. In our third
piece onlabor concerns, Laughlin McDonald, Southern director of the
American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, details for us the factors
involved in the  Weber case. He determines that
ultimately it is voluntary compliance that will eliminate the need for
state and federal enforcement agencies.
          Our Action Patterns department this issue outlines "How to File
Complaints and Civil Suits Against Job Discrimination," and the SRC
Publications section lists materials available from the Council that
relate to affirmative action and the employment of Blacks and
women.
          In addition, this issue carries an assessment of the 1979
legilative session of the Georgia General Assembly. Look for more
analyses of this nature in  Southern Changes as
we enter our second year of publishing in September.
          In closing, along with A. Phillip Randolph, we encourage you to
take an active interest in the struggles of the Southern workers. We
look upon the plight of the low-paid and often exploited laborer in
the South as being one of the most important issues facing us
today. As Randolph implores in his parting remarks, "Please, join the
good fight."
        