The presidents of the AFL and CIO have cabled Austrian trade union leaders requesting their assistance in helping the Austrian Government reach a just and equitable settlement of the restitution claims of the Jewish Claims Committee on Austria, it was learned here today. The cables were sent after the AFL and CIO had been informed of the status of the negotiations by the Jewish Labor Committee.
In a cable to Adolf Shaerf, Vice Premier of Austria and a leader of the Austrian Social Democratic Party and of the Austrian Labor movement, George Meany, president of the AFL, said: “Delighted to hear your government prepared to renegotiate with Jewish representatives on reparations claims. American labor supports these just demands and sincerely hopes that our Austrian counterparts will help materially in the achievement of successful deliberations. Free labor can do no less than work diligently to secure financial justice for these victims of Nazism.”
Victor Reuther, president of the CIO, in a message to Anton Proksch, head of the Austrian labor movement, declared: “I need not tell you how much a fair and equitable settlement of this question means in terms of removing the stigma of that unpleasant chapter of Germany’s domination of Austria.” Mr. Reuther’s message added his hopes for a “just and amicable final decision.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
