Millinery Workers' Union Turns the Tide
Union, Max Zaritsky President, Cloth Hat, Cap and Millinery Workers' International
Millinery Workers' Union Turns the Tide N. Y. Workers Set Stirring Example By Max Zaritsky President, Cloth Hat, Cap and Millinery Workers' In-ternational Union l tN the recent struggle of...
...Canvassing the situation and the advice of Lieut...
...The milliners' union a year ago faced a disorganized industry, with standards going lower and lower in keeping with the universal attack on labor's standards...
...The minimum rate for piece workers are to be • $2 an hour for operators, $1 an hour for trimmers, while blockers are to be paid at a rate to be determined by a Joint investigation...
...discharge are proven...
...An enumeration of the clauses will bear this out...
...His gangmen have been over-¦helmed by the union's organlza-Hrtt committee...
...All those now employed by these shops who are not enrolled In the union are to become members not later than May 1st All work required by the employer shall be performed by members of the union only, and at all times there shall be an equal distribution of work among all workers in the shops...
...The com* mittee went to work with vigor...
...All overtime work shall be paid for at time and a half, but no over-time work is to be permitted unless all the workers arc employed full time and all available work benches are fully occupied...
...Ousted from the industry* the gangsters in i the sense of proportion to realize they were through...
...They represent a monument to the strength of the union...
...The milliners have cried "Halt...
...Herbert H. Lehman, lieutenant governor of the state, and William Green, president of tne American Federation of Labor, in...
...No "proxies" were used...
...As a result conferences were held with the Women's Headgear Group, Inc., the employers' association...
...The 25 factories) for years under the domination el the gangster - racketeers were checked off for battle...
...For almost ten years the millinery union preferred to do its business with individual employers...
...It was by universal consent ore of tha most Inspiring events In labor history in many years...
...i referred to the gambling in Wall street...
...Today, "Tough Jake" is without a ¦fob...
...The intent was that workers in the shops under the rule of the racketeers were to be enrolled in this union...
...A wave of enthusiasm and self-sacrifice swept the membership...
...Within two days the tide was turned...
...It affected some 10,000 of the workers In the trade...
...Today the charters hang on the walls of the union, draped in heavy black mourning bands aa a sign that racketeering In the millinery industry Is dead for all time...
...Nevertheless the union was not satis* fled...
...To give their racket the appearance of legality, the gangsters had the audacity to organize a "union," with papers of incorporation duly obtained from the state government...
...The full victory of the union was demonstrated at two huge meet* Ings held on Thursday, March 17th...
...No worker may be discharged without sufficient cause or reason nor until an opportunity has been given for joint investigation of the sufficiency of the reason for such discharge...
...It had set out to do a com* plete job...
...The Battle lines Drawn This turning of the tide by the millinery workers of New York— 15,000 of them and perhaps four times that many women and children dependent upon them—was made possible by a crusade which showed abundantly that American trade unionists can be aroused to a fighting pitch, the cynics and the disillusioned to the contrary...
...For such an agreement as was signed to be reached during a period of depression, Is an accomplishment of which our union may justly feel proud...
...The officials of the union placed the issues squarely before the workers—and the workers squarely took up the gauntlet...
...Side by side with the war on racketeering as a major accomplishment stands the agreement signed with the employers group in the industry...
...All work Is to be done on the premises of the members of the association and no work shall be given out to or purchased from contractors...
...Sanitary working conditions are to be maintained at all times...
...i "Tough Jake" Kurzman, king i pin of the racketeer's, symbolized rthe forces which for years have |»xtorted "protection money" from femployers and on the other hand ¦terrorized trade union workers frequently to the point of violence...
...Lehman and President Green, the union arrived at the conclusion that the problem could best be met by entering negotiations with the employers' association for the purpose of signing a collective agreement...
...Tha union's leaders, flanked by leaders in the community such as Gorman Thomas and Heywood Broun, joined with Edward F. McGrady, representing President William Green in congratulating the members on their great victory...
...They were picked for their fearlessness, for their intelligence and for their willingness to j act like a disciplined army once a general campaign of procedure had been agreed upon...
...Probing into the conduct of the district attorney's office under District Attorney Crain, Samuel Seabury found that racketeering was flour'* ikhlng as an organized conspiracy unhampered by the public authorities...
...As an official of...
...The agreement finally signed states specifically that one of/the functions of the association la to deal collectively with the union...
...The final clause in the agreement gives the union the option to call for the creation of a joint committee to consider the establishment of an unemployment Insurance fund and any other new matters of mutual concern which may arise...
...It was felt that an employers' association could be able to handle the threats of racketeering more effectively than Individual employers could...
...The situation In most other Industries was reversed in the hat trade...
...The racketeering angle of the work was now attacked...
...Each of the shops were represented by the attendance of the workers...
...The Victory Won The union recruited a special organization committ.ee of 700 men and women, the picked captains of the union army...
...and (2) that the industrial breakdown need not be accepted by the trade union movement as Inevitably forcing upon it the concessions which up to now they have given up...
...The millinery workers enrolled in the Cloth Hat, Cap and Millinery Workers' International Union have not only carried through a victorious campaign for themselves...
...At the time I wrote a letter to the Hon...
...The work* ers In the shops were reached dl« rectly by members of organization committee...
...The union refused to deal with an organization of employers as far as handling labor problems was concerned...
...At the end of ten days, not a single gangster-protected shop remains in the Industry, and more than 4,000 workers employed in these shops have become an enthusiastic part of the union's membership of 15,000...
...The next day the workers In the association shops returned to work with a renewed sense of the power of solidarity and of the Invincibility of a united and determined union.** There is a fitting postscript to the story...
...Employers actually plead-cii with the union to give them aa opportunity to join the association and sign the collective agreement...
...I suggested that if he was hunting for racketeers he might find ample field for activity in the case of the Bank of United States failure...
...Millinery Workers' Union Turns the Tide N. Y. Workers Set Stirring Example By Max Zaritsky President, Cloth Hat, Cap and Millinery Workers' In-ternational Union l tN the recent struggle of the New ' JL york millinery workers there Is food for reflection by trade unionists and all friends of labor...
...In the food market racketeering, In the systematic robbery practiced by employment bureaus and, finally, I suggested he might turn his attention to that racket "that breeds more misery, poverty and starve-tioo • • ¦ theUi All th*© r&clc ot4 0003 bineJ...
...Facing a situation in which workers in other industries had been subjected to wage slashes and seriously Impaired standards of work, the millinery workers have Just completed a battle which leaves the union in the strongest position it has held since it was first organized...
...Two huge halls In the Mecca Temple, the second largest arena In the greater city, housed some 7,000 men and women who filled every seat and aisle and hung from tha balconies and boxes literally...
...The Racketeering Evil , The movement for the formation of an employers group was revived last year when revelations of racketeering in the trade were brought out in a forceful manner...
...In the headquarters of the international union today there hang two charters Issued to the fake unions set up by the racketeers...
...the union, I feel humble when I consider the part played by the rank and file of our men, women and girls who took the knotty problems of the industry into their hands and in a whirlwind campaign settled them with glory and credit to the union...
...to obtain equalization of standards of labor in the industry...
...The workers are to be paid for seven legal holidays...
...Both parties-," the agreement declares, "desire to cooperate in Improving the conditions In the millinery industry and to establish conditions which will tend to secure to the workers a living wage...
...Called to Initiate a one-day stoppage of work, the rallies look on the nature of a celebration rather than a strike...
...The 700 were the acknowledged leaders of their fellow workers...
...They have provided the organized trade unionists with concrete evidence that the tide can be turned...
...The district attorney's office remained as Inactive as ever, except to serve a subpoena on an officer of our union who was then grilled by four assistant district attorneys...
...The difficulties in the industry were compounded by the prevalence of a most flagrant form of racketeering and gangsterism which had defied the efforts of the public authorities to eliminate it...
...Thomas C. T. Crain, the district attorney, in which I protested the outrageous procedure...
...A pay day shall be specified and wages paid promptly in cash...
...to the hitherto unchallenged verdict that labor must be the first and the ' foremost to- carry the burden of an industrial breakdown which It had no part in creating...
...He was charged with racketeering...
...All matters In controversy shall be adjusted by a joint machinery provided for in the agreement...
...The Employers Group Recognized The situation brought to light subsequently was such a flagrant one that the union decided it must act once and for all time to root out'every trace of racketeering in the Industry...
...When It went Into effect March 1st, the union had already scored advances of great proportion...
...Dealing with wages the agreement declares that the minimum scales which are not to effect the wages of those workers now receiving above the minimum—are to be J55 per week for cutters, $55 for operators, $75 for blockers and $35 for trimmers...
...terested themselves in the problem...
...Tough Jake's" gangsters were working systematically...
...The roll call of tha 39 shops whose workers had just joined the union ¦ i.ooo new members In all -was carried through' with enthusiasm...
...Only members in good standing In the union are to be employed In association shops...
...The next clause protects the worker's right to the job until reasons for...
...Crain quickly dropped his Interest In our union as a possible vehicle of racketeering...
...and to provide methods for a peaceful and honorable adjustment of all disputes that may arise between the workers and the employers...
...The efforts of Samuel Seabury to clean up the situation brought much publicity at the time but no tangible results...
...The facts of the milliners' struggle prove two important facts to the organized workers of our cities: (1) that the workers can be aroused to a determined sense of solidarity which, when mobilized into planned activity, is Invincible...
...Their loss In wages made up by the workers who remained behind in the shops, a shock troop committee of 700 men and women took the problem of racketeering into their own hands...
...I told him then that he was not really engaged in a campaign against racketeering and charged that he was- only thro^Kig a thick smokescreen over his own lneptnesa and complaisance in many well known and powerful cases of racketeering...
...40 Hour Week Is Won Another clause in the agreement provides that a week's work shall consist of 40 hours distributed over five days a week, a substantial gain...
...The employers group and the union agree that there shall be neither strike nor lockout during' the two years in which the agreement shall operate...
...The boasted strength of the gangsters failed to hold...
...These are the essential clauses of the agreement...
Vol. 13 • March 1932 • No. 13
