60,000 Garment Workers Strike
60,000 Garment Workers Strike Dressmakers Walk Out in New York ; HTHE walkout of the dressmakers from the shops in the dress * district, which l)egan at 10 o'clock Tuesday morning and continued...
...It bodes ill for the hopes that have been raised by the National Recovery Act when a judge placed on the bench by agreement between the Democratic and Republican parties can issue such an ukase as this and back it up with the threat of fines and prison sentences imposed without jury trial...
...However that may be, we cannot help feeling that it is such sweeping, unreasonably and oppressive injunctions that have developed in workers the contempt for judges which has been the subject of much discussions in the past few years...
...In this case the government apparently surrenders...
...The issue ha.s reached the singe of a showdown as labor chiefs on the scene at Washington recognize the danger <if any compromise on this basii issue...
...9, acting in conjunction with the Brooklyn and Queens district councils of the Brotherhood of Painter,-?, Decoratoi.s and Paper-haneers...
...Partly by legislation, partly by decisions of modern-minded judges, orderly picketing and publication of the facts concerning strikes and lockouts seemed to have been legalized...
...fsjfitera Will Strike Twe.ve thousand painters and decorators in Greater New York will walk out Monday in a stoppage for mobilization purposes, in accordance with a decision made by the New York District Council No...
...Tuvim said, his committee "expects to place all its resources behind the struggle of the striking salesmen for union recognition...
...Failure to acknowledge yuur poaitlon in steel hearing means that danger has conquered hope...
...This strike is, in fact, a strike for an honest and genuine enforce-meat of the Recovery Act...
...the big 71st Kepiment Armory at I'ark Avenue at .'!4th Street, to which 12,000 .strikers will be shifted ^'ednesday...
...In addition all the dress shops in llie Cunnecticut and New Jersey towns, williin 75 miles from New York, which harbor stores of dress shops pioducinj...
...The topics will be NRA and the International So* cialist (;ongress...
...will wlah you Huccess in Ihis ligliL This struggle will prove as vital to the workers as the former figla inndo before th...
...Those who attend will meet at Woodlawn SUtion...
...Julius Iloehinan, general manager of the Dress Joint Hoard, leader of the strike, estimated towards the close of the day that the entire dress industry was paralyzed by the walkout...
...Motors and Katon Manufacturing Co, Upholsterera Strike Proposals advanced by employers as a means of ending the strike of 1,000 U|)holstery workers have licen rejected by the New York local of the International U )h stcrerg' Union...
...Thirty or forty years ago judges used to issue such sweeping orders, forbidding union officers and members to distribut-' ing cards or circulars, carrying placards, or even by word of mouth informing anyone that a strike was on...
...Government has net only right but duty tu recognize out-I standing labor men as ad-' vimirs in ranes where labor la not organised...
...The workers are former employees of the Kent Stores, Inc., a concern that has a chain of (bailing and dyeing stores in Brooklyn and Long'Island...
...President David Dubin.sky of the I.L.G.W.U., said: "At the eleventh hour, the employers in the dress industry, facing the inevitability of a strik?, are proclaiming that they are ready to take up a blanket code...
...The statement issued '>>' Alg:'r-non Lee follow.s: "The injunction against the Retail Clothing Salesmen's Union, granted by Justice Meier Stein-bring at the reciuest of Howard Clothes, sounds like a voice from the tombs...
...Atwut 1,700 meml)ers of ti...
...The strike involved eighteen shops, according to Harry Grecnberg, manager of the Irea...
...i)espite the maKnitudc of the strike, no disorders, except for a lew minor clashes, were reported to Union headquarters...
...The incident has brought to « head a controversy between genuine organisations of workers and the corporation fraudi^ known as "company unions...
...Socialists Lead in Organizing Lima LIMA, 0.— Lima labor unions have reorganized a (Jentral Labor l)ody after years of absence of such a body...
...The International Ladies' Garment Workers, the Amalgamated ('lothing Workers, the Bakers' Union and the Metal Trades Council are puttini» on active organizing campaigns in Cleveland...
...Marxist Society Meets fkmdajr The American Marxist Society will hold an all-day discussion on Sunday, August 20, beginning at 10 a. m., in Tibbelts Brook Park...
...Tv/enty out of the thirty loe.U unions in Lima were represented hy oflicial deleRatcs at the first meeting, including the Brotherliooil of Locomotive Engineers as well as the A. F. of L. locals...
...The unemployed carried their own banners announcing that the Unemployed Workers Committees "Will Not Scab...
...In the past the borough eouncila have had separate agreements with employers, but the forthcoming wage scale «nd hours agreement will be a unified one in Greater New York, Bronze Workera Reorganixe In spite of the drenching rain on Tuesday evening, August 8th, over 600 iron and bronge workers attended the mass meeting called by the Arcbiteetoral Iron, Bronze and Structural Workers' Union at the Rand School building...
...Rubber, eigai and quarry workers had already been contacted by local Socialists for organization before the Central Union was organised...
...Kven in cities where no union orfcaniza-tion exists, such as Plainlielil and Tom River, N. J., the wonieii dress workers joined the strike...
...members of the Retail Clothing Salesmen'sl Union have been issued by Algernon I/Ce as chairman of the New York executive committee of the Socialist Party and by Joseph Tuvim a^ secretary of the Labor Committee of the party...
...Cleaners and Dyers The strike of 40 men and women, members of the Cleaners & Dyers Local, IR,2.')2, is now in its rixtii week...
...Justice Steinbrink thinks otherwise...
...We thought some progress had been made since that time...
...The Metal Trades Council has made notable progress in organizing the notorious open shops of Fi.sher Body, Apex Electric, White Thomas Applauds Pres...
...the first time in 2.') years, tinir:?d action has ho-.-n nrranceJ for between the three...
...NKA prescnla both op-portanities and danger...
...He characterized the injunction a.i "medieval and barbaric...
...60,000 Garment Workers Strike Dressmakers Walk Out in New York ; HTHE walkout of the dressmakers from the shops in the dress * district, which l)egan at 10 o'clock Tuesday morning and continued until a late liour in the afternoon, proved to Ije one of the greatest on recor<i in the annals of the women's garment trades in New York City...
...It is reported that Ailminislralor Johnson has had warnings that the steel masters would attempt to upset the NUA program, while .Sorialists and labor unionists have l»een in an expectant mood since the Iron and .Steel Inslitule withdrew its company union reserra' tions a few weeks ago...
...The lead in this action was taken by Lima .Socialists headed l;y John H. Keller, party organizer...
...ivil War t(» enuoicipate lalior organlzationit from the old conspirncy common law doctrines...
...iore than 2,000 worker.s in a variety of novelty trades, including zipper sets, leggings, snow 8uiL3, infants' wear and other lines, walked out in response to a striko call issued by their Local, and 91...
...Points involved in the strike include the matter of wages, hours and Improved conditions...
...O WEEPING condemnations of the ^ blanket temporary injunction issued by Supreme Court Justice Meier Steinbrink on behalf of Howard Clothes against the striking...
...This injunction prevents the distribution of circulars, the right to picket and the pursuit of othor lawful labor activities guaranteed under the Constitution, the labor committee stated...
...Hearings were held August 16 on the question of making permanent the injunction against the union, which is affiliated with the American Federation of Labor...
...OfBce Workers Protest Againtt Refusal of NRA to Grant Them a Hearing Ernest Bohm, President of the Bookkeepers, Stenographers and Accountants Union 12646, sent a sharp letter of protest to Hugh S. Johnson against the treatment accorded to him and to the president of the Washington office workers' union by Deputy Administrators, who refused to permit them to speak at code hearings...
...The workers are bcin.n: contacted by union organizers and members of the Young People's Socialist Lea^e and the .Socialist party, and strong organizations have been formed in many shops...
...cheap merchandise for New York jobbers, stopped from work...
...We shall not permit them to hide their sweatshops behind the Blue Eagle and to make a travesty of the entire recovery movement...
...Tuvim charged that the attempt to "muzzle" the I clothing salesmen runs counter to the general trend under the National Industrial Recovery Act...
...He pointed out that "the code submitted by the employers in the Hosiery industry contained a paragraph which set maximum '. ours and minimum salaries for oflicfj workers in the industry...
...Socialists are in hearty sympathy with the union in its efforts to tjettcr the conditions of the retail salesmen, who are among the most severely exploited elements of the working class...
...drr.lrict councils In Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queei^s...
...It is this corporate iwwer that leads the fight for serfdom in American industries...
...organization work for which he was sent from Chicago...
...Green's Stand AN' exi)ected discussion of the prospective steel code was hroken uj) in Wa.shington on 'iuesday hecause repre.serttatives of powerful steel corporations left the conference when William (ireen, j)resident of the American I'tderalion of I,ahor, appeared in his capacity of lalior advisor of tlie Recovery A<lministration...
...Genuine friends of labor and , pntgreas, whatever their political afllhations...
...Chica«o'« Unempbyed Picket CHICAGO.—In one of the most encouraging displays of solidarity that this city's labor movement has witnessed, members of the Chicago Workers' Committees on Unemployment have moved on to the picket lines of the International Ladies' Garment Workers at struck shops at Lipson Brothers and other planta...
...In its issue of Jul.'/ 22nd The New Lender devoted itc entire first page to n warning ol what is now happening and tli( treineiidoUM issue that it Involve.'-^ Socialist Party Spurns Anti-Picket Injunction Socialist Party Elxecutive and Labor Conunitteea Condemn Justice Steinbrink Injunction—Offer to Aid Strikers...
...Anything else makes government an ally of open shop employer and a stabilizer of rapitallMt exploi* talion...
...o accommodate the .'trikers that could not be housed in the 14 halls, the strike committee announced this cveninpr .several more halls were hired, inehidint...
...union voted this action at a meeting in the Irving Plaza Hall that had been arranged by NRA ofli-cials here so that Colonel Nathaniel Phillips of the New York NRA movement could hear the workers' views...
...The United States Steel Corporation led the revolt of the feudal ehiefs...
...I think it would be difficult for even Mr...
...President Green declared thai tho steel oligarchs had challenged the government, and added: "It is presumed that private industry will cooiK'rate...
...He aske(| that an early hearing upon th( code submitted by the union b< granted, or else that the unioiX should tn- permitted to present sub< stilute labor provisions, ns Hu;;-gested by Secretary of Labo-I'raiices Perlili...
...The st'i page is oidy one of a number or reconimendalioiis pertaining to tho intensive membership drive being carried on by the painters that were unanimously endorsed by the general mass meeting of 4.000 painters belonging to the union held at Mecca Temple...
...This local labor rebirth t(M)k place following a strike at tho Marvel Maid in which the .Socialists took a hand, there being no central body to whom these previously unorganised workers could appeal for information and aid...
...By Wednesday feeling became tense on this issue, and Norman Thomas voiced the opinions of Socialists when he sent the following ringing telegram to President Green of the A. V. of L.: Year stand at steel hearing admirably raises issue abao-luUly vital te success of NRA as other than instrument ef serfdom under compsny union...
...Organizing Campaign in Cleveland CLEVELAND...
...lie said that no less than 2,100 .shops in the metropolitan area joined the strike, involving atK)ut 50,000 workers in New York proper...
...Dubinsky Speaks In an address to the shop chairmen...
...For him the opinions of :'>uch enlightened jurists as Brandeis, Cardozo, and Holmes have no weight...
...I do not know whether this injunction applies to myself and others who do not happen to be clothing salesmen...
...Syd Devine, Industrial Organizer for the Young People's Socialist League, has been taking an active part in all, this work'in addition to handling the I.L.G.W.U...
...The fourteen halls to which the Itreams of strikers were directed from the shops, proved inadequate to hold them all, and for hours thousands of them were compelled to crowd the sidewalks before they cculd gain admittance to the assembly rooms to be registered by the clerical staffs of strike committees...
...Justice Steinbrink to prevent us from telling the public that Howard Clothes is an 'unfair' concern and ought not to be patronized by self-respecting persons...
Vol. 16 • August 1933 • No. 8
