Hat Union Wins Injunction Victory; Bar Slaps Noted Labor-Hating Judge
Hat Union Wins Injunction Victory; Bar Slaps Noted Labor-Hating Judge Conspiracy to Destroy Must Be Shown, Judge Rules in Upholding Waldman's Contention in Picket Case; Strong, Who Called...
...With a little resourcefulness it should be possible to work out a practical plan for spreading the work over a five or six-day week without any immediate increase in cost to the city...
...Rev...
...Right to Picket , On the basis of all the evidence, Judge Walsh found that there had been no overt acts on the part of the unions or their representatives infringing any of the legal rights of the plaintiff, since the unions have the right to conduct • strike and to picket the premises sf the plaintiff...
...On this point, Judge Walsh said: "7n a struggle such as this, particularly where a strike is psnding, as there was here, filling runs high...
...fHE request of a millinery firm for a permanent injunction aftinst two local unions of the Cap and Millinery Department of the United Hatters, Can and Millinery Workers International Union (formerly the Cloth Hat, Cap aad Millinery Workers International Union), was denied this week by Justice Walsh of the N. Y. Supreme Court...
...Labor cannot willingly submit to a denial of the exercise of its legitimate righto," he declared...
...The court found that there was no evidence of any misconduct on the part of the unions to warrant the granting of an injunction...
...The decision is also of importance to the labor movement ^generally, because it demonstrates forcibly thg untrustworthiness of affidavits as a guide for judicial action in granting temporary injunctions...
...NEVERTHELESS, SOME PEOPLE, BOTH MEN AND WOMEN, CHOOSE TO DO IT AND APPARENTLY GET SOME THRILL OUT OP IT...
...It was on the basis of affidavits making unfounded charges of violence and intimidation that a drastic temporary injunction was issued against the unions, forbidding them for the past two years from picketing or carrying on any strike activities...
...Among others who spoke were Eli Keller, manager of the Associated Silk Workers...
...The United Hebrew Trades and the Labor Committee of the Socialist Party called a huge mass meeting at Union Square which was addressed by Norman Thomas, Morris Finestone of the United Hebrew Trades, Frank Crosswaith, Socialist candidate for president of the Board of Aldermen, Nathan Chanin of the Jewish Socialist Verband, Hyman Nemser of the Retail Clothing Salesmen's Union, Joseph Alef of the bakers' union, and the present labor editor of The New Leader...
...I-H ALLENTOWN, Pa.—Settlement of the strike in the Bernstein shirt manufactures in Northampton and this city is announced by D. J. Manos, manager of the shirtmakers' local of the ACWA...
...Vincent Murphy, N, J. secretary of the A. F. of L., and J. Yanarelli of the Dyers' Local...
...This has not been established...
...Justice Strong's classic opinion in 1927 contained the following gems of liberal thought: "PICKETING CAN HARDLY BE TERMED A MANLY OCCUPATION...
...FIGHT TO ELIMINATE SEVEN-DAY WEEK IN CITY DEPARTMENTS The fight to do away with the seven-day week for certain employees of departments in the New York City government was recently strengthened by the plea of John B. Andrews, secretary of the American Association for Labor Legislation, that a more sensible system be initiated...
...UNIONISTS STAGE MAY DEMONSTRATION IN PASSAIC COUNTY " i i> Iy Olga Sackaroff DATEB80N.—For the first time * in t}iis city organised labor held an impressive demonstration on Saturday, May 12, under the leadership of the Central Labor Union of Passaic County...
...Only through fighting and protesting can labor win public recognition of its rights...
...Commenting on the decision, in the absence of Waldman, now at the Canal Zone defending Corporal Robert Osman, accused of "Selling military secrets...
...Strong, Who Called Picketing ''Unmanly Occupation," Spurned by Lawyer's Association...
...Massing at Sandy Hill Park, about 4,000 union men and women marched through one of the main streets to Pennington Park, where they were addressed by leaders of the unions' which had participated...
...sent a telegram expressing his hearty accord with the protest against prohibition of peaceful picketing...
...Strong is infamous in labor and liberal circles as the jurist who issued a sweeping injunction last Auguste against picketing by the bakery workers' international union and who six years before that had granted a similar injunction against the same union, calling picketing an unmanly occupation indulged in by men and women apparently because they got some thrill out of it...
...Frank Kingdon, main speaker stirred the mass with a speech calling for better and more strongly organized unions, social insurance, and finally a real labor party...
...Probably those picketing do not realize that an attack in force against the weak is nothing to be proud of, nor that it is the privilege of every American to work in an unmolested manner and for whom and at such times as he may choose...
...Just why, or how, no man ean say...
...Such opposition as may develop from a few of the men now working the longer week is in my judgement not justified by history in the labor, movement, where the far-Beeing leaders long since inventeoV the jingle: Whether you work by the piece or work by the day, Decreasing the hours increases the pay...
...In the 1933 case, he cited Comrade Matthew M. Levy, counsel for the union, for contempt of court when Levy tried to get the hearing adjourned because he had received only the day previously a 66-page brief filed by the bakery bosses and hadn't had time to prepare an answer...
...When Strong, restraining Locals 505 and 509 of the Bakery and Confectionary Workers' Internation Union from picketing, condemned picketing as a public nuisance, "frequently leading to malicious mischief and sometimes, leading to disorderly conduct and violence," he aroused a storm of protest on the part of labor and the Socialist movement...
...Justice Thomas W. Churchill, who was then presiding •t Supreme Court, denied the application for an adjournment, issued a very drastic temporary injunction (which has been in effect since) and fined Comrade Waldman $250 for contempt of court in addition...
...The decision supports the contention made by Louis Waldman before the State Committee on the Administration of Justice that the issuance of temporary injunctions in labor disputes on the basis of affidavits must be abolished...
...I hope something effective can be done'tn our city government to do away with severr-day workers at a time when millions of unemployed are seeking jobs and subsisting through charity at the expense of -the taxpayers...
...A severe blow has been dealt at racketeering in the millinery industry...
...It was for this purpose that the millinery union, headed by President Max Zaritsky, ordered a general stoppage in the industry in Marcfe, 1932...
...This could be accomplished, Comrade Emery shows, by using four men on an average week of 42 hours instead of the present three working 56 hours at city plants which must operate continuously during the week...
...Peter Hoedemaker, local secretary of the Spcialist Party, presided at the meeting...
...The crowd which had been augmented by people who had come to hear the speeches cheered him continually and listened most intently...
...One of the purposes of the strike, it was shown, was to rid the millinery industry of racketeering...
...Encouraged by the response to this demonstration, plans are being made for another, probably on Labor Day...
...President William Green of the AFoL...
...Pickering Peaceful The action finally came on for trial a few weeks ago before Justice Walsh...
...After a trial in which witnesses were examined in open court, the charges were found to be entirely without foundation and the complaint dismissed...
...What Must Be Shown "To justify the injunctive relief here sought it must be ¦ ' shown that a course of conduct was adopted by the defendants which had for its object the destruction or at least the crippling of plaintiff's business and that pursuant thereto acts in furtherance of such objects were committed...
...State Senator Emerson Richards, a Republican candidate for governor, spoke about his efforts to pass the anti-injunction bill...
...The refusal came after hours of heated debate preceding adoption of a report by the association's judiciary committee characterizing Strong as lacking "those qualities of balanced judgement, sound discretion, understanding of the law, impartiality, patience and courtesy which are the fundamental requirements of a competent judge...
...Levy, in a statement to the public, and speaking not as counsel for the union but as a labor attorney and Socialist, called upon the workers of New York to protest so vigorously against the use of injunctions in labor disputes that the legislature would abolish such infamous practices altogether...
...David I. Ashe, an associate of Waldman, said: "The decision is a decisive victory for the unions because of the bitter fight which this employer has been waging against them for several years and which even the NRA did not cause this employer to abate, and particularly because this employer ran a 'protected shop,' hiring gangsters to prevent the shop from being unionized...
...The firm charged that the unions had conspired to injure its business and had called • strike during which there was "picketing, abuse and intimidation of the plaintiff's employees and various acts of assault and violence...
...Frances Gorman, of the United Textile Workers...
...Strikers' and non-strikers and their respective sympathizers are opt to hurl epithets at one another, which not infrequently result in brawls...
...Although the fact is not generally known, despite the attempts of Socialists to broadcast it, the municipality, which should be a model employer, works its stationary engineers seven eight-hour days per week (a total of 56 hours...
...When a motion for a temporary injunction came on to be heard on June 3, 1932, Louis Waldman, counsel for the unions, asked for an adjournment on the ground that the papers had been served on him only the night before and he had not had the time to prepare the necessary papers in Opposition...
...However, when he began to make what appeared to be a personal appeal, he was interrupted by cries of "no politics, no politics I" Kingdon held the audience throughout his speech and received the greatest applause...
...If the exercise of labor's rights is curtailed or prohibited by judicial decree or otherwise, the opportunity to increase wages and improve their economic and social status is materially weakened if not altogether destroyed...
...A. J. Emery, secretary of the Federation of Civil Service Eligibles, has drafted a plan whereby competent unemployed engineers now on the civil service list can be given employment, over half a million dollars can be saved to the city for use among the unemployed, and excessive hours among city employes can be done away with...
...The union showed that its picketing was peaceful and orderly and that it were not responsible for any violence...
...An interesting incident showed the tenor of the crowd...
...The unions also charged that the corporation ran a "protected shop"—that is, a shop in which the employees were nonunion and the employer, for the purpose of preventing the unionisation of its plant, hired gangsters to intimidate his...
...One of the problems which has interested our association," Anddrews wrote, "was that of sevenday workers in our city government...
...The.judge found pit the firm was paying money to "persons other than its employees" for the purpose of preventing unionization...
...The Socialist Party has never abated in its attacks upon Strong, among other judges, for his notorious anti-union bias...
...workers and keep them from joining the onion and also to intimidate anion representatives from attempting unionization...
...There is 110 4oubt there were a number of these during the progress of the strike, but the evidence, fails to show that they were Jjm result of any conspiracy IP the part of the defendants.or that the defendants authorized or even ratified same...
...The firm, Paylay Hats, Inc., applied for the injunction in June, 1982...
...Invariably some lawlessness results...
...SUPREME COURT JUSTICE SELAH B. STRONG, notorious anti-labor and injunction-' dealing judge, was this week refused the endorsement of the 'Brooklyn Bar Association for renomination in the Second Judicial District...
Vol. 17 • May 1934 • No. 20
