PROMOTION DEPARTMENT NOTES OF LOCAL N. Y.
Fruchter, Henry
Radio Factory Workers, Reinforced Sympathizers, Defy Police; Rouse Bronx By Harold Draper "Get Dillinger—Leave Us Alone!" Demonstrators Urge Cops; Harrassed Guards Beg Pickets Not to Mount...
...We'll Lick Comeli-DubUier and Organize the Trade," Bill Beedie Swears...
...is especially important because, the...
...Ben Fiwhet of tae-Yeuag People's Socialist League closed the meeting with an appeal to tbM young people -j In Lint Bvsry Day I *j Beedie announced that the mast' picketing would be continued every,, day at 4 p.m...
...The union has been,ij*j»v-« ing to confer with official* of the United Dry Docks and the Todd Shipyards Corporation for sons time, but the corporations have been dodging the union after violating an agreement made on Ne>,, vember 24, Bennett declared...
...One Victory Already Won...
...j ''Seven: Overtime »helLbe paid for at the rats oi' time snd a hall, for the first:two hours and dsalble pay for all overtime in efeoaigoj ithat period...
...The problem of confining the strike to shops and mills actually covered by the jurisdiction of the three locals—ILGWU Local 155 and UTW Locals 165 and 2085— will be left to a subcommittee of the ILGWU and the general strike committee...
...A special membership meeting ol all iron and bronze workers ol Local 466 will be held on Friday (July 18) at the Rand School, 1 East 16th.Street, N. Y.jC...
...ThrMuLttrojn sod- welder* |nd autotn-*4*rVrlvirttW' Shall be paid not leas than $1 per bousviw "Four: All other mechanic»,«bali be paid not less than 84 cent* peg hour...
...morning in order io make effective the decision of the Regional Lab r Board which favors the striker...
...Harrassed Guards Beg Pickets Not to Mount Patrol Wagon...
...Take the Lexlngtoiy IRT, White Plains train, to mtM St...
...not less than their previous rate of wages...
...After -a committee of the union, led by Comrades Beedie and including Comrade Thomas, went in to present their demands to the employers, the mass picketing, began...
...t*y' settle labor disputes will have beep2 definitely proved," he added- - "The fight on CorneU-DuhUJepJ...
...Strike...
...Forty hours .shall constitute S week's work...
...A last-minute conference between the Joint Council and the Metropolitan Knitted Textile Association has been arranged, but little hope is held out for averting the strike...
...Radio Factory Workers, Reinforced Sympathizers, Defy Police...
...tho cops were invited to "Go get Dillinger...
...If Blake, who,,] Is president of tllf Wl^m iWrisij tion of tbe.NJBMA Code, hTHca^n...
...The arrival of the police van was greeted with mock cheers, and they struck up-the song, "The wagon's waiting for us, we shall not be moved...
...2 Beedie at the time warned tfcftj employer that the case would a§y sumo national importance, "If v»k...
...The victorious dress strike in the fall, when a membership of 10,000 brought 80,000 workers into the union, and completely organized the industry, is seen as ft harbinger of victory in the knit goods field...
...But since two hundred yelling marchers could not fit into one van, the cops, pleading with the picketers not to mount the patrol wagon, were forced to .turn the line back to the sidewalk...
...lost Spit* at Labor Board The radio workers, under the leadership of Organizer William Beedie, have been on strike at the Corhell-Dubflier plant for the past eeven months...
...singing "Solidarity Forever" and "On the Picket Line," the strikers shouted to the scab workers to join their ranks...
...with Mm...
...and walk three blocks west '1 A meeting of 200 strikers l«att week rejected peace overtures¦..ptj the employer, calling them *n *>j tempt to nullify the decision ©/jSt*!labor board...
...Plant'Number One employs 800 and Plant Number Four 80 men, all of whom walked out...
...The strikers, however, declare that^they will, .continue the walkout unless the Arm also accedes to the union's wage demands., " Two Long Island Plants The General Bronze Corporation, with plants at 480 Hancock Street, Astoria, and 0618 43rd Street, Corona, L. I., manufactures bronze work for buildings, statuary, etc...
...Final preparations for the general strike have been virtually completed, although the date is yet in abeyance...
...Included was Maynard Krueger, member of the NEC, Will Go to Court The committee finally emerged from the building, and the demonstrators massed in an adjacent lot to hear the report Beedie announced that the manager had defiantly refused to carry out the Regional Boards decision, and had further stated that if the* National Labor Board upheld it, he would drag the case into the federal courts and fight to the limit...
...Shortly after the mass picket demonstration, Beedie appeared with a closed shop contract which the Insuline Corporation, of Park Place, N. Y., had signed with the union...
...A carload of emergency police attempted to break up the mass picket line, but the cops were literally swept aside by the workers, who re-formed their lines and went back into action...
...signing up, jj the rest...
...Although many of the 18,000 knit goods workers in the trade are not yet organized, it is felt that the unity and harmony in the ranks of the workers since the settlement of the grave jurisdictional dispute between the ILGWU and the UTW assure, the success of the strike...
...Leave us alone...
...Eight: When men are laid off for lack of work, such men should be given prior consideration in reemployment, at...
...Yipsels circulated among the groups of young people watching the pickets, urging them to join in...
...All Socialists and labor ays*., § pathjzers sre urged to turn out i&J full force...
...Only the presence of the Communist so-called i Knit Goods Work, ers Industrial Union, which "continues its dual opposition tactics and tries to split the workers," prevents complete unity, speakers at the membership meeting declared, but the enrollment in this organization is so negligible as to prevent any Interference in the job of organizing workers Bronze Workers, 100% Out, Push L.I...
...When tho strike call went out, last Monday, the men came out unanimously, fhtjr hsve Mem picketing- since...
...The Socialists in the union are active in the fight against Walinsky and for a democratic and aggressive organization...
...Fight Three hundred men—employes in the mechanical departments of the General Bronze Corporation with plants in Astoria and Corona, Long Island—will encage in mass picketing of the two plantsJUondsy...
...Eleanore M. Herrick presiding, The board then ruled that the company must Recognize the union, and ordered officials to dp so...
...The strike has been a militant one...
...All work dene-ea laK urdays, Sundays and holidays shall be paid for at double the usual rate...
...We know," said Beedie, "that we can't get anything from them unless we fight for it," and he pointed out that the union had to wage an aggressive struggle, not only because the immediate livelihood oi' hundreds of strikers is involved but also because it was fighting for the cause of labor all over the country, against the oppression of the bosses and the impotence of the NRA...
...In spite of tremendous obstacles— no ftinds, a new union, inexperienced workers, no local headquarters, and the length of time of the strike—only eleven out of approximately 300 strikers have gone back to work...
...The Regional Labor Board handed down a decision stating that the strike wag justifiable, and ordering that all strikers be reinstated, that new workers be discharged, that an election be held to determine the workers' representatives, and that the employer bargain collectively with the workers and their union...
...many workers have "been arrested" and"several jailed...
...If s strike occurs, all otherAFoL maritime unions will W called upon to Join...
...It is therefore clear that turning our demands over to a factfinding commission is but a camouflage, throwing sand into one's eyes...
...Agreements expire today, and from the temper of the union members attending the meeting, there was little doubt that the actions of the Joint Council which called the meeting would be overwhelmingly approved...
...Six: Eight hours shall eonsti* tute a day's work—iron 8 ami'id 5 p.m...
...for he is the spearhead oJ^J the attack on our attempt to °Jh<^ ganize the 12,000 workers in tft$3| industry and to win decent flondfeji tions for the employes in the rsoWij trade.*', SHIPYARD, WORKERS THREATEN STRIKE TO FORCE NEGOTIATIONS A strike of 20,000 workers fo,, Brooklyn, Staten Island and Hp.bokeji shipyards is likely by,the endof the month unless employers^ agree to confer with the, union* Herbert Bennett, president of tf|S Marin* Workers Metal Trades ML trie...
...William H. Pope, vice-president of the In* ternational Association of Bridge, Structural and' Ornamental Iron and Bronze Workers, has been spokesman for the workers, who belong to Shopmen's Local No...
...The men, who walked out last Monday 100 per cent following a decision to strike unleas their demands were granted, voted at ,a masa meeting Thursday night to stay out' until all their, just demands were granted...
...TJflf old National Labor Board and the Regional Labor Board have been doing nothing but giving the woHP ers "the national run-around," hs" added, urging Roosevelt to intsf^ vene...
...Among the picketers were* several prominent Socialists visiting tfrff ctty to -attend a meeting-of the NEC sub-committee oh the referendum...
...No one who has worked for three years in the trade .shall be considered an apprentice...
...It is but a clever scheme to shed responsibility for giving up i Our demands and to throw it upon . a fact-finding commission," Tho statement by Walinsky that his task in returning to the union is done,, since "he has given back to the workers a union and has secured their bread" was derided by the committee...
...for the first five days is the > week...
...must be called and the resignations of the union conference committee and of Walrnsky as the union's Joint Council of Two Unions Will Lead Strike to Organize 18,000 Knit Goods Workers for Better Conditions A mass meeting of workers in the New York knit goods industry was in session at Webster Hall to vote on strike demands as The New Leader went to press...
...The committee represents a combination of elements aiming to rid the union of this former official, who was accused of viciously selling out the union and who then became "labor adviser" to the big manufacturing house with which he was alleged to have had secret connections while still a union official...
...until the strike was' won...
...7 The council Is affiliated with tW AFoL...
...The general unemployment crisis in the industry, which the present) 40-hour week has not overcome, and the drastic wage cuts which have not been restored, are only too well known and do not require investigation," the committee declares...
...But the strikers' have, discovered the impotence of the board in face of the bosses' defiance of its decisions, especially since the NRA boards have no power to enforce their rulings...
...Union demands include the 35-hour week, classifications for skilled labor, impartial machinery and all other labor provisions embodied in the cloak and dress agreements...
...In one of the dramatic moments of the demonstration, the pickets showed their contemptuous disregard of attempts at police repression by marching en masse up to the Black Maria and trying to get aboard...
...A strike of 18,000 workers under the auspices oi' the Joint Council of knit goods locals of tho International' Ladies' Garment Workers' Union and the United Textile Workers of America is therefore a certainty, unless the manufacturers yield...
...Yelling "Don't scab...
...Council, has warned President Roosevelt...
...Two: Finisher* and blacksmiths shall be paid not less then 11-26 per hour...
...We're in favor of Section TA of the NRA if it means anything/ Bennett maintained, "but why not enforce Itf' We demand union ree...
...month* thereafter...
...1 1 JtrjQTTl msmhrrtniir masting...
...1 "Fivei Apprentices shall be paid 40 cents per hdUr for the first six Months, with an increase of 16 cents per hour every six...
...The general strike committee will consistol' the Joint Council and all shop chairmen, headed by International Vice-Presidents Salvatore Ninfo, Charles S. Zimmerman and Harry Greenberg, Abolition of overtime and the double shift, the establishment of a |50 scale for operator* and 840 for knitters, and limitation of the machine -load for knitters, are among the special demands...
...of the International Association...
...It proves graphically the necessity for militant organization, for stauneh support of the union and for aggressive carrying on of the strike.'' ~ The ""demonstralion-b^aTr^wtttr a rally across the street at which Norman Thomas and Beedie spoke...
...TWO hundred ringing, snuutlng strikers end sympathizers on Wednesday picketed the CornellDubilier plant in«the Broni,' New York, as their answer to the company's defiance of the Radio Factory Workers Union and cynical disregard of the decisions of the NRA Regional Labor Board...
...we'll hsve no trouble...
...The firm refused, and the worker* thereupon, at subsequent meetings, voted 98 per cent in favor of a strike...
...inevitable result here, fhs^ inadequacy of NRA • egencto...
...Where such men are not available, additional men most be employed through the office of Local 466...
...employer be allowed deftsstly to i 1 flout all impartial attempts at St* 1 {titration, and to defy two unsni.^ mou* rulings and findings of the - Regional Labor Board, a nars-PsV, similar to the situation in Toledo,, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis rosy be the...
...J 10 other large condenser nu»nui*»ft)rj turers in New York are wstoblnsjyt development* there...
...On June -27, the union conferred with John Polacheck, president oi the corporation, and presented its demands...
...The Progressive Anti-Walinsky Committee lists these demands as a 36-hour week and a 10% wage increase...
...The demands of the employee inthe mechanical department of the General Bronze Corporation, who in many cases are not receiving a living wage, follow: Demands, Listed "One: All employes shall be recognized as members of Local.No, 46S...
...ognition, higher wages end shorts* hours," WALINSKY'S "DEMANDS" CALLED "CAMOUFLAGE" BY UNION'S PROGRESSIVES Charging that the administration of the International Pocketbook Workers Union, in demanding the creation oi a "fact-finding commission" at the recent Washington hearings, is merely camouflaging its abandonment of the union's real demands, the organized antiWalinsky forces in the union have issued a new appeal to the membership to repudiate Ossip Walirisk* and to fight for genuine leadership...
...On Friday representatives of the,union met officials of the firm before the Regional Lsber Boarl...
...This contract can be reckoned a direct result of the effectiveness of the Bronx mass picketing," he said...
...Toward the end of this meeting, a truckman who came to the factory was persuaded to turn his truck back when he learned of the strike...
Vol. 17 • July 1934 • No. 77
