Rubber Workers Set for Big Fight
Rubber Workers Set for Big Fight 30,000 Cleaners Vote Walkout; Army of Dressmakers Are Idle; Big Cloakmakers' Strike Looms Dress Stoppage Of 15,000 Halts 400 Plants Union Leaders Charge...
...The 'dynamic* principle' which guides Hitler Geem * n v embodies unrestrained demand for power and the avarice wits wiD to armament...
...RECORD OF THE VOTE . T H E SOCIALISTS POLLED 38.015 VOTES AS AGAINST 37.882 IN MAY, 1933, DESPITE THE FEARFUL NAZI TERROR, WHILE THE COMMUNISTS RECEIVED 7,990 AS COMPARED WITH 14.566 LAST YEAR...
...To add to the fantastic srrnation comes the fact that this attack follows i n mediately oesa the aaaseacesseet that the t u p • • i s— are planning t o organise the sweated sad Iridseusty employed workers in the bis department •torso...
...Post (Levinson): Unions demand pay rises j u s t to cover dues...
...Goodovitch story...
...The result was definitely a aural blow to the Hitler regime and all it stands for...
...A committee of 50 has been set up to make all t h e necessary arrangements...
...The members of the rubber unions have voted 9 to 1 in favor of a strike, and if Secretary of Labor Perkins, who arrives in Akron on Thursday, is not successful in her mediation a bitter struggle will begin...
...DANZIG...
...Connecticut facing What % ^ ^ ^ 4 h e T 4 ° l 5 dress Hne...
...an organization of the big departsawst stores...
...The campaign of t h e jobbers is directed primarily against the provisions under which they have been made responsible for the maintenance of wage and working standards and which limit the number of contractors they may employ...
...THERE g BUT ONE GUARANTEE AGAINST AN ATTACK BY SUCH A REGIME—ITS DESTRUCTION...
...It ia reported t h a t the cracking-down began when the Retail Clothing Salesmen's Union, Local 717, called a s t r i k e on John David, a large chain ef men's clothing stores, and that the David stores and t h e management of Ohrbach's, large advertisers both, ordered t h e New York dailies t o s t a r t t he campaign to wipe out the two talesmen's onions...
...SHEBOYGE.V—By the election of William Haack the Socialist P a r t y doubled its representation in t h e Board of Aldermen...
...Ora B. Chapman of Dayton resigned as president of t h e Federation, and William M. Morgan of Newark, member of the Musicians' Union, succeeded him...
...permitted, to foster an auction-block system .of labor price-fixing among-the contractors, ,the Union succeeded, in 1933, in placing upon the jobber the same responsibility for .work condition* as assumed by every bona fide manufacturer in t h e industry...
...The anion points out t h a t collections of dose to 1250,000 from the em players fox various violations of the anion agreement daring t h e p a s t year i n dicates widespread "chiseling...
...elusion that the writers were not interested in finding the union's answers to charges made against t hem by their enemies...
...MINE WORKERS STRIKE TEMPORARILY AVERTED...
...These facts are sufficient to prove that the campaign against t h e unions that have won such s t r i k i ng gains for their members s t a r t e d f r om one source, t h a t i t is no mere coincidence that three newspapers began at exactly t he same moment t o assail organizations of labor with identical material...
...The conference supported the Ohio Federation of Teachers' bill -to set a minimum of tl ,000 as the annual salary, the teachers tenure hill, and demands labor representation in t h e minimum wage division of t h e Ohio Department el Industrial Relations...
...of the 1933 contract,' jobbers' responsibility and contractor limitation, which alone a r e r e - fponaible for t h e present relative stability in the coat and suit i n dustry...
...Union primarily interested in collecting $1 dues...
...Saturday, April 6 World - Telegram (Woltman): Allegations of stench-bomb violence...
...Gains Won by Hard Fighting These gains were won by- hard fighting...
...J n fact, an hour before t h e conference opened,- they issued an official public ultimatum in which they expressed in advance their unalterable stand with regard to the agreement even before the -Union had a n opportunity to present its p r o p o s a l s concerning changes in the agreement, i' "After years of chaos in the cloak industry, created mainly by the fact t h a t t h e jobber would have no responsibility for work conditions in his contracting shops and because he was...
...The stronger she becomes the less will *** be inclined to be moved by the spirit of peace...
...Monday, April 7 All papers report t h a t President Green is investigating conditions in the two locals with a view of revoking their charters...
...B. Nelson, incumbent, supported by t h e Democrats, Republicans a nd Progressives...
...During that picketing the two A. F. of h. unions kept their hands off...
...The Socialists retained control of the school board of West A11 is...
...The vote for Norman Thomas for President in 1932 was 63,379...
...But with the much-ballyhooed Ohrbach "settlement" they began organization, for real union conditions...
...This is t h e usual antiunion slander of all labor-haters...
...I n addition t o substantially increased wages aad decent shop conditions the union has won for t h e clerks a working week of 48 hours, phis a guarantee of t en months employment each year— something h i t h e r t o unheard of in the trade—-aad one week's vacation each year with full pay...
...Wodsworth at Buffalo May Day Celebration BUFFALO...
...The very printers on the "liberal" newspapers who set type on the stories by the "radical" reporters deploring the "high" dues themselves pay dues to their union of about $20 a month...
...The issue is one which is vital to American labor and In which the workers of the nation are tremendously interested...
...High" dues...
...The installation of the Joint Board and officers of the ladies' garment workers in Cleveland last week was more than an ordinary gathering...
...Formerly the men earned only commissions of 5%, or $25 t o $30 a week...
...The Communists were able to assemble exactly 821 for t h e i r candidates...
...The abolition of .he industry's code several months ago, when all service codes were abandoned, brought the industry to a state of chaos...
...elected to the Milwaukee school board, polled 35,256 votes to 34.998 for the highest Non-Partisan who failed of election...
...Such things are not coincidences...
...Encouraged by t h e growing brazenness of employers in all indust r i e s in their assaults on union labor and t h e government's failure to enforce NRA codes and t h e collective bargaining provision of the National Industrial Recovery Act, employers in t h e garment industry are now openly making war against the whole...
...We know that is merely an evasion, because by t h e time the investigation got under way the season would be finished "Whole sections of the industry, and particularly the jobbers have been using everything from double and even triple sets of books to barefaced misrepresentation of price lines to put t h e i r fingers into t h e pay envelopes of t h e workers...
...The story is told in the papers as though the reporters had dug up the facts simultaneously...
...Here is what the Daily Worker reports the Communist-led strike won for the Ohrbach people: No union recognition...
...Tie-Up in Cleaning and Dyeing Industri Ordered in Drive on Chain Stores April 23 Set for Walk-out—Union and Retailers Con bine to Save Industry from Chaos—Demand Stabiti zation, and Wage and How Improvements...
...Neqotictions to Benin Negotiations a r e n6w to b e begun with the Industrial Council of Cloak, Suit and Skirt Manufacturers, who operate the so-called "inside" shops, to be followed by conferences with the American Cloak and Suit Manufacturers, the contractors' organisation...
...The conference indorsed* the Hunter-Hesse bill...
...The presence of t h e private guards and scabs is an i r r i t a tion and a provocation for which the rubber companies are responsible...
...it was a demonstration of a well-disciplined labor army of about 3,000 men and women...
...The workers affected include operators and finishers...
...on Friday the three I papers moved on to another terr a i n ; on Saturday all three discovered something else, as they did' on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday...
...A mass meeting is to be held in Orioles Hall, 558 Genesee St., a t which the drive for the 30-hour week will be emphasized...
...Camp Tamiment a t t h e special rate 'Liberal' Newspapers Join the Bosses In 'Crack Down' on Clerks' Unions Retail Clerks Assailed by Employers, Communists a a d "Liberals" When They Announce Drive to Organize the Big Scores...
...Over 30,000workers are employed in the' industry, and Coleman Claherty...
...Strikes called without consulting clerks...
...Since then, t h a n k s principally t o t h e limitation of contractors' clause, the coat and suit industry has undergone a n astounding change for t he .better, in spite of adverse indust r i a l conditions, insofar as uniformity of labor costs, equal treatment of the workers in t h e inside and the outside shops, and other work standards a r e concerned As a master of common fairness and justice t o all of .the factors in t he industry, the jobber, under the collective agreement, a t last admitted his true s t a t u s a s a direct employer of labor...
...The two unions have been organizing the underpaid and overworked retail salespeople in New York for several years...
...The strike will be directed primarily against chain stores who in recent months have been beating down wages, cutting prices and destroying all working standards to a degree which has brought complete chaos in t h e industry...
...According to Mr...
...Clerks not consulted on strikes...
...It is s s much a f tiesi iiinsat tribunal as a r e t h e courts crest s i by Act of Congress...
...Hochman said that the ultimate goal of the union i s . t o introduce the unit system of settling prices on the jobbers' premises, to regi s t e r and limit contractors, on t he principle applied in the coat and...
...It is not true that the charge was racketeering," as any reporter seeking the t r u t h could have found out by making a telephone call...
...Katovtky reviewed t h e struggles of the last two years, when a handful of devoted members of weakened locals of operators, cutt e r s and pressers decided to organize the thousands of dressmakers in t h e silk and cotton dress industry...
...MORE than 15,000 dressmaker* in New York shops have quit work without, however, leaving the establishments, in a stoppage designed t o force readjustment ot work prices...
...The employes of these rubber manufacturing corporations have utilized the instrumentalities of the Government in a n effort to secure their rights and the free exercise of their rights, have won their case in the Government t r i bunals created by Act of Congress, have offered to abide by the decision of the National Labor Relations Board and have appealed to t h e management of the rubber manufacturing corporations to do likewise...
...Thousands of them have pledged the union their support and active cooperation, realising' that only in such a policy is t h e r e a n y hope for the industry at all...
...The break came when the reprei sentatives of the jobbers' associaI tion declared that they would rei fuse to renew the agreement on ! t h e old terms...
...The principal speaker will be J . S. Woodsworth, M.P., Chairman of t h e Cooperative Commonwealth Federation of' C a n a d a The Cent r a l Labor Council of Buffalo has been invited to send a speaker, and t h e r e will be an anti-fascist speaker on the program...
...Strikes have been called in every part of the city, pickets have been assaulted and often arrested...
...hi this connection, the German Social Democracy has made ck*' its position in the striking manifesto of its executive competes published exclusively in last week's New Leader...
...It is interesting to note that both "liberal" papers have carried signed stories from the beginning of the campaign, t h e World-Telegram, a Scripps-Howard paper, having its stories signed by Frederick E. Woltman...
...general manager of the Cleaners' and Dyers' Union, which will direct the struggle...
...From the first day they began to appear there was* a curious parallel among them...
...Announcement of the s t r i k e decision was made this week by Joseph Efrat...
...The crackdown began promptly thereafter...
...The union dues are $4 a month, by no means high as compared to other unions, and required to build the necessary funds to carry on the organizing- campaigns and to ta'ke care of strikers and unemployed...
...suit industry, and to increase jobber responsibility for wage and working standards in contractor shops...
...Martin C. Baumann...
...In the face of the victories for their workers the Retail Clothing Salesmen's Union and the Retail Cloak, Suit, Dress and F a r Salespeople's Uniop have won As curious united front that Is jjataag --aw* » down upon them assumes fantastic •shape...
...Hoar and Woae Demand gemot ns - I k e deadlock which threatened t h e strike on April 1, when t he agreement expired, was caused by t h e refusal of the operators to .grant t h e 30-hour week and certain wage increases demanded by t he miners...
...Everything in the whole series of articles points t o mutual preparation and collusion...
...A lively discussion developed when the delegates found on the program two hills for unemployment insurance, one sponsored by the Cleveland Federation of Labor and the other by t h e S l a t e Executive Committee of t h e Ohio Federation of Labor...
...The two...
...Labor will not shrink from nor evade the discharge of its duty...
...When the strike goes " into effect, we will paralyze the entire industry, so t h a t the chain store plants- will be forced to comply with t h e general welfare or get out of business...
...Efrat, the cleaning a n d dyeing industry provided a fair Irving for about 30,000 families up until about two years, ago, when t h e existing cut-throat competition and wage-slashing began...
...THERE CAN BE NO GUARANTEE AGAINST AND NO CONTROL OF GERMAN REARMAMENT...
...In fact, it was quite the proper thing for literateurs to desert their penthouse cocktail parties and "new theatre" actors to desert their audiences to "picket"—while newsreel cameras ground out pictures later to be shown a t various Communist movie houses...
...The "victory parade'' which they k*d prepared had to be cancelled, and while their hand conawes to weigh heavily upon the city, which is under the supergjkjsa of the League of Nations, they have suflcied an a innatehk moral blow which is bcund to have most important political repercussions in Germany and encourage the forces outside of Csnasny to resist the foreign ambitions of Hitlerism...
...Eight organisations will cooperate in t h e celebration of May Day t h i s year—the Socialist P a r t y , Proletarian Party of Buffalo, Young Poale-Zionist League, Labor-Zionist Association, City Committee of the Workmen's Circle, and t h r e e branches of the Workmen's Circle...
...NRA and union structure...
...Port (Levinson): Allegations of stench-bomb violence...
...Another example: On Thursday both Levimon and Woltman as' well as the Evening Journal discovered that Nat Levine, business manager of Local 107, had proposed to an employer named Goodovitch that he cut wages $10 a week in order that a union campaign ot organization might result in restoration of the wage cut, to the credit of the union...
...Local 717, the retail salesmen of men's clothing, have won a minimum of $36 a week, plus commissions...
...The National Labor Relations Board wss c r e s t e d b y Act of Congress...
...That zmnifesto warned Europe that there can be no peace with •Wer, that any treaties concluded with his government would be scraps of paper, that o n l y the overthrow of the Hitler regime can make aacuic the peace of Europe...
...no wage increases...
...A resolution for a 40-hour week f a r women .in industry was adopted...
...According to Mr...
...Our agreement calls for payment to operators of , 9 0 cents an hour...
...The Cleveland bill—the Duffy bill—would provide for unemployment indemnity for all unemployed domestic, farm, professional and casual workers for the entire period of unemployment...
...wrote Haas Rheinlander, distin| flashed German Socialist, in fats illuminating account of ate internal political situation in Germany in The Mew 1 nadcr |aj| week...
...The hours are now fixed at 48 p e r week as compared to 66 to 70 in ordinary t i m e s and 90 i n r a s h perL~_is...
...Goodovitch story...
...Emergency Convention The emergency convention of t he Ohio State Federation of Labor is the second one of its kind in Ohio labor history...
...The interests of t he workers and t h e retailers,.who a re in reality poor workers themselves, a r e identical in t h i s fight...
...I t remains to be seen how these two associations will now react...
...The coatract o i s have thu- far maintained an a t t i t u d e of watchful waiting- The jobbers, however, remain the key to the situation...
...It uss bshaved inevitable that this failure would have important nwurcussions on both Germany and Europe...
...The charge against Nemser was organizing a dual union...
...The stoppage was ordered by t h e J o i n t Board of the Dressmakers' Union after failure of negotiations with the employer...
...Andrew J. Birmiller iC,»7» 'Glen Turner polled 28,745 votes in Milwaukee city and 37,236 in t h e county...
...Normah Heppel is secretary of t h e arrangements committee which is meeting a t p a r t y headquarters every Thursday, evening...
...107, had consistently refrained from easing a s t r i k e in Ohrbach's for union recognition during tke long Communist-led strike in order not to confuse the public and to avoid the appearance of striking against workers oa s t r i k e , although the two organizations appeal to different sets of workers in the store...
...Summarizing his story of Use election, John Elliott, cor re-1 •oadent of the Herald Tribune, cabled from Danzig: "COMPETENT NON-GERMAN OBSERVERS IN THIS CITY EXPRESSED THE BELIEF THAT IF THE ELECTIONS HAD BEEN CONDUCTED IN A FAIR MANNER, AS IN SOME DEMOCRATIC STATE, THE NAZIS WOULD HAVE LOST THEIR MAJORITY IN THE DIET...
...Post (Levinson): Union organises store employers, too...
...In many cases the battles have not been pretty fights, with charges and counter-charges of violence...
...With some variations, here are t h e union conditions t h a t have been won: Big Gains Won All stores and chains of stores t h a t signed up with one or'another of t h e unions have granted a closed union shop, with union conditions of sanitation, wash rooms, rest periods, e tc Local 107, covering cloak, suit and dress stores, mainly women's apparel, won for its women and girl members a minimum wage of $20 a week, plus commissions...
...UBS was not, however, the issue in last week's election...
...Eight of t h e wholesale plants a re operated directly by the chain stores...
...A comparison between the Socialist vote and t h a t polled by t he Communists is interesting...
...TurnerVoteMay Reach 150,000 in Wisconsin Socialist Judicial C r - M f r Vt Polls Record Socialist Vote of AH Time jyjILW^JKEE.—C l e n n P . Tur"2nd,\a?o<W»g to incomplete reWkb precincts missing— mostly in t h e r u r a l sections where the vote is relatively light—Turner polled 105.457 to 173,674 for Geo...
...At least, so it is believed ia well informed quarters...
...Labor niust know whether corporations a r e more powerful than the Government...
...John L. Lewis, president of the United Mine Workers, l e - clared t h e acceptance of the t r a ce by the onion did n o t indicate that t h e shorter work-week a a d higher pay demand had been withdrawn...
...The manufacturers' association has proposed an investigation into shop conditions and chiseling...
...and "radical" writers began...
...AJftgagh the Nazis.gamed 3Q,0QQ votes, the election demonstrated that the Nazi spell is broken, that Hitlerism has lost its aid glamor and appeal and that seme 95,000 voters had the courage t o CUSt their ballots against Hitler as compared with...
...The Union, however", will not yield an iota, on t h i s fundamental issue...
...For mis the Nazis required a two-thirds majority...
...MORAL BLOW TO HITLER Despite use whirlwind campaign waged by the Nazis, with •II the accompaniment and accoutrements of Nazi political concoct, including participation by their biggest "guns," Goring, Goebfoeis...
...I t was when the Conrrrmnist lad strike was over that Local 107 called its strike for anion condition...
...Coming in the midst of preparations for the Strata conference, at which a program of action with respect to Hitler Germany's war preparations is to be discussed, the Danzig election •est be regarded as a severe blow to Hitler's foreign policy *>d bis sabre rattling...
...It is a fact that Nemser was expelled...
...They believe they can force the .Unipn to give tip these two cheri s h e d gain...
...Everything ia the articles paints to t h e eon...
...It was a celebration of splendid victories and of struggles for the r i ^ h t of the workers to organize...
...Four Socialist supervisors Were re-elected...
...In an article commenting on that manifesto the "Neuer Vorofficial organ of the German Socialists, now published * Karlsbad, and smuggled by the thousands into Germany, declares: "It is a delation to believe that any military concessions, **ds to the Hitler regime will appease the system's will to •t I• i niuu...
...are es• * timated to control, through their c o n t r a c t i n g shops, about 50'v ef t h e manufacture of coats and suits in the New 'York market...
...U/HAT may prove one of the brtt e r e s t and hardest fought strikes in this city in a long time will go into effect April 23, when 30,000 dyers and cleaners, including 10,(XXr workers in wholesale dyeing and cleaning plants and 20,000 small retail store proprietors, will begin a stoppage of t he industry in the determination to compel improvements of existing wage, price and working conditions...
...The demands of the union call for a S30 weekly minimum, a 36hour week and a guarantee of wage payments...
...Efrat said: "This coming fight will be not only to win better conditions for t h e men in the wholesale plants, but also to stabilize the industry as a whole...
...The Retail Cloak, Suit, Dress and Fur Salespeople's Union, Less...
...I n calling the stoppage "a dispute over prices" instead of a strike, union officials admitted, they have sought to avoid t h e charge of violating existing collective agreements...
...b y John Powers T H E battle continues...
...In the old days there was no limit t o t h e number of contractors to whom the- jobbers farmed out their work on the auction block principle...
...President Claherty and his aids a r e organising flying squadrons oi pickets in preparation for the •struggle, and he has declared that the open shop—a big s t a k e in t he struggle—will have an important effect on t h e steel, automobile and other big industries where the open shop and company unionism a r e maintained...
...Picketing has "worked havoc" with business of stores...
...Neither the old slogans and catchwords, nor the terronzabon of the electorate, nor die appeals of die 'Poorer' from Berlin, sufficed to move the requiiite portion of the population to support cf Hitler...
...It is significant that no such campaign of misrepresentation, prejudice and plain lying was ever started against the Communist-led Office Workers' Union...
...The union is determined to held its positions, however, knowing that what happens in New York will affect the garment industry in other cities a n d will have Ma repercussions on all other needle trades...
...a Milwaukee suburb...
...The workers in Akron will strike for t h e enforcement of the decision...
...The onion instructed its members in t h e shops affected not to leave t h e i r posts but to refuse to work until an adjustment had been made...
...stores ruined by pickets...
...Later, it is reported, they were joined by t h e powerful Fifth Avenue As* sue ia tion...
...It would be self-deception to believe that such a regime f*° be brought into harmony with a collective understanding ** Peace...
...Woltman is said to be a Trotskyite, while Levinson has been a prominent member' of the so-called "militant" caucus of the local Socialist Party...
...A' similar stoppage is to t a k e place in shops manufactu r - ing dresses selling for $3.75...
...They will neither surrender nor compromise...
...In Akron both c a n i t y a r e preparing for a struggle...
...Some were already inclined to liken 'the battle of Danzig' sot to Waterloo, but to the Battle of Moscow, which marked As turn of the Napoleonic tide," the correspondent adds...
...All Labor Forces of Ohio Mobilize for Struggle •y Sidney Telle* CSpecial to The Sew Leader) CLEVELAND.—With an upheaval of the workers in three rubber plants at Akron and an emergency convention of the Ohio State Federation of Labor meeting in Columbus last Sunday, organized workers of the state are on the march...
...Journal: Allegations of violence...
...THE D A i t Z X r ELECTION CONFIRMS HANS RHEINLANDER'S REPORT OF THE SPLENDID LOYALTY WHICH THE RANK AND FILE OF THE GERMAN SOCIAL DEMOCRACY CONTINUES TO GIVE THE PARTY...
...That means that the rubber workers must do through a strike what the Government can not do for them-.— force the rubber manufacturing corporations to accept and abide by the decision of the National Labor Relations Board...
...Hochman the agreements permit the union to demand a readjustment of work prices whenever they fail to yield the prescribed hourly minimum...
...internal evidence indicates that the employer's affidavits were shown to them a t the same time and without questioning the union as t o their correctness they both printed t h e allegation...
...The curious parallels between the stories in three newspapers published in buildings miles apart and written by reporters supposedly engaged in digging up m a t e r i a l independently of each other, is shown by the following analysis of only a part of four day's stories: Thursday, April 4 World - Telegram (Woltman): Unions force merchants to sign up clerks for dues...
...Little by little t h e r e has been chiseling until now operators in some shops rei ceive a s little a s 50 cents an hour...
...stores are , ruined by pickets...
...All three writers failed to mention that that was the allegation of Goodov i t c h in an application for an injunction, that the union denied the statement in a counter-allegation, and that Supreme Court Justice William T. Collins, with both affidavits before him, promptly denied the application...
...Apparently the United States Government can not force the r e b - ber manufacturing companies to obey the decision of the National Labor Relations Board...
...Having won its ease before the National Labor Relations Board it must not be denied the exercise of the rights granted it through this decision...
...Aad i t was at that sosoaust that the cartons united front be tween employers, Communists and "liberal" newspaper...
...66 t o 72 were not unusual, and in rush times sometimes the clerks had to work 90 hours a week...
...Local unions and central labor bodies were called into session to consider the grave problems that face the organized working class...
...The gate •an the future is open again...
...The Danzig election, cables the correspondent of the New York Tunes on the scene, "has thrown the National Socialists into confusion, brought joy to their opponents and created a prof i inn J impression in international circles in this free city...
...Injunctions have been secured and legal battles have been waged...
...The men have won a minimum wage of $35 to $37.50 per week, plus commissions...
...The Hunter-Hesse bill, sponsored by the Ohio Federation Executive, limits the benefit to 16 weeks in any calendar year and excludes domestic, farm and casual labor and makes eligible to compensation only those who would be able to pay to the insurance fund at least 26 weeks...
...Hitler's ambitions...
...I p O L L O W I N G their striking success in winning greatly improved working conditions in variou* retail clothing stores in New York, two retail clothing salespeople's unions find themselves the victims of a concerted attack by exploiting employers, "radical" writers on "liberal" newspapers, Hearst, Communists and others that has no parallel in local industrial ^history...
...Friday, April 3 World - Telegram (Woltman): Ladies' shops forced to join association by union...
...Union's by-laws can't be found...
...Chiseling feeds itself on itself in t h e dress industry unless drastically checked...
...The management of the, three plants has an army of private guards with ample provisions on hand to feed and house the scabs that have been recruited...
...The vote for all Socialist candidates follows: M. C Baumann X>X* W. C. Kroening 3UR S t a l e r Krahn 373S3 Mrs...
...Rust, Hess and others, and the assistance of an army of propagandists, the Nazis failed to •attain their objective...
...Suck a majority was also intended—and this Was the second famest of the election—to supply the Nazis with a moral lever against Poland and the League of Nations on the issue of the l cub a of Danzig to Germany...
...The time has arrived" when the people of the nation should, know and ought to know if corporations can only by compelled to obey decisions of governmental t r i b u n a l s set up for t h e purpose of determining disputes a r i s i n g ' o ut of Section 7-A of the National Recovery Act through strikes and Industrial warfare...
...With the coming of t h e NRA and adoption of a code for the i n d u s t r y t h e r e was hope of improvement, but t h e chain store competition and t h e ensuing situation shattered these hopes...
...This Labor Board heard all t h e evidence presented in t h e appeal of t h e rubber workers for a n election, including the testimony and arguments offered by the management of t he rubber manufacturing companies in opposition thereto...
...Green Backs the RubberWorkels In Their Fight • y William Green President, A VIS TmCO T7 Federation of Labor A strike of t h e employes of t he large rubber manufacturing companies in Akron is imminent...
...H could be a v o W e d ^ J n d u s t r i e l cooperation through c a l U c t i y a l | M p d B *? if t h e msiiagisseuret I t f u f | P? y e a r , Goodrich and Firestone Tire and Rubber Companies would permit t h e i r employes to hold s a election and determine for themselves t h e union t o which they wish t o belong, as ordered and directed by the National Labor R e l a t i o n s Board...
...The destruction of labor's citadel in the garment industry would be a most valuable asset to employers in all industries...
...president of the Rubber Workers' Union, and his local staff have urged the Governor to help avoid violence...
...the Post by Edward Lev in son...
...1 • *r{ The management of the rubber manufacturing companies defied t h e order of the- National Labor Relations Board, refused to accept its decisions, flouted Ha authority and declared both by word and action that no elections ef its employes would be permitted, as ordered by the Board, a n d t h a t t he Board itself would not be p a t. mitted to c a r r y out its decision...
...Their sue cess has been striking...
...Crock-Dews iecriat The attack upon the two unions, locals of the Retail Clerks' International Protective Association of the A. F . of L., came with sudden ness after the settlement of a longdrawnout strike of the Of i r e Workers' Union, a Communist affiliate, against Ohrbach's, a large low-priced women's clothing stare on 14th S t r e e t . To t h a t settlement and its humiliating terms we will r e t u r n shortly...
...That was all...
...general manager of the Dressmakers' Joint Board, who directed the stoppage with Luigi Antonini, manager of ; t h e Italian Dressmakers' Local, affiliated with the I n t e r n a t i o n a l Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, said he ordered the cessation of work "When it became evident that chiseling on piece work rates fixed in the anion's agreement with t he National Dress Manufacturers' Association was increasing and no agreement could be reached...
...Of t h e 102,000 dressmakers under the jurisdiction of t h e J o i st Board only those working in the $4.75 line are affected...
...h a s also declared that the automobile workers may be called out in sympathy with the rubbei workers...
...It is a German city in every sense of the word, and its separation from Germany was ear of the glaring blunders of the Treaty of Versailles, hi say e l e c t i o n to vote on whether the city should be r e t u r n ed to a free Germany the vote would be 9 5 percent in the affirmative, the rest of the population being Polish...
...A week ago Friday, Ccmmunists stood at the curb in front of Ohr*^na5h*s store pfcketing the A. F. of L. pickets, shouting: "There is no strike at Ohrbach's: Ohrbachhas settled with the union...
...On Monday representatives of the union met with officials of the jobbers' organization to discuss a new agreement, but t h e conferenct broke up abruptly when the Jabbers clumsily disclosed their hand and showed no indication of seeking an honest understanding...
...Turner's total vote, when the r e t u r n s are all in...
...Nelson an appointee of the reactionary Republican Governor Kohler, received the fall support of the LaFollette Progressive party, much to the s u r p r i s e of t he entire state, as well as of t h e two old parties...
...One additional toilet and five additional minutes' rest period each day...
...The Union does not interfere in management, as the jobber- spuriously state, but the Union will not permit t h e jobbers' group in the industry to bring back into it the degradation, irresponsibility and misery Which prevailed i n . i t until 1938...
...The nightmare of constitutional change has been lifted," «tiftts the Danzig Volksstimme,' Socialist organ...
...Danzig belongs to Germany's Irridenta...
...Inspired Stories There is reason t o believe that the stories were inspired by what i a newspaperdem is known as t h e "front office...
...I t is interesting that the "libe r a l " Post carried one of its "friends-of-labor" articles in t he same issue that carried a large advertisement of the National Biscuit Company ia which it is s t a t e d that conditions ia the Uneeda bakeries against which t h e r e has been a s t r i k e for seme weeks—are excellent...
...is likely to reach 135,000 to 150.000, the largest state-wide vote ever polled by a Socialist candidate...
...Story of Goodovitch (mentioned above...
...The stories in t h e three papers give every evidence of collusion, as will be pointed out...
...pickets a r e outsiders...
...He called upon the old tried and trained members and t he new members to stand ready for another drive t o organize the entire cotton dress industry and t he knit goods industry, and* to help make Cleveland industries closed union shops...
...They have raised the old c r y t h a t union demands are forcing employers to leave the city and threaten a wholesale exodus...
...The United Front: "Liberal" papers, Communists, the Daily Worker, exploiting employers, "radical" writers — all fighting bona fide trade unions seeking to gain decent Jiving conditions for a peculiarly sweated and exploited group of workers...
...Bosses Charge "Interference" In line with its usual procedure t h e Merchant Ladies' Garment Association has made public a statement charging the union with "interference in management," • which is the jobbers' way of saying that they do not like t o be held responsible for wage and work standards and would like to r e t u r n to t h e old game of setting hundreds of cont r a c t o r s competing with each other to the detriment of labor's interests and those of t h e industry as a whole...
...Affected by the strike will be some forty wholesale plants doing work for chain store and retail cleaning and dyeing establishments...
...And then the crackingdown1 began...
...the highest state-wide Socialist in 1920 when Eugene V. Debs r e ceived 85,041 votes for President...
...Wages under non- j n i on conditions were $20 t o $25...
...This w a s t h e fundamental cause of the disintegration of wage and wf/k standards, cutthroat competition in t h e industry, dislocation of employment periods, and t h e widespread- unemployment even in good times...
...Big Cloakmakers' Strike Looms Dress Stoppage Of 15,000 Halts 400 Plants Union Leaders Charge Thai Chiseling by Employ en T h r e a t e n s Return oi Sweatshop Conditions...
...The total vote for the Socialist candidates in the rural districts was 145,717...
...For example, the Levinson articles repeatedly referred to t he "fact" that Hyman Nemser, coun% sel for both locals and manager of Local 717, was expelled from •the Amalgamated Clothing Workers for "racketeering...
...Hochman said...
...on Thursday all t h r e e papers denounced the unions for one alleged crime...
...Concessions (to Hitler) would mean capitulation to war...
...Five days after that the Post and the Ntew York WorldTelegram, another "liberal" paper, began their crack-down campaign against the two locals...
...The celebration began with a mass meeting a t which Dan Moley, the secretary ef the Cleveland Federation of Labor, and the officers of the affiliated locals were the official guest...
...yea, the battle continues...
...If t h e union did n o t take action from time t o time, we would once again slip downhill to the sweatshop conditions t h a t violated every decent instinct of humanity...
...Hours used to be almost unlimited...
...For, as seen from bare, the Danzig vote has been a body blow to the totalitarian Unaslium of the National Socialist Party...
...It will encourage all those forces in Ewope, governmental, political and labor, which have a deep Ban m m cm bins...
...Stand of Jobbers Portends Battle In Cloak Trade Code and Collective Agreements Threatened by Employers in Negotiations Begun Here...
...The emergency conference has adopted a sweeping program for legislative action and elected a committee of five to work with t he Executive Board for the passage of t h e labor bills in t h e Ohio Legislature...
...Journal: Merchants charge that pickets ruin t r a d e unless shops join apparel group...
...Abolition of t h e spsed-up is also demanded by the union...
...The responsibility for s a y strike which may occur rests directly with t he management of t h e robber manufacturing corporations...
...The workers must now decide whether the decision of t he National Labor Relations Board shall prevail, or whether they mast make, an unconditional surrender to the management of the rubber manufacturing corporations...
...liberal" papers were joined in the campaign by Hearst's Evening Journal and by the Daily Worker...
...The unions have always preferred to deal with chains of retail stores, or with organizations of retailers, for agreements wjth large organizations have been easier to gain and easier to enforce than with little individual stores...
...There a r e now two Socialists in that body...
...Clerks not consulted in calling strikes...
...to agree en prices...
...138,000 for him...
...O. E . Bean 27,*la Mrs...
...J u l i u s Hochman...
...n the • recent elections for the Danish' r u r a l councils, noted in...
...This has always been union practice, a practice the "radical" writers on the "liberal" sheets now make to appear a hideous malpractice, for both of them (together with the Hearst writer) discovered in time for their Fridaypapers that the unions were engaged in organizing employers...
...Union's by-laws can't be found...
...Efrat, many wholesale plants have not been paying wage* regularly, which is an illustration of t h e conditions prevailing hi t h e industry...
...Mad die Nazis not been m control of the psace and of usher instruments of political terrorism it is safe t » assume that they would not have registered any gains and probably would have lost votes...
...Collusion—or What...
...The time (or the decisive general eagaxement has not pet arrived, and it is impoosibU to predict dbsn it will come, bat this week the Socialists won a asssjsiiesel taeucal and moral victory oa the periphery—hi Daaaij whard §m Nazi party failed hi a crucial election to w i n the two-thirds majority it reuaiied to impose a totalitarian role u p o n the city...
...In explaining the Union's posiI tion, Isidore Nagler, general manager ef the Cloaknukers' Joint Board and a vice-president of the 1LL.G.W.C, said: Nocjler's Statement "The spokesmen for the cioak ! jobbers' association came to this j meeting with closed minds—not to negotiate - sincerely an agreement, but to dictate terms t h a t would repudiate the New Deal brought about in t h e cloak industry in 1933 a n d to reintroduce t h e Old Deal ol sweatshop production and cutthroat methods...
...Charges have been brought against Levinson in Local New York for "conduct unbecoming % Socialist...
...The Merchants' Ladies' Garment Association, the jobbers, with a membership of about 200...
...Turner carried Kenosha County U.200 t o 7.500...
...The Industrial Council, like t h e jobb e r s , has also given indications of seeking modifications of existing agreements on a basis not satisfactory to the union...
...The former non-union, wage was $12 to $15 a week...
...F. J. Dillon, national organiser of the automobile unions affiliate* with the A. P of L...
...Decreed February 22 by the local Nazi government, upon Order* f r om Berlin, the election had a t w o - f o l d purpose...
...No Surrender The question as to whether these private rubber manufacturing corporations are g r e a t e r ' than the Government and its duly constituted agencies, is the real issue which must be determined...
...The Board ordered, after a careful and comprehensive hearing, that Section 7-A of the National Recovery Act which provides for collective bargaining, must be observed by the rubber manufacturing corporations and that an election should be held under the supervision ef t h e Government...
...these cola m a s t h r e e weeks ago, t he Socialists made substantial gains, constituting, as always, the main bulwark against fascism and especially the attempt of the Nazis to overthrow democracy...
...According t o Mr...
...Journal (unsigned): "Dues collecting racket rather than an honest attempt to help the worker," one store owner (un• named) said...
...Last week Local 717 announced it would begin work to organize R. H. Macy's store...
...A day later the New York Post, an alleged "liberal" paper that loudly professes its friendliness to labor, carried an editorial vehemently denouncing the union for its picketing, which in an enlarged form now appears in Ohrbach's window...
...Jobbers Hanker for Old Days • " I t is apparent, however, that the jobbers a r e hankering for the old days when they were able to undersell every legitimate manufacturing group i a the industry because they were free from any direct obligations for labor costs...
...When the strike of the rubber workers in Akron occurs for the purpose of enforcing a decision of a Governmental tribunal, the entire American Labor Movement will rush and rally to their s u p p o r t This support will be given to the rubber workers in Akron for as long a time as may be necessary in order to compel the management of the rubber manufacturing corporations to deal j u s t l y with them, to f.wely accord them the right to organize and bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, and to conform to the decisions of a tribunal created by t he Government of the United States...
...The s t a t e will have bo responsibility for the payment of indemnity, and when the fund proves insufficient the unemployed would have no other recourse than to charity...
...Stretcher, Dr...
...With Iks Buns in ma jerky control of the Danzig legislature, their sail purpose was amendment of the constitution to obtain a arangie-hcld upon the community and suppress t h e opposition »a)liu as effectively as they have been suppressed in Germany proper...
...AGREEMENT EXTENDED WASHINGTON.—A compact by ** representatives of t h e United Mine Workers of America and bituminous coal operators to extend t h e agreement between t h e union and the operators and t h e NRA code provisions governing the ind u s t r y until June 16 everted the threatened strike of around 400,000 soft coal miners on April 1. Daring the period a p to June 16 representatives of t h e United Mine Workers and the operators will continue negotiations- t o finalise an agreement acceptable to both sides...
...The conference was initiated by the central bodies of Cleveland and Toledo to mobilize labor's power behind important labor measures pending in the State Legislature and to urge t he Executive Council of t h e American Federation of Labor to call a nation-wide conference to line up the entire labor movement in support of the 30-hour week, the Wagner-Connery labor disputes bill, and other important measures...
...Present earnings of workers range from 48 to e l f a week...
...The hall was fhled with flowers sent by shops and locals of the J o i n t Board a s a token of appreciation of the able leadership of Comrade Katovsky, the manager, and his staff of assistants— Friend, Salomon, De J » - commo, and Carrie Galagher...
...A STRIKE of 30,000 workers in the ladies' garment industry after the expiration of existing agreements June 1 appeared probable as a result of developments during the week, which point clearly to a determination on the part of large sections of the employers to destroy the prevailing structure of labor relations in the industry* The garment industry, like most needle trades, is one of the few fields in which labor has profited by t h e NRA, due largely to the pressure which t h e s t r o n g International Ladies' Garment Workers" Union has been able to exert in influencing the • provisions of t he industry's code, forcing satisfact o r y collective agreements with t he three employers' associations functioning in t h e industry, and implementing t h e code with these agree- in r r i ° b p t r * f e * , r m ^ S . however, the employers, particularly the jobbers organised in the Merc h a n t Ladies' Garment Association, have been waging a campaign for emasculation of both the code and the collective agreements...
...The shops in which t h e stoppage went ''into effect are in New York City, Phlmdelpliia...
...THIS IS A GOOD COMMENTARY ON THE REPEATED ASSERTIONS OF THE ENEMIES OF THE SOCIAL DEMOCRACY, BOTH ON THE RIGHT AND ON THE LEFT, THAT THE GERMAN SOCIALISTS ARE "FINISHED," THAT THEY HAVE LOST THE CONFIDENCE OF THE GERMAN WORKERS...
...In addition there are sanitary conditions and the ten months' guarantee and one week's vacation that go with full union recognition...
...Instead of their heped-for 80 per cent the Nazis polled less man 60 per cent of the votes...
Vol. 18 • April 1935 • No. 15
