RODGERS CASE IS MOVE IN OFFENSIVE OF BIG PLANTERS AGAINST UNION OF FARMERS
THOMAS, NORMAN & Delaney, Atley
Rodgers Case Is Move in Offensive of Big Planters Against Union of Farmers By Atloy Dolaney [¦pKEDlhrREE, Ark.—A jury HjjtoiposeoN of landowners and HE* has convicted Ward RodgHmng FERA...
...They are fast learning the meaning of unionism and organization...
...They can't even take time off for a drink or go to the washroom...
...Many of the strikers have had 20 to 25 years' service with the company...
...Bhjned) William Beadle, Pres...
...The two picket lines are made up of strikers and members and officers of other unions...
...He represents the Non-partisan Labor Defense Committee, which in this as in other cases has done excellent work...
...Yet the picket lino was large and enthusiastic...
...Abramam Lef'kowitz of the Teachtrs Union, and Dr...
...members of eu»mgatilaiMtiii* shall openly protest the tactics of the National Biscuit Company by refusing to patronise 'Uneeda Bakers' products for the duration of the strike, and that we ask the executive committee of,the Central Trades and Labor Council to Issue an appeal to its affiliated unions to support the strike by not patronising 'Uneeda Bakers' products for the duration of the strike...
...Several girle were injured—but none very seriously, Ths Cleveland plant is located just one block from frozen Lake Erie...
...After hearing a speech by August Olaessens, secretary of the N. Y. Labor Committee, a mass meeting of retail grocery »tore clerks employed by the Reeves and Butler chains, now being organized, pledged their aid, It is interesting to note that even company guards and detectives walked out at the NBC plant, and the third week of the strike sees ranks ' unbroken and production completely halted...
...In order to make their minimum of $13 per week, the girls must press from 60 to 80 dozej dresses a week or 12 to Id dozen dresses a .day...
...In appreciation of the leadership of our International, these new union workers sing: "The I. L ,G...
...Suggested procedure will be outlined in subsequent issues...
...This is the highest...
...National Biscuit Co...
...is behind us, we shall not be moved...
...meet with representatives of the union in order to avert a strike...
...At this ¦ping Fred H. Stafford, deputy ¦kiting attorney for Poinsette Cajbty was present, and he filed Mtharges against Comrade RodgWard Rodgers, who had been lining share-croppers under the PtlA and at the sam...
...Of course they have...
...All labor is directly or indirectly involved in the result...
...IV.V...
...Police on horse* backs rushed into the pickets on the side-walks...
...JpNA.'Ark.—"Things are break$$fe*t...
...The American Federation of Labor has repeatedly endorsed the 30-hour work-week...
...iSfP much attention has been 4»M to the case...
...Teachers' Mass Meeting Friday A PUBLIC mttttal to urge the repeal of the Ives oath law and to start a vigorous campaign for its abolition will be held Friday night at the Central School of business and Arts, 214 East 42nd Street, by the Teachers' Union and sympathetic organizations...
...There is more chance that the Agricultural administration will do something to protect these miserable.serfs...
...Thi-y sing arid cheer all day long...
...The union is holding up K of the terror of the landHj| We heed help to control the ¦Men," read the telegram sent HflBtmonwealth College by H. L. Hpfc state secretary of the SoBfexarty and secretary of the ^^»|rn Tenant Farmers' Union, ¦M' Koch, director of ComWjjalth College...
...Many of the workers suffer from varicose veins and others have been severely injured on the job, only to be cheated out of their compensation, The strikers have found a new interest in life since they joined the union...
...The spirit of the strikers is excellent...
...After some scabs tried to get into the building through the NEA doorway, the workers of the association representing six different unions had a shop meeting and unanimously decided that rto one would be permitted to go upstairs through their shop...
...The I. L. G. is behind us, we shall not be moved, lust like a tree planted by the water, we shall not be moved...
...It must be adequately presented and adequately financed or else a brave chamuion of the forgotten man will be unjustly punished and a precedent laid down by which every organizer for the Southern Tenant Farmers Union can be jailed on trumped up charges of anarchy...
...By the way, last week I made the ridiculous mistake of speaking as if the Sacramento criminal syndicalist trials had not begun...
...Over 500 participated...
...most pricss run less than that...
...The first floor of the :oui-story building owned by the Gross Co...
...Big Labor Parade, Spirited Picket Lines Mark Cleveland Dress Strike B« Abraham W. Katoviky Vice-President, l.L.G...
...Comrade Julius Hochman, manager of the Coalkmakers' Joint Board, and Comrade Beedie, who were among the speaker*, were enthusiastically cheered...
...THE National Executive Committee has requested all locals in industrial c&mmunities to push vigorously the campaign for the 30-hour week...
...Bob Reed, student, and MjTPelaney...
...They are morfe loyal than ever to the International...
...Bosce* received the surprise of their lives whan not one worker succeeded in entering either the plant the day of the strike or ia9pfcs.*e*ce...
...Those who report can make up their lost time on Saturdays...
...A letter was also sent to President Dubinsky asking him to contact Montgomery Ward Co...
...Hut If we do not successfully conclude our conferences within the next few days, we are fully prepared—with the aid of the International—to call strikes in all the other shops...
...Their desperate financial condition made it necessajy to begin paying strike benefit even before the customary two weeks exJanusry 25...
...For these reasons the National Executive Committee has called for a vigorous support of the 30-hour campaign...
...They further decided in a resolution read to the strikers by the NEA shop\chairman that they were behind the strike 100 per cent and — without solicitation — as a token of their support, they raised $17 to buy the (iris coffee and sandwiches while on the picket line...
...This announcements cheered the girls...
...Be it resolved that the delegates representing 52 Federal Labor Unions affiliated with the Federal Labor Unions Council of Greater...
...Admittedly, the 30-hour week will not end unemployment...
...The strikers' spirit has spurred the success of our organisation drive in the ether cotton garment shop* and the whole industry it wall on the wag Uiewloei eomnlstety unionised...
...They now know thst the bosses lied to them when they ssld that the I.L.G.W.U...
...Workers M Iter ably Ixeielteel To give readers of The New Leader an example of what these workers get, the girl pressers tell us that for using s nine-pound li on the highest price they get per dozen garments Is 21 centi...
...Wherever possible, this should be done in cooperation with local trade unions and unemployed organizations...
...Some of the nsmes on the labels of gar* menu manufactured by this company are Indian Head, Penny Co., Flirts, Diamond Lll, Honey, Avenue Frocks, Grand Stem and Sweet Adeline...
...As we are still conferring and negotiating with these other firms, no other strikes have been called...
...The other unions carried signs reading: "We are in back of you...
...For the latter issues labor muSi light, but the Roosevelt program announced on January 17 ha-i already drawn the teeth out of this agitation...
...Already his case has called attention, to what is happening to share croppers...
...President Dubinsky informed me that the whole International was behind our efforts , ' Plans were made at this meeting in Chicago to call strikes in all the other cotton garment shops which would nut accede to the just demands of the union...
...the picket line last week...
...This was found all too true especially of these workers...
...Th" Arm was stubborn because it thpught that its workers were 'satisfied...
...members in Ravenna come every morning to help picket in Kent, A tent has been erected in Kent and a fire is kept going all the time so that they can picket 24 hours a day...
...time organbilsjtor the tenant farmers' union, sMleja threatened before by the jiMMF At one of his classes in 1school house, the school HHiom Tyronza attended, and ¦¦Rodgers read and discussed la article in a radical paper, they tantened to form a vigilante np and run him out of the aj§ty...
...Get in touch with Comrade Clucfhens at 7 East 16th Street, The Federal Labor Council reso* lution, which was adopted after the body heard a report from President William Galvin of the Inaide Bakery Workers Union, leading the strike, reads as follows: "Whereas the National Biscuit Company, producers of 'Uneeda Bakers' products, has deliberately violated Its agreement with the Inside Bakery Workers Federal Labor Union li),r>85, affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, ni New York City and with unioni in four other cities...
...Firm Rejects Peace Offers The .strike was called only after every effort for peaceful settlement had been tried and failed...
...An appeal will HBpd in the March session ol HKaTi was arrested on January jfjtfter a mass meeting of shareHjpra at which he ."poke, urging Hpo go to the relief office in i'|»dy...
...We know that Socialism is I ecessary to do that...
...Socialist student, flmHmedlately for Tyronza to Hyirganize the shr.re-croppers Hi the terror and the whole¦Mctions of the landlords and *y*J»*hte protest against the arWard Rodger...
...Push Drive for 30-Hour Week...
...The action that is most urgently needed Is mass pressure...
...NATIONAL LABOR, COMMITTEE...
...COMRADES AND SYMPATHIZERS ARE URGED TO ENFORCE A BOYCOTT OF NATIONAL BISCUIT COMPANY PRODUCTS AND TO VOLUNTEER THEIR SERVICES ON THE PICKET LINE...
...x 1 Letters have been or will be sent to the Consumers' League of Ohio, the Women's Trade Union League and the Union Buyers' Club to con* tact department stores selling Grose dresses...
...It is our job to organize it...
...While unions of all kinds and sympathetic organisations have been expressing their solidarity with the NBC strikers, the men and women on strike have been vigorously conducting their own battle...
...Other forms of terror have k, used against the militant mn, such as giving eviction noB to all shara-croppers who beH to the union...
...desirability ef rejecting such goods or not displaying them, or picketed to inform the iJublic of the situation...
...first few days of the strike has opened the eyes of the girls to the methods and weapons used by the bosses in their war against labor...
...and the J. C. Penny Co., who, we are informed from reliable sources, ars large buyers from this Arm...
...But no capitalist government can or will end the exploitation of cotton field laborers any more than of miners and in dustrial workers...
...The California Socialist Party is cooperating, and one Socialist lawyer, Albert Goldman, is of counsel...
...The brutality of the polio the...
...the singing and cheering on the picket line have attracted a great deal of attention...
...Once the thermometer read six above zero...
...mm arrest and conviction ot Hnfi has been protested by Wu7 oraranizations...
...New York and vicinity of the A. F.ofL...
...Strikers Win Backing of All Other Unionists A sign oi' the growing support ol the labor movement of New York with the striking employes of the National Biscuit Company was shown when the Federal Labor Councils of Greater New York, representing 52 affiliated local unions and 40,000 workers, unanimously passed a resolution calling upon its members to "openly protest the tactics of the National Biscuit Company by refusing to patronize 'Uneede Bakers' products for the duration of the strike...
...To show the understanding of labor solidarity in the new Ideals, I.L.G.W.U...
...Last Friday night a mass meeting of strikers crowded Stuyvesant High School to hear a message of solidarity and cheer...
...It will overshadow unemployment insurance and old age pensions...
...It was found necessary to start strike kitchens immediately in both cities...
...We must be actively associated with the unions and the unemployed in their agitation for it...
...The 30-hour week bill will be turned down cold bv the administration...
...The strong picket line has made it impossible for any tcab to enter the plant...
...Strike Benefits to bo Paid The International has always contended that the cotton garment workers were the rrfost exploited section of the needle trades industry...
...The writer, who is doing every* thing- he- c*n- to-- settle t-fee--strike-, honorably with the demands of the workers granted, was called to Chicago a week ago Saturday and Sunday to confer with President Dubintky...
...Sunday, January 20, all the lasistance of a delegation of Ravenna, joined in a huge parade to let the world know that they had confidence in the International and were supporting the strikers...
...Consumers ?© Cooperate • To aid us in our strike against the L. N. Gross Co,, we are calling upon the entire labor movement, consumers' organizations and customers of the firm to refuse to purchase products manufactured under unfair conditions...
...In spite of the bitter cold the girls report for picket duty, every day even though some of them are suffering from colds...
...The 30-hour week will be for several years the biggest issue of labor agitation...
...Raymond Koch, Hb...
...They will be spent under direction of local committees on the ground...
...is unfair to organised labor...
...At present, however, it is confining its efforts almost wholly to Congressional lobbying...
...An interesting incident occured (r...
...Othci 'tfcatejt of blasphemy, acts of intuniMJr and attempting to usurj tjgSJprnment formerly filed utam him have been dropped...
...The situation Bu aroused so much attention tjjLtiederal investigator has been »t down to examine complaints H| share-croppers...
...was "only a racketeering organisstion interested only in collecting high dues...
...Whereas the company has stored crackers and biscuits In warehouses for the last seven months and is also shipping products from plants which ara not unionized in order to break down the existing conditions In the organized shops in New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, York and Newark, and "Whereas the National Biscuit Company at the present time refuses to bargain collectively with the union...
...Edward Edwards, chairman of the Committee on Education of the New York State Federation of Labor...
...vn the eve.of she 2% ft* *0^4tpt$t...
...75<7* have seen five years or more ot service...
...is with us," "We demand security of the job through a closed union shop," "We want higher wages to offset the high cost of living...
...Derpite snowftorm and bitter cold, they have been picketing the plant in New and the other cities affected, and have seen to ft that every grocery selling NBC proflucta has been visited and convinced of th...
...But II' labor can be aroused to a fighting mooo for the 30-hour week, it can later be persuaded to fight for a Socialist government...
...Among the speakers will be Professors George S. Counts and William H. Kilpatrick of Teachers College...
...Rodgers Case Is Move in Offensive of Big Planters Against Union of Farmers By Atloy Dolaney [¦pKEDlhrREE, Ark.—A jury HjjtoiposeoN of landowners and HE* has convicted Ward RodgHmng FERA teacher, and SoHp erganizer of the Southern Hj| Farmers Union, of anarchy |g4sentenced him to fix months in pud a fine of $500...
...They have been a great liny cases of discrimination ttkj8'!t members of the tenant ¦sirs' union in the handling of Mtf by the officials in their atHb to break the union...
...Rodgers is jP*Bber of the Arlv.insas State ^•Jhre Committee of the SocialiP* county attorney and othet HRMtf the planters attendeo HJP**grnphle notea were taken Hjt »P*eohea in order that ¦Rnight be framed against ¦J**'* leader*, many of whom gJireviottsly been threatened jSwWJw^g* and with being run BP»" by the planters' hired dbn dahatrnas at the meeting hhkjh jkhkj ujmf, By Norman Thomas WARD RODGERS in Arkansas " is out on bail...
...Xtm...
...is occupied by the Newspaper Enterprise Association...
...cLEVELAND, O.-The largest ^picket lines Cleveland and Kent, O., have ever seen have been surrounding the two shops of the L. N. Gross Co., manufacturers of cotton dresses, every morning since Wednesday, January 16, when 350 workers in Cleveland and 150 workers in Kent went on strike for higher wages, better conditions, security of the jobs and the closed union shop...
...Meanwhile Socialist and other union speakers have been aeV dressing meetings of members of other unions to get cooperation with the NBC strikers...
...Agiiation for real unemployment insurance must continue, but it will attract less labor support than the 30-hour issue...
...The strikers carried banners reading: "We'll strike until we win," "The A.F.ofL...
...In Cleveland, the Joint Board has ordered every dressmaker to appear on the picket line at seven in the morning and remain until ten, when they can go to work...
...approve the Joint action of, cult Company organized into the American Federation of Labor anions, who are now striking to defend their working conditions, "And be it resolved that the members of our organisations be Informed of the strike and lock-out if six thousand employes of the National Biscuit Company In the ihove mentioned eitiHV "And be if further reserve* that ha...
...His appeal will be heard in March...
...Contributions to the defense of Rodgers and of Glass in West Virginia can be sent to the local Socialist and labor defense committee or to Paul Porter, Labor Secretary, at the national office, or to me at 112 East 19th St., New York City...
...and one to the Ohio State Federation of Labor asking them to popularise the idea that the L. N. Grosi Co...
...Stephen S. Wise of the Free Synagogue...
...the Roosevelt unemployment insurance scheme is a farce ho far as real security is concerned, but it will unquestionably be adopted by Congress...
Vol. 18 • February 1935 • No. 65
