Secret Bankers' Pact That Hits Jobless Honored by City
Secret Bankers' Pact That Hits Jobless Honored by City "THE thaitje of the Woikeis Un* employed Union that a secret agreement, made by the O'Brien Tammany administration with the bankers...
...The delegation was informed that the bankers' agreement limited relief expenditures to that amount...
...Some of the consumer press has seen fit to give front-page notice to it and even editorial comment has been evoked...
...The Workers U n e m p l o y ed Union calls upon all unemployed to rally in their neighborhoods for an exposure of this infamous pact between the bankers and the LaGuardia administration," the W. U. U.ysUtes...
...li xteps to aid the striking wo kei-s...
...This secret agreement...
...A .lid Hii.kf front of dock and -hipping workers such as has not been seen in the local labor ni' vcnicnt in y t i u s has con ilctcly tied up •hippiiiK in this port...
...Workers of all industries are beginning to feel the spirit of struggle, and the labor movement on the West Coast will soon be militantly UNION ASSEklBLY RADIO FROGRAM Lant Friday's program of the ILGWU over SUtion WEVD during the period called "The Union Assembly" (10:16 p.m...
...The city had merely maintain'd o dead eilence...
...Masters, Males and Pilots refu-iie to allow their members to work on ships where ncabs are employed, and Marino E n - ginf'i r^ have refused to work on Rhijis transporMng freight to docks...
...Miien IJempster, Socialist candidate for governor, and Samuel S. White, chairman of the labor committee of the state executive committee, have ad hessed the stiikers' mass meetings...
...Furthermore, the brief of the city said that "the fact that the $3,000,000 had not been expended had in no way interfered with the dispensation of honie and work relief...
...Comrade Lasser declared, was probably the real reason why the city officials have not—despite the present iis —used for relief purposes the three million dollars and more collected in utilities taxes which according to the law should have been used for relief...
...F.mployerR, however, broke their word to negotiate with the organization representing the majo): y of v.- kera...
...The party has contributed many leaflets, which it has multigraphed it.i office...
...1, 1933...
...Freight Piling Up Despite frantic efforts of bosses to replace the strikers with scabs, freight is piling up by thousands of tons...
...In other' words, the LaGuardia administration was taking, as an obligation on itself, a seen' agreement between the bankers and the former Tammany administration that the only money the tjty could spend for relief for one yetir would be that money which the bankers had loaned i t "Bankers Wonld Obiect" Finally, in^^the middle of February, a delegation^of the Workers Unemployed Union visited Hodson and demanded to know why the city was not nsing for relief the $3,000,000 raised by the utilities tax which had also been passed by the O'Brien administration...
...Joiners, caulkers, and hide workers have refused to niovi' freight or handle merchandise de lined for the docks or to Sepair or in iiiiy way work (m "cks or ships involved In the trike...
...City Announces Crisis Yet the yery same dtiy, the city announced a crisis in relief and not only was it going to drop 20,000 families from' relief but also all rent payments were to stop for the time being...
...19 Hodson's reply came, with the following amazing words: "With regard to the bankers' agreement, I am informed by George McAneny, the former controller, and Duncan Mclnnes of the finance department, that in conversations with the bankers, there was an unwritten oral agreement to the effect that not more than $38,000,000 would be expended by the eity for emergency relief for the period up to Sept...
...Applicants for eity relief have been sent to the waterfront as strike-breakers...
...Many stuileiits ' the state-supported fnivcrsity of California have been scabbing...
...The amazing display of solidarity has infused a new spirit into the San Franci.scq labor movement, which at one time was among the moart militant in the country...
...Secret Bankers' Pact That Hits Jobless Honored by City "THE thaitje of the Woikeis Un* employed Union that a secret agreement, made by the O'Brien Tammany administration with the bankers of .Jew Vorjc, is being honored by the "liberal" LaGuardia administration, and that this secret pact prevents the expenditure of sufficient relief funds for the city's unemployed, has aroused the fury of the jobless of the richest city in the world...
...On Jan...
...Comrade Lasser then scrutinized the bankers' agrreement, as it had passed the state legislature on Nov...
...Furthermore, no order had been obtained to stop the city from using this money...
...2, his first day in office, and asked why he was not planning to spend sufficient money for relief, LaGuardia answered, "I can't .spend more, my htindH are livd...
...At present they get 8.') c u t s i^n hour, $1.25 for overtime and work 48 hours, and are completely at the mercy 0' the bo8s-o| ratc<i emp...
...This stand was maintained by the LaGuardiu adminiHtration, and it discharged 30,000 CWA workers on April 1 for "lack of funds" rather than use the 13,000,000 and rather than scrap this infamous "behind the scenes" bankers agreement...
...The city's reply t j t he suit of the Workers' Unemployed Union came three days later...
...Socialists are supporting the Bt U. and K'ving valuable aid to, the strikers...
...Unemployed, a«s«rt the rii/kt to liv9t Frisco Dock Workers Tie Up Harbor Sy Si/niul Correspondent CAN FRANCISCO...
...Upon each eviction notice received, with each family taken off relief, mass delegations must be sent to each relief bureau to demand immediate relief for the families...
...It's Solidarity Forever The ; uigshoremen ask $t an hour, with $1.50 for overtime, and a ;U)-hour week...
...ngghori'mcn, practically every oraft connected ,1 the shipping industr;has walkejj out in sympathy or tak...
...A month later Norman Thomas got the same answer from O'Brien...
...But not one word was stated in the public record about any limitation on tk« expenditures of this money...
...At the relief bureaus, in street meetings, at regular local n.etings, everywhere, we must denounce the agreement between the bankers and the city which permits e uneinpl fced to starve and be evicted while the bankers fatten at the city's trough...
...The workers march daily along the waterfront as a show of their strength...
...1, 1934, despite the tremendous increase in need of the unemployed of the city...
...The fact that the city had made no move to spend this $3,000,000 even before any suit was filed by the New York Steam Corporation, plus Hodson's statement, raised the strong suspicion that the "liberal' LaGuardia was allowing its hands to be tied by this "secret bankers' agreement" and would not spend the $3,000,000 or any other money until the secret agreement expired on Sept...
...character of the city government, -re than 300 i )lic.' have been concentrated alo the few miles o: the Embarcadero, which runs along the waterfront, and they have not hesitated to interfere with peaceful picketing of the atrikers...
...The agreement, among other things, called for the purchase of $70,000,000 in bonds by the banks, out of which the city was to repay bankers for past indebtedness of $32,000,000 which made a net to the city of $38,000,000...
...Norman Thomas will appear on a future program...
...The giving of cash relief for T od has more than been offset by the stoppage of rent psyment...
...Opem Their Eyes The stiike has opened the eyes of thousands of workers to the cl...
...The International Ladles' Garment W o r k e ^ ' U n i o n has offered aid to tlic iftiilq^rB...
...Folli wing the strike of ih...
...The docks are city-owned, but committees of iitrikcrs are not permitted on the docrfs to talk to the strike-L eukers and to seek to perau-dc them peacefully to leave their jobs...
...Chapter v i g o n u . O y protested against such activily...
...Ylp«elK, under the leadership of Jean S. ...'S, are aiding with voluntary «::icc' work nd in distributing leaflets...
...It is the law...
...Seven -., cUs before th walkout, a tJVernnicnt mediation board ba I halted a walkout at the eleventh hour by a c<mipromise agreement along the lini'a of t'.ie automobile settlement...
...Lasser and Henry Rosner, then a member of the City Affairs Committee, immediately got from Mayor O'Brien a denial that there was any limitation in the agreement as to the rate of expenditure of thi8''fund...
...Teuiiislirs, boilermakers, machinists, shipwrights...
...The story of the secret agreement begins last fall, when the four year bankers' agreement was pre«:ented to the Board of Estimate providing for the purchase of $70,000,000 in bonds by the banks for unemployment relief...
...The same situation exists in every.port along the Pacific Coast...
...One striker, Dick Parker, 20, was shot and killed by police in an assault on strikers' lines In San Pedro...
...yment agrency, whicli forces workers to wait for hours in the cold and rain for a few hours' work, and discriminates again t . ctivc unionist.s...
...Morris Shapiro is attorney for the WUU...
...Commissioner of Welfare Hodaon nodded consent...
...The charges were made by the union through David Lasser, chairman...
...More than 2,000 longshoremen Wiilk('<l out, after employers refused point blank to recognize the International Ixmgshoremen'a Association in negotiations...
...No public mention had ever been made of this suit, the city had not replied to it nor had the city made any effort to get the suit settled...
...The Workers Unemployed Union, as reported in these columns last week, has brought a law suit to compel the mayor and the comptroller to begin disbursing immediately the three millions to the unemployed...
...featured Fanny Hurst, novelist, as guest spealtor, a musical program including Pasquale Artiato, Giuseppe Bamboschek, Sigmund Spaeth and the StradivariuB String uartet, and Vice - President Lulgi AntoninI, manager of the Italian Dressmakers Union...
...1 have inherited • atraitjacket from the previooB administration, I am limited to (3,000,000 a month...
...I Inherited a Straitfacket" But when the Workers Unemployed Union led a delegation of unemployed to Mayor LaGuardia on Jan...
...Only the most determined organization and struggle in each neighborhood w i f o r c e the city to scrap this bankers agreement and to spend the $25,000,000 a month necessary for adequate assistance to the unemployed...
...In addition to the Sailors' Union, wi!li 7,000 member.i, which walked cut in sympathy and with a demand f o r higher v.ages and belter working conull' i.s and the Marine Cook.s and Stewards, approximately 1,000, the Marine Firemen, Oilers and Watertenders and the Ship Clerks have also walked out in sympathy...
...In a brief the city representative revealed before the court that the money had not been spent because early in April a suit had been started against the city by one of the utilities, the New York Steam Corporation, to declare the law creating the utilities tax unconstitutional...
...for a time the university employment office hired students, but this was discontinued when labor organizations and the Student L.I.U...
...1, 1934, which would mean an expenditure of approximately $3,000,000...
...Las.ser thereupon wrote Hodson, asking in what public record this limitation could be found...
...To this Hodson replied, "The bankers might object to this use, for it would be a violation of the ban!;ers' agreement not to spend more than $38,000,000 for one year...
Vol. 17 • May 1934 • No. 63
