The Daily Worker Newspaper, February 9, 1926, Page 5

THE DAILY WORKER Page Five GIRLS’ SPUNK WINS STRIKE OF FOOD WORKERS So. Chicago Restaurants Are Being Unionized } By JOHN PERRIDES. (Worker Correspondent.) The strike at the Simon Bros, res- taurant and bakery at 92nd and Com- mercial Ave., South Chicago, was won with a great victory for the work- ers who now have better working con- ditions, shorter hours and higher wages. This is one of the victories of @ campaign to organize the South Chicago Food workers which has been started a short “while ago. The two Greek, proprietors of Simon Bros.’ restaurant were notified by their employes that they had joined the Food Workers’ union ‘and the workers presented their demands. A strike was called when no attnetion was paid to the demands by the bosses. Every day since February 1 the workers walked up and down in front of the restaurant with placards an- nouncing that a strike was on at Simon Bros. One morning a group of energetic girl waitresses walked right into the restaurant and announced to all present that the place-w&s unfair to labor and should not be patronized by workers. One of the bosses, Nick Simons, began to force the girls out of the place with the result that all the people in the restaurant arose from their tables and begat to leave the place telling the owner if that’s the way he treats his workers they would not eat there anymore. The waitresses now work eight hours a day, six days a week, and earn $18 a week. The men work nine hours a day, six days a week and wages are, for chef, $42 a week, night cook $37 a week and night waiters $30 a week. The dish washers get $18 and $20. Everything is running smoothly and the employes with big smiles and happy hearts go about their work, Who is next to start the ball rolling in South Chicago? Workers Packed Like Sardines in Oakland” Employment Agencies By VINCENT IGNATUS ; (Worker Correspondent) BERKELEY, Calif, February 7 — As we look over the capitalist pa- pers, we see in them boasts of how prosperous this country is at the pres- ent time, Predictions in the Bay dis- tricts newspapers augur a good year for business in California, but what does that mean to the farmer and worker? ‘ Bankrupt Farmers. Tm the San Joaquin valley the fruit grower is on the verge of bankruptcy, not because the land has not produced enough, but because there was no market for the products, About a month and a half ago the vines were laden with thousands of tons of grapes rotting in the flelds, it did not even pay to pick them. Some of the farm- ers picked some and shipped them to the east, and after doing all the work of preparing them for market, in the end they were presented with a freight bill that was larger than the Proceeds for the fruit. That is the problem that the gruit grower here in California is facing. Unemployed Workers, The industrial worker, fortunate enough to have a job, gets wages that in proportion to the cost of living in- sures him a subsistence for each day he works, the moment he is laid off it means starvation. There are thous- ands of men unemployed. The em- ployment office in Oakland is jammed every morning. They stand there for hours at a time packed like sardines. There are hundreds of men again going their rounds in the mornings, from shop to shop begging for some- thing to do. Most of them have been 80 weakened by just a coffee and doughnut diet that they would not be able to perform any work if they did land a job. uncon GIVE US A TRIAL! ANNA'S RESTAURANT 2701 W. Division St. be 2nd Floor, Oriental Food! Home Cooking! Manufacturers Forced to settled in a. tew. association was elected to investigate and Sopee Sane worsens get the scale Wageg agreed upon. In the independ ceive from’ $4\to $5 per week increasc in wages)” Operators Now Get people of McDonald and Bergestown, Pa. are beginning to realize that much suffering may be looked for- ward due to the unemployment condi- tions prevailing. Bulgar Mines two men are used where formerly four men were employed with no pay for dead work which is twice as hard as loading coal. The Midway Mining Co, operates a mine directly below, Bulgar’s. is known to, have 26 working places, but 3,000 miners applied for work, with the result that only friends, of the boss and men who positively have no class consciousness and no union affiliations were hired. Carnegie Coal company was asked why they had. around the resume the 1917 scale. costs too guards and they did not need them as they are-not paying for dead work and the minerg push cars in and out of the rooms. hungry and had to do as the boss said or starve and that the company had things their own way now. Unemployed Workers Seek ling and begging have Buffalo, due to the cold weather, and lack of jobs. the open shop industries result in the destitution of the workers as soon as unemployment strikes them. costed by requests for money, places to sleep, and what not. ers picked up by the police welcome ‘|the chance to get a meal and shelter from the cold, They tell stories lack of work that put the lie in capital ary GARMENT UNION DEFEATS BOSSES IN SHORT STRIKE Terms by Workers By GERTRUDE PINCUS, (Worker Correspondent) NEW YORK, Feb. 7.—The tuckers, hemstitehers and pleaters of Local No. 41, New » who went on strike to prolong ; anion agreement until end compel the manu- @ a security to the The Associa- ckérs, Hemstitchers ed ‘to the demands Ts and the strike was and oo of the. wom A committee) of the union and the ‘shops the workers re- m 40 to 50 open shops were organized. The strike carried on vt the Star Pleating company for the past sp. ae was also settled. by Without Paying Miners for Dead Work By a Worker Correspondent. McDONALD, ra., Feb. 7 — The Near Bergestown at a mine called This mine The general superintendent of the t placed a few guards ine and why they don’t He said it ihuch money to employ He said the men were d-outs on Streets of Buffalo By a Worker Correspondent. BUFFALO, N. Y., Feb. 7—Pan-hand- increased in The low wages paid in One walking down the street is ac- eats, Work- of to Coolidge’s pipe dreams p Young workers of to beg or go Superintendent Fires Worker Who Refuses to Break Neck for Boss a railroad yard for the Chicago Mil- waukee and St. Paul railroad, Cali- fornia and Grand Aves. in the clean- ing department. arrive here we must clean them out and make them ready for immediate use, the foreman approached me and said “come with me and J will show you where you are to work today.” showed me a dozen or more cars that were standing in a row and said that I would have to wash the oustide of these cars, cleaning the inside of the cars and was not dressed for work out in the cold, I refused to do go and pointed out to the foreman that I could not do the work dressed as I was. He calledw me @ number of names and sai THE LIVING ARE CURSED WITH THE DEAD | This Week’s Prizes! This week's prizes for the best contributions by worker cor- respondents will differ somewhat from those previously offered. The first prize will be a valuable fountain pen. In the near future when the increased circulation thru the co-operation of our worker correspondents will permit we promise to offer a portable typewriter. Now we must confine ourselves to a fountain pen, but even that is not a gift to be sneezed at by a worker correspondent, since it is a useful tool in the trade of writing. The second prize will be Karl Marx’s Capita Volume No. 1, because we feel that every worker correspondent! should familiarize himself with Marxian economics. The third prize will be Lenin on Organization, Volume 1, a valuable and necessary book for every worker correspondent’ library. It needs no further recommendation, t Who will be the hard workers next week? } MACHINES IN HOE PLANT a ; ARE CONSTANT DANGER 10 | CP and Pawn Western WORKERS” LIFE AND LIMB ‘ By Worker Correspondent. NEW YORK, Feb. 7—Workers in the R. Hoe and company work under the most unreasonable conditions on machinery that in most cases is from 50 to 60 years old which is constant danger to the workers’ life and limbs and are expected to turn out good work, They work overtime for many weeks at one stretch and then without any reason whatever they are fired and a new crew is hired. This is done continu- ously. Before going home we wash up in old pails. Instead of having lockers for our clothes, we hang them up on a nail that is driven in the wall. Dust of all kinds gathers on the clothes. If the men in the shop were unionized at present we would be able to better our conditions. By a Worker Correspondent. Barbara. the year for getting work. fields, willing and anxious to work. near the border of Mexico. i abled a hap cn work could be obtained. A short time ago I was employed in would hire no one but Mexicans. When passenger cars own helplessness it worried him. One cold day, after a heavy rain, He accomplished only, by fighting. ; NO ONE SHOULD STAY AWAY FROM. TONIGHT’S CORRESPONDENTS’ CLASS Students who have not as yet en- As I had always been employed Coast Seeking Work SANTA BARBARA, Cal., Feb. 7—I met a man on tile street, 56 years old, machinist by trade, broke, hungry and carrying a knapsack on his back, who asked me what I thot his chances were for a few ‘days work in Santa As there is a ‘considerable number of unemployed here and has been for some time I told him, much as [hated to, that I thot his chances were few and far between., The rainy season is here and generally it is a bad time of He had left Washington last Sep- tember, traveled thru Montana, from there to Saskatchewan, Canada, where he obtained nine days in the harvest The harvest fields like every other place he went were crowded with men Large numbers of men had come all the way from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. About the end of October the fourth snow storm came along and made it impossible to continue threshing. So he tramped back to the states, down into the ImperialValley of California, Little Men were plentiful and it seemed the bosses . Having heard things were a little better in the northern part of Cali fornia he was on his way to try his luck there. When he thot of the fam- ily that he left in Washington and his What the world, was coming to, he did not know. He was hoping that the “rotten capitalist system,” responsible for his misery, would be destroyed. He knew that its.destruction could be DODGE BROTHER: WORKERS ARE COERCED TO SUPPORT COMPANY POLITICAL PET By Shop Nucleus Correspondent. DETROIT, Feb. 7.—On the time clock at the Dodge Brothers plant hangs a picture of a woman candi- date that the bosses are supporting. The company decided to hold a mass meeting of the workers to boost this “lady.” In order to cover the “expenses” each foreman was supplied with tickets at fifty cents apiece and every worker was com- pelled to buy one.. A number of workers refused to purchase one of these tickets and were told by the boss if they “didn’t come across” they would lose their jobs. As the concern employs about 25,000 workers, it means they col- lected $12,500. What are they. go- ing to do with this money, is a ques- tion many workers are asking and are also wondering whether this “lady” will aid the workers or the bosses after she is elected. Worker Sent to Fake Job Makes Agency Pay; Unemployed Organize By L. P. RINDAA, (Worker Correspondent.) LOS ANGELES, Cal., Feb. 7—The Russell Employment Agency, 532 Towne Ave., tried to cheat two work- ers out of their money. The men were sent out to Boulevard Land Co., New Demands Made on the Bosses by the Passaic, N. J., Strikers (Continued from page 1) “2. The return of the money tak- en from us by wage cuts since the time the wage cuts were last given. “3, Time and one-half for over- time A 44-hour week Decent sanitary working conditions. “6. No discrimifation ‘agaiast un- ion workers. “7, Recognition of the union. “Textile workers, strike! Strike for these demands to the finnish! and United Front Committee of Textile Workers is now trying to solve the problem of relief. It has re- ceived many offers of help from not only ot working ‘class organiza- tions, such as labor unions, that have pledged to give from one hour’s to one day's pay, but also from land- lords, physicians and trades people, without a single request having yet been made for help. The following trades people have so far volunteered to assist. the strikers, announces the United Front Commit- tee in a letter being sent out to the press: Bakers.—S. Plesser, 194 Parker Ave., Passaic; 25 per cent reduction | for strikers. Goodman’s Bakery, 124} 3rd St., Passaic; 25 per cent reduction on bread for strikers. , Barbers.— Seifert’s Barber Shop, 208 Hope Ave., Passaic. Free service Monday and Tuesday to strikers, men and women, F. Gargash, 104—4th, Passaic. Free hair cuts any time. Druggists—Shuit’s Drug Store, 10 per cent off on all ready made medi- cines; 331-3 per cent off on all the Gerard, Cal. Each man paid a fee of $2.50 plus some blood money to a railroad corporation, The “job” turn- ed out to be a fake. The agency had place, that no more men were needed at Gerard. This affair, however, is a mild one compared with hundreds of other cases of this kind in the land of sharkdom. Thru the labor commissioner, the fees were returned and all other ex- penses paid. The shark was raving mad. said to one of the men: “You must be a lawyer?” He so much crooked work is going on here—not least jaround the employ- ment agencies—that one learns law and everything else,” was the an- swer. “You can get no more jobs here,” the shark came back. “To hell with you and your fake Jobs! We are going to organize and run you ragged before long,” retorted the angry, victimized worker. Action Taken, Speech making every day on the slave market resulting in the job seekers on- Towne and _ Stanford avenues organizing the Logs Angeles County Unemployment League, a dele- gated body of trade unionists and members of other working class or- ganizations. West Virginia Local Downs Hutcheson’s Red-Baiting Proposals (By a Worker Correspondent) HUNTINGTON, West Virginia, Feb, 7.—Local Union No, 302 of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Join- ers voted down a motion to accept and put into operation the steps urged by Hutcheson against the members of the Workers: (Communist) Party, the Trade Union Educational League and other left wing organizations. After the letter had been read, one of the ex-business agents, who has the reputation of being one, who was in- strumental in breaking the Street Carmen's Union, made a motion that the instructions be complied with, One of the progressive members of the union took the floor and pointed out that this instruction was in viola- tion of the application pledge which stated that the union would not inter- tere with the members’ political and religious beliefs. The motion was put to a vote and the majority of members voted it down, Color Bar Bills Before Virginia Legislature RICHMOND, Va., Feb, 7.—One of | the bills introduced in the Virginia house of delegates inthe last few days is one by G, A. Massenberg, of been notified before the hiring took] * “No, but 1 am a Californian, and| store’s own medicines; 50 per cent off on all doctor’s prescriptions, —E. Lygas, 15 Jackson ssaic, has offered free rent of a store which the strikers expect to use for relief. Organize Relief Work. Relief work will now be started on a large and systematic scale. It is planned to have a gréat benefit per- ‘ormance with the best professional talent, from New York City, a tag day , Wil be held in the,ngar future, sev- eral dances will be given, all stores of | the city will be catl¥éssed by a com- | mittee of the striketsyto see whether | they will reduce ‘thei? prices, efforts will be made to ‘secure a fleet of trucks that will scour the city every day to get from the, very ‘sympathetic storekeepers of this, city food, cloth- ing and other necessities of life for distribution among the strikers, it is planned to have a bundle day, when | house to house appeals for clothing twill be made to protect the destitute strikers. All organizations of this city which wish to aid in relief work have been invited to send delegates to a confer- tence to be held Sunday, Feb, 14, at 2p. m., at 743 Main Ave. Try to Scare Workers. The press here came out with big headlines telling of offers that the bosses have received from the cham- ber of commerce in .Rome, Ga., to move their mills there and get cheap labor and tax free conditions for 25 years. This proposal was explained by the speakers as a ridiculous meth- od of scaring the workers to go back without getting their demands. “If they want to move the mills,” said J. O. Bentall in his talk to the strikers at Neubaur’s Hall, “we will carry our organization work to Georgia and make the same demands there. The bosses will find it mighty hard to escape the union if.the workers once make up their minds to get together and fight the bosses.” > J, Zack of New York, told the strik- ers of the victories won by the Inter- national Ladies’ Sete workers’ Union and how thi ofiditions have been improved and the wages raised and the bosses beaten when they tried to cut wages. / The letter addres: owners by Weisbord with the new demands was taken) wi comment except by Johnson of he’ Botamy Mill, who said he would wot. deal with the present committee or with Weisbord. The strikers declare*he* will be forc- ed to deal with just-thé representa- tive that the workers choose and with nobody else. tothe mill Plan Import-Export Exhibition. MOSCOW, Feb. 5.—(Tass,)—The State Trade Company “Gosstorg” of Soviet Russia is organizing an export- import exhibition aicer the style of the All-Union Agricultural exhibition for this spring. This exhibition aims WORKERS’ UNITY ALARMS PASSAIC TEXTILE BARONS The Kept Press Bewails Bosses’ Poverty By J. O. BENTALL, (Special to The Das'y Worker) PASSAIC, N. J., February 7—The monster parade of the striking textile workers here caused a veritable hur- ricane in the circles of the bosses and the new demands presented by the striking workers came as a cycione into their camp. Strikers Determined to Win. In the homes of the strikers is a grim determination to fight to the bit- ter end against the bosses and to stick for the new demands of 10 per cent increase in pay over the precut wages, with back pay since October 1st, The Passaic Daily News which has been silent till now, on, the strike, comes out with an editorial filled with sob-stuff about the poverty of the bosses and says the bosses cannot pay the demanded wages since there have been cuts in other mills and the Passaic mills must “meet competi- tion.” Organizer Weisbord is laying plans for relief work and is getting the sup- port of organized labor thruout the country. This department of the strike is of utmost importance as the workers in the mills have been paid such low wages that they have not been able to save enough to live on one week after their meager pay stopped. Send Out Collection Lists. The United Front Committee that is in charge of the strike has sent out collection lists and made a call for donations of food stuffs. Many of the merchants have promised to supply the strikers at a big reduction in price, and others have offered to sell flour and meats at cost. The success of the strike depends largely upon the ability to keep the strikers alive. If the bosses find that there is suffering among the workers they will hold out that much longer against them. With well established relief the bosses will weaken and the workers will go back to their jobs with all their demands granted. The strikers are asking each other why Mayor McGuire was not in the parade. He was invited by the United Front Committee, but declared that this matter did not concern him. “If it is not his business to see that you get a living, what is his business as mayor?” asked Bentall at Neubauers Hall, today. “Did you elect him for mayor?” was the next question. “Yes,” came the reply. “Are you going to elect him again?” “No,” roared the crowd, Government Against Strikers. The strike has taken on a political significance and the workers are not blind to the fact that the’ government is not all that they had formerly be- lieved it to be. In a life and death struggle for food, the mayor says he has nothing to do and will not take the side of the oppressed. This is quite strange to the men and women who have slaved for many years un- der the impression that the govern- ment aids the laboring masses. It has leaked out that the mayor and three of his pals went on a spree and came home—or tried to come home —about five o’clock on the morning of the parade after the mayor had written his refusal to participate with the workers in their demonstration. Their condition was such that they ran into a truck and wrecked their car, and had to be escorted by the police of a neighboring village to their homes at daybreak. An attempt was made to keep thé matter secret but the facts soon came to light. The story was too good. So even the local papers told of the merry four, who were in such a condition that tho the truck dtiver ran off the road to give them the right of way, they sailed into him and smashed their DeLuxe Lincoln into a heap of junk, Russian Branch to Give Affair The Russian branch of the Interna- tional Labor Defense is giving a con- cert and dance Saturday, Feb, 13, at the Workers’ House, 1902 W. Division St. An istéresting program is being arranged. Beginning at 8 p, m, sharp, SICK AND DEATH BENEFI SOCIETIES Bolshevik’ “You're a smart guy. You must be a and said that the best thing that could be done with me was to get rid of me. * Later in the day I received a call from the superintendent's office, T entered the office the superintendent asked me “Are you number 600?” replied “yes.” “Did you refuse to work where you were placed? told me that I had to work where I was placed and not argue. I answer- ed that I refused to be put out in the cold air with my scanty clothes and run myself into an early grave for any boss. For this I was fired, Gin ‘There is way ney Abeydine As I He then to show the import and export possi- bilities of the State Trade Company to the population of Soviet Russia and to foreign concerns. Foreign coun- tries will have exhibits at the fair, Hampton, designed to compel the separation of white and colored in public. halls, theaters, opera houses, motion picture houses, and places of amusement; to penalize those who do not enforce the proposed law, and to punish such persons as may refuse to accept the seats designated for them, Aged Negro Flower Seller Tarred and rolled for the second semester of the Workers Correspondents’ class should do so tonight at 8 p. m. in the editorial room of The DAILY WORKER, 1113 W. Washington Blvd. ‘Those who have been assigned by their nuclei to take this class can- not put it off any longer. They will be expected to attend tonight or good reason for failure to appear will have to be given. The class committee meets at 7:30 to outline work for the pr ress of the class. pe starts at 8 Fraven-Kranken-Unterstuetzungs Verein Meets ist und. ‘Sed. Thureday, lee! We st a re ul Wicker Park Hall, 40 W. North Avenue. Secretary. Epa aS ee ie a ete Se IN NEW YORK CITY! Scott Ne i g “What I Think of Soviet Russia” COOPER UNION, Saturday, February 13, 2:30 P. M. Admission 75 Cents NOW, $1.00 at “Education in the Soviet R COMMUNITY CHURCH, Tuesday, Februar Admission $1.00 and 75 Cents NOW. $1.25 and Tickets on sale Now: New Masses, 39 West 8th St , 8:15 P.M. at Door,