The Daily Worker Newspaper, October 27, 1926, Page 5

News and Comment Labor Education Labor and Government Trade Union Politics TRADE UNIONS MAKE DEMANDS ON MOVIELAND Seek Organization of Film Industry By ESTHER LOWELL, Federated Press, NDW. YORK,. Oct. 25.—Organized labor is marching on open#shop Holly- wood and New York movie studios, Stage hands, motion ploture machine operators, carpenters, scenic artists and electrical workers are all demand- ing recognition of their unions by the big movie producers, Demands of the International Al- lMance of Theatrical Stage Employes and Motion Picture Operators; United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Join- ers; Scenic Artists’ Association of In- ternational Brotherhood of Painters, Paperhangors and Decorators, and In- ternational Brotherhood of Blectrical Workers have been presented to War- ner Bros., Famous Players, Producers 4 Distributors’ Corporation of Amer- ica, Universal, Metro-Goldwyn, First National and Fox Films, An Open-Shop Industry. Threat of a national sympathetic walkout involving 13,500 workers in the trades mentioned is made if the producers do not sign with the unions by December 1. William Canavan, president International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employes and Mo- tion Picture Operators and spokesman for the unions, charges that the pro- ducers broke a verbal agreement which they had made last April. Fred W. Beetson, secretary of the Association of Motion Picture Pro- ducers to regulate their affairs, on the movie studios are “operated on the American plan” and are “open shop.” Beetson was conferring with Will Hays, called “czar” of the movie in- dustry because he was chosen by pro- ducer sto regulate their affairs, un the welfare program to be put into the studios November 1. Equity Holds Aloof, The effect of the unions’ demands for recognition, closed Sho , read, jus ment of wage scales, “Gahthots ay pay for six legal holidays and extra pay for Sunday work is a tremendous challenge to notoriously open-shop Los Angeles, F Actors’ Equity Association, which is attempting to organize the extra play- ers in the movie studios, is not in- cluded in the group of unions pre- senting demands, Equity does not have an agreemgnt permitting sympa- thetic action by actors with other stage employes. Organization of the 8,500 mechanical workers in Holly- wood studios will undoubtedly stimu- late unionization of the exploited part- time players. ee EE Se aaa eee: On TC Re a SOO © LS AO a, We will send sample coples of Thé DAILY WORKER to your friends~ send us name and address, Good Books Be IN GERMAN We have just received a shipment of the following books in German from the publishers in Berlin: Die Oekonomie des Rentners, Bucharin—Cloth .... Imperialismus, Lenin—Cloth .. Komm. Internationale 4 $1.00 7 Heft 1 .. Heft 2 .. oe a Grundriss der Wirtaschaftsgeo- grafie (Paper) Ff (Cloth) 7 Vereinigte Staaten des sozialle, tischen Europa ... eee Die zweite Organisations! renz (Paper) .... (Cloth) nfe- Subscription rates: By mall, $6.00 WHO IS YOUR NEIGHBOR AT HOME, at work, in the mine, in the shop, on the farm, or anywhere? Is he a Slovak or Czech worker? Have him, or her, subscribe to the only Czechoslovak working class daily paper in the U. 8, THE DAILY ROVNOST LUDU 1510 W. 18th St., Chicago, Lil... Organized Labor—Trade Union Activities After the Furriers’ Strike By W. WOLINER, Seo'y Jolnt Board Furriers’ : New, York. T the time the strike in the fur in- dustry was settled the leadership was confronted with several problems of vital importance to the organiza- tion, and we can truthfully say that these problems are now considered a thing of the past. And now let us see how those problems were solved by the leadership with the full co-opera- tion:of the great majority of the work- erg. * The first problem, of restoring the workers back to work, was an imme- diate one, and it was settled as such. thanks to the apparatus that was built up during the strike, namely, that of the shop chaitmen and hall commit- tees. ~ (IS difficult problem, which some- times takes weeks, especially after such a bitter struggle as we furriers went thru, was settled within the pe- riod of a féw days. Workers went back to work in the shops they were striking from ‘with substantial in- creases in wages and with a promise that the manufacturers felt that the demands they suffered for and won would be kept and cherished. And here it is well to note. that an- other problem, for which the equal division of work was extremely neces- sary, and with which the fur workers will have to reckon in the future, is that of the orphans, or those workers who had no shops when they went on strike, PON the termination of the 1920 strike conducted by Kaufman, Sam Cohen, Sorkin and the Second avenue gangsters, these workers were left to shift for themselves. Being hungry and eager for work, it was the natural result that these workers: would go from shop to shop begging for a job, there lowering the wages and in gen- eral ereating a chaotic condition which it took some time to overcome, and was never finally remedied until the second half of the year 1925. Then a left-wing administration took over the Furriers’ Union and im- mediately undértook~ an aggressive campaign to remedy the evils that had piled up in the organization under the former administration. This problem of the so-called orphans was settled in a@-way as to.prove to the workers) that the leadership is heart and soul in the interest of the workers, 'HESE workers were not imme- ah, diately, released. to, shift for them- selves, but they kept up a discipline as even during the strike, until they. were all placed on jobs or were called for by various firms that were in need of additional help at good salaries, and are now assured of their jobs, The union, upon the termination of this strike, had to deal with a problem that was something new, altho scab- bing seems to be something that will continue until all the workers will realize the meaning of the class strug- gle. Hspecially in a union where the international body, like ours, did in- directly sanction it by tolerating cer- tain elements, the majority of them of @ questionable character. These elements were not favorable to the strike and sabotaged it in every possible way and manner, Nothing being too low for them to try, their one aim was to break the strike. HEN these elements were warned by the workers in the halls that they were found out and should desist from their actions, they left the strike halls -and were given a hall in Long Island, close to the international of- fices, where they conducted them- selves, or rather amused themselves, by playing cards, shooting dice and other recreations'a la the strike of 1920. For these persons were then at the head of the union. UE to a situation of this.kind, the natural result wag that those of a weaker nature could be more easily enticed by the bosses to scab on their fellow workers, After the strike all the scabs had to leave the shops where they were scabbing and appear before @ restoration committee, consisting of three members of the union, with the impartial chairman of the industry, for reinstatement to the union, Heavy fines were imposed upon them by this committee, in some cases totaling more than they could have earned dur- ing the strike while scabbing. IHESE and other cases of similar nature are being liquidated by the union in a mannér satisfactory to the workers, and of course here also the Forward, in conjunction with some of the international officers, raised a cry that honest workers are being discrim- inated against by the lefts. It seems that, according to the. For- ward and his followers amongst our international officers, it is no crime to scab during a strike where there are no gangsters employed and where the leaders of the strike are the most Union, & year, for Chicago $8.00 a your. honored and respected of the workers, Of course, among these scabs there Were Quite a few partisans of the For- ward, NE former vice-president of the in- ternational, not to say former loca] officer, and the whole former organiza- tion committee during Kaufman's ad- ministration, were all scabs and scab agents, and hete the Joint Board acted in a manner that should be a credit to all honest workers, most of all to the left wing.movement, of which it is @ part, Workers that ..were enticed away from the strike, upon their payment of a fine, are being reinstated in the organization, altho it is true a strict watch upon their behavior is kept by the workers in the shops where’ they are employed. But the professional scabs, gunmen and gangsters, who were all members of Kaufman's or- Ranization committee, were given per- mits to work in the trade, fats Joint Board at this time again went on record that these individ- uals would never be reinstated in the union, It is needless to say that this met with the full approval of the work- ers,.and naturally with the disapproval of the Forward and a few vice-presi- dents of our international, who were very emphatic, demanding reinstate- ment in the union for these elements. The Joint Board even received a letter from the sub-committee of the interna- tional, signed by President Shachtman, to that effect. The demobilization of the union's war-time forces took place with a will and a gusto unequalled in any union. The general picket committee, or the G. P. C., as it is commonly known, {m- mediately went to work in their re- spective shops, and those that had no shops were found places, LL went back to work—bench or machine—for they were the ad- vance guard of the workers, and not, as in previous strikes, hired thugs who worked for the union and got paid from the bosses and the union alike. Proof of the work of the G. P. C. can be had by the cruelty of the police and unheard-of sentences imposed upon those that were caught in the clutches of capitalist justice. T is natural that during this time complaints of workers piled up, but here again is shown the will and deter- mination of left wing leaders, who went. to work with a- will and suc- ceeded in adjusting those complaints that have arisen in a satisfactory man- ner to the workers. It is with such work and management in the interest of the workers that has gained the peonfidence and support of the fur workers to the policies and leadership of the left wing militants in the Fur- riers’ Union, With work such as of this nature on behalf of the workers, and with material for leadership such as the left wing movement has brought out in the Furriers’ Union, it is to be hoped that the goal of all progressives —that of amalgamation of the needle trades union—is not far distant. Federation Radio Artist Hears Own ‘Program on Ether That a radio entertainer can im- prove his or her rendition of a mus- ical number thru hearing exactly what finally goes on the air and watching the indicator of the transmitter, thus regulating the instrument or voice, in- stead of requiring the central operator to out-guess the artist, has been proven, Miss Vella Cook, WCFL (Chicago Federation $f Labor), staff contralto, who is an experienced radio singer, placed the headphones, tightly clamp- ed over her ears, so that all she could hear of her voice would be the actual projection in the air, exactly what you hear on your receiving set at home. This experiment was very unusual, She watched the instrument on the transmitter which indicates exactly the degree of modulation affected, and regulated her voi¢e within the limits specified to’ obtain the best results without danger of over-working the apparatus. In fact, the whole opera- tion of the radio transmitter was turned over to the artist, Miss Cook, at the conclusion of her song, took the earphones off and declared the experience a very wonderful one, stat- ing that if all broadcast stations would adopt the same method, the tadio audiences would receive the programs much more successfully, N. Y. Firemen Demand the Eight-Hour Day WASHINGTON, Oct, 25,—-Endorse- ment of the demand of New York City fire fighters for the 8-hour day, or three-platoon syatem, was voted by the International Association of Fire Fighters in its biennial convention Just: closed. The convention urged the people of New York to give their unqualified support to the canipaign the firemen are about to undertake to secure this improvement, The best way—asudscribe today. THE DAILY WORKER —=—=—<—<—_—_—_—_—X—X—X—«—_*eKe!)]=___——= Policies and Programs The Trade Union Press Strikes—Injunctions Labor and Imperialism START DRIVE TO UNIONIZE ALL GARAGES I. A. of M. Makes Pact With Teamsters By LAURENCE Topp, WASHINGTON, Oct. 25—(FP)— Fortified by e:Jurisdictional agree- ment which they: signed with the Brotherhood » of» Teamsters, Chauf- feurs, Stablemen and Helpers, during the recent convention of the American Federation of Labor at Detroit, offi- cers of the International Association of Machinists have returned to their Washington headquarters to launch a drive to unionize the commercial garages of the country. Sign Agreement. This agreement with the Teamsters and Chauffeurs is of considerable im- portance. Its terms are: 1,. Only these two organizations shall hold jurisdiction in ‘garages, and only members of the two organiza- tions shall be recognized there, 2. Members of the Machinists’ Un- ion shall have the work of “assem- bling, dismantling, adjusting’ and re- pairing of all mechanical parts and chassis of automobiles, trucks and buses, this to include changing ~of solid tires, 8. All other; work in and around garages—-such as washing, polishing, oiling, greasing,;,changing tires and cleaning up garages—shall go to the Teamsters and Chauffeurs’ members. 4. Neither party is bound to pro- tect the other against any ‘“legit- imate” claims of any other organiza- tion affiliated with the A. F, of L. This treaty is to endure until either party gives 30 days’ notice of a desire for a change. Its, Meaning. Its meaning in the fight to organize the big and little garages thruout the country is thig: the Teamsters and Chauffeurs, wherever they have a un- ion agreement with a taxicab, bus or other garage firm, will be under moral pressure to insist that the mechanics who handle ‘thelr. cars and who work with them in the garages belong to the International Association of Ma- chinists. Since the Teamsters and Chauffeurs are organized in many of the garages where the Machinists have not yet gained a foothold, and since the Teamsters and Chauffeurs are, as a rule, vigorous trade union- ists, the results'of the agreement are expected to help the Machinists in many instances.* In their turn the Machinists will insist that men work- ing beside them at jobs allotted to the Teamsters’ and Chauffeurs shall get into that’ unfon. B. & O. May Be First. Strangely enough, one of the first corporations likely to feel the impact of the new campaign in the garages is the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, which is on the best of terms with the union. Recently the B. & O, was shut out of the Pennsylvania terminal in New York City and entered into a contract with the Fifth Avenue Ceach Co, to haul its passengers from vari- ous stations in the city to its trains of the New Jersey side of the Hudson river, The Fifth Avenue Coach Co. is anti-union in its shop policy, A movement is on foot to organize the garage force, and to declare the Fifth Avenue Coach Co. unfair if it persists in its hostility. Whether the B, & O. will endeavor to adjust the matter to the satisfac- tion of the Machinists and the Team- sters and Chauffeurs, by persuading the Fifth Avenue h Co. to per- mit unionization of its garages, is not indicated. If the garages are de- clared unfair the passenger transfer business of the B. & O, in New York City may be seridusly embarrassed, and the dispute may lead to demands for an extension of the boycott to the New Jersey terminal. Carpenters Continue Using Hammers, But Hit no Nails on Head SAN FRANCISCO, Oct, 25.—Carpen- ters use hammers, This was proven by the fact that four scabs in the car- penters’ strike here are ® the hos- pital, one of them not expected to scab any more on this earth, They say they were attacked by six men with hammers who knew how to hit the nail on the head. NEW YORK—(FP)—Step by step the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Por- ters is moving forward toward recog: nition by the Pullman Go,, which now refuags to deal with its workers ex- cept through its controlled company union, The brotherhood is appealing to the rail mediation, |, Sot up by the Watson-Parker act, for aid in ob- taining « enaterented i the Pullman Co. oD sy COMPANY UNION OF PULLMAN IN FAKE ELECTION Ballot Steal Elects Stool Pigeons NEW YORK, Oct. 25.—General dis- satisfaction with the elections of the Pullman Porters’ Benefit Association or the company union is being re- ported here from every section, Elec: tion contests are being instituted in some western districts for the. first time in the history of any district of the benefit association, according to the information received. Fake Eleotions, The complete company control of ballot. boxes is claimed for the mis- carriage of the porters’ will in: most instances. In some districts where well-known representatives have been elected over and over again they did not receive a single vote in the. pri- mary balloting, in spite of having led the ticket for years in previous elec- uns, Company instructors and petty oficials were declared to be their suc- cessful rivals, and the men were left little choice between one stoolpigeon aud another in the final election. Mr. Ashley L. Totten, assistant gen- eral organizer of the brotherhood, whose temporary headquarters are in Kansas City, reports that he hag re- ceived numerous letters from several districts that the elections were un- fair. Despite the determination of the members to elect delegates from each district who have the interests of the porters at heart and who are neither Pullman officials or stools, it is found that the names of the men voted for did not appear on the final ballot. Company Union Helps—The Company. The Pullman Porters’ Benefit Asso- ciation is supported by-the porters, who pay assessments of. $26 to $45 per year for its support. Hitherto the Pullman Company paid its porters a half month’s salary during illness, but this consideration was removed after the benefit association was formed, in consequence of which the Pullman Company saves several thou- sands of dollars a year at the expense of the porters. Hoboes Will Convene in Omaha, November 9 OMAHA, Oct. 25.—The 21st annual convention, International Brotherhood Welfare Association, will -open « in Omaha November 9 in the Labor Tem- ple. The organized hoboes invited all labor unions and other organizations -nterested.in.the problems .of the, up- organized worker to send fraternal delegates. Unemployment, old-age pensions, worker education, international peacé and industrial justice are among the subjects scheduled for discussion by Secretary Tom Curry. NEW ORL’ — (BP) — Union plasterers demanded an increase of 25c an hotr in New Orlean. the new scale $1.50. A sir pected, as the contractors have re- jected the demand. WHITHER RUSSIA— Toward Capitalism or Sociallsm— by Leon Trotsky An extraordinarily timely discussion of the tendencies in Russia's internal and international policy as affecting its economic development. Trotsky, in hig well-known brilliant and in- cisive style, analyzes a question that has been the outstanding problem be- fore the Soviet government, Cloth bound—$1.50 BROKEN EARTH— by Maurice Hindus A splendid account of the Russian village and peasant today, Cloth bound—$2.00 RUSSIA TODAY— Official report of the British Trade Union Delegation to Soviet Russia. Duroflex bound-~$1.25 RUSSIAN WORKERS AND WORKSHOPS IN 1926— by William Z. Foster Paper—$ .25 Daily Worker Pub. Co. 1113 W. Washington Biva. CHICAGO, ILL, «; Page Five ANEW NOVEE Gpbon Sinclair 1Copyrigit, 1926, by Upton Sinclair) IV. The sun went down, and it was time for Mr. Roscoe to Manc his get-away. But firet he had dinner; and when he was thru with his ice cream and coffee, he pushed his plate away, and took his napkin out of his neck, and leaned back in his chair with a sigh of content; and while he was unrolling his cigar from its gold foil, he fixed his shrewd eyes upon Bunny across the table, and said, “Jim Junior, I’ll tell you what’s the matter with you.” “All right,’”’ said Jim Junior, receptively, “You're a nice kid, but you’re too god-damn serious. You take life too hard—you and your old man both. You got to get a little fin as you go along, and J know what you need, You got a girl, kid?” “Not right now,” said Bunny, blushing a trifle. ‘IT thought so. You need one, to take you out and cheer you. up. Mind you, I don’t mean one of these jazz-babies—get a girl that’s got some sense, like my Annabelle. You know Annabelle Ames?” “I’ve never met her. I’ve seen her, of course.” “Did you see her in “Madame Tee-Zee’? By Jees, that’s what I call a picture—only one I ever made money out of, by the way! Well, that girl takes care of me like a mother—if she’d been up here, I wouldn’t ’a drunk alll that beer, you bet! You come up to my place some time, and Annabelle’ll find you a girl—lots of *em up there, with the ginger in ’em, too, and she’s a regular littk match-maker—never so happy as when she’s pairing ‘em off, two little love-birds in a cage. Why don’t you drive back with me now? , ‘I’ve got to go to college the day after tomorrow,” said Bunny. “Well, you come some time, and bring the old man along. That’s what he needs, too, a girl—I’ve told him so a dozen times. You got a girl yet, Jim? By Jees, look at him blush, the old maid in pants! I could tell the kid some things about you that would bust the rouge-pots in your cheeks—hey, old skeezicks?” And the great man, who had been, getting out of his chair as he dis- coursed, fetched Dad a couple of thumps on the back and burst into a roar of laughter. It was things like that that made you know Vernon Roscoe had a “big heart.” He seemed to have really taken a fancy to Bunny, and was concerned that he should learn to enjoy life. “You come see me somé time, kiddo,” he said, as he was loading himself into his big limousine. “Don’t you forget it now, I mean it. I'll show you what a country place can be like, and you make the old man get one too.” And Bunny said all right, he would come; and the engine began to gurr, and the car rolled off in the moonlight, and the big laughing voice died away among the hills. “So long, kiddo!”’ ¥; Bunny came back into the house, and followed Dad into his study and shut the door. “Dad, are you really going to put up ‘|that money with Mr. Roscoe?” “Why, sure, son, I got to; why not?” Dad looked genuinely surprised—as he always did in these cases. You could never be sure how much of it was acting, for he was sly as the devil, and not above using his arts on those he loved. “Dad, yop’re proposing to buy the presidency of the United States!” ae A “Well, son, you can put it that way—”" “But that’s what it is, Dad!” “Well, that’s one way to say it. Another {s that we're pro- tecting ourselves against rivals that want to put us out of busi- ness. If we don’t take care of politics, we'll wake up after elec- tion and find we’re done for. There’s a bunch of big fellows in the East have put up a couple of millions to put General Leonard Wood across. Are you rooting for him?” Bunny understood that this wag a rhetorical question, and did not answer it. “It’s such a dirty game, Dad!” “I know, but it’s the only game there is. Of course, I can quit, and have enough to live on, but I don’t feel like being laid on the shelf, son.” “Couldn’t we just run our own business, Dad?” may remember, i question Bunny had asked before. “There’s no such thing, son—they’re jist crowding you all the time. They block you at the refineries, they block you at the markets, they block you in the banks—I don’t tell you much about jt, because it’s troubles, but there’s jist no place in the busi- ness world for the little feller any more. You think I’m a big feller because I got twenty million, and I think Verne is a big fel- ler because he’s got fifty; but there’s Excelsior Pete—thirty or forty companies, all working as one—that’s close to a billion dol- lars you're up against, And there’s Victor, three or four hundred million more, and all the banks and insurance company resources behind them—what chance have we independents got? Look at this slump in the price of gas right now—the newspapers tell you sate Blades It was, you Be = there’s a glut, but that’s all rot—what makes the glut, but the . Big Five dumping onto the market to break the little fellers? Why, they’re jist wiping ’em off the slate!” “But how can public officials prevent that?” “There’s a thousand things that come up, son—we got to land the first wallop—right at the sound of the bell! get pipe-line right-o’-ways? How do we get terminal facilities? You saw how it was when we came into Paradise; would we ever ‘a got this development if I hadn’t ’a paid Jake Coffey? Where How do we * would Verne and me be right now, if we didn’t sit down with . him and go over the slate, and make sure the fellers he puts on it are right? And now—what’s the difference? bigger, we're playin’ the game on a national scale—that’s all. If Verne and me and Pete O'Reilly and Fred Orpan can get the tracts we got our eyes on, well, there'll be the Big Six or Big Seven or Big Hight in the oil game, that’s all—and you set this down for sure, son, we'll be doin’ what the other fellers done, from the day that petroleum came into use, fifty years ago.” (To be continued.) ALBERT WEISBORD Leader of the Passaic Strike will speak for the first time under the auspices of the Workers Communist Party at the Final Election Campaign Meeting Thursday, October 28th,1926, at 8 p. m. at CENTRAL OPERA HOUSE 67th ST. & 3rd AVE. A BRASS BAND WILL PLAY REVOLUTIONARY MUSIC Other Speakers are: BEN GITLOW—Candidate for Governor WM. W. WEINSTONE—Candidate for Congress 20th Dis. A. TRACHTENBERG—Candidate for Congress 14th Vis. JACK STACHEL—Chairman. dmission 25 Cents Auspicos: WORKERS (COMMUNIST) PARTY DISTRICT TWO dist this, we got»