The Daily Worker Newspaper, August 9, 1927, Page 5

\ || ORGANIZ NEWS AND COMMENT LABOR EDUCATION LABOR AND GOVERNMENT | | TRADE UNION POLITICS | | SHOE WORKERS DISTRICT WRECKING GANG IN CONTROL OF GENERAL OFFICE In order to familiarize the rest of THE DAILY WOK ED LABOR—TRADE UNION ACTIVITIES COUNCIL EXPOSES UNION- tion of the general official began to (the workers in the shoe industry with demand that the matter of striking the recent wholeale expulsions car-|against wage reductions under such ried out in the New York district by! circumstances be decided upon in con-} e Fitzgerald-Nolan machine from/sultation with the crews of each shop. the general council of the Shoe|The District Council having exhaust- Workers Protective Union, the Dis-|ed its own finances in the struggle trict Council, whose charter was re- against wage reductions decided to voked as the first step in the actual refer the case of the B. W. S. Shoe wreckingof the organization, has is-}|Co. to the crew of the shop. Thé sued the following statement to the|crew decided to compromise on a} membership of the organization, wage reduction of 5 per cent intead, LEATHER WORKERS HEAR SHIPLACOFE TAX GRAFT STORY which is a damning indictment of the |of 15 per cent as the boss demanded. | KER, AY, AUWUDST ¥, 1927 POLICIES AND PROGRAMS STRIKES —— INJUNCTIONS | THE TRADE UNION PRESS LABOR AND IMPERIALISM Wall Attacked as Reactionary by - Angeles Labor LOS ANGELES, Calif., Aug: 8—} | Denouncing the attempt that the|union-wrecker§ in the organization; The Cutters’ Local 66, who in all sim- , | r the announcement of a meet- right wing administration of the|who pose as labor leade |ilar cases in the past had urged a|Afte Fancy Leather Goods’ Workers’ Union will make at Cooper Union to-| night to impose a $60 tax on the| membership, the Executive Commit- | tee of the Trades Union Educational League of the union has issued the | following statement: “The Shylocks of the Fancy Leath- To all locals and members of the Shoe Workers Protective Union: Brothers and Sister You have undoubtedly heard that our charter has been revoked by the General Council, also the charters of Locals 53, lasters and wood heelers; 54, fitte felt slipper workers; er Goods workers are attempting by | and 68, children’s shoe workers. These hook or by crook to steam-roller)jocals have declared their intention to through a hold-up proposition of a) back up the District Council. In this $60 tax on the membership. |statement we are presenting our side “The Shiplacoff-Wolinsky outfit! of the case for your consideration. has not learned anything from the| Why Have We Been Expelled? reception that it received at the hands} You surely know that the situation of the membership at the last meet-|for the workers in our industry, par- ing. This corrupt outfit is not pre-/ticularly in the eastern states is a pared to give up its dream of a $20,-|yery bad one. Thousands are out of 000 grab from the membership. | work as a result of the too long hours Turn Down Proposition. we have to work with modern ma- “Last Thursday’s meeting held at|chinery. Many factories are being the Rand School, which was. called |erected outside the unionized centers, for the purpose of jamming through because the bosses never satisfied, the tax recommendations, has shown| want to make still greater profits by that the straw Napoleon Shiplacoff with his vicious attacks on the left operating their plants with still cheaper unorganized labor. | This situation in the industry has |produced a condition in the New | York market which makes the bosses absolutely ruthless and brutal in the treatment of their workers. Speed up; reduction of wages; lengthening of the hours, is the objective of the employers. Because of these unfay- orable conditions in the industry the growing strength of the employers, who are backed by big capital, we have been advocating a program of ‘amalgamation of all existing shoe compromise attitude |told the cutters in these shops not ;to submit to the decision of the shop \erew. Whereupon the District Coun- |cil submitted the whole case to the! |General Council with a statement |that if the General Council will ex- tend support financially and other- wise we are in favor of striking this shop against wage reductions. If the | General Council however, cannot sup-/| port the strike the District Council would be forced to sanction the ac- |tion of the crew in accepting the 5 per cent reduction. | Meanwhile the Unity Shoe Com-| |pany discharged 4 workers and upon | action of the union to reinstate them | the company discharged 18 more. The | |union being confronted with a direct} |open shop move in spite of the lack jof resources and lack of support from |the General Council decided to strike in defense. General President Nolan: in the meantime had come to the city: and strange to say agreed with the; Cutters’ Executive,’ who in the ease of the B. W. S..Shoe Company strike, | ordered the cutters not to accept the 5 per cent wage cut and advised the) council to declare this shop on strike. | On the other hand in the case of the) Unity Shoe Company, which was on) strike due-to the discharge of 22) workers, General President Nolan advised the council to call off the! strike in this shop and refused to take action against the Cutters’, Executive, who had ordered the cut-| in such cases|ing for A. Epstein, Old Age Pensions | }expert of the Pennsylvania Federa-j| tion of Labor, a conservative. dele- gate to the Central Labor Council from the Carpenters’ Union took the floor and attacked Matthew Woll, re- actionary vice-president of the A. F. of L., for his connection with the la- bor-hating National Civic Federation, of which he is the honorary president. “There are Internationals, such as the Mine Workers,” he declared, “which would expel any member who| ational Civie Fed- | belonged to the eration, an employers’ organization, and yet one of our highest officials in the A. F. of L. can with immunity be a leader there without protest. The National Civic Federation has vici- ously attacked Jim Maurer, President of the Pennsylvania Federation of I bor, who has sponsored Old Age Pe sions. This and other anti-lab measures taken by the Civic Feder tion has aroused not a word of pro- I hope the delegates in this Council will remember this when electing delegates to the next convention of the A. F. of L., so that Woll will get his just due.” It is expected that the Central La- bor Council will take some action on this question when delegates to the A. F. of L. convention are selected. Another election battle is in the offing, as George Wright, progressive delegate, is running against two re- actionary candidates for. the State Federation of Labor Convention, to be held in September in San Bern- ardino. or test from Woll. wing, can no longer confuse the minds of the workers. Thus when ihe great phraseologist proposed his $60 tax he was answered by jeers and laughter. The Shiplacoff-Wolin- | sky gang seeing that it was beaten, called off the meeting. “At the right meeting the Shipla- coff gang hopes to fare better. It is coming better prepared and is de- termined to defy the membership which is virtually unanimous in its | opposition to the outrageous tax. “It is certain that the mass of|workers’ unions into one industrial workers will come to this|union in order to make a united front Cooper Union meeting and reject the | against the bosses. We have been ad- cut-throat proposition to lift $60! yocating that the entire strength of from each union members. \the organization be mobilized to or- es | ganize the Oe army of unor- © . | ganized workers that surround us so Arbitration the Bunk, ¢: to make it possible to maintain Men Find as Chicago ‘at least what we have in union shops Bh he . |and what is more important improve var Companies Parley our conditions by organizing this | great army of unorganized workers. CHICAGO, Aug. 8.—Chicago street| Knowing that the present general car men who agreed to submit their | officials in control of the national ad- demands for wage increases to ar-| ministration are selfseeking individ- bitration are learning again that so|uals playing polities in the organiza- long as the workers parley with the| tion for their personal gain, instead bosses they will be tricked, cheated|of being servants of the workers, and exploited. | whose interests they are supposed to Dissastisfaction exists everywhere represent, our District Council sup- with the concession made to the Chi- | ported one of our able general or: cago Surface Lines by which the in-|ganizers, Pascall Cogrove for gen- surance demands of the unions are| eral election. Fitzgerald and Nolan to be construed as equivalent to wage | fearing that Cosgrove might be’ elec- increases in proportion to the cost|ted took him off the balot and to the company, if granted by the | later forced him out of the organiza- arbitrators. It illustrates the conten-j| tion. We, desiring to maintain the tion of the trade unionists that op-|unity of the organization, submitted poses company welfare schemes on|Under protest to this outrageous the ground that “you never get some-|treatment of one of our best. repre- thing for nothing from a corpora- | sentatives. tion.” They say that what the com-| The employers evidently having panies give in pensions, insurance| been made aware of this attitude of and alleged good times at picnics and our general officials and profiting by dances is more than counterbalanced|the large number of unemployed, by reduced cash wages. The arbitra-|caused by over production in the in- tion agreement of the street-ear men| dustry, began to attack the union de- confirms this view. manding wage reduction, provoking No progress has been made in the | us with discharges and lockouts, ete: hearings for higher wages because of ;We fought back and several of the the illness of Kickham Scanlan, the| shop strikes were unsuccessful. The arbitrator chosen by the union. |rank and file being aware of the ac- EPOCHAL OCCASION IN TURKEY Mustapha Kemal Pasha, president of the Turkish republic, 's shown being greeted at the official ceremonies at the Dolma-Bagtche palace by the wife of a high government official on the president's first visit to Constantinople in eight years. Constantinople repre- sents the old period of the Sultans, while the smal! city of Angora, present capital, represents the period of the republic, of whi. Mutapha Kemal Pasha has been the chief figure. ters to scab on the other crafts in the shop. The crew of the Unity shop being thus confronted with the cutters’ scabbing on them gave up in) Coolidge Intervention Urged By Committee | peaceful demonstrations Wednesday. | It has sent a telegram to President Coolidge urging him to intervene on the ground that much of the evidence in the case is secreted in the files of the Department of Justice. the 5 per cent wage cut. Thus the general office pitted one craft against the other in order to support the cutters, who had supported them in the last general election. | It became clear that the general = bo a officials in order to revenge them- union building that could have been) selves upon the New York organiza- gotten for a song was lost. Now | wrecking it completely even if it/workers in New York City out of would remain only with a part of the /30,000 employed in the industry. cutters and another dozen members' After our general officials together | in paper locals. The District Council | with the employers go thru with the | therefore appealed to the General|present wrecking campaign, together | Council as a whole to meet with us! with the Boot & Shoe, who: has in re-} in New York on Monday, July 11th.|/cent months established organization | The meeting opened with the chair-| headquarters in New York, lord| man of the General Council presiding.’ knows what will be left. | A District Council delegate raised the| Brothers and Sisters! This is the} issue of the cutters and was ruled out/dark story of perfidy and betrayal | of order. The District Council dele-| that has wrecked the New York or- gates were told that if they like it) ganization. When you will read this! or not the General Council will act/it will remind you of similar ones | - it ta a bibegr ects hat asa r! sntorenates fill the pages of rom the proceedings tha’ xe Gen- ‘history of.the shoe workers. | eral Council came not to help us; not) Honeycombed as our organizations | to use their authority to make the are with bosses’ agents, there are| cutters act as union men; not to help|very few cases in the history of the | our struggle against the employers, shoe workers’ organization compar- but that the General Council had de-/ able with the treasonable record of cided to put us on trial and expel us.|Nolan and Fitzgerald in the wreck In protest against this procedure the |/ing of the New York organization delegates of the District Council It is such activities that wrecked all) walked out. The next thing we heard| shoe workers’ organizations in the was that our charter was revoked past. If such practices prevail and without a trial. The employers who are tolerated by the rank and file of | were immediately informed thru large |the Protective the workers even in-| advertisements in the morning press,|side our organization will lose faith held a meeting and lined up with the |in the Shoe Workers Protective Union general officials to wreck the union. and surely the unorganized, witness- Within a week there were several|ing such actions, it will be exceeding- lockouts and other employers had'ly difficult to win them to join our turned in demands for wage reduc-| organization. | tions and individual agreements. This) It is our belief that the Shoe Work- | is how the situation now stands. ers’ Protective Union can be saved by | The Biggest Crime of All. |the elimination of the ruinous leader- | The wrecking of the New York, etl ae conta ae mh Maa shoe workers’ organization by the been buil y the sacrifices and ef- General Council really dates back | forts of thousands of rank and. file | from the early Spring of 1926 when shoe workers and belongs to them there was a strong movement in the It is not the property of the Fitzger. Amreican union of 6,000 members to alds and Nolans to do with as they join the Protective. After the sell-| Please. will : out of the officials of the American|many workers under similar circum- union to the, Shoe Manufacturers’/stances did in the past and start a/ Board of Trade all locals of the new organization, This is our union | See ele ete aecla wee eee Nad otands We aint | ive ina ly, which would have in-; ( . ye t cluded a magnificent building right our right to belong to this organiza-| in the heart of the shoe district. Even tion and are appealing the matter be-| assuming that the American had lost fore the rank and file throughout the | 3,000 members as a result of the CRS ha a 3 you to mapper | out, at least 2,000 other members to/|us in this fight. The practice of ex- ggther with valuable property would|pulsions and suspensions of those have come into our organization, | that differ with the leading officials making a union of 5,000. This, to-;must cease. We must have an honest | gether with real support from the| progressive leadership that will fight tional organization, would have made] for the workers’ interest, organize the it possible to organize thousands of/ unorganized, work for unity amongst unorganized workers and establish a the shoe workers thru amalgamation, veal strong union in New York City. shorten the hours cand improve our The general officials decided other- conditions. This is what the shoe wise. Being several months before workers must have to lead them to elections and the general officials victory. | fearing that the votes of the new, If you are with us for a clean, hon- members might be cast against them est, progressive administration, sup- tion were willing to go as far as|there are only 1,300 organized shoe|, Therefore we will not do as}a |Labor’s Opinion t | Above, Burgomeister Seitz of Vienna trying to dissuade workers from revolting and below, | workers going by auto-truck to Vienna to demonstrate against the clerical fascist League of Na- | tions government. Seitz is a socialist, and betrayed the workers. | le Wilkes-Barre Silk Unio Squar Mass 7 Million and a Half Mill Strike Sue | "S™* rs | Population in USSR To Organize Girls By Police Official. - New Census Reports Police Commissioner Warren) said late Sunday that he will | allow the Union Square demon- MOSCOW, Aug. 8.—The Central disgust. On the other hand the work- | WILKES-BARRE, Pa., August 8.) | stration to take place. | ers of the B. W. S. witnessing the a a : —The Wilkes-Barre Silk Mills strike! | arlier in the day Rose Baron,| | Statistical Board is actually compil- action of the president refused to| BOSTON, Aug. 7—The Sacco-|is complete, 600 workers are picket-| | secretary of the Sacco-Vanzetti| |im& the returns of the all-Unio strike in support of the cutters in Vanzetti Defense Committee, in a| ing in mass, and the company is will-| | Emergency Committee, said: “I| | sus of December, 1926, and is now their shop and insisted on accepting | statement issued tonight, calls for} ing to yield on demands to recognize} hope that Comiiisioner Watren| | proceeding to the publication of the results of this census. According to the preliminary re- U. 8. » union, no discrimination against| | will have sufficient manhood to! trikers, better sanitary conditions in} | g i ni ri i +] © ; senate D i admit that the order was issued |turns, the population of the shrooms, installation of fans, real| | under the stress of the moment| |g ip as armen ak is nking water and a relief period, |S. R. is roughly estimated at 146.2 ; lief | and that he will not ban a peace-| | Pitions but refusing the two principle de-| | ful protest. In any case the meet-! cite tha saibus fedenal ceeee jmands of no speed-up and a wage} | ing will be held.” | | lies “iia “population ‘f cigtributed “aa fngresse. <= | Warren replied to this and re-| | follows: ac. ..., pried Speeding. | | marked: “I sce no reason for in- RSFSR | This strike mtanted with an attempt! | torferring with these meetings if} Ukrainian y the empl to make the silk | they are orderly. winders who were working 7) ends go} | to work on 105, They promised to} | run the machines somewhat slower, but the workers refused to believe | they would ally do this, or that they could stand the work if it were} 4- done. The day shift is made up of} — girls who draw maximum wages of Courts Help Tin Co. to $14 a week, no matter how long they Defeat Strike for Hour The Trans-Caucasian S White-Russian SSR Uzbek SSR .. Turkmen SSR ‘Mailers, Coal Miners Aluminum Workers Strike During Week meeting | will each be under the surveillance | of an inspector.” Warren explained | | that he will personally supervise all Sacco meetings and see that orde: revails. stay on the job. | Twenty-five girls sent a commit- ‘ E , tee to explain this to the boss, who|, BALTIMORE, Aug. 8 (FP). —| WASHINGTON, Aug. 8, (FP). — ad them ejected from the premises| Courts have granted an injunction to utes od this week by force. The twenty-five then the Tin Decorating Co. to help it de- 1 of Dallas News struck, merely as a gesture of dis-| feat a strike of Lithographers Local 's for union recog- 18. The union’s 125 members struck for an immediate 46-hour week, with one hour less beginning January 1 But it happened that their griev-| sae - ‘ f ance was told about all over the mill,| "4th? 44:hour week from January nd that spinners, reelers, tynners,| te., found themselves with grievances s important to them as this was to the winders. The first walk-out was on Mond Pat Toohey, a progressive miner eupied with Sacco-Vanzetti defense work in Wilkes-Barre, took part i the demonstration of about 4 pickets before the mill gates Tuesda, morning, made a speech, hired a ha. and advised election of picket com mittees, statement of demands, grievance committee to see Geo. McFarlane, the superintendent, etc. as the strikers e absolutely un | organized and had no experience i: labor struggles, The grievance committee saw thc management, with results as state above, mass picketing brought out oi trike every employe, including th who work on the night shift, national President McMahoi of the United Textile Workers ar rived late in the week with an or anizer to take charge of the strike he workers will all join the u nition, of 450 Aluminum Co. workers at Niagara Falls for a wage increase and of 405 Nanticoke, Pa. hard coal mine®s for adjustment of wages and working conditions. pair. All Had Grievances. Los Angeles Get Ready! Picnic 2nd Annual Workers Press Picnic PLUMMERS PARK, AUGUST l4th SUNDAY ALL DAY 7405 Santa Monica Blvd. s * (Take Santa Monica Red Car from Subway Station.) FREE PARKING SPACE Games, Speeches, Dancing, Good Refreshments UNION MUSIC Jot Desired ‘by Railroad Consolidation Qui: WASHINGTON, (FP) August X marks the unknown quantity labor’s opinion in the Mining C Gress Journal questionnaire on r road consol ion. The questionnai: sent to 500 “selected representatiy f various groups of economists, pro ssional men and women and busi- ness interests” and declared to be representative of national thought, | included no provision for canvassing | labor opinion. | TICKETS 35 CENTS Auspices Workers (Communist) Party, Local Los Angeles 322 W. 2nd St. Met. 3265 they delayed, dilly-dallied and sabo- port us in our just cause and let the} The questionnaire of course gave| u taged the amalgamation proceedings General Council know where you|the pre-determined result that com-| until the American union members stand. pulsory consolidation is all wron; lost faith in the Protective leadership | Fraternally yours, and that the railroad financiers as well and thus the greatest of all) New York District Council No. 2. | should be allowed to carve up aia opportunities was lost, Even the! Shoe Workers’ Protective Union. } railroads to suit themselves. / ‘ . “ * ; > awd