The Daily Worker Newspaper, August 24, 1933, Page 3

Pop oeictatacarn Clevelan | Union Conference d Trade 7 ° \|, Stachel Discusses Problems Facing 1,000 Dele- y gates from Various Unions Who Will Meet August 26 and 27 By JACK STACHEL. AROUND 1,000 delegates of trade unlons and unemployed organizations will gather in Cleveland at the Brotherhood of Engineers Auditorium \on Saturday, August 26th, They will come from various organizations with al different political opinions on many fundamental questions. They will rep- | \resent A. F. of L. locals, Trade Union e well as the various unemployed® rganizations, especially the Un- employed Councils and the Unem- ployed Leagues. But they will be united on one thing, in their will- | ingness to carry on a struggle for the improvement of the conditions of the workers both employed and unemployed, They will all aim to unite their forces so that they can strike out with greater force in the struggle for higher wages, shorter hours without reduction in pay, better working conditions, for relief to the unemployed millions and for} Unemployment Insurance. One of the most important ques- tions that- will be discussed will be the National Recovery Act. The conference call clearly pointed out that the NRA does not serve the interests of the workers. This call stated its position on the NRA in’ no uncertain terms. It says, “In short, the New Deal of Roosevelt, including the so- called Industrial Recovery Act (which should be called the ‘Ine dustrial Slavery Act’) is from be ginning to end an enormous loot- ing of the government treasury, 4 further robbery of the workers and toilers generally for the benefit of, monopoly capital, for the benefit} of Wall Street. | {his view of the NRA which the. ponsors of the Cleveland Con- | ference, though differing on many fundamental auestions of the class struggle publicly declared, differs aamentally from the chorus of the NRA being sung by. and Lewises and ¢ ieF » top leaders of the A. F. of , a8 well as the Thomases and Dubinsiys of the Socialist Party.| dt list controlled unions, | Socie Nand their hangers on, the Zim- m s, and other renegades ) rom Commun | i the avove estimate of the vas written it has been fully by developments. The ¢ used to lower wages » It did not} employment: of any number of workers. | Under the cover of the NRA new attacks are being made against) the unemployed with relief being n, with the question of ioyment insurance shelved by the government and the Federation of Labor. are some of the facts to substantiate this indictment of the \ NRA and its codes for the vari- jous industries. j * oe the Trade Union Unity League unions and the Com- munist Party have given active leadership to the growing protest of the workers against the provi- sions of the various codes. They have organized and stimulated the strike movement in many _ in- stances. Where they were inactive or did not have the means to reach the. workers the bosses and the SSR aided by the A. F. of: . leaders, were able to break the strikes through arbitration, Where the TUUL unions are in the lead- ership of the strikes, where a con- scious opposition to the A. F. of L. leaders led the A. F. of L. rank and file workers, the workers were able to gain’ substantial conces- sions from the bosses despite the NRA. This we have seen in the textile strikes in Providence and Salem, in the steel and metal strikes in Buffalo, Cleveland, New York and elsewhere, in the shoe strike in New York, and in mam other industries. Only throug! struggle can the workers win bet- ter conditions. This lesson is once | more being relearned by the work- | ers. ‘ The Cleveland Agata is ringing together the representa- tives of the TUUL unions, the honest and be ape elements of the A. F. of unions, the vari- * * ‘Gallup, N.M., ‘in a report issued Unity locals and independent unions Stop Miners’ Dance for T. U. Delegates Mayor Uses NRA as Excuse for Ban GALLUP, N. Mex., Aug. 23,—Au- thorities of this city refused permis- sion to the National Miners Union here to hold a dance at Kitchen’s Opera House to raise funds to send a miners’ delegation to the Trade Union Conference For United Action open- ing in Cleveland on August 26th. Reasons given for this action by Mayor H. T. Watson, in large ads published in the local press, are that “the proponents of this dance are against the present form of govern- ment, against the President of the United States, against the National Recovery Act... .” Mayor Watson is also the official doctor at the Gallup-American Mine, ‘and receives a monthly salary of $500 from this company. It is apparent that the NRA is be- ing used with a vengeance by the mine companies here and their tools for suppressing militant unions. ’ Nevertheless, the National Miners Union has built a new union local in Gallup, with miners from the Gal- lup-American mine, ™e largest mine here, joining the new union. An immediate struggle, including the calling of a strike if necessary, “will be waged by the National Miners _Union here, to force tiie mine com- panies to grant sharply improved working conditions to the miners here. Workers in the Gallup mine fields are sending delegates to the Cleve- land Conference despite hostile action by the city authorities, N. Y. State Board Sets $12 Minimum for City. Laundries NEW YORK.—Recommendation for a minimum wage of $12.40 a week for laundry workers of New York City have just been announced V4 the New York State Laundry inimum. Wage Board which was appointed by Goy- ernor Lehman after the enactment of a State Minimum Wage Law last March. Not a single worker in the laundry served on the board which formulated the recommendations. The Laundry ‘inimum Wage Board which was the first to be set up under the State Law consists of three representatives of the em- \ployers, two of the public, a so- called impartial chairman and three zeprosed tng the laundry employes although not one of the three have ever been on the inside of a laundry except as investigators. Even if the labor representatives were bona fide workers, the cards would be stacked against them with six additional members interested primarily in as- suring big profits to the bosses. The recommendations which will not go into effect until public hearings are held are as follows: In the city of New York and all territory in Westchester County and Long Island within a distance of 15 miles from the New York City line a rate of 31 cents an hour or $12.40 for a full week of 40 hours will be fixed. In all other parts of the state minimum rate of 27% cents per hour or $11 for 40 hours What Is Aim of | National Events Communist Picnic, CLEVELAND—A picnic will be held by the Communist Party, Sun- day, August 27, at Stop 28, Sharon- line. A. B. Lewis of the International Labor ‘Defense and candidate for councilman of the third ward will be among the speakers. Sports, games and dancing and refreshments are planned. Picnic in Emaus, EMAUS, Pa.—A Labor Day Picnic will be held September 4 for the ben- efit of the Emaus Unemployed Coun- cil. There will be modern and old fashioned dancing. Book Workers Win Pay Rise to 30 P.C. Bosses Had Injunction and Thugs In Effort to Smash Strike CHICAGO, Ill, Aug. 23, — The strike of three hundred pocket book workers in Chicago which for two weeks tied up the entire industry, with exception of one shop, has come to an end. The Pocket Book Section of the Shoe and Leather Workers In- dustrial Union, under whose leader- ship the strike was organized and led, has sent the workers back to work with wage increases ranging up to 30 percent in some of the shops. This was done after the A. F. of L. and Socialist Party organizer con- spired with the bosses’ association to smash the strike. Every conceivable method was used to smash the solid strike of the work- ers, including hoodlums and gang- sters. When efforts to smash the strike failed through brute force, intimida- tion and attempts at bribery of the strike committees, the employers ap- plied and obtained an injunction, which prohibited any sort of picket- ing, prevented talking to any scabs, distributing circulars or communicat- ing with any potential scabs, either by phone, letter or any other man- ner, ‘The answer of the workers to this most vicious injunction was ‘to smash it immediately after it was served on the strikers, Farmers to Strike Against Monopoly City Milk Prices PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 22——On the very day that Roosevelt's Secretary of Agriculture, Wallace, signed the Philadelphia Milk Code, the farmers and workers of the Philadelphia Regional Committee of Action voted yesterday to go out on strike within 30 days. jected to at Washington. ‘The Executive Committee is em- powered to-set the date. ‘The Committee of Action repre- sents farmers and workers in five or- ganizations from twenty counties of the following states: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. The action of the committee is significant in that the farmers make as well as increased rates for their own milk. They demand that the milk monopolies’ profits be cut. ‘The farmers sent a call to nearby milk sheds to join in the strike. They demand that the price of Grade raised to 5 cents a quart to the farmer, and reduced to 9 cents for the consumer. Write to the Daily Worker about every event of interest to workers which occurs in your factory, trade has been set. While living costs continue to rise in all parts of the state, the laundry bosses are advantage of the workers in getting a tiene ps oe it is taking a very important s1 forward in the direction of mie ing the forces of the working tlass in the struggle for better tonditions, and for the right to organize and strike. It should be supported by all workers who wish to fight to improve their ocondi- \sipns. a lower wage scale for those living outside New York City and many laundries will drift outside the city to be able to pay the lower scale. Other recommendations in the report are for “‘undertime and over- time.” Where less than 40 hours work is provided in oe one week, a bonus of 10 per cent is to be paid for each hour worked up to the int where the total earned equals fferson Lunch Fires Worker’WithoutWages NEW YORK.—The Blue Bagle in the window of the Jefferson Lunch. “}| om 14th Street and Third Avenue did not prevent the boss from firing one his workers last Friday without After working 20 cents an hour, he was fired without any pay. Olty office! 108 East 14th Street. Friday and 10 ‘Take Laxington Ave. ‘waite Pista es alee i St AEE MLS fe Cea Meni BS Mtl do eal “TRADE UNION UNITY LEAGUE” WEEK Spend Your Vacation and Week End In Our Proletarian Camp KINDERLAND HOPEWELL JCI, NEW YORK Proletarian Cultural and Sport Activities Every Day Vacation Rates: $13.00 per Week Week-End Rates: One Day-$2.45 Two Days $4.65 (Tax Included) hieelgmnas Hercafetiny thy oy! Ahi Maile Reap og hte aehend gh gd Road. minimum fair wage ceroiies feratags on tile. Vanke equal, th on equ: e minimum set, then the basic rate for 40 hours shall apply. Basic hourly rates are to apply to over~ time up to 45 hours, and for each hour over 45 up o the maximum al. lowed under the state law time and a-half is to be paid for overtime. * Public hearings on the proposals are to be held in Syracuse on Sep- tember 11 in Buffalo on September 12, in New York City on September 19 and in Albany on September 20. | lice Phone: TOmpkins Square 6-8434 3 p.m. and 7p. m, Stop at Allerton Ave, Station. union, workers’ organization or lo- cality, BECOME A WORKER COR- RESPONDENT! NRA Makes Stockyards Worse Than ‘Jungle’ Days is the first of two ar- giving first-hand inform: tion on conditions in the stock- yards of Chicago under the NRA.) * * By M. BACKALL On Saturday, Aug. 5, the meat magnates signed the NRA. On Monday, I visited the Stockyards. The d bosses announced that they would employ more work- ers. But of the thousands who stood in line at the Swift plants, only ten were taken in, Similarly at the other plants. These lines were filled with workers who had cards, showing that they had been formerly em- ployed in the yards and laid off. Po- guarded these lines from the in- side and outside, and when the line became rather thick, they were chased out. Stockyards a Nest of Exploitation and Graft ‘The Stockyards ocoupy a large area of land; about a square mile, possess 300 miles of railroad lines, have on their land 13,000 pens which can handle daily 75,000 heads of oxen, 125,000 sheep and 300,000 hogs. In 10919, the Stockyards employed about 90,000 people, but this num- ber steadily decreased until it reac! about 50,000 in 1929. In April, 1933, it was again reduced to 9,000 or 12,000 workers. From April to Au- gust, however, the number somewhat 300 Chicago Pocket: i} it clear that they are fighting for | reduced consumer prices in the cities | B 35. per cent butter fat milk be | GONZALES RUBIERA Sixteen-year old student, found slashed to death on the street of Havana sometime ago. GLOVERSVILLE, N. Y., Aug. 23.— strikers under the leadership of the Fulton County Fur Workers’ Indus- trial Union, the Communist Party of this city has issued a statement to the strikers, exposing the reason for this attempt to break the strikers’ ranks, “Why do the bosses call you reds and Communists?” says the state- ment. “Because for the first time putting up a courageous fight to de- fend your interests as workers. The bosses call you Communists because you know that the Communists are always in the fore, supporting and leading all struggles of the workers for improvement of their conditions. “The struggle you are now con- ducting is not an isolated one. All over the country a strike wave is taking place, in which the workers are struggling against thé lowering of the standards of living, in the face of the rising prices on the necessities of life, against the killing speed-up. While the N. R. A. is sup- posed to be ‘protecting’ the interests of labor, it is, in reality, plainly guaranteeing profits for the rich manufacturers and industrialists, by minimizing and curtailing the wages of the workers to a low level, by not The Milk Code includes sections | SUaranteeing the possibility of a de-| which the delegation of Eastern| cent live Pennsylvania farmers specifically ob- | 2Mtee regular employment (ail in the lihood, since it doesn't guar- name of returning prosperity). “The workers never won anything without putting up a struggle for it, while the N. R. A. is gradually in- troducing a law which will declare Strikes illegal, thereby forcing the workers to accept slavery conditions. cutters and makers of the Fulton County Fur Workers’ Industrial Union! We, Women Pickets Stop 52 Scabs in California Fruit Pickers’ Strike SAN DIEGO, Calif, Aug. 23— The strike of 400 tomato pickers in the Vista and San Luis Rey Valleys grew in militancy when women members of the strikers’ families prevented 52 scabs from going to work last Thursday: Since the strike began eleven days a8o. over 150 new members have joined the ranks of the Agricy!iral Workers Industrial Union, v° is leading the struggle for highs: wages. in the city of Gloversville you arej “Fellow workers: men and women, | the Communists, or- | Answer Bosses “Red” Cry in Gloversville, N. 7, Fur Strike | ganized in the Communist Party of In answer to the cry of “Reds,”| the U. S. A., Glove Cities Unit, are| raised by the fur bosses against the | with you in your fight. We willhelp | you win your strike. We will call upon all workers’ organizations to help you raise relief. We ask you | fellow workers not to be terrorized and bulldozed with the cry of Com- munism in your ranks, The bosses raise the bogey of Communism with the aim of breaking your strike. “The Communist Party is a Party of workers for the. interests of the workers. It is your Party. We in- vite you to join the Party, and read its official organ, the Daily Worker, @ paper which will help you in your fight, and will print all labor news accurately.” The Communist Party headquar- ters in the strike are at the Work- ers’ Center, 128 Souvh Church 8t., Schenectady, N. Y. Thomas Aids Green HideStrikebreaking Approve His Pose As Friend of Workers NEW YORK.—Norman ‘Thomas, | Socialist Party leader, is helping William Green, strikebreaker, build up his pose as defender of the work- ers against the steel trust. Thomas sent Green the following telegram, after Green was steered out of a meeting .with heads of the U, S. Steel and Bethlehem Steel Co., in Washington. “Your stand at steel hearing ad- mirably raises issue absolutely vital | to success of NRA as other than in- strument of serfdom under company |union, Government has not only | Tight but duty to recognize outstand- ing labor men as advisors in cases where labor is not organized. Any- thing else makes government an ally of open shop employer and a stab- ilizer of capitalist exploitation. NRA presents both opportunities danger. Failure to acknowledge your position in steel hearing means that danger has conquered hope. Genuine friends of labor and progress, what- ever their political affiliations, will wish you success in this fight.” In reality Green has been meeting ; secretly with all of the steel bosses, and is helping them put over the company union plan. asking only that in some plants the A. F. of L. label be put on the company unions. and | Dress Agreement Must Be Enforced for Real Gains St. Louis Dress | Strikers Ask Needle Union for Help ILGW Officials Leave) Wage Scales to Code ST. LOUIS, Aug. 23.—So great was | the pressure of the workers for rank | and file leadership that the I.L.G.W. officials who called a strike of dress- | makers here a week ago were forced to submit to the demand for a gen- | eral strike committee elected by the | strikers themselves. It is now eight days since the strike was called and great enthusiasm to continue the strike is being shown | by the strikers. Many clashes with | scabs have occurred especially where | mass picketing has been organized. | Mass arrests have been made by po- | lice, ‘The socialist attorney, desig- | |nated by the officials to defend the | strikers does not mention the class | | character of the arrests and in de- fending the strikers he makes only a feeble plea for appeal of those fined. LL.G.W. officials are making no! effort to give proper leadership to | the strikers that were pulled out of the open shops. In the Mutual Gar- | ment Co., after the shop was pulled out, the. LL.G.W. organizer, Gilbert, went with a committee of the work- ers to make demands upon the boss, The bess refused the strikers’ de- mands and Gilbert then told the workers that they could do anything | they wanted about it, leaving them | helpless. The strikers appealed to| the Needle Trades Workers’ Indus- | trial Union and were given the neces- jSary guidance. They voted to con-| tinue the strike and picketing was! organized by the Needle Trades | Union. Following the action of the strik- Jers, LL.G.W. officials accused the union and the»strikers of “splitting tactics” although the question of | | which union the shop should join was left to the strikers to decide. Gil- | bert addressed the strikers but when | he was accused of failing to give proper leadership he left the room! refusing to answer. questions. The Mutual strikers issued a state- | ment to all the strikers explaining | the situation and so great was the support among the strikers for them that Gilbert was compelled to clear the strikers of any false charges and to pledge better attention to the) strike. The Mutual strikers havo| raised the issue of organization on 7) shop basis and rank and file leader- ship which is causing the LL.G.W. considerable concern. Henchmen of these officials are now being sta- tioned around the strike halls to seek out any Needle Trades Union orga- | nizers. | | Strikers st the 1508 Washington | St. shop here have also appealed to the Needle Trades Union for assist- ance. Nut pickers are helping on the picket line at this shop and giving their assistance to the dressmakers to win the strike. The. LL.G.W. is making the main | demand of the strike recognition ot | the union with wages and other de- | mands to™ be settled by the “code” strike settlements are also being made on a “preferential” shop basis, which | virtually jmeans an open shop. The Needle Trades Union is vigorously | fighting against these policies. The Amaigamated Clothing Work- | ers announce a general strike in the | men’s garment shops for Thursday. |Denver Comn’y Owns. | “Vulture,” | DENVER, Colo., Aug. 23. — Gates | Rubber Co.. in spite of if; proud own- | ership of the blue “vulture”, is co- operating with the recovery program | by the layoff of 250 workers, cutting the hours to 35 a week and inereas- ling pay fora few workers by 2 cents ‘an hour, | * Jobs, But Only Few Are Hired; Wages Are Cut by Application of Code The exploitation in the Stockyards was always terrible, but now, after the acceptance of the N. R. A., it is worse. In American literature we have two masterpieces about the Stockyards, Robert Herrick’s “The Diary of an American Citizen” and Upton Sinclair's “The Jungle.” Rob- ert Herrick depicts, in his book, a Stockyards officer who served on the jury which convicted the Hay- market martyrs and how this very “hero” bought the judge and the entire city council and state legisla- tures in order to reb the people so the Stockyards. Upton Sinclair acquaints us with the Lithuanian worker, Jurgas, and his cousin, Mary. Both are being milled between the rocks of ex- ploitation. We see in their por- trayed lives how their bodies are being destroyed and thinned in or- der to enrich the Swifts and Ar- mours. In them we see the real hell of the slaughter houses. Causes of Enlarged Production in the Stockyards | Among the unemployed who came looking for jobs one noticed white and Negro workers together; men and women stood around making grew and reached to about 18,000 or 20,000 employes , Do we get jobs?” friendly barter. “How ave you, Joe? that he may build the railroads for | is the New Deal.” The workers re- |alize that this is a fraud. Even if a few workers are taken on, they are kept a few days and | again laid off with the promise that they will be re-employed in a few weexs, There is move work in the Stockyards than during the spring. The main cause is inflation. Food | prices have increased between 20 and 30 per cent and will go up higher. Some work is being done for cold- storage; for stcck. The warehouses are being filled up. Nature of Stockyards Industry The Stockyarcs industry is big. It | does not demand any skill. Very few skilled butchers are needed. They need mostly healthy and strong | workers, in order to handle the om sheep or hog. Thousands are slaugh- tered at the same time, and fifty operations are performed. One strikes the animal on the head, the second opens up, the third one skins, the fourth lifts, etc. There is no industry in where the workers are so friendly and realize their common interests as in the Stockyards, despite the great num- ber of different races employed. The Stockyards employ Polish, Spanish, Croatian, Ukrainian, Negro, Hunga- | | | Thousands Line Up Like Cattle Looking for on tuesday, the day after which | the meat magnates signed the N.R.A., the employes were informed that their wages.would be raised 1712 per }cent or 542 cents an hour. But this | was done in a very characteristic manner. At Armours, where they | trim pork, most of the workers earn! | about 50 cents an hour. They were informed that they will get a raise of 1745 per cent, The wages of all! workers in. that division will be 40_ cents an Hour. Now realize where | the rais¢ comes in when most of them formerly received 50 cents per | hour. Armour has made a profit, from the raise. Something similar to | that took place at Swifts in many) divisions although the code stipu-| lates a minimum wage of 44 cents! an hour, ‘The worst is yet with the | hours. | The hours are 35 a week, instead of 40 and 44. This means that the | earnings of a skilled worker will not | be in the neighborhood of $20 or $25 | a week, but $15 and $16 a week, and | laborers much less. The guaranteed week is considerably less than the code prescribes. The Stockyards’ | bosses are not even abiding by the) code, because it is a temporary con- tract. They arranged their own regulations. Workers who accept everything as it is, bow their heads, help the meat magnates to come to as permanent code and say, “See rian and Lithuanian workers. “Hell knows. It Wages and Hours Under the N.R.A. Washington and get their own rules | the workers are satisfied with these conditions.” « Fires 250 : Struggle Must Go On to Prevent Lowered Wage Scales, Overtime; and to Abolish Sweatshops Just as in the dress strikes of 1930 and 1932, the agreement signed by the officials of the International Ladies Garment Workers’ Union with the Na- tional Dress Manufacturers and effective until Jan. 1936, appears to grant some gains to the workers in wages and bonus. Altho the wage scales set are actually lower than those in the agreement of 1931, the present agree- ment if carried into practice, would mean a considerable raise in wages for the workers. The attractive agreemen after the strikes of 1930 and evaded and violated by ir negotiations which the bosses for igned 33 were al d on the workers. The ILGW, in collusion with the bosses, took no steps to enforce the agreements. Hardly any semblance of conditions or wages in the agreements were put into effect. The agreements remained | on paper. Loopholes in Wage Scale Not only will it be ni ary to be vigilant for the enforcement of the provisions of the present agreement but many loopholes e: ich must be guarded ag t example. Wage scales, according to the agree- ment, will differ depending on the) quality of the garment handled by the workers. The differential in wages for operators and finishers on cheaper and better garments is con- siderable. According to the agree ment, piece workers on garments over $3.75 will get 90 cents, pressers $1.00 and finishers 65 cents per hour. Oper- ators on cheaper garments will get 75 cents and pressers 85 cents. There is nothing to prevent the bosses from | making the lower scale the general| scale for all workers since the work-| ers would find it difficulty to distin guish between the higher and lower vriced garments. Re-Classifying Cutters An attempt to lower the wage levels | of the more highly paid workers such; as the cutters is indicated in the at-| tempt to. place cutters under three| separate. classifications. Cutters are| classified also as machine cutters and | stretchers and wages for these cate- gories of workers differ widely. For| example the difference in scale be-| tween the cutter and stretcher is the difference between $45 and $27. Cut-| ters are bitter over the attempt to/ make them accept wage cuts under| this scheme. The glowing promises of employing thousands of unemployed dressmakers | with the introduction of the 35-h week are already being blested with| the news just received that the In-| ternational has tacitly agreed to per-/} mit overtime. This is an admission by the officials that the workers be able to earn little in the 35-hour) week without working overtime. The 35-hour week obviously means no-| thing unless enforced by the work-| ers themselves. NeitherILGW officials nor the impartial machinery set up by the agreement will insure shorter} hours and jobs fcr the unemployed. A plan for the c ation of the} impartial machinery of previous ve’ to settle grievances is also included in the czresment, Many times griev- fn bous gos. and conditions seni to the impartial chairman were held so long before adustment that the season passed and the workers’| demands for their wages under the| agreement were completely lost. The} workers cannot depend on the im- al machinery agreement to proter ter Under the provision allowing reorgan- ization the bosses may fire workers, | speed-up those on the jobs and in} other ways economize at the expense of the workers, Sweatshops Continue | But a mooted point about which | the workers have struggled in the past and which would be a in the di-/| rection of the abolition of sweatshors, the question of limitation of contract- ors to a jobber to prevent the in-| tense beating down of standards of | the workers, this issue has been left| to the NRA administration to settle} at the code hearing. This is why the | workers on returning to work after the strike found that the same old sweatshop conditions existed. The agreement has been signed with the actors were not atshop ccnditions have | en wiped cut as Mr. Whalen boasted. Only the greatest vigilance on the part of the workers to enforce the terms of the agreement \and {o fight any schemes to defeat their gains by the bosses and the ILGW officials by) continuing the struggle in the shops} will assure gains to the dressmakers after the glorious example of solid- arity displayed in the dress struggle. rests | Sleeping Sickness in St. Louis. | ST. LOUIS.—Mosquitoes are be-| lieved to be the cause of the plague | of sleening sickness which- has swept | through the city causing 3 deaths | here. Sixty-nine persons are under | treatment. A total of 137 have been | ‘reated. | Wickwire Strike Is ‘Still Solid; Super ‘Renigs on Promise Listens to "Demands and Then Fails to Give Reply By BILL DUNNE RIVERSIDE, N. Y., Aug. 23. — The strike at the Wickwire-Spencer Steel Co. is still solid. Superintendent Johnson violated his promise to re- ply to the demands by Monday. No reply has yet been received. The company heads met all day yesterday with the NRA Committee. Two pickets were arrested and were bailed out by the International Labor Defense. Authorities are threatening to bring in state troopers. The Unemployed Councils are help- ing on the picket lines. Women’s aux- iliaries hve organized relief to feed the pickets. ‘Talk to Superintendent The wage scale committee of the Wickwire Spencer strikers met the superintendent Monday coming into the office direct from the picket line. The meeting lasted an our and a half. General Superintendent John- son, accused yesterday in a strike leaflet of “underhand activities,” and false statements about the strikers, Promised the committee an official replay to their demands today. Called. late this afternoon by phone John- son indignantly denied any intention of stalling and said he was trying to et a basis of settlement. Vice-Pres- dent Macklin, whose personal letter to each striker, urging him to come back to work on the grounds that Mr. Macklin had once been a worker himself, was not present at the meet- ing. The negotiations were very inter- esting, colorful and highly personal, according to reports. The Wickwire Spencer plant is a self contained unit, carrying on all manufacturing processes from furnace to the finished product of rods and wire. Its ma- chinery is highly specialized and all the evil effects of the speedup are apparent while at the same time, employing no more than 400 men at capacity preduction, a certain per- sonal relationship exists between the management and the men. This was reflected in the negotiations, if that word can be used to describe a meet- ing in which Mr. Johnson wanted to make his cirtues, or lack of them, the main issue. It appears that the strike has made Mr. Johnson very skeptical in regard to gratitude from “his” workers, Having treated them for years with that mixture of brusque tolerance and inhuman brutality characteristic of coal mine and steel mill executives in their dealings with workers, Mr. Johnsén seems to have concluded that his workers are all too human, After all he has done for them they have tied up his plant. “I know some of you men think I am all right and believe what I say. Some of you think I am a goddam son of a bitch and don’t believe a word I say,” said the persecuted Mr. Johnson to the strikers’ committee. “Take Blank there, now,” continued the aggrieved Mr. Johnson, referring to a Negro member of the committee and one of the outstanding leaders of the strike, “he don't believe a word I say. He's told me so. Isn't that so, Blank?” Blank shrugged his shoulders. Some of the committee laughed. “That's what causes all this trouble. You men don’t have any confidence in me.” A committeeman spoke: “Mr. John- son we didn’t come here to talk about you. We come here to see what you got to say about them demands and | wage scale.” But Mr. Johnson was sunk deep in gloom. His crude little effort to di- vide the committee into those who thought him a son of a bitch and hose who didn’t had brought no re- sults. No one had risen to his de- fense and claimed that he was not a son of a bitch. “If I haven’t made you men feel that I have your interest at heart, if I haven't made you men feel that you can have confidence R me and that I mean what I say, I've failed, that’s all,” said Mr. Johnson with a rotarian sigh. “You didn’t tell the truth about our wages to the Riverside News, Mr. Johnson,” said a committeeman. “You said we were getting 58% cents an hour when we were getting 3142 cents an hour. That ain’t right, Mr. Johnson.” Mr. Johnson made a gesture of despair. “Can I help it if the news- papers get things wrong? Ill have it corrected.” The whole committe laughed. The committee finally pinned Mr. Johnson down to the demands, He promised a reply this afternoon, It was not given and now there are more Wickwire workers who do not believe a word Mr. Johnson says. Contribute to the Daily Worker Sustaining Fund! Help to keep up the ge “Daily”! Young Communist League Week | Spend YOUR Vacation in Our BEACON, New York | City Phone EStabrook 8-1400 Camp Phone Beacon 731 Proletarian Camps NITGEDAIGET UNITY | | | WINGDALE | New York Proletarian Almosphere, Healthy Food, Warm and Cold Showers, Bathing, Rowing, Athletics, Sport Activities NEWLY BUILT TENNIS COURT IN NITGEDAIGZT Vacation Rates: $13.00 per (INCLUDING TAX) cari | WEEK-END RATES: 1 Day . . $2.45 | 2 Days. 4.65 Nes ! (including tax) week CARS LEAVE FOR CAMP from Friday and Saturday 10 2. Stop at om, TP. Allerton Avenue. 09 Bronx Park East every ROUND TRIP: to Nitgedaiget .. . $2.00 to Unity ..... $3.00 neces