The Daily Worker Newspaper, May 23, 1934, Page 3

it Rank and File Fights for Control of UMWA Loeals in Elections Day Are Issues in Vote BIG fight for the control local unions is now taking place. the rank and file control or will the U. M. W. A. officials, the coal operators and the N. R. A. This fight is most sharnlv expressed in the “Agreement” proposed to Local Union 6410, U. M. W. A. in Central City, | Pa. There the miners elected a good rank and file miner for local president. The pit scale was weighing the coal a little “too good for the company” and the local decided that the pit committee and the local president examine the scale. The company would not agree to let Mike Balya, local presi- dent see the scale. It is reported that he knows quite a bit about scales. Over this a strike developed. The company wanted to fire the local president. They went ahead with this action. The men are on strike and one of their main demands is that he be reinstated. The UM.W.A. district officials were called in, both by the men and by the coal company. They went to the coal company. The N.R.A. Labor Board was also called and they decided for the company. They wanted the men to pay $1 for every day they were on strike and to fire the local president. A Yellow Dog Agreement The next day the coal company, the U.M.W.A. district officials and the N.R.A. proposed an “agreement” for the local union to sign. The “agreement” states that “in the in- terests of the welfare of the family of said Mike Balya the Reitz Coal Company is willing to reemploy said Balya on the condition that he takes no active part in the negotiations between the said Company and the United Mine Workers of America, @r serve on any committee or in any capacity of or for such association for a neriod of two years from the date hereof, should he be so long employed.” This is what they want the local and especially the local president to sign. If he does the company states that they will hire him and that Balya must resign as president and not be elected for two years and that he cannot be the checkweigh- man at the mine. Then the company has a clause for the new officers. They are not to elect or appoint Balya on any committee for two years. And that} they w: only elect people that speak, write and read the English lanvuage. The company then makes clear its “rizht” to fire Balya at any time during the agreement. Jn the days before the N.R.A. we called this a yellow dog agreement. It’s still a yellow dog agreement. This is the way the company and the U.M.W.A. officials want to keep control of the local officers and local unions. Nominations This Month In the past John L. Lewis with just a hand full of local officers was able to rule over thousands of dis- satisfied members. On the other hand the fighting rank and file is More and more seeing this. And a fight for the control of the locals is taking place. In the last U.M.W:A. local meet- ings of this month nominations for new local union officers take place. The elections take place during the month of June. This is the best, op- portunity of the rank and file miners to get rid of their local of- ficers, if they are Lewis men, and to elect new rank and file fighters of the type of Mike Balya. This means a meeting of the mil- itant rank and file miners before the night the nominations are held. They must decide on a slate and go to the meeting and nominate them. At the time of the election all of the rank and file miners must be brought to the meeting and the rank and file fighters must be elected. This will be a guarantee of a fight against Lewis and the coal bosses, and for the $6 a day scale and the 86-hour day and 5-day week. It will also be the elimination of the yel- low dog contracts. Blacklist Faces Meat Workers in Des Moines Plant abs By HENRY CLARK DES MOINES, Iowa, May 22,— Three hundred of 700 workers at the Iowa Packing Co. on strike since last Monday, under the leadership of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butchers Workmens Union (A, F. of L,), returned to work Last Friday on the strength of a statement by Nel- son and Barrett, president and su- perintendent of the plant, a Swift subsidiary. The statement did not grant a shade of recognition to the union, and only affirms that the company will bargain collectively under the terms of Section 7-a of the N. R. A. Which means, so far as recognition of the union is con- cerned, absolutley nothing. No wage increase was granted and the workers face the immediate dan- ger of discrimination and black- listing under the guise of the merit clause. This danger is real and immediate, as evidenced by the fact that only 300 workers were taken back Friday. The company officials explained this by saying that “it would take some time to get under full operation again.” Eight of 16 arrested leaflet dis- tributors, led by Communists, were still in jail, for lack cf $300 bond each, as a result of police intimida- tion of potential bondsmen. They By TONY MINERICH | of the United Mine Workers’ | The question is: Will Labor Board control. | Strikes Spread | | Across Nation 1,700 Miners Strike When | Company Breaks Agreement TAMAQUA, Pa.—More than 1,700 | miners of the Coaldale and Tama- | |qua Collieries of the Lehigh Navi- gation Coal Co. went on strike after | the company failed to live up to jits recent agreement on working | conditions. Plasterers and Carpenters | On Strike in Washington | | WASHINGTON, D. C.—Plasterers as well as carpenters are now strik- ing here, tying up nearly all goy- ernment projects. The plasterers are striking for $1.75 an hour, which would be an increase of 25 cents, and a 30-hour week. The carpen- ters also seek a 30-hour week, with a scale of $1.3742 instead of the $1.10 an hour and eight-hour day offered by the contractors. Firemen, oilers and engineers in ice cream plants are also on strike. * * Jamestown Industrial Unions Make Gains in Membership JAMESTOWN, N. Y.—As a result of the spring membership drive of the Steel and Metal Workers’ In- dustrial Union, the industrial unions | jin this city have recruited 85 new members in Local 54 of the Metal |Desk shop. As a result of the growing popularity of the S. M. W. I. U., and the correct application of the united front, the Blackstone Washing Machine Workers’ Union, an independent union, voted to af- filiate with the S.M. W. I. U. The new local is being chartered and will be known as Local 721. The Furniture Workers’ Indus- trial Union is also expecting the af- filiation of several independent unions. Wage Increases Won By Philadelphia Strikers PHILADELPHIA, Pa.—The terms of settlement of the strike of the | 2,000. painters, paperhangers, deco- | rators and hardwood finishers pro- vide for graduated pay increases for painters and paperhangers. Paint- ers are to get 70 cen‘s an hour until | July 1, 90 cents an hour from then until September 1, and $1 an hour after September. Paperhangers, who had been get- ting 90 cents an hour before the strike, are to continue at that rate until September, when the rates will be increased to $1. All terms are on the basis of the 40-hour week, and the agreement provides that when hours are cut below 40, new negotiations will arrange new rates to provide a $40 weekly wage. New Local of Furniture Union in York, Pa. YORK, Pa.—A local union of the | National Furniture Workers’ Indus- trial Union has been formed here, composed of workers from a large upholstery shop. The workers voted unanimously to adopt the constitu- tion of the union, requesting a charter and other material from the national office. Organizational work | has been begun by Lee Miller, mili- tant worker who got this group of upholstery workers together. 900 Strikers in Phila. Plant Still Out Solid PHILADELPHIA, Pa.—The 900 strikers of the S. K. F. ball-bearing plant are still solid after nine weeks. In spite of attempts by police to prevent picketing at the plant, and a@ heavy guard of police at the plant and within an area of several blocks, in all directions, they have continued picketing. The strike is led by the Anti-Friction Ball-Bear- ing Workers’ Union (independent). Rima ® Oil Strike Ends SEMINOLE, Oklahoma, May 22.— Thirteen fired union workers, em- ployed at the Sinclair—Prairie re- finery, are back on the job follow- ing a general walkout of all em- ployes. Due to lack of support from the officials of the International Oil Workers’ Union, the men did not receive the increase in wages which they demanded. These officials prevented employes of several other refineries from joining their fellow- workers of the Sinclair-Prairie Co. The leaders of the boilermakers and machinists’ unions also kept their members off the picket lines by telling them not to take orders from a local union of oil workers. were held on three counts: disturb- ing the peace, loafing and loitering. The hearing for these workers must be turned into a powerful ap- peal to the packinghouse workers to renewed struggles against the sell- out, and for the immediate election of departmental committees to stop discrimination and blacklisting. Trying to create a Red Scare and stop all signs of militancy, Brady declared that what remained of the picket line Thursday night, was for the purpose of “keeping watch for fires and Communists.” ay DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MAY 23, 1934 MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.—Striking truck drivers fought back at- tacking police, Here are two cops who met their match when they Strikers Don’t Take it Lying Down tried to break the picket lines of the drivers in the strike now going on here. Page Three Labor Rouses the Waterfront XIII.—Meeting the Government’s Attack By MARGUERITE YOUNG ARRY GREENSTEIN, the State Relief Administra- tor of Maryland, who for years earned thousands as a} private charity expert before becoming custodian of fed- eral relief funds, came to the Seamen’s Project with a “new re- lief plan” immediately after A. F. of L. leader McCurdy publicly at- tacked the seamen’s regime. Green- stein was accompanied, significantly enough, by Marine Superintendent Donovan of Bethlehem Steel's plant| “investigated” the seamen’s admin- at Sparrows Point! istration. Two agents appeared, | They demanded that seamen re- a fe | register for relief, that they sign up| with “the various shipping agen-| cies,” including crimps, and allow | the registration material to be “re- | ferred” to ships’ captains and mates. Greenstein warned that eligibility would be restricted to the seaman who could show Baltimore to be his| “home port,” (the majority of ma-| several young seamen had been drawn into a circle who smoked nightly in this den. One night two leaders walked fearlessly into the place to confront the ringleaders. As they swung through the door— darkness, then a pistol shot! They dodged. The next day one of the young seamen came and told the whole story of how he and others} were trapped into the ring. That} was its end; the provocateurs, ex- posed, disappeared; the young sea- men, saved from becoming addicts, are still active in the waterfront struggle. Next, the Department of Justice Mooney Asks Funds To Take Appeal to. cham, por.” (ne masonty of me] Supreme Court! port”), that seamen arrivinging sernretee: by Iand would be “shipped back to} Needs $5,000 At Once his last port,” and that all men on relief would have to work two days for His Defense Activiti a week for $6, Five hundred seamen listened. 1es Then members of the Seamen’s Sub- _~ committee reported on their admin- NEW YORK.—A dramatic ap- istration. .The men voted to reject peal for financial support for an the Greenstein proposals. Green-| appeal to the U. S. Supreme Court stein announced that his staff, who| was issued last weck by Tom also accompanied him, would take| Mooney, from his cell in San charge, and left. The seamen in-| Quentin penitentiary where he has | vited the staff to “stay as long as| been imprisoned for 18 years,| you like,” but warned they would| despite irrefutable proof of his in-| not be recognized. The staff de-| nocence and the frame-up nature | parted. | of his conviction in connection | Thus began the direct assault; with the bombing of the 1917 upon seamen’s control of relief, ini-; “Preparedness” Parade in San| tiated by shipowners, according to| Francisco. the admission of federal officials, as) In his appeal, Mooney points we have seen. The shipowners, hav| out that his attorneys filed an ing failed to break up the Central-| application for a writ of habeas ized Shipping Bureau by boycotting | corpus in the U. S. District Court it and hiring scabs elsewhere, had| for Northern California on May decided upon indirect attack upon| 7, 1934, charging violation of the worker control of relief and had| ‘due process of law’ clause of the pursuaded relief officials to do the| 14th Amendment to the Federal work for them. Constitution. Despite the fact Vile Methods of Provocation | that Mooney was acquitted on May Earlier, seamen’s enemies acting] Gace phatecnnen: aniety P shed e he identical material of in the interests of the shipowners! the indictment vHioh: hie) wae if not directly at their command,| cy vitted mene eny Trick jhe wa ; s convicted February 8, 1917, the| had tried to disrupt the movement. fete icy c Pee eee | By the ‘vilest of tieasure: application was denied. Mooney now plans to take the fight to the Several strange cha y | peared to register for reli Lead- fos rei elie ingle © ers suspected them as provacateurs Pointin: Be th ae immediately, but their papers were wba AM! fe necessity of | abst ‘aising $5,000 immediately for in perfect order. Unwilling to dis-| . : criminate against anyone, the sea- be ane HS op atten meee, men took them in and watched peel Rae aad | sent to the Tom Mooney Mold- | ers’ Defense Committee, P. 0. Box 1475, San Francisco, Cai them. Soon they were discovered to be leading a dozen or more young seamen to a dive in nearby Bond Street, The druglike cigarettes rolled from Indian hemp and known as marijuana were being distributed free to the seamen. Leaders in- vestigated further and found that Tell your friends and shopmates about the Daily Worker. Let them | read your copy. Ask them to sub- scribe. consorted with various seamen, and disappeared. But instead of making an inquiry, the seamen learned, the agents were attempting to frame small restau- rant keepers in order to discredit seamen’s control. Seamen Timothy Patterson, who was chief clerk in the Project office, told me the story. He said: “They took seamen out and got them drunk, and persuaded them to stay away from meals for which | the government was paying the! restaurants. But they forgot, ap- parently, that we were checking up on this, that we carefully matched yellow tickets against white tickets to avoid irregularity. Therefore, we discovered the missing tickets first— | and reported it to Baltimore relief officials uptown. That was the last we heard of the affair.” I asked a federal source, later, how the Department of Justice “in- vestigation” came about. I was told that it probably was requested by the Sea Service of the Shipping Board in the Department of Com- merce, The Sea Cervice is intimately associated, officially, with America’s most powerful shipping potentate: Drive to Smash Scamen’s Administration Obviously with the appearance ot Greenstein with his new “plan,” the seamen were facing a deter- mined drive to smash their admini- stration. The press announced sea- men’s control was over. The men! that, if necessary, they would march en masse to Washington. More than 50 miles! But the sea- men unanimously agreed upon the trek as swiftly as they had voted to hold local demonstrations. Soon relief officials appeared on the waterfront demanding the clotnes from the seamen’s clothing department. While they argued, however, the clothes were being is. sued out to the seamen, so that in the end there were none to argue over. One day Bolton Kelly of the Baltimore relief headquarters turned up in the seamen’s office, pounded on their register, and cried, “In the name of the U. S. government, I take this register.” A seaman clerk replied, “In t! name of 790 seamen, I'll keep this register,” and did. On April 17, restaurant and lodg- ing house keepers received a notice from relief headquarters. No more food to seamen! The government pay the bills. The small business men, however, had been gathered into a loose organization by the seamen. The small dealers met and adopted a resolution declaring: “We know from our dealings with elected committees of seamen that their administration has been hon- est and efficient and in every way superior to any other relief sys- tem. . . . With the present 5 we can continue in business. m With No more lodging! } would refuse to} the new. system contemplated, we} will have to close our doors.” | Carrying this resolution, 82 sea- |men started to march to Washing- ton the next day. They made half |the trip the first day, and, after | bivouacking at midnight in a Mary- land meadow where they rested on rainsoaked ground for six hours, | they marched on. Singing, bearing }great banners demanding seamen’s control of relief, Negro and white seamen marched together behind | their “marine band,” five seamen | playing harmonicas, In Washington they were offered | shelter, hot food, baths, all com- | forts, by relief officials, on condi- | tion that they submit to segrega- | tion of Negro and white work | Footsore, many with bleeding blis- | ters, they shouted, “No!” and marched about three more miles to a hall in the working class district, | where all slept together “on the | deck,” William J. Plunkert, acting di-| rector of Federal Relief, received {them next day after mass insist- ence prevented the reception of | leaders only. There, before messed }seamen, Plunkert heard declara- tions that he, as a federal govern- | ment official, was at the command | of the shipowners. He answered | lightly, “Since things are as you | Say, why don’t you go elsewhere, to the ballot box or somewhere else?” The marine workers laughed con- temptuously. A seaman said: | “We know why {held a meeting and determined| You have attacked our control of relief. We know that you and the shipowners realize that we ran re- | lief better than the holy racketeers and the politicians, even while you | [retain control of all the rest of the government relief, and that you figure it’s pretty bad business for such things to get around, because the idea will sink in that if workers can run relief better they can run | the whole government better.” | Plunkert didn’t answer. The next day a seaman’s com- mittee told their story to Marvin H. McIntyre, Appointment Secre- tary to President Roosevelt. “Tf that’s the way you feel about | it,” McIntyre snarled, “you can de- }mand and be damned.” Back in Baltimore the seamen found the gas turned off in their project. But they fought back! They refused to register uptown as Greenstein ordered. The Commu- | nist Party and other workers’ or- ganizations came to their aid with contributions. They went out with collection cans. They got food, cooked it at nearby restaurants and | held torchlight parades through the working class neighbothoods of Baltimore. They picketed state and city relief headquarters, and held demonstrations in front of the City | Hall and the relief places. It was Ja class-war siege, and they were meeting it with banners high! (To Be Continued.) 3,000 Oklahoma City Jobless March; Ill. Miners Get Demands | Oklahoma City Police Club, Fling Tear Gas at the Unemployed; 7 Ja'‘led Leaders Slugged | (Special to the Daily Worker | OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla., unemployed workers marched o | sary here yesterday, demanc Police attacked the demo clubs and hurling 14 tear gas worke Failing to dislodge? |the workers from their posi- tion, the fire department wa |summoned, and _ powerful 8 streams of water were turned as id gocic on the demonstrating unemployed | Bill (H. R. 7598) | worke: Demand Investigation of Attempted Kidnapping GRAND AND. workers were injured in the Police attack, a rs we jailed. One of |leaders was “taken for a ride” b; police thugs and beaten d seve ployment ae Nee . to the County Att | Illinois Miners March | For Relief Demands (By a Worker Correspondent) | HILLSBORO, Ill, May 22.— Sa teen |than 1,000 miners, work The Guna t farmers, members of the sive Miners, and the Women’s liary marched on the relief head quarters here on May 11 ing a 35 per cent increase in and the end of the Merce Agreement and the Dieta On reaching the relief buro an finding it closed, a committee wa elected to meet with Denton of the| relief bureau. While the committee was waiting at his home he drove up, and on seeing the workers. sped away. Later Denton refused to grant a meeting with the County} Allocation Board, and said he would shoot the first person who stepped upon his property. | Saturday the workers again] marched on the relief bureau. and| up week and are prepa k Councils i a county-wide, War Conference, han united front “THERE 15 NO: SUBSTITUTE. on finding it closed, established | |picket lines at the homes of all |hoard members. After failing to| | bribe the pickets, the board mem-| |bers called a meeting on Monday. | jand agreed to m-2t with 50 worker | |delegates if necessary | The board mem! promised to | jend the Merchants’ Agreement, and | to “do everything in thei to get the 35 per cent ine: relief and promised to gran and canned beef instead poison pork. and to grant amounts of flour. Unless all prom- | ises are kept, the workers are pre- | pared to again establish picket lines | at the homes of all board members of the full | Penna. State-Wide Delecation| | To Meet May 28 | | PHILADELPHIA, Pa.. May 22. The state-wide delegation of unem-| ployed workers from the Unemploy- | ment Councils and other working | class organizations which will go to) Harrisburg. although _ originally | scheduled for May 29, will take place | on May 28. Eric H. Biddle, state| director of Emergency Relief, has beon forced to agree to meet with a committee of delegates Everv local of the Unemployment Councils and all other working class organization is asked to elect dele- gates. The workers’ delegation will de- mand: 1) Immediate increase in re- lief to $2.50 for each member of a family and $2.50 for each single worker: 2) All relief to be paid in cash: 3) stopping of all evictions and sheriff sales; 4) C.W.A. projects to be resumed at full union rates of pay and minimum wages of $18} a week for 24 hours work; 5) Worker Detroit Unemployed Party | Members Meet Wednesday DETROIT, Mich. May 21—A meeting of all Party members who are unemployed or who are now on P. W. A. jobs will be held Wednes- day, May 23, at 8 p.m. at the Ferry Hall, 1343 East Ferry St. This meeting will take up the next steps in the unemployed work of the Party and the fight for unemploy- ment insurance. BIRO-BIDJAN scroxoxou Soviet Government Grants Jewish Pioneers In Biro-Bidjan Autonomous Status $$$ tants Jewisn ftoneers In Diro-Diajan Autonomous Status ONOMOUS REGION THIS GREAT HISTORICAL EVENT WILL BE CELEBRATED Saturday, June 2nd -- All Mass Organizations Will March to Madison Square Placards and Bands Garden With Their Banners, Madison Square Garden Every Friend of the Soviet Union Is To Be Present at the Gigantic Rally on June 2nd Tickets 25c, 50c, 75¢ and $1. Buy Your Tickets in Advance. Teor Office 799 Broadway, Room 514, New York Morning Freiheit 35 East 12th Street, New York Workers’ Book Store 50 East 13th Street, New York Workers’ Co-operative Colony Office 2700 Bronx Park East New York Be Sure That You Will Not Be Disappointed Needle Trades Workers Industrial Union 131 West 28th Street, New York Goldstein's Book Store 363 Sutter Avenue, Brownsville This advertisement not intended to ape ply in States where sale or advertising of liquor is unlawful. Re AWE BEER ATRL SET RENMEI a