The Organizer (Minneapolis, Minnesota), 1934-09-26

              UNITED
LABOR
W ACTION
II
SMASH THE
CITIZENS   ,
ALLIANCE '<
SOUTH THIRD STREET
VOLUME 1, NO. 45
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 26,1934
PRICE TWO CENTS
Auto Mechanics Strike Looms
Cudahy Co* to
Fight Union
- Puritan Meat Sellers
Fire Union Driver
The Cudahy Packing Co. located at 209 N. 5th St., has decided that it does not want its
workers to belong to the union.
To prevent unionization, they propose to make an example of Frank
Chesvick, a union driver.
Chesvick was fired "because
there was not enough work." The
fact that he was the top man on
the seniority list meant nothing,
and incidentally, he hauled more
meat the day he was discharged
than he had for many months
past.
Fake Disability Report
The union officials went to the
local manager and were told that
all orders come from Chicago—
the big shots in Chicago who issue
the commands and take in the
profits on the purchase of Cudahy
meats by Minneapolis workers.
When informed that the union
was battling for Chesvick, they
hastily went through their records and wired the local boss to
change the reason for his discharge. It wasn't lack of work
after all. The records show that
he was injured in 1930 while on
the job so an obliging company"
doctor says that he is no longer
capable of doing hard work. It
took only four years to discover
this.
And what an obliging doctor!
He found that Chesvick had a disease which tended to cause back
injuries. It was not the icy sidewalk after all which caused him to
slip and fall with a quarter of
beef. It was the disease. There is
one more trail to cover. Chesvick
was injured while on the job. If
the Cudahy Co. claims that he is
not capable of working, they
might be liable for compensation.
Once again the convenient and accomodating company doctor. The
very disease which caused Chesvick to slip on the ice in 1930 has
now rendered him incapable of
hard work. "It is not the minor
insignificant fracture caused by
the fall on the ice," says the doctor.
Exile  to Newport
The latest proposal is that Chesvick be exiled to the slaughter
house at Newport where the work
is only three times as hard. The
boss says he wants to take care
of Frank. No one can doubt that
he sincerely wants to "take care"
of him.
This case is such rank discrim-
"?)  ination that it smells to high heav-
^ en.
*{      If   the   Cudahy   Co.   does   not
want to employ union workers, we
"', are forced to assume that it does
s not want the patronage of union
workers and their friends either.
\\\W^,%
Bosses Refuse
To Negotiate
Strike Vote Thursday,
St. Paul Votes Friday
Monday night at a meeting of
the joint. executive committee of
the St. Paul and Minneapolis locals
of the Machinists' Union, a decision was reached to proceed with
the taking of a strike vote of the
auto workers' membership in the
Twin Cities.
The Minneapolis membership
will meet Thursday night, September 27th, at 8 o'clock in the Ma-
The Secondary" Defense
Arbitration Begins
The arbitration proceedings are
under way and early indications
point to a speedy conclusion.
Every member of Local 574 will
be more than glad to see the wage
scale established and the controversy which led to two bitterly
fought strikes settled.
We have tried to be more than
reasonable all along and we will
continue to be so, but we do not
mean by this that we stand for
"peace at any price." We are en-
'titled to a raise and we intend to
get it. The only question is how
much it will be. The arbitration
will decide that.
The proceedings have begun
with the Minneapolis Transfer and
Warehouse as the first firm to arbitrate. It is expected that the
scale established for this firm will
be considered the scale for the entire transfer industry. The same
procedure will probably obtain in
the other groups as well.
The firms involved are divided
into the following groups: transfer, market, lumber, coffee, furniture, wholesale grocery, hardware
and plumbing, lime and cement,
packing, paint and glass, paper,
retailers, and spring water.
The results of the arbitration
are to be retroactive to the date
that arbitration was requested,
September 7, in 52 firms and September 8 in the remaining 25
firms.
Witt's Market Out
To Reduce Wages
Open-Shop   Hatch   Delivery
Replaces Union Drivers
After the May strike the labor-
hating Witt's Market House tried
to discriminate against two union
drivers. It was only after Local
574 had bannered all the Witt
stores and seriously restricted
their business that the drivers were
returned to their jobs.
Mr. Witt moved against the
union once more after the July
strike. This time he was a bit more
subtle. His "loyal" men were
shifted about so that he was able
to keep the same two union
drivers off the^jab. This he hoped
would cause 'the" other union
workers to beefom'e discouraged
and quit the union, but they did
not let him bluff them.
He has now made the grand
coupe. All the union drivers were
fired, without notice, and the delivery service was turned over to
the Hatch Package Delivery. The
non-union drivers went to work
for Hatch.
The Hatch firm is desirable for
Witt because it is an open-shop
concern which is building its business by serving at a low cost.
The cost of Hatch's service is low
because he pays his drivers a miserable wage.
Coal Men Meet Oct. 1st
Following the February coal
strike and after the workers had
gained a small, increase in wages,
the coal bosses immediately raised
the price of coal 75c to $1.00 a
ton. This fall prices on coal have
again raised without any wage increase for the workers.
We as workers are not interested1 in the amount of profit the
boss makes, but we are interested
in gaining a better living for those
that produce this profit. The only
way we can protect' the gains we
have already made and get something better for ourselves for the
future is to see that every man
engaged in the coal industry is organized. It is the duty of every
union man to see that the workers
in his yard are members of Local
574. Your only protection is your
union, and we urge every man to
do his bit to see that this program
is carried out. The slogan for 574
is ''Every man an organizer."
The coal workers, both drivers
and yard men, will meet'the first
and third Monday in each month.
Don't forget the dates. The next
meeting will be held Monday,. October 1. See that every man is at
this meeting.
"While there is a lower class, I
am in it. While there is a criminal element, I am of it. While
there is a soul in jail, I am not
free."—Eugene  V.  Debs.
A
Arrow Head Workers
Win Strike
After fruitless attempts at
negotiation, the Arrow Head
workers found themselves locked out suddenly and unexpectedly by the arrogant bosses.
They turned the lockout into a
militant strike and succeeded in
smashing through to a real victory.
Every worker at Arrow Head
has received a raise through the
settlement and is now going
back to the job proud of the
union.
Auto  mechanics  please  note.
MARKET ROW ANARCHY
Union Meets to Plan Action
Against Chiseling Bosses
574 Smoker Friday-
Local  574  will hold  its  first
Smoker   at   117   S.   E.   4th   St.
next Friday, Sept. 28.
After you have attended this
gala event, you will look forward to the next one as anx-
> iously as the kids look forward
to Christmas. There won't be
a single dull moment—just one
side-splitting scene after another all evening long. .
Get your tickets at 225 S.
3rd St. The price is just fifty
cents.
An examination of the working
conditions on the market row does
not give any indication that; the
bosses have signed an agreement
with the union. Chiseling is as
widespread as ever and is earned
on in every imaginable form.
According to the agreement,
there is to be a seniority list for
each house, ONE LIST ONLY.
This list is to be carefully followed. The oldest man from point
of service is to receive first consideration when jobs are assigned.
If the job normally held by a senior employee is discontinued, he
is entitled to replace any employee
who is his junior from point of
service. The only exceptionto this
rule is that an employee cannot
demand to hold a job which he is
obviously and unquestionably incapable of handling.
The market bosses are setting
up their own idea of seniority
which means no seniority at all.
They use a pet classification
which they call a shipping .clerk,
and under this guise, they ring
in men who have little or no seniority rights and use them for
everything from truck drivers to
green room men. They claim that
these men are good Tionest boys
whom they are breaking in to run
the business. Another trick is to
claim a certain man must work
because he is the only one in the
house capable of packing apples
and then use him for everything
but packing apples and work him
all hours at any kind of pay. The
man in question is. of course nonunion.
The bosses howled a lot about
salesmen  during the negotiations
leading up to the agreement. It
all comes out now. They thought
they could get away with having
the salesmen do the bulk of the
work done by the truck drivers
and the inside workers. But they
are not going to get away with
this or any other method of chiseling on the workers.
One market boss fired an employee as incompetent because he
fell off the back end of a truck
while trying to substitute for the
chain which normally is used to
keep a big load from falling off
the truck.
The market today is in a state
of absolute anarchy. The workers
are not going to tolerate these
practices any longer. The bosses
have not lived up to the strike
settlement agreement. The union
is determined that they shall.
If more trouble comes in the
market, the bosses will be responsible   for   it.
chinists' Headquarters at the Temple Garage, 1310 Marquette.
The St-Paul meeting will be
•held on Friday night, September
28, in the Labor Temple.
The men, 3,000 strong, who
work in the garages, service
branches, and shops in Minneapolis and St. Paul, are speedily and
efficiently putting their union machinery into fighting trim. Experienced as these men are in handling the intricate makeup of the
automobile, one can be quite sure
that a workmanlike job will be
done with the setting up of the
strike apparatus.
The employers in the automotive industry have failed to respond'to the demands of the workers for a raise in pay from the
average level of $14.50 for a 44-
hour week. The Machinists' Union,
Locals 382 and 459 of Minneapolis
and St Paul, has been for more
than a year attempting 'to come to
some agreement with these bosses.
All proposals for negotiations have
been flatly rejected. Not only
have the bosses rejected all overtures by the union, but they have
victimized workers, members of
the Union, for making protests of
the numerous violations of the
NBA code by the employers.
Men have been fired for joining the Union, although this is
covered up in most cases by one
subterfuge or another. The employers have been busy all along
the line, following the usual
course of bosses everywhere. Attempts have been and are now being made to set up and foster the
company "union." Lockout is being talked of in various shops
(this gag will not go over, so well
now after the Machinists' Union
victory at the Arrow Head plant).
Many open and some veiled attacks are being made upon the
real Union and its active officials.
So far as the auto workers are
concerned this clap-trap of the
bosses has fallen on deaf ears.
These workers know their own
jobs. -They know that they are
poorly paid for ldng hours of hard
and exacting work. They know
that the NBA and the code does
(Continued on page 3)
Make Minneapolis a Union Town