The Organizer (Minneapolis, Minnesota), 1934-10-03

              UNITED
I LABOR
*   ACTION
<nnaH!>4
SWISH THE
CITIZENS
ALLIANCE
TWO TWENTY-FIVE
SOUTH THIRD STREET
VOLUME 1, NO. 46
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, WEDNESDAY, OCT.J 1934
PRieE TWO CENTS
Fargo Drivers Bring
New Life to Unions
Truck   Industry  Provides  a
Base for Building Solid
Movement
History has charted the same
course for the labor movement of
Fargo and Moorhead as it did for
the entire labor movement of the
country. It rose to power during
the war and post war period only
to begin its decline with the wave
of false prosperity which began
during 1924.
During its period of power,' the
movement exerted a tremendous
influence upon this industrial community which has a common economic problem despite the artificial division created by the Red
River. The workers were able
through their organizations to
command a standard of living far
surpassing that which they now
endure. The entire populace profited from labor's increased buying power.
Lacked   Permanent  Base
The strength of the movement
lay chiefly in the railroad unions,
the printing trades, and the building trades. With the sharp decline
in carloading and the cessation of
activity in the building industry,
only the printing ti-ades were left
to form the base of the movement
and it began to decline sharply.
The printing trades remained firm,
but the very nature of their position in the economic set-up made
it impossible for them to serve as
the key for a broad movement.
Even the three-story building
owned by the unions was lost.
With the coming of section 7A
of the NIRA, the unions once
again began to stir. The Cooks
and Waiters union seized the opportunity quickly and has made
great gains. Today there are
twentv-seven local unions in Fargo
and the city is beginning to hum
with labor activity.
To make the picture complete,
we find a lusty youngster appearing in the Fargo-Moorhead movement which is destined to become
the key to unionization in that
area. With this community serving as the distributing: center for
all of North Dakota and the trucking industry rapidly replacing the
railroads in the hauling of freight,
(Continued  on  Page  2)
Remember the Past-
No Truce
Cudahy Moves Again
The Cudahy Packing Co. is still
-groping about for some method to
clear  themselves  of  suspicion   in
the firing of Frank Chesvick, a
-union driver.
First they said he was laid off
for lack of work.  The union  replied that they were violating his
seniority  rights  since  there  were
younger    drivers    still    working.
.   They next dug up a fake disability
°? report  which  pretended  to  prove
v  that Chesvick was not capable of
i.   hard work' because of an old dis-
^   ease of the back. The union point-
°»   ed out that Chesvick is capable of
*t herd work and that if he were not
it would be the responsibility of
the Cudahy Company since he was
at one time injured by. a fall on
an icy sidewalk while carrying a
quarter of beef. The disease men-
Jtioned  is only a product of the
fertile imagination of a company
f\ doctor. Cudahy then proposed that
Chesvick go to Newport to work
^ in the slaughter house. This was
4 a  dastardly proposal  to  exile   a
*{ worker for joining the union.  It
j was flatly rejected.
SCJ       The mental giants at the Cud-
-   ahy   Co.   now  want   Chesvick  to
^}>sign papers relieving them of any
responsibility if he should be injured  on   the  job.     This   doesn't
work either. The Cudahy distributors of Puritan products must restore Chesvick to his job with the
full rights of a citizen. Until they
do this, we must assume that they
want no patronage from unionists
and  their  friends  and  sympathi-
]
■;*
President Roosevelt has called upon the
labor unions of America to go into a pact
with industry for an indefinite period. It
is proposed that labor lay aside its strike
weapons and depend upon the generosity
of the employers for any benefits that may
be given to the workers for participation in
the industry of the country.
This proposal is put forward with the
suggestion that the decisions of the government boards and other constituted authorities be accepted by the workers' movement as final and binding in all cases. Labor has had a considerable experience with
such boards during the past several
months and almost without exception the
experience has been, to" put it mildly, disappointing.
The National Association of Manufacturers comes forward immediately with a
wholehearted endorsement of the President's plan. The American Manufacturers
Association sees in such a period of peace
between capital and labor, only benefits
for the employers. This is clear when one
reads the declaration of this group who
quickly challenge the A. F. of L. to accept.
The reply to the president's proposal by
the heads of the A. F. of L., now assembled in convention at San Francisco, gives
little assurance that there will be any fundamental change in the policies of that
body. William Green, speaking to the convention, said Labor and the President
"speak the same language." His remarks
are untrue and absolutely without foundation. Labor cannot and will not give up
the strike weapon.
Labor has not in the past received any
real benefits from the governmental boards
and constituted authorities. What Labor
has received in- union recognition, wage
raises, and betterment in conditions of
work, has been won in spite of such boards.
In support of this view, we have only to
refer to the Steel, Automobile and Textile
industries on a national scale. What benefits have the workers in these vast plants
received from the NRA and the mediation
setup which goes with it?
On the other hand the employers are
really speaking, on this question at least,
in the exact language of the President.
They do not lose a single "hour in broadcasting to the whole countiy their endorsement of the entire scheme of so-called industrial peace.
Who do these bosses expect to deceive
by this? The answer is quite plain. They
expect to deceive the unorganized worker
who is just now, within the last few
months, turning towards union organization as the only way to protect himself and
his family, to have some measure of security on the job, and some assurance of a
decent standard of life at home. Hundreds
of thousands of unorganized workers are
moving into the organized ranks of trade
unionists, and, sensing the power of organization, are pressing forward for action.
They want and firmly believe that they are
entitled to some of the wealth they see all
about them, in many cases going to waste.
This attitude on the part of the workers is
forcing the unions, even over the objections of the Greens and the Morrisons, to
make demands on the employers. These
employers, who want nothing less than the
entire wealth of the country, do not willingly give a single cent of wage increase
and in every case resist to the last.
What weapon has Labor except the
strike? The answer agafn is clear. The
strike is the one weapon that the employers respect.
At such a time as this it is well to recall
that under another President, under another administration, a similar call was issued to" Labor. President Hoover, who
made no pretense as a new dealer, and
who had made quite a number of estimations as to the character of the depression,
found, some months after the stock market crash in 1929, that the workers did not
propose to sit quietly by while the employ-
. ers went on a rampage of wage slashing
and union busting.
He also was faced at that time with the
possibility of widespread strikes. The big
and the little employers were taking full
advantage of the panic to lay off their employees by the thousands, and to use the
unemployed as a threat to the wage standards of those still on the job.
Not only were workers by the hundreds
of thousands turned out in the streets to
shift for themselves, but wage cut after
wage cut was the first order of the day.
The living standard of the American worker was being forced down at a furious pace.
Hoover then issued, just as Roosevelt does
now, a call to the Labor leaders and the
employers' representatives to gather in
Washington and conclude a sort of "peace
in industry" plan. Then, just as now', the
radio incessantly dinned in the ears of the
people that the President had proclaimed
a brilliant plan. The press of the country
headlined the story. A master stroke, a
truly statesmanlike proposal, they called it.
The employers of the country were, then
as .now, .quick to^grasp .the meaning, of the^
move. They said, in a thousand different
wlays, that they would endorse any peace
plan that would "in the interest of their
country" outlaw strikes.
At that time, the leaders of the A. F. of
L. were, if anything, even ahead of the
employers in endorsing the plan. They
were then also in "full accord with the
President." Whether or not they "spoke
the same language" is rather unimportant
in view of the action of these labor leaders.
Not only was Hoover's plan of industrial
peace endorsed, but the trade union lead-
era did actually gather in Washington with-
the industrial overlords and solemnly agree
to a truce.
The manufacturers promised not to cut
wages. The labor leaders promised not to
ask for wage increases nor to conduct
strikes against the employers. The pledge
of labor leaders was carried out to the letter. For two whole years the trade union
movement stagnated. During this same period the employers, without a moment's
hesitation, continued the wage slashing
program on which they had already started before the conference was called.
Wage rates dropped to the lowest level of
the decade. In many fields of labor, conditions became unbearable. These were the
chief fruits of the "peace" pact.
All this was done in the name of patriotism. The employers understood their
duty to their country.. They cut wages,
lengthened hours, speeded up those on the
job, and sent millions of workers to the
breadlines.
Labor cannot place its fate, which means
the fate of mankind, in the hands of mediation boards which are, in the final analysis, dominated by the bosses.
Labor will answer the President thus:
"We propose to organize our unions. We
propose to seek and obtain higher wages,
shorter hours and better conditions.
Whether or not there is a period of industrial peace will depend upon the employers' reply to our demands."
Grocery Driver
Gets Wage Raise
Union   Membership   Brings
More Pay, Fewer Hours
After a banner had been carried before their stores for two
days, and the other labor organizations of the city had co-operated
in bringing pressure, the Ruff
Bros. Grocery agreed to pay the
union scale to a member of Local
574 who. is in their employ.
This worker, who serves as a
combination driver and inside
worker, had been working from,
52 to 54 hours per week for only
$16.20: Receiving such a miserable wage as this, he was greatly
interested in, the organization
drive and the fights with the employers carried on by 574. He
joined the union and stayed with
it through both our struggles.
He has now placed himself in a
position to draw real benefits
from his union membership, and
it is_ pertinent that we note in
passing that he did not improve
his circumstances by the mere
.payment of dues. He fought for
his rights, and he stuck to the
battle till he had won.
He now receives the union scale
for his driving and for his inside
work. His salary of $16.20 has
been increased to $22.70 per week
and he works fewer hours.
At the Sunnyside Grocery, a
firm which signed the Haas-Dunnigan proposal, the driver was not
returned to work at the union
scale. The union is carrying on a
fight against this firm also. The
proprietor has indicated that he is
willing to pay the scale but he
does not want to return this driver
to his job. He does not want this
driver because he refuses to submit peacefully to the bosses'-chiseling tactics.
With a union membership to
protect his job, this worker has
taken his employer-swindler before the NRA Compliance Board
in the Roanoke Building, and extracted from him $39.98 which he
had chiseled away from even the
low code minimum".
Of course the boss doesn't want
this man. He doesn't want him because he refuses to play this famous "silent partner" role. He
doesn't want him because he believes in defending his rights. But
he is going to take him back just
the same.
Arbitration Nears End
Both the union and the employers have made their arguments
before the neutral chairman, Mr.
John R. Coan, and it is expected
that a final decision on the wage
scale will be reached within the
next few days. The union committee hopes to have a complete and
final report to bring before the
membership at next Monday'3
meeting.
Important Meeting
At the full membership meeting which will be held next Monday, October 8, important decisions will be made on questions
which have a vita', effect on the
future of Local 574.
This will be a closed  meeting'
and all members must be present
to  voice  their  opinions  and  cast
their vote.
Kuehn to Be Tried Oct. 3
Carl Kuehn, chairman of the
MCCW, will be tried before judge
Carroll Wednesday, October 3, on
a disorderly conduct charge growing out of his arrest in a demonstration before the Broadway Relief Station -last Friday.
The arrest of Brother Kuehn is
another of the typical police injustices against workers who are
struggling for a livelihood. Make
it your business to attend his trial.
The one efficient agitator in
the world today is injustice.—
Lord  Acton.
Make Minneapolis a Union Town