The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1909-02-20
THE TA|lORs' STRIKE. !,
:. IN GREATER new YORK
Though Poor, Starved and De-
pressed They Are Putting )
up a Brave Fight.
Common Misery Unites Men and
Women in Heroic Battle for
u Their Rights.

Nc" 4OI0n F0O. L.. announcer
tailor strike Is now agitating the East
Side OF New York. Pantsmakers'. un-
ION, Local g., with a membership Of
5000, Knee Pantsmakers' union Local
10, with membership Of 5000, both
affiliated with the United Garment
Workers of America, have left, about
200 shops and do not intend to re-
turn until their demands are granted
The demands are: Higher wages, no
charge for steam and So hours a week.
week.
Their headquarters at 90 Forsythe
and 173 Eldrfdge street, are crowded
with people who were driven: out by
the unbearable conditions into which
the present crisis had forced them.
Ever since the hard times began the
employers have taken advantage Of
! the situation and have reduced wages
SO per cent. Only few of the work
ing men had belonged to the unions
and It was easy for the contractors
! to press down the scale from a living
to a starving wage. .~."
Need Forces Strike.
The present strike was forced by
the need for higher pay. There was
no proverbfal walking delegates nor
was there any "despotic labor meas
ures"- taken to bring the workingmen
together. Tailors who had been MAX
ing IL and 1S dollars a week a year
ago. are now working for eight and
ten dollars. They do piece work, how
ever, and the loss can be made up,
to some extent, if they work longer
hours. This was done and in many
cases the hours were increased. The
SO hours a week, which was the regu-
lated SCALE was extended to 80 by
some who had large families to sup
port.
While the earnings declined the
prices in commodities rose and it be-
came impossible to make both ends
meet, no matter how much blood and
sweat was used. in the effort. The
situation grew desperate and the
comomn misery united the men and
brought them to the unions to ask
for adn1ittance. !:
They were admitted The unions
nave taken up the fight, and are con-
Quoting it with vigor and intelligence.
The first week 5000 people entered
the unions. David Wiesenfeld, leader
OF the Knee Pantsmakers' union, is
holding his men in order and Is con-
trolling the most impatient-made inn
patient by the need for a weekly
wage. It is hard work, but he, with
the help OF the younger men in the
union, does it. Help is being offered
and the people try to arrange matters
80 that the suffering Is minimized.
Louis Nickerman and III. Nec11eimas
are busy in the Pantsmakers'- union.
Scores Of shop meetings are held, as
each shop is attending to it's own
business Contractors appear for
settlement and hours are spent in the
| hard work of getting the '1bosses''
yield some points. From early in the
morning till late at night the head
quarters are filled with an anxious,
eager and despairing crowd who are
waiting for results.
Personnel Of the Strike.
. The strikers are all Jews-the
timid, oppressed, poverty-stricken
Jews of the Ghetto. Pale-faced, bag
gard, detected, starved, with the
stamp Of the sweatshop on their
faces, they stand huddled together
taxing their power of endurance to
gain the demands made by them
by the necessities of life-in this
strike.
The majority of them are married
people - fathers of large families
They live in the old tenement houses
consisting of two and three-room
flats. They are the people who oe-
cupy the $4,000 dark rooms which
were SHOWN at the tuberculosis ex-
htbition. They are the fathers of the
$4,000 children in this city who are
afflicted with pulmonary diseases
They aret the people who violate the
factory laws-those laws that specify
the restriction Of child labor. Their
children, boys and girls, leave schoo
at an early age to help along carry
ing the family burden. They. are the
people who go to the charities when.
ever sickness befalls them. They are
the people whose broken furniture an;
scanty household eeffcts are seen or
the sidewalks when slack" depr1ves
them Of the opportunity to work
They are the people who, in season
work 10 and 20 hours a day, AMI
in slack" walk tine streets in vair
search for jobs. They are the poorl,
paid. the Inundated, suffering slave
Of, tine Ghetto.
The strikers are behaving we'll
there are no riots no Intimidation
no attacks on scabs. Eleven thousand
men stand together. They are MOI
strong men, nor are they able tc
stand long, but they know that they
are standing for their rights and they
summon every bit of energy in their
effort to do so.