The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1921-07-08
Declaration of RIGHTS

Declaration of Rights
4 clear cut. emphatic declaration
OF the rights of wage Carners was
adopted by the American Fedora
ton of Labor convention here, with
a denunciation of the misuse OF the
writ of injunction. The declaration
of rights, a portion of a resolution
/ introduced by the International La
/ dies Garment Workers Union fol-
/ lows:
1 1--WE assert that the workers have
the inalienable right to work when,
! for whom and for what they please
and to withhold their work lndlvld-
ually or collectively for any reason
which they consider sufficient and
that to deny them This right means
to revive the medieval institution
of involuntary seryitudc; that they
have the right to induce their Tel
low-workers to join them in their
struggles for economic betterment
and to quit work for hostile en-
ployers; that the employer has no
property right in labor, as labor
is neither a commodity or an ar
ticle of commerce.
1t is further declared that we
call upon all affiliated organica-
tions. particularly upon all central
bodies in the larger industrial COM
munities, to inaugurate energetic
campaigns against the cverygrow
ing abuse of iniunctions in labor
disputes and to conduct such cam
paigns through meetings, publica-
9TH Of al ~
earnestly and increasingly until the
intolerable practice is abandoned by
legislative relief or otherwise"
In the discussion on the resolu
ton, John j. Frey, representing the
International Molders Union of
/ North America, presented the case
against the injunction, citing recent
examples of injunction injustice.
Delegate Frey declared that prob
| ably the most serious menace that
faces the trade union movement to-
day is the powers which our courts
of equity have arrogated to them
| selves to the extent of the use of
the writ of injunction so that it is
intended to establish class disinc-
ton.
There is steadily going forward
in our state courts the establish
ment of class distinction by deny
ing certain methods and rights to
the wage earners which are guaran-
teed and assured to employers.
at is only a short time ago that
representative OF organized labor,
including the editor of the local la
Dor paper, were jailed in the city
of Minneapolis because an injunction
restrained them from doing any
thing which declared that the Won
derland Theater was on the unfair
list; and in the neighboring twin
city of st. Paul was an open shop
movement, dominated by the Citi-
2ens' Alliance, which had affiliated
with it all of the merchants, bank
ers and professional men. They
placed boycott on the firm of
| Daugherty Brothers because they
refused to place an open shop card
in their windows
"Daugherty Brothers applied for
an injunction based on the same
principle as the thing in Minneapolis,
but the court held that the Bank
ers' Association and the professional
men had every right to declare
Daugherty Brothers unfair because
they refused to put an open shop
card in their window. In other
words, the workers haven't any
right to declare a firm which dis
charge their men and puts non
union men in their places unfair,
but they do declare that employers
and professional groups have a
right to declare firm unfair and
refuse to patronize them or sell to
them.
81 want to call your attention
to what the Supreme Court of
Massachusetts has done in connec-
ton with the open shop movement
and the compelling of men to sign
individual contracts. Twenty or
thirty years ago we used to go the
chusetts to find what was most
hopeful and helpful for human
progress. Since then the court has
become one of the most reaction
airy judicial bodies in, the United
States so far as labor controver-
sizes are concerned.
Some fifteen years ago the
court, in the case of labor dis
pute, held that an injunction should
not have been issued, because men
had legal right to strike for the
purposes they had in mind. 1t fol
lowed from that decision that if
they had a legal right to strike
the court might hold that for some
purposes strikes were illegal. Very
soon they found their opportunity
and since that time they have gone
forward step by step, giving new
reasons why working men will not
be permitted to strike in Massa-
chusetts.
owe know what the practical
purpose of the open shop, so-called
American plan is. 1t is to use
the employers" organized strength
to preevnt the wage earners from
maintaing their unions. Within re-
cent months they have made extern
sive use of individual contracts
compelling workmen to agree that
they are not members of union
and will not become members while
in the firms employ. The United
Shoe Machinery Company of Bev-