The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1921-06-10
HARD WORK WON
GREAT VICTORY
Amalgamated Clothing Work
erS of America Win
Long Fight

New York, June THE great
est victory ever secured by organ
! lied labor in the needle trades was
won yesterday by the Amalgamat-
ed Clothing Workers when the
Clothing Manufacturers Association
! of New York, Inc. ended the twenty
four weeks lockout in the mems
clothing industry by signing an
I agreement with the union. The
! terms of the agreement were ratified
! by several great mass meetings of
4 locked out workers. Under the
terms of the agreement the New
York clothing industry will continue
to be operated upon the union shop
basis. Over fifty thousand workers
share in the victory which is re-
gardcd as a death blow to the open
shop movement in this industry.
The determining factor in the
long struggle was the inability of
the manufacturers to break the
ranks of the union, Efficient scab
labor could not be secured Anal
gamated pickets, both men and
women, walked the streets for six
months beginning in the dead of
winter. They were often attacked
by armed guards but persisted in
their picketing. Even when injunc-
tions against picketing were secured
the strikebreakers did not material
ize In desperation the manufact-
urers attempted to open non-union
shops in Springfield, Syracuse and
other cities. The union followed
these shops out of town and they
were soon shut down.
"The loyalty of the clothing
workers has endured the supreme
test" said Sidney Hillman, presi-
dent of the Amalgamated Clothing
Workers yesterday in commenting
upon the settlement. THE manu-
facturers chose a time of wide
spread unemployment to conduct a
understanding campaign. They be-
lieved that the clothing workers
who had been on the streets for
many months could be quickly
beaten into submission, but they
reckoned without the Amalgamated
spirit. Our people have come out
of the sweat shop and they will
not 90 back. Their victory should
be an incentive and they will not
go back. Their victory should be
an incentive to all organized labor
in America to fight the open shop
movement"
The cost of the lockout to the
union was approximately S2,000,000.
The clothing workers throughout
the United States and Canada as
scssed themselves over 81 100000 in
support Of the International Lock-
out Resistance Fund. This is the
largest amount of money ever raised
by single union for strike relief
in the history of American Labor
In spite of this heavy drain, the
union is financially stronger today
than is was when the lockout be-
gan. The union also established
seven retail stores at which its
members could purchase goods at
cost, with special union currency
Public sympathy has been with
the union in its struggle because
of the refusal of the manufacturers
to submit to an impartial investi-
cation and because the union ac-
cepted the cancellation offer of the
New York State Industrial Com
mission While the manufacturers re-
fused. A novel and distinctly in
fIuential factor in creating support
for the unions position was the
Report to the Public" by the i'm
partial chairman of the market, DR..
William NJ. Leiserson. DR.. Lesser
son strongly condemned the manu-
facturers for starting the lockout
and declared that they had been
misled by a small group Of irrecon-
cilables and lawyer agitator. Sub
sequent events proved his analysis
entirely sound.
A small group Of manufacturers
headed by William A. Bandler has
withdrawn from the large manu-
facturers' body and is continuing
the battle against the Amalgamated.
The attorney for this Glitter ender"
group is Harry Gordon, notorious
"labor batter" who was charged
with the chief responsibility for
starting the lockout. The surviv-
ing group Of malcontents does not
represent more then seven per cent
of the New York market but efforts
are being made through an extern
sive newspaper campaign to create
the impression that this rapidly
dwindling "war party" represents
the manufacturers. AS a matter
of fact not more than 5000 workers
are employed by the remaining "war
party, and the unions fight against
these employers will go on relent-
lessly until they reach an agree