The daily worker., 1926-05-16
CHICAGO DRESS
Makers drive
IN full FORCE
Some Shops Join Union
en- MaSSe

no orqanization drlVe OF tno inucr~
national Ladies' Garment Workers
Union whIoh started week ago Mon
day Is now In full force. Officers re-
port that some shops have already
Joined the union as a whole and all
non-unIon shops were covered with
circulars dealing with problems and
conditions Of the shops.
unbearable Conditions.
According TO the officers OF the or
ganization department OF the Interna-
tional Ladies' Garment Workers, the
conditions in a majority of the non
union shops are unbearable. They
have taken advantage of the fact that
there was no live organization cam
paign being conducted in the dress
industry and have reduced the prices
on their garments. One particular
shop witch vas union shop previous
to the last strike, where to people
were earning a fairly good Salary, is
reported today to have cut its prices
more than one third, and conditions
in general are such which would not
be tolerated in a decent non-union
shop,
In many instances the employers
take advantage Of the fact that the
mass Of dress workers is composed of
n conglomeration of practically all
races and nationalities, and make
various distinctions between groups Of
different speaking languages. Parti-
cularly is this true of the Negro work
ers.
Raoe Discrimination.
In one shop there are thirteen Negro
workers whose working hours are
from ffty-four per week and up, and
whose earnings are $500 and up
including overtime. In another IN
stance there are twenty Negro women
operators who are kept under the i'm
preston that II they ask for better
prices they win lose their job, and
white people put IN their place. OF
course this only exists in the non
union shops, as IN a union shop all
workers, regardless Of color or race,
receive the protection of the union.
Join With A. N. l. C.
According TO the head Of the organ
ization campaign the local unions
made connections with the American
Negro Labor Congress, who have
promised their full support in this
campaign. A meeting Of the Negro
union members was held a few days
ago in the union headquarters, which
was addressed by Mr.. Phillips, city
organizer of the congress, and Mr..
Whitman, national organizer. The
meeting was very successful and all
those present enrolled on the organ
ization committee in addition to the
large five hundred committee.
Answer Bosses.
]. Levin, manager Of the Ladies'
Garment Workers Union made the
following remarks in regard to the or
ganization campaign. Il have seen Mr..
Davidson's reply pertaining to a GER
tain statement which appeared in the
Women's Wear sometime ago that
we could not organize the larger shops
because the workers are content with
prevailing conditions. His reply en-
phasized the fact that the existing
conditions are in no way encouraging
to the workers to stay out of the
union. am in accord with his answer
and wish to add the following reasons
for my contention"
I'VE find in the report Of the Bull
letin of Women In Illinois Industries,
1873, which is the organized section of
the industry, work forty-four hours
and the rest work from forty-eight to
fifty hours per week. Now, anybody
who states that the workers in non
union shops are content must make
these conditions reconcilable with the
conditions existing in the union
shops"
Il know that conditions in the union
shops are not as yet what they should
be, but this is due to the fact that
a great many of the workers are as
yet unorganized, which is just the
reason why we are now conducting an
organization campaign, and l have no
doubt OF its success"
Expect slsman.
President Sigman is expected here
about the end OF this week or the
early part of next week Various ques-
tions will be taken up in the local
organizations, and the plans for the
organization campaign will be gone
over.