The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-09-16
Mr.. F ORSTM ANN
PROGRAMMES HIS
COMP ANY UNION
His Tool Is Rusty; Needs
Repair
ey ROBERT DUNN.

IDUzzLE problem for labor econ
L omists;
II it takes a 31-weeks' strike to make
julius Forstmann, millionaire wooden
magnate of Passaic, to "feorganize"
his company union, how long will it
take Mr.. Forstmann to recognize a
real labor union aflliated with the
American Federation OF Labor?
Union Is Rusty.
YVES, julius Forstmann Is repairing
= his company union. It has rusted
badly and just about fallen to pieces
since the textile workers left Mr..
Forstmann alone with it and an empty
mill last February. Now he is picking
up the pieces and trying to put 1t to-
gether again. He is trying to blow new
life into the corpse. VIII he be sue
cessful in reviving It? We think not.
All of the F. and H. workers except
the few scabs think not, too. And if
they keep thinking that way, and
striking that way, 1t will not be Z
months or Z weeks, and possibly not
even Z days, before Forstmann quits
trying to play tricks on his workers
and decides to deal with the Passaic
local Of the United Textile Workers
Of America.
EORSTMANN has had this company
4 union on hand for several years
and it's one Of the most undemocratic,
powerless, stupid company unions 1t
has ever been my duty to examine. A
Joint committee type of representa-
tive assembly" with meetings of the
sucker members four times a year
Even the personnel experts Of the cap
italistic National Industrial Conference
Board have regarded Forstmann's
company union as a joke and failed
to include 1t in their surveys on this
subject. They knew that it was even
more than the usual 100 per cent CON-
pany and per cent union.
Polishes Machine.
NOV Forstmann, at the eleventh
= hour Of the Passaic strike, is try
ing to repaint his toy. After years of
spying, blacklisting, bribery, bull
doing and outright violence thru the
old company union he wants to polish
up the old deceptive machine by hav-
ing a committee of three non-labor
citizens act as mediators and settle
differences that the company can't
compose with its inundated workers.
There is nothing new about such
proposal. Some of the most ruthless
company union machines in this coun-
try have embodied this very provision
from the start. The Standard Oil COM
pany Of Indiana is typical of this kind.
But it doesn't improve the company
union bit to add this little frill. The
names Of the distinguished citizens
may look imposing but the workers
achieve no economic power. Indeed,
the hypocrisy of the company union is
only heightened by such a provision.
Too Late.
MO, Forstmann is too late. The com
4 pany union cannot be reconstruct
ed to fool the workers. 1t may ego
down" with the wage slaves who toll
for Forstmann in Prussia, but not in
Passaic. That is the position of the
American Federation of Labor after
careful study of hundreds Of these
worker-misleading plans.
Neither will Forstmann's other
proposed patch help his dummy union
at all-the proposal to have only elect
ed representatives" instead of both
elected and appointed ones as at pre-
sent. This may also look to Forstmann
like a good joker to put over on the
workers, but it gives them not one
iota more of economic power or in.
dependence.
THEY still have no treasury, no
meetings off the company proper
ty, no meetings without Forstmann's
man Reinhold being present, no func
lions such as labor union performs
when 1t is free from the dominance Of
Scores of the vilest
company unions in America have this
straight elective committee system.
The PETERBOROUGH brotherhood" of
New York, the Pullman Plan, used to
betray and defeat the Pullman porters.
and other various plans are exactly of
the type Mr.. Forstmann now proposes
in his latest effort to trick his work
ers back to the mills.
Desperate Situation.
THIS Forstmann maneuver indicates
= the desperate situation in which
he company finds itself without work
ers to turn out the fall business. It
serves also to clarity the central and |
cardinal issue Of the strike: Real |
inionism VS.. company unionism. No
more important issue confronts the
whole American working class today.
To support the Passaic strikers is to
AXE an effective whack at the reptile
company union In its typical form.
Workers everywhere should send In
,reasing support, and send It quick.