The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-11-29

| acC10n.
| Illegal Elections.
Candidate after candidate nomin-
ated by the progressives were OBJ
jected to on the most flimsy of pre-
texts. Special laws were framed in
direct violation of the International
constitution in an attempt to dispose
of these candidates. When this was
not sufficient to drown the opposi-
ton which arose from the member
ship the heavy arm of authority
came down upon the heads of progress
sive candidates.
| Shanasey Chooses Officers.
at is the desire of our General
President, James C. Shanasey, in
whose interest | am here tonight,
spoke up John Hart, that this local
elect certain set of officers in the
interest of the union"
The membership was dumbfounded
when slate of officers who had
never done any union work, and were
well known for their stupidity was
imposed upon them as future leaders
of the local.
Membership Protests.
Dissatisfaction with John Harris
program, which he had put over by
virtue of his alleged authority from
the International, because very keen
at the next meeting when an attempt
was made to install the new officers.
A resolution was proposed by E.
Paskoff, to annul the elections,
since theytwere illegal, and called for
the election of a committee Of five
to conduct the Business of the local
until properly elected officials could
take over the work. The resolution
carried % to 8.
Ignores Resolution.
But the International stepped in
once more, branding the resolution
as "a piece Of communist propa-
ganda" and ordered John Hart to
ignore the. resolution and install their
puppet. officers directly, whether the
membership liked it or not.
."" Great Membership Loss.
This was the beginning of the de-
struction of BARRIERS local 552, Mem
bers were terroriZed, insulted, beaten
up, rallroaded out of the union. Con-
stitutional rights of the members
were swept aside. This, coupled with
the locals failure to get any conces-
slons from the Master Bosses Asso-
-clation when they raised their prices,
led to Encouragement and the locals
membership began to fall, from 1,136
to about 600, and the downward
stream is still unchecked.
Puppet Officers Rewarded.
AS reward for this excellent
work, General President Shanesey
recommended that the wages of the
puppet officers be raised. One bust
ness agent, Green by name, hired
during a former regime at salary
OF S25 a week and So bonus for every
new member procured, and who has
been fired because he was unable to
deliver the goods, was mysteriously
re-engaged by Shanesey's organizer
at $50 week, and later again fired
to enable the more important hench-
men to draw larger salaries.
Operates on Deficit.
Business Agent Posner, who had
been receiving $25 week plus a So
rake-off per application, was raised
to flat weekly salary of sos. Sec
rotary Charles Anderson was also
raised to sos a week, and other Of
ficers raised proportionally. 1t did
not take very long before the treasury
became almost entirely depleted. The
local is now operating on deficit
basis.
The membership complained bit
terly, but were too intimidated bv
the tactics employed by the official
dom to bring their complaints into
the open. The progressive element
was aghast at the turn matters had
taken, and decided that something
had to be done to avoid complete
breakup of the union.
Member Protests.
Morris Hoffman undertook to call
the attention of the membership to
the serious condition of the local. and
suggested that the local elect a COM
mlttee of ten to examine the causes
Tor existing conditions and suggest
remedies.
Hoffman's analysis was substanti-
ated by figures. He confined himself
to discussion of union conditions
uniting any mention of names. This
onest and fearless discussion stiff
ned the backbone of the membership
,h0 BEGAN 10 demand onnnl,r 4Ln L.