The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-07-20

The Joint Board Furriers Union
yesterday issued an official state
ment regarding responsibility for the
break in peace negotiations which
were inaugurated last week with the
A. F. of L. Reorganization Committee
under the auspices of Magistrate
Joseph Rosenbluth.
The statement says:
"The Joint Board Furriers Union
desires to make clear to the fur work.
ers the entire matter relating to the
peace negotiations between the A.
F. of L. Committee and the Joint
Board.
"The brave and aggressive struggle
of resistance now carried on in the
cloak and dressmakers and furriers
unions against the bosses, the For
ward clique and the chiefs of the A.
F. of L. who are attempting to con-
vert the needle trades unions into
company unions, has forced the Mat
thew Wolls and McGradys to begin
peace negotiations with the leaders
of the expelled unions.
Vol and the Police
''The chaos and decentralization now
prevailing in the cloak, dress and fur
trades; the unbearable conditions of
the workers, who are subject to wide
spread unemployment and are suffer
ing from the jobbing and contracting
and speed-up systems; standards of
production; wages that have been re-
duced to the point of starvation; are
the direct results of the criminal at
tack launched by the politicians of
the A. F. Of L. on the needle trades
unions.
"An unprecedented campaign of
terrorism; hiring of gangsters; police
persecution; long terms of imprison-
nlent; mass arrests of peaceful pick
ets-these are the methods employed
by the Forward clique, the Matthew
VOLS, Greens against the workers
with the aim of forcing their dis
credited leadership on the unions.
The unbearable conditions that have
been brought about in the needle
trades unions by these disrupters of
the labor movement, thru policy of
expulsion and reorganization of
unions against the will of the work
ers, has opened the eyes not only of
the thousands of organized workers
of all trades to the treacherous role
that the Matthew VOLS and Greens
posing as workers representatives.
are playing in the labor movement;
but has also called forth bitter re-
sentiment from the New York Central
Trades and Labor Council, a bonafide
part of the A. F. of L. which has
openly exposed and rejected the
strillebreaking methods of the chief
traitor and open agent of American
capitalisnl-Mr Matthew Woll I'm
der this pressure from the general
labor movement, the representatives
OF the A. F. of L. were forced to
carry on negotiations for peace with
The representatives of the furriers
and cloakmakers unions.
The representatives of both unions
made clear their positions at the
peace conference-that the lefts with
in the unions do not carry on the
struggle that has been forced upon
them for the sake of satisfying their
gains and ambitions, but in the in
terests of the mass Of the workers.
This was once more clearly estab
iished by the peace program offered
as base for negotiations. We did
not deny that we are interested in
peace and unity in our International
Unions, but at the same time. we
demanded that the unions should be
instruments of struggle to defend the
interests of the workers and not to
enable the bosses and their agents to
exploit the workers. We therefore de-
manded that:
Eliminate A. F. of l.. Sluggers.
% "The A. f. of L. officials should
eliminate their hired sluggers from
their dual union.
~ Reinstatement of the expelled
locals and individual members.
(3) "That the A. F. of l.. should
nullify their secret supplementary
agreement with the bosses and should
recognize the agreement which was
signed by the Joint Board and Asso-
citation representatives on June, 1926.
after the victorious general strike.
l. e.. guarantee of the 40-hour week
and the other recent gains of the
workers.
(4) "That all the appointed dicta-