The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-02-21

lilies, totalling 100000 men, women
and children, are fighting against
the company union, the open shop
and the yellow dog contract and have
been on strike since April /.
"For five and a half months the
Lewis machine did nothing to organ
ize a relief campaign for strike
involving the life of the two unions.
"Today relief is handed out in such
small amounts that thousands of
miners with their dependents are on
the verge of starvation. Local unions
have organized the Pennsylvania and
Ohio Relief Committee to collect re-
lief on national scale and this COM
mittee is sabotaged by the Lewis
machine.
"2. The Lewis machine signed a
separate agreement for District IL
(Illinois) and ordered it's members
back to work, ordered them to desert
the strike and leave the Pennsylva
MIA and Ohio miners to fight alone.
This Illinois agreement is an arbi-
tration and efficiency agreement and
allows the operators to put in mach
ines which throw $4,000 miners out
of work without any provision being
made for them.
"3. The Lewis machine has re-
fused to organize the nOn-union
fields. The coal from these nom
union field mines is flooding the mar
kets and strangling what is left of
our union. Organization of West
Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee and
fight for the six-hour day and five
day week will defeat the coal oper-
ators and win the strike.
"a. Injunctions have been issued
by state and federal courts which
legalize the yellow dog contract,
make picketing illegal and prohibit
organization. The Lewis machine re-
fuses to mobilize our membership for
mass defiance of these coal operators
injunc lions and to work for a labor
party to carry the fight against them
into every part of the political field.
Lewis supported the strike-break-
err Coolidge for president and carries
on a war against militant union men
who stand for labor party.
''5. In the anthracite there are so
per cent of our membership out of
work. The speed-up system and the
contractor system, the open violations
OF the contract which Cappelini per-
mits, add to the unemployment and
weaken the union.
1T is matter of common knowl-
edge that grievances are never adj
justed by the district officials. 1t is
also common knowledge that miners
who take up case are Disseminated
against by the Cappelini machine,
the contractors and the bosses. Llills
was killed and Bonito badly wounded
because they fought against COM
pany and contractor control.
"Under the Lewis Cappelini ma
chine the union does not protect the
membership but is used against it.
"We must take control of our
union. We must make the state and
lIle coal operators Dear the DuTQeN
Of unemployment. We must .ght for
state relief for unemployed miners.
6.-The thousands of contract vio-
lations, the refusal to settle griev-
ances, the under-payment of miners,
the murder of militant members and
local union officials-all show that
the coal operators, aided by the Cap
pelini machine, are weakening the
union in order to put over wage cut.
The installation of loading machines
without wage differentiai is another
step to a wage cut.
"7.---The district officials have
joined with the coal operators and
businessmen in the anthracite boost
ers association to reduce the anthra
cite costs. This means wage cut in
plain English and loading 81 las~.r
costs by forcing miners to do more
work for less money.
"8.--The district officials have
joined, with the coal operators, to re-