The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-04-19
A. F. /. SCabs in Silk Strikes

meeting was held.
The strike of the two Hess Gold
smith Mills, involving 500 workers,
completely shutting down the two
mills within three days, would have
forced the boss to accept all the de-
mands of the strikers within a short
period. The two mills on strike, the
Hess Goldsmith mills of Plymouth
and Waller ST., Wilkes Barre, are
throwing mills and provide all the
silk for the other two Hess Gold
smith mills in the vicinity, one in
Kingston and one on Blackman ST.,
Wilkes Barre, and would have forced
the shutting down of these two
mills, involving 700 more workers.
The strikers, who Immediately
elected strike committees of both
mills, picketed all four mills three
times a day, and succeeded in pull
ing on strike large groups from the
other mills. At an enthusiastic
meeting of 400 strikers, the demands
for recognition of the union, an g.
hour day; wage increase of 80 per
cent, and time and a half for over
time, were voted on and unani-
mously accepted. A committee of
strikers from both mills presented
the demands to Mr.. Frey, general
superintendent of the mills.
Send Greetings to Carolina.
The following telegram was sent
after unanimous vote to the strik-
ing textile workers of North Caro-
lima. Give hundred strikers of
Wilkes Barre and Plymouth send
greetings to our fellow workers
striking in the South under the
leadership of the National Textile
Workers Union. We are with you
and wish you complete victory in
your fight for a union and better
conditions Above motion unani-
mously passed at strikers mass
meeting April 10TH"
The Hess Goldsmith workers, who
are on the night shift, are in the
mill from p. m. till $50 a. M, work
ing IL hours night, get only $21.20
week. The highest wage paid the
girls in the throwing mills is $12
a week, many of whom slave hours
a day for ST., So and 50 a week. The
boss, greedy for more profits, re-
Gently cut the bonus which they get
every two weeks, from 81 to So, and
the night shift workers from 81 to
So. Another act of the boss last
week was to threaten with discharge
any worker who did not give a days
pay to a Welfare Federation Drive
which is now being held in Wilkes
Barre. The N. T. w. U. local in
the Plymouth Hess Goldsmith mill
at its last meeting before the strike
decided to refuse to pay this, and the
boss was forced to back down.
Reactionaries Unite.
The United Tex tile Workers
Union officials together with the
officials of the A. F.. of l.. and the
United Mine Workers Union, who
for 20 years have done nothing in
the anthracite region to try to or
ganize the textile workers, are
shaken from their inertia by seeing
some real organization work being
done, locals formed in the mills and
strikes being led by the National
Textile Workers Union. The local
newspapers which formerly carried
statements from the N. T. w. U. do
not take any more stories sent out
by the N. T. w. U. The forcible
slipping out of town Of Helen
Colodny, by Chief of Police Taylor
of Wilkes Barre, after her arrest
for giving out leaflets for the N. T.
W. U. in front of one of the mills,
was another attempt to try to break
the National Textile Workers Union.
1t is clear that from now on, the
National Textile Workers Union will
be fought and be fought bitterly in
the anthracite, by the bosses and
the agents Of the bosses, the Off
Gals Of the American Federation of
Labor, the officials Of the United
Textile Workers Union, the officials
Of the United Mine Workers Union,
by the police, the courts and by the
press.