The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-03-26
CRAFT UNIONS
AID TO ALBANY
PRESS BOSSES
Owners Held Out IA
Weeks Thru This
BIZ a Worker Correspondent.

ny 70 " VI NV wv ftoEO''S~Nfhh"
ALBANY, N. Y, (By MaiD.-
Two big open shops publishers of
Albany newspapers have had to sur
render to the printers after long
fight.
Last November s, the Albany
Times Union, owned by Hearst, and
the Evening News and Knicker
booker Press, owned by the Cannot
interests, locked out all the union
compositors, and imported gang
of strikebreakers, at wages way be-
low the union scale. They even
hired women compositors as scabs,
paying wages so low that a union
man would not sniff at it.
Both Gannet and Hearst own a
big chain of newspapers. At the
time of the lockout, agreement had
been reached during previous nego-
tiations on all provisions of new
contract except wages, hours, and
the period of the agreement.
Officials "Concede."
The union officials had back
watered on many demands, to meet
the offers of the publishers, but the
rank and file would not allow any
further concessions to the bosses by
the officials. Finally the demands
presented to the publishers were a
three-year contract, an increase of
81 a week each year, and a 45-hour
week of work.
The bosses then withdrew from
all negotiations, and demanded a
number of changes in the contract,
altho they had previously agreed to
it. Then came the lockout.
The bosses were able to keep up
this lock out for IA weeks. Why?
Because the other workers on the
Hearst and Cannot papers belonged
to different unions altogether, which
never act to help the printers union,
nor does the printers union act to
help the other workers.
The stereotypers, the photo-en-
gravers, mailers, ETC., all have their
own unions.
Thru the curse of craft unions, in
stead of the one big, strong union
for the whole newspaper industry,
these different unions, all of whose
members work in the same industry,
have contracts expiring at different
times. So the stereotypers and the
other unions working on these pa
pers who had locked out the printers,
could whine, "We can't help you in
this strike, because we are tied up
by contract, which do not expire for
a long time"
Craft Unions Aid Bosses.
Iris is naturally what the news
paper publishers want. It's just the
dish that suits them. And it suits
the officials of the printing craft
union. Great stuff-for the bosses.
The Albany striking typos estab-
lished paper of their own in COM
petition with the scab papers-they
called it the Albany Citizen. Will it
be continued after the strike?
Hearst gave in after IA weeks,
and the following terms were agreed
on:
New Terms.
Contract to run three years from
! March 1, 1929-32; to contain arbi-
tration clause recognizing the laws
of the local and the international
unions; members return in priority
order previous to lockout.
Under previous contract wage was
$51 for day work, s54 for night
work, 48 hours. Under new contract
so cents increase to Oct. this year,
then additional 80 cents to May /,
1880; additional 81 to Jan. 1, 1881,
and additional 81 to end of contract
March, 1882. Working week will be
As hours.
Hourly rates under old contract:
Day, $1.06 Ia, night SLIP IL.
Hourly rates under new contract:
day, $1.14 and four ninths to $1.20
at expiration Of contract, night, $1.21
and ninth to $1.26 and two-thirds
at end of contract. During the first
two years Of contract, tine and q
half for overtime after hours; third
year, after 7 IL hours.
Cannot, owner Of the Knicker-
booker Press and Evening News also
gave in, on the same terms. But
if not for the curse of craft unions.
full demsn ds would have been i'm
nediately won.
ALBANY PRINTER.