The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-01-02
Fake Drives for
Organization
By Misleaders
By WILLIAM 2. FOSTER.
Continued

Under the head Oh organizing eX-
penses" the labor corruptionists
cover up much of their dishonesty.
Vast sums of money are swallowed
Up in fake organization campaigns.
An example was the recent A. F.
OF L. campaign to organize the steel
workers. This burned up some S75,-
900 left over from the 1919 steel
strike as an organizing fund. Only
a few score of workers were actu-
ally organized. Another case in
point is the U. M. w. A. "organiz-
ing campaign" in West Virginia for
the past couple of years. This,
under the leadership of the no.
torious Van Bittner, has squandered
scores of thousands of dollars with
no tangible results. What reaction
airy labor leaders understand under
the head of "organizing expenses"
was evidenced by the banquet given
by Frank Feeney in May, 1925, to
the Philadelphia "open shop" en-,
ployers at cost of $1,000.
Illegal expenses" also cover up
much corruption. See the fabulous
bills of Frank Harrington during the
Herrin trials, running into hundreds
of thousands of dollars and for which
no real accounting was ever made.
Or the huge expenditures during
trials of labor leaders arrested for
grating from employers. During
strikes and such labor trials the
unions are fair game for all kinds
of exploiters, often with connivance
of the union officials. Mr.. Morris
Hillquit, leader of the Socialist
Party, is sample of the type of
'labor lawyers" that prey upon the
unions. Mr.. Hillquit finds it no con-
tradiction to his Revolutionary"
principles to be at once the attorney
for the employers "a dress manu-
facturers' association and also for
the unions that are fighting them.
For presenting the workers. case at
the recent hearings before the Gov
errors Commission, which lasted
only few days, he charged the In
ternational Ladies' Garment Work
ers' Union $4,000. He charges the
unions $25 for telephone converse
ton; $3.50 for conference with
committee, and similar enormous
prices for petty services. 1t is no
wonder that Mr.. Hillquit, who lives
in one of the most aristocratic sec
tions of New York, is reputed to be
a millionaire.
Working Permits, Initiation Fees
and Death Benefits.
A common reactionary practice in
the building trades unions is to re-
strict the membership of the or
CARNATIONS to about that minimum
of workers who can find steady work
at the trade during the slack season.
These are the so-called sob trust"
unions. When the rush season takes
place, instead of organizing the
numbers of workers necessary to
fill the jobs at hand, working per-
mits" are issued to them. For these
permits the workers are charged
$500 to $1,000 weekly. In summer
hundreds of such permit men" are
to be found in the big cities. The
money collected from thenl is sup
/ posed to go into the union treas
uries, but in many cases it finds its
way into the pockets of avaricious
business agents. A not unusual case
was that of J. Lawler, treasurer of
Electrical Workers 5 of New York,
who, among various other shady
financial transactions, was unable.
when hailed before the Lockwood
Committee, to account for an item
of $4,000 of permit money. In this
case the public accountants, select
ing 200 permits out Of thousands
that had been issued, found only So
of them entered upon the union
books. The higher officials of the
International Unions know of course
that such conditions exist in the To-
Gals, but they seldom do anything
about it. 1t is upon these grafters
that their power is based.
To Be Continued