The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-06-21
Bv r. SHOHAN

A FEW DAYS ago. the second convention Of
n the N.TW.LU. came to a close. Unques-
tionabIy it was one of the most important
revolutionary union conventions that took place
thus far The convention examined the work OF
the past year and laid plans for the coming
period.
The program for the convention stated cor
rectlv that the needle industry is gradually
moving out of the big cities and to the small
industrial towns, developing in the far West
and in the Southwest, building up in Missouri
Kansas, etc. In order to secure still cheaper
labor, the needle trade industry moved to the
mining and steel towns of Pennsylvania where
they are able to find an abundant supply of
cheap labor Of girls and young fellows who
cannot find work in the mines or in the steel
mills.
However. the progra mdid not draw all the
proper conclusions from the fact. 1t is the pur-
pose of my brief article to point out a number
of very important effects of the moving of the
needle industry.
The needle trade industry, according to the
figures of 1927, employs about $4,000 workers
Of these, the following sections employ
majority of young workers: work clothing
10000; shirt making, $1,000; underwear, $4,000;
cotton DRESS (about), 100000 millinery, $4,000
This totals approximately $4,000 workers,
great majority of whom is young.
In addition to these five basic youth sections
of the needle trades industry, we must add the
thousands Of young workers who displace the
adult workers in the other section of the indus
trv as it moves out of the big industrial cities.
While the average wage in 1927 was $500
for all needle trade workers; for the workers
in the above sections it was only $500 a week.
Since then constant wage-cuts have taken place,
the wages are still less now.
Many Negro Youth
Many Of these new young workers brought
into the needle trades industry are young
Negro workers, and in the far West and South
west, young Mexican workers. In Kansas City
and in Denver, thousands of young workers
work for $500 to $1,000 week for fifty hours.
in San Antonio, Texas. the young Mexican work
ers in the needle trade shops work for sixty
hours week for the average wage of $500
to $780, In 1929 there was a strike of 800
needle workers in Denver, Colorado.
What conclusion must we draw from this?
IT is clear that one of the most important keys
to the organization Of the needle trade workers
is the young workers. Without organizing them
it is utterly impossible to even conduct militant
struggles in the large needle shops. Do we find
this correct conception in our Union? We do
mott Our Union composed of highly skilled
workers with comparatively good wages, does
not understand, as yet, the necessity of organ
izing the young workers in big shops. Opport-
unism in practice as well as clear cut right
wing theory prevail among the leadership of
the Union. In Philadelphia, where upward of
5000 mostly young workers in large needle
trade shops work, employing on the average of
two OF three hundred workers, and many of
them employ as high as 800, the Union is not
based on the shop units in these shops, but is
still the old craft union of the silk dress work
ers and furriers.
Is it any wonder then that real determined
opposition exists in the Union to the introduc-
ito of sliding dues system and low initia-
ton fee? Is there any wonder that our Union
has not organized the young workers?