The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-12-30

The first result OF the intrigue
York District Council Of the B. of c..
&, j. A. for committees from the shop
locals 2090, 1164 and 246 to meet and
discuss the present situation in the
shops
The invitation was mailed too late
for meetings to be called to elect the
committees, so in each local they were
appointed by the chairmen. The rul-
ing cliques in Locals 1854 and 246
saw to it that no militant members
were on the committees. Only from
Local 1000 was there a committee
that really represented the member
ship.
The conference took place Dec. %
in the office of the district council,
with the district council executive
present, and also Rice, a representa-
tive Of the general office of the
union.
Order Wage Cut
Rice and these New York District
Council chiefs simply laid down the
law that "the only solution for the
present unemployment situation and
the only way to keep work from going
out of the city" is for min men to
have their official wages cut to IS
for eight hours and cabinet men to
get SO for 8 hours.
When the Representatives of Local
209o tried to bring forward their pro-
posal for handling the unemployment
problem without wage cut they
were cut short by the chiefs present.
The scheme of these union chiefs
is to use their henchmen in the shop
locals and outside locals to agitate
among the membership that the
membership should take this wage
cut as a voluntary wage cut. Their
main argument is, it will create more
work.
The membership of Local 2O90 have
already carried motion at Thurs
days meeting against this wage cut
ting scheme.
Dividing the Workers
The previous agreement made be-
tween the Master Carpenters Asso-
citation and the District Council Of
New York which expired on April 80,
1882 had a uniform wage scale of
1920 per day for eight hours work
covering house carpenters, cabinet
makers, stair builders, trainers, ma
chine hands, parquet floor layers and
millwrights.
Since the expiration Of this agree
ment the chiefs of the New York Dis
trict Council divide us union carpen-
ters into different categorieS with
different scales of wages, with two
card system of inside carpenters 10
Gals and outside carpenters, locals,
combining the members in the inside
locals to the manufacturing of cab
met fixtures only, with the setting of
these fixtures to be done by the mem
bers Of the outside locals. Now comes
this new proposal Of further division
of wage scales within the shops for
those at the machine and for those
at the bench.
Means More Wage Cuts
1t is true that some big jobs for
New York City such as that on the
fixtures for Macy's and for the Radio
City we're given out in Rochester,
New York and Beacon, New York.
But those out Of town shops are also
using union label of the Brother
hood and having an agreement with
the Brotherhood Carpenters Union.
We may justly ask our so-calIed
union organizers, union chiefs: In
whose interest did they sign and APP
prove the union agreements in these
out Of New York City union shops
with a lower scale of wages than in
New York City? In whose interest
did they approve in the Beacon local
not only a lower scale of wages than
in New York City, but also a clause
in the agreement which gives the
bosses in Beacon the power to auto
matically cut the wages in proportion
to a wage cut in New York City?"
In practice this agreement means
that when the union chiefs succeed
in carrying through their proposed
wage cut in New York City to Sc a
day the wages in Beacon will be
automatically cut to 81 a day.
This wage cut would encourage the
bosses in New York City and outside