The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-02-06
By WILLIAM SIMONS.

FIFTY THREE years in Jail Fourteen Tampa
4 workers have begun to serve terms, totallng
SO years. They have been refused a new trial
Seven others are held by the immigration au-
thorities, awaiting a deportation hearing.
One Of the outstanding cases in the country Of
capitalist terror against the workers. Especially
important, because 1t is an attack on workers Of
colonial origin, from Cuba, Porto Rico, and
other countries of Latin America. The sentence
Of the fourteen was aimed to crush the Tobacco
Workers Industrial Union, to compel the mill
tant tobacco workers to accept the bosses wage
cutting campaign, and to stamp out the grow
ing influence of the Communist Party. Like
Gastonia, like Imperial Valley like Kentucky,
the Tampa case is intimately tied up with the
workers struggles; it is an outgrowth Of strug-
giles already begun.
Vicious Injunction Issued
Tampa not only presents the defense angle,
but also the attempt of the Tobacco Manufac-
turers to crush the Tobacco Workers Indus
trial Union through an injunction, which is the
most inclusive since the Daugherty Injunction in
the 1922 railroad strike. The motion for MAX
ing permanent the preliminary injunction
granted in December comes before the court on
Feb. 18th. This injunction included 14O Of the
best fighters for the union, and also specifies
"others," permitting them to add as many as
they please 1t includes also the only two news
papers in Spanish issued in Tampa at that time,
Traduccion and Gaceta forbidding them to pub
lsh news about the q hour strike.
Extreme terror is raging in Tampa today Dur
ing the Y hour strike Of the tobacco workers Of
Tampa, many were arrested on the picket line,
and were put to work on the streets in the bar
barous chain gang The American Legion
threatened with arrest and torture those who
were collecting funds for the defense Of the
Tampa workers The city authorities have for
hidden any collections in the factories or in the
houses. There is a united front Of the Mayor
the Tobacco Manufacturers and the Citizens
Committee against the tobacco workers
Organizing Against Wage Cuts.
The tobacco manufacturers are cutting wages
This has happened recently in the shops of
Thompson Bros, Morgan Bros, and some others
The packers, organized independently in the
Tampa Packers Union, have been cut So per
thousand in some shops. The packers stood
shoulder to shoulder with the Tobacco Workers
Industrial Union during the Y hour strike
These wage cuts follow the 10 per cent general
wage cut in December, 1880, and the additional
cut Of 20 per cent brought about since then
through being compelled to do higher grade
work at low grade price. Of the $4,000 tobacco
workers, less than half are now working for
an average wage, under piece work, of $40 to
S12, for an average work-week of Sc hours. The
attack on the Tampa workers came just after
the tobacco workers began to organize the To-
bacco Workers Industrial Union, affiliated with
the revolutionary Trade Union Unity League.
The tobacco workers turned to the Trade Union
Unity League after 20 years of experience with
the reactionary leadership of the Cigarmakers'