The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-08-29
of
Strikers Protest
at N. R. A. Offices
Shoe, Metal, Celluloid
Workers Demand
Rights

IN T. w Obh. - LIN OAle1 blN
protests against Grover Wha-
lens attempt to outlaw the
right to strike and to picket
which resulted in the arrest of
6 pickets yesterday at the Elco shoe
shop on strike under the Shoe and
Leather Workers Union leadership
were registered by big delegations Of
shoe. metal and celluloid strikers at
NRA headquarters at the Hotel Penn
sylvania. At the same time Judge
O'Dwyer, presiding at the trial of the
six shoe strikers at the Gates Ave.
Court, Brooklyn, yesterday declared
that the picketing may continue I'M
til the Supreme Court interprets the
NRA code on the question OF the
workers right to picket.
The shoe workers delegation was
the first to arrive yesterday noon at
NRA headquarters. At first intend
ing not to meet the strikers, Whalen
sent out a bullying deputy, Vanders-
lice who declared that the NRA would
not repudiate Whalen's statement bat
would rather endorse it. He changed
his policy however when the strik-
ers were firmer in their demand for
a right to a hearing before Whalen
as the chief prosecutor of the six ar
rested strikers. Gathering the work
ers into a corner of the waiting room,
Vanderslice, not unfamiliar with the
ways of a policeman, evaded the is
sue until he was finally forced to
agree to arrange hearing. AS we
go to press Whalen had not yet
appeared although the strikers had
been waiting for several hours.
Following upon the heels of the
shoe workers delegations came strik-
ers from metal shops and from cell
luloid shops. The celluloid workers
manufacture MIRA buttons and earn
$3.50 a week for SO hours OF work.
The arrest of the shoe pickets was
deliberately planned as test case
by Whalen, who asked that the alien
squad be sent to make the arrest
1t was carefully prearranged, with
Whalen signing the complaint In ad-
vance. In a small courtroom packed
with more than $50 workers, the
following pickets were heard: Leo
Nicola, Herman Merson, Pasquale
Muscaria, Tony Capania, William
Migliora and Austhel Lotterman.
jacques Buitenkant, attorney for
the strikers, charged that Whalen Is
using the NRA as strikebreaking
agency. He exposed Whalen's strike
breaking activity In 1880 and espe-
cially his attacks on the unemployed
Attorney Perskin represented Whalen
and the Shoe Board of Trade.
BY the judges ruling, the trial was
set over until Wednesday at 1890
am, the pickets having been placed
on parole. In making his decision,
the judge stated that the matter
rests with the Supreme Court, and
that the trial sets no precedent pro-
hibiting the workers from picketins.
A writ of habeus corpus must be pre-
sented, according to the judges adj
vice, and the case will then go TO
the Supreme Court.
In a statement yesterday Whalen
distinguished between legal and IL
legal picketing and indicated that
he proposed to use the NRA against
the militant industrial unions who
are putting up a real fight to win
better conditions for the workers.
He declared that "When reds picket
and interfere with the government
and use terroristic tactics we feel
that they are interfering with work.
ers in their constitutional rights to
work"
The Shoe and Leather Workers
Industrial Union yesterday disclosed
that Whalen's strikebreaking state
ment has caused the prolongation or
the strike and made it impossible
for thousands of workers to return
to their Jobs under settled condi-
tions. Ellis statements threaten
lockouts in 81 shops already signed
up" the union declared.
The Trade Union Unity Council
went ahead with its preparations to
mobilize the entire labor movement
to support the right to strike and
to picket and the workers right to
join union of their own choice.
A delegation from the Shoe and
Leather Workers Industrial Union
left for Washington Sunday night
to file a protest with Leo Wolman,
head of the National Labor Advis-
DRY Board against Whalen's strike
breaking action.