The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-10-14
Shoe Strike Won
Big Increases in
Seventy-TwO Shops
Six Thousand Out Now,
Resist Whalen's
Attacks


NEW YORK, Oct. 13.-"The Shoe
and Leather Workers Industrial
Union has secured increases in wages
of from 80 to go per cent for several
thousand workers as result of the
shoe strike" says Fred Biedenkapp,
general secretary of that union.
Biedenkapp was summing up the re-
suits of the struggle of his union SO
far.
six thousand shoe workers are on
strike now" Biedenkapp declared.
"The strike is ten weeks old. At its
height there were 10000 workers in
volved in 118 shops. They include
the shoe, slipper, and down stitchers,
In addition there were more than
5000 shoe repair men on strike from
500 shoe repair shops, and also chain
stores, etc.
Seventy-two Shops Settled
e'The shops already settled include
70 shops, and 285 shoe repair shops,
in addition to an association repre-
senting 500 shoe repair shops"
Biedenkapp, who led the delegation
to Grover Whalen's office in the
Pennsylvania Hotel today stated that
in addition to the increase in wages
the workers in the settled shops won
a reduction of hours from 10 to 40
hours week."
"At the beginning of the strike,
Biedenkapp said, there were about
800 members in the Shoe and Leather
Workers Industrial Union. Now there
are more than nine thousand. These
shops were forced to recognize the
union in spite of the issuance OF A
iniunctions against us by both demo-
cratic and republican judges, in spite
of 275 arrests on the picket lines, and
raids by the police on the headquar-
tiers of our union"
275 Arrests
The strike has been conducted along
militant lines, Biedenkapp pointed
out, with mass picketing and rank and
file strike committees leading the
strike.
sat the present time," said Bed
enkapp, "the bosses are planning to
get out injunctions aaginst us in all
striking shops. The strike is solid
in all the shops now out, numbering
more Than six thousand workers. The
Arcadia Hall mass meetings are big
ger than ever. There were more than
1900 at our last meeting"
Grover Whalen, head of the N.R.A.,
as well as the MIRA labor board and
mediation committee, have not only
refused to see the representatives OF
the strikers, but have also tried to
break the strike, by bringing in the
discredited Boot and Shoe Union OF
the A. F. of L., Biedenkapp charged.
"In Bfockton," he said, "the Boot
and Shoe has been driven out OF
town by 1000 former members OF that
union, who, tired of betrayals, have
left the A. F. of l.. Here in New
York. the Boot and Shoe has only a
couple of hundred members. And yet
Whalen announces he is comforting
with the Boot and Shoe and the
manufacturers to avoid a strike OF
$4,000 shoe workers. There are not
$4,000 shoe workers in the entire city
outside of our union. The six thou
sand strikers are all members OF our
union"
I'm spite of the MIRA. strikebreak-
ing attempts" Biedenkapp concluded,
the strikers are maintaining solid
front, and expect to extend the vic
tories already won to the other shops
still striking"
MIRA. Code One of Worst
"The MIRA. shoe code, now finally
signed, is one of the worst codes,
Biedenkapp said. ut calls for the
low minimum of 81 and one-half
cents an hour. Tt allows overtime
work, and has an even lower minimum
wage for women. Our union is de-