The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-05-30
MILITIA IN
ALA. FIRES
ON STRIKERS
1000 Solid in Admission
Demand Abolition of
"Stretch-Out"
FIRST STRIKE SINCE 1918
A. F. of L. Prepares to
Sell Out Strikers
By SpeciaI DaNy WORKER Reporter

BY Special DaLy Worker Reporter
ADMISSION, Ala, May 29.-An at
tempt to open the Utica Knitting
Mills with fifteen scabs and the
opening of rifle fire by National
Guardsmen when the strikers at
tempted to speak to the scabs mark
the end Of the first week of the strike
of 1000 mill workers here. The work
ers are striking against the institu
ton of the stretch-out system which
slashed wages to from 81 to SO a week
for SIS hours.
The rifle fire of the National
Guardsmen was directed at an auto
mobile containing textile strikers just
AS the strikers tried to talk with the
scabS who we're being escorted from
the mill. Seven bullets lodged in the
strikers auto. No one was hit.
The strike is the first of any in this
city since 1918 and the first to occur
in the textile industry in the city's
history.
Mill Owners Divide and Rule"
The mill owners here provided a
classic example of the customary
Southern strategy of pitting Negro
against white workers by announcing
yesterday that if strikers, all of whom
are white, do not return to work i'm
mediately, they will employ only Ne
gro workers.
The strikers, however, are deter
mined not to return to work until
their demands are won. The entire
city with the exception Of q handful
of mill bosses and Chamber of Conf
merce members is supporting the
strike. Not single resident of An
niston answered the sheriff'S call
for deputies to break the strike. Many
of the soldiers are openly sympa-
thetic to the strikers. Yesterday a
private mill guard from Gadsden tore
off his uniform and declared his sup
port of the strikers.
Googe, A. F. of L. representative
who has just sold out the Mobile
strike, arrived in Admission Thurs
day to perform the same job here.
Three thousand ctrikers attended a
meeting at which he spoke. While
demagogically playing to the mill
fancy of the strikers and urging them
to stay out until their demands are
won, he met secretly with commit
tee of five yesterday to lay the
groundwork for a sell-out. The strik
ers are hungry for any kind of union
and are supporting Googe's pro-
posals.
Solidarity of Georgia Workers
U. S. Department of Labor Con-
ciliator Richardson left town yester-
day after several unsuccessful at
tempts to betray the strike. The
workers Of Rome, Ga. on hearing of
Richardson's presence in Admission
in wonderful spirit of solidarity. vol
unfairly sent several carloads of
workers to warn the strikers against
him.
The strike was declared here when
an aged woman worker informed the
superintendent that she would not be
able to do the work required under
the new stretch-out plan. The entire
mill walked out with her. Under the
new system, the mill workers are ex-
pected to sew 10 dozen mems heavy
underwear suits for $l.80 day. If
the workers sew less they are docked.
If machines break down in the knit
ting rooms the girls must stand by
without pay until they are repaired.
Wage computations are so intricate
that the workers never know how
much they will get. Only 10 per cent
work fast enough to earn s1.80 daily,
the remainder average 81 to So week
". Night workers get the same pay
for IL hours work as day workers
get for ten.
Before the stretchout system was
installed the workers tended six knit
ting machines. Now they tend Is. A
man and wife working in the same
mill scarcely earn enough to buy
food. Laborers get 10 cents an hour.
The strikers demand abolition of
the stretchout and their old scales
which would bring them SIS weekly.