The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-08-16
General Strike Begins
At 10 a. m. Today
By CARL PRICE

morning at 10 o'clock at the call of
the Needle Trades Workers Indus
Trial Union, is aimed against the
most miserable sweatshop conditions
and starvation wages. The $4,000
dreSSrnakers of the Metropolitan
New York area, scattered throughout
many hundreds of shops, have suf-
Tered continuously worsened condi-
lions since the betrayal of their Feb
ruary, 1882, strike by the officials
OF the IL.G.W.U.
Today, in spite Of the short sea-
son in the dressmakers' trade, the
operators, who form the most nu-
merous craft in the trade, average
only $12 to $40 week during the
season. The dressmakers' busy sea-
son lasts no more than 6-8 weeks.
The finiShers, mostly girls, make as
low as SIS a week up to $12 week.
1t is exceptional for a finisher to
make SIS. The pressers on the av-
erage get So or 81 day. The floor
girls and shipping boys, the trades
where the young workers are sweated,
get s. to So week These are the
wages in the garment center in New
York City. In the outlying sections
wages are unbelievably lower, with
workers getting in many cases 50 and
So a week. The trade is unorganized.
The piece work system is in effect
in all shops. Negro workers get
lower wages. The contracting sys-
tenn, one of the worst evils in the
industry, is used by the nanufactur-
ers and jobbers to divide the work.
ers up into smaller producing units
which increases the competition be-
tween one group of workers and an
other.
At the present time, the dressmak-
ers are working at less wages than
is in the blanket code of minimum
wages of the N. r. A.
The dressrnakers, this morning, in
laying down their tools and stretch
ing their picket lines, are putting into
effect the slogans "ONE UNITED
FRONT AGAINST THE BOSSES
"ONE UNITED GENERAL STRIKE
TO WIPE OUT THE SWEATSHOP
CONDITIONS" The final prepara-
tons for the struggle have shown
how the battle lines will be drawn.
The strike against the sweatshop
conditions and starvation wages,
launched and led by the Needle
Trade Workers Industrial Union, de-
mands that The sweatshop condi-
lions must go. We must and will
stop hunger wages. The jobbers and
manufacturers must feel our organ
lied power" The IL.GW.U. has al
ready made efforts to break the
unity Of the workers and make the
general strike impotent. In doing
this they have pushed their honest
face" Charles Zimmerman, manager
Of Local %, IL.G.W.U., to the front,
feeling that he is less discredited in
the eyes of the workers than Dublin
sky. Zimmerman repeatedly refused
to consider the proposals of the
Needle Trades Workers Industrial
Union that one unified general strike
of all the dressmakers shall be car
ried on. The N.T.WIU. proposed
that representatives from all dress
shops, whether the workers belong to
the IL.G.W.U. or the NTWI.U. be
called together and the workers de-
eide on the proposals for one union
and one strike. Zimmerman again
branded himself as splitter by re-
jecting this proposal. Instead Zim-
norman told the workers to join the
IL.G.WU., and thus tried to put
them at the mercy of the union Of
Dubinsky. s
AS late as August IL the NTWIU
addressed letter to Zimmerman
which stated, "Our members have nc
quarrel with the members of the In
ternational. The dressmakers who
will respond to our call (the general
strike calD will have no quarrels with
those who will respond to your call
Both are oppressed and exploited by
the same dress bosses. We will there
fore encourage and urge them te
unite on the picket line, to present
one solid front against the bosses and
to fight shoulder to shoulder unit
they really compel the dress bosses
to listen to our demands" thinner
man ignored this demand for unity
against the bosses. Zimmerman now
repeats his betrayal of 1882 when he
prevented a united struggle which
the dressmakers wanted and spread
illusions Of an honest strike" of the
HGWU.
The leadership of the HGWU
praises the National Recovery (Slav-
ery) Act enthusiastically. 1t is moi
accidental that the MIRA hearing or
the code for the dressmaking indus
try In Washington has been post.
poned from August 10 to August az
Tho stage Is being set In the dress
industry for the same sell out by the
ILCWU leadership as was put ovel
by John L. Lewis among the soft Goa
miners, The strikers will be told
"Go back to work, wait for the hear
ing on the code, end your strike, and
then later we will discuss wages ane
working conditions" In the dress in.
dustry, just as In the mining field
the bosses are mobilizing their forces
to keep the workers In starvation
The government, and It's MIRA, the
nGWU leadership, including the
splitter Zimmerman, are working
along the same lines-to spread illu.
sions among the dresslmakers that
with the aid Of the government they
will get better conditions.
The New York Times and the cap.
italist press are giving fullest pub.
lefty to the strike call Of the ILGW
q and are enlisted In the attempt
to draw the workers into the Inter-
national SO that the government will
be IN . position to enforce the slave