The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-07-23
Relief Employees Built
Strong Organization in
10 Months by MiIitancy
Struggle Against Pauper's Oath and Mass Lay-Offs
Have Made A.OP.E.E. Powerful Weapon

I program with special attention to
the construction of schools, hos
| pitfalls and clearance of slums with
voice for workers and unem-
ployed in the administration Of
these projects.
A No discrimination in work re-
lief against Negro and foreign born
! workers.
Currently the A. o. P. E. E., as it
is commonly known, is preparing its
membership for the sending of a
mass delegation to Albany by the
United Action Committee on July
81 when the special session of the
New York State Legislature con-
venes. The delegation will de-
mand among other things the pas
sage of a state unemployment in
surance bill and the endorsement
by the Legislature of the federal
Workers Unemployment Insurance
Bill.
The history of the organization
is one of unhesitating militant
struggle. When the Civil Works
Administration threatened to dis
continue its projects on February is,
the A. o. P. E. E. was, in the lead
with the Relief Workers League
and the Unemployment Councils,
one of the leading groups in
organizing protest.
Again in March. the group took
an important part in the meeting
which resulted in the formation of
the Conference for United Action.
Most noteworthy of all was the
fight side by side with the Fedora
ton of Architects, Engineers, Chem
lists and Technicians against the
infamous ''pauper's OATH" in March
of this year.
The pauper's oath was a ques-
tionnaire in which all white collar
relief workers were required to state
the degree of their need for the
jobs they held. This was presum-
ably, an effort to apportion the
jobs to the neediest among the
unemployed, but the A. o. P. E. E.
successfully exposed the question
naires as being purely an excuse for
mass lsy-offs contemplated by the
G. w. A. because the Federal gov
eminent was unwilling to appro-
pirate more money.
Under the leadership of the A. O.
P. E. E. inundated teachers,
scientists, research workers took
heart and returned the question:
naireS in patches, as empty as they
had received them. Columbia Uni
versity project $50 were returned in
bundle with protest written
across each one. On the Columbia
University Housing Survey, 100 were
sent back in similar fashion. These
actions and the mobilization of
mass protests at a conference in
the Central Opera House attended
by 600 project delegates, had the
desired effect. No one was fired
for failure to answer the question
nalreS, as had been threatened.
When the lay-offs did come in May.
the Association was able to effect
hundreds of reinstatements because
OF the strong position it had won
for itself in the fight against the
paupers oath.
Nor were these isolated Instances.
Throughout the course of its exist
ence, the group, with constantly
increasing membership, has taken
to militant working class methods
of struggle, like the proverbial
duck to water. Mass picket lines
before the offices of the C. w. A,
administration, the State Temporary
Relief Administration and the De-
partment of Public Welfare on
dozen occasions, have served warn
ing on the bureaucrats of the New
Deal that the white collar worker
has learned how to fight and isn't
afraid to apply his knowledge.
Now Federal funds are giving out
again and new wave of mass
lay-offs are expected. The A. o.
P. E. E. Is still on the Job. On Fri