The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-05-07
Boot and Shoe
Leaders Work
With Mr.. Klein
Owner Hires PrOkOpiO
to Force Workers
Into A. F. of L.
BY GEORGE MARTIN

The worst exploited section in
the shoe industry are the Shoe Re
pair workers, who have been working
10 to 80 hours per week for $12.
$l4 and $18
'0he Shoe Repair workers walked
out in a General Strike last
September, 1898. under the banner
of the Shoe and Leather Workers
industrial Union, and won union
conditions in over 200 stores. How
ever Mr.. Klein, of the Klein Shoe
Repair Company and a number of
other chain stores, who failed in
their numerous attempts to break
the Union, finally hired Mr.. Pro-
kopio, who is now one of the man
ayers of the Boot and Shoe Work
erS Union, and established a local
of the shoe repairerS, transferring
his employment Office into the
headquarters of the Procopio out
fit. thereby forcing the workers to
join the Boot and Shoe under threat
Of loss of Jobs
In our attempts to organize the
% stores of the Terminal Shoe Re
pair Company. in which the work
ers slave 10 to 80 hours per week,
our Union declared a strike in the
5th Ave. Store in Brooklyn, and in
the F. w. Grand Store of YonkerS.
In order to prevent the spread of
the strike, the Terminal accepted
the offer of the arch scab, Mr..
Procopio. and hurriedly signed an
agreement covering all stores, guar
anteeing to supply scabs, and al
lowing the firm to decide the ques-
ton of hours and wages.
T'he Terminal Corporation ap-
piled for an injunction against our
Union and, 10 and behold, this sup
posed -to-b be Union representative
Joined with the Corporation in ask
ing for an injunction against the
workers on strike! The following
is cur exact quotation from the In
junction papers:
Terminal Shoe Repair Corp.
Plaintiff
United Shoe and Leather Work
ers Union. Defendants
Giuseppe d. PrOcOpiO, being
duiv sworn. depOses and says;
that he resides at 1912 9th St.,
Brooklyn. n. Y, That he is
the manager of the Boot
and Shoe Workers Union,
Local 56S, affiliated with the
American Federation of Labor.
9" joins with the plaintiff
(TerminaD corporation in its ap-
plicatiOn for temporary injunc-
ton and the subsequent issuance
OF a permanent injunction to re-
strain and en- Join the defendants
gu. 5. & L. w. u and each and
every one of them from picket
ing OF otherwise interfering with
plaintiffs corporation"
Witness another incident. At the
Radlow Shoe Repair Company and
the store adjoining it in Brooklyn,
Rapid Shoe Repair workers worked
under Union conditions with a
signed Union agreement, ever since
September, 1893. Saturday, April
18th, both firms asked the workers
to accept a IS wage cut and to join
the Boot and Shoe in order to re-
tain their jobs. The workers fatty
refused and answered that they
were ready to defend their eondi-
tions and their Union. Monday
morning. when the workers ap-
peared on the picket line with their
picket signs, MIR. Procopio paraded
into the stores, declaring them to
be Boot and Shoe Union shops. A
number of workers who have been
sent by Mr.. Propopio to scab, re-
fused to enter the stores when they
learned that they were on strike
Shoe. Slipper, Shoe Repair work
ers in the Boot and Shoe, raise
these questions at your local meet
1ngs. Tell Mr.. Procopio and the
other Boot and Shoe leaders to
keep their hands off Union shops
aud those on strike.