The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-09-03
Four Thousand Robe
Workers Out; Strike
Enters Second Week
Industry Paralyzed As
Workers Fight For
Union Rates
By DAN TRUMAN

ranks ana QlgQ IN morale, a great
part of the trade is paralyzed. The
manufacturers and contractors are
scurrying to the Labor Board de-
handing conference with the
strikers with an eye to quick
settlement.
The Bathrobe Workers Industrial
Union, which is leading the strike,
has been able to carry its organiza-
tional activity far and wide into
virgin territory. Workers in South
Norwalk, Conn, and Red Bank,
N j. have had their first contract
with their fellow workers from New
York. They have responded to the
strike with a readiness that was
gratifying. In the Red Bank vicin-
ity alone eight shops have come
down. The contracting shops in
New York have been completely
stopped and many of the large in
dependent factories, Homan, Weise,
Hanchow, Permier, Barza and Ban
borough, for instance, are emerge
tically picketed by their workers. It
would be impossible to CLEAN from
the columns of the capitalist press
that a strike of some 1000 workers
has practically crippled the industry
in New York and swept the entire
industrial area of Northern Jersey
Atlantic Highlands, Perth Amboy,
Roselle Park, Jersey City and Staten
Island.
Vigorous Policy Brings Results
Two features of the bathrobe
strike stand out sharply: the mill
tant determination Of the workers
and the ugly role played by the right
wing unions, the Amalgamated and
the International The LaGuardia
police have acted with particular
brutality, notably against the pick
cts at the Hoffman shop, Carlton
StC-s, Brooklyn. where the Negro
vcGier, Willie Nelson, and John
Curisle and Ben Stallman were
beaten when an army of cops
Mass picketing is permissible" &C
crashed through the picket line to
cording to LaGuardia, only when
sell-out gang like Dubinsky's is in
clear lane for hordes of scabs.
operation.
The militancy of the strikers may
be attributed to a large extent to
the vigorous fighting policy carried
through unremittingly by the Bath
robe Workers Industrial Union. En-
tering an unorganized field last year,
the union succeeded almost at once
in raising the miserably low wages
O. t'a workers. In the spring Of this
year a series of sudden stoppages
y ~~uced further favorable results
The hypocrisy of the NR.A. was
thoroughly exposed. Even when a
shop strike was lost, as in the case
of B. Brown, the union gained
enough strength to be able to return
to the charge with renewed vigor.
Unflagging activity was carried on
throughout the summer. The out
oftown eenters were contacted and
organized. The solidarity of the
strike is the result of this carefully
laid program
In South Norwalk, the union
prodded a hornets nest. Coming
down eagerly at first to join with
their fellow workers in New York
and New Jersey, the open fascist
terror and the relentless police per-
secution scored heavily against the
local strikers. Every organizer was
picked up and Jailed the moment
he appeared on the streets. Thir-
teen workers face indictments on
various trumped up charges Re-
peated protests by the Civil Liber-
ties Union have proved utterly USE
less. In spite of all this, however,
the workers have learned to esteem
the Industrial Union and to follow
its lead.
No Justification for Intervention
The part played by the officials
OF the International and Anal
gamated in this strike is the single
dark blot on an otherwise bright
picture. Neither Of these unions
has ever cared a tinker's damn for
the bathrobe workers or attempted
to organize them. But now, when
the workers find themselves in a
struggle to better themselves, these
officials are at hand to sabotage
the strike.
During the strike campaign of
last year, the firm Of s. I. Hoff-
man made a verbal agreement"
with the International the purpose
OF which was to keep the workers
from Joining the Industrial Union.
AS a result of this, it came about
that although the workers in other
shops were raised from IS per cent
to $50 per cent, the Hoffman work.
ers received bare 10 per cent in
crease. To make up for that, many
OF the workers received the priv
1lege of belonging to the Interna-
tional at ST to $40 a head.
The moment the strike was called,
the 100 bathrobe workers of S. I.
Hoffman came down. At that same
moment Greenberg of Local /, I. L.
G. w. u, appeared with a state
ment that the shop had signed up
with the International and threat
ened all those who struck with the
loss of their jobs. 1t was Green
berg who was responsible for bring
ing on the police brigade that
crashed through the militant picket
line to make way for scabs from the
International
The chiefs of the Amalgamated
acted in the same spirit. Fearing
that many of the cutters would
respond to the call of the Indus
trial Union, which offered them a
united front for common strike
action, without at all raising the
question of union utilization, the
Amalgamated Immediately rushed
to offer protection" to all those
who could be induced to scab on
the bathrobe strike.
The determination of the strikers