The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-07-09
Zimmerman is
COndennnedby
Dressmakers
W Orkers Demand Strike
Action Against His
ReOrganizations

AL the last SecClOn meetings Oh
Local %, of the International La
dies Garment Workers Union, held
on Thursday, June %, the dress
makers voiced their disgust with the
Zimmerman administration for its
deliberate failure to inform the
membership about the vicious clause
in the agreement giving the bosses
the right to reorganize their shops,
right which the bosses are using
as a whip against the workers in
order to put over their wage cutting
schemes. Already five inside shops
have thrown out their workers, and
81 others gave in applications ask
ing for permission to reorganize
their shops.
The Zimmerman administration
not only failed to mobilize the
dressmakers to fight against this
evil, but deliberately failed to in
form the members about the exist
ence Of such a clause.
It is long time since the So
called progressive administration
has been faced with so much sharp
criticism as was the case at the
last section meetings. The partici-
pants in the discussion were not
only left wingers, but also rank and
fllers who rarely attend meetings
and who had, up to the past sec
ton meetings, supported Mr.. Zim-
norman and his clique.
The meeting was particularly
stormy at Ambassador Hall, where
Mr.. Zimmerman himself was pres
ent One after another, workers
threw to his face facts about wage
cuts that were carried through with
the consent of the union. A mo-.
ton demanding the removal of
HICKMAN as manager of the Dress
Joint Board for his class collabora-
ton policy and cynical attitude to
workers that would surely have
been carried by a majority vote
would not be entertained by the
chairman, a henchman of Mr. zim-
norman.
Seeing the mass of workers en-
ragged against them, the so-called
Progressive" clique attempted to
terrorize the workers by depriving
them of their legitimate rights. In
almost every section, the leading
comrades of the Opposition Group
were threatened with being called
to the Grievance Board if they per-
sisted in embarrassing the admini-
stration. In Ambassador Hall Com
rade Stamper was thus threatened
by the chairman, Nathan Margolis.
The same thing happened in
Brownsville, where Ben Gerjoy was
threatened by Nelson, and Down
town and Williamsburg, where Com
rades Sol Lipnack and Leo Kramer,
respectively were threatened by
henchmen of the administration. In
Boro Park, the chairman, Hollander,
broke up the meeting. refusing to
entertain a motion that business
agents should not be appointed, but
should be those who came in sec
ond in the recent local elections. In
Harlem, the chairman, Murry
Gross, a Socialist, attacked the
white workers Cleft Wingers) for
coming to the Harlem meeting
where only Negroes should come.
His statement that only Negroes
should be allowed in to the Harlem
meetings, proved his endorsement
of the Jim Crow policy.
In the Brownsville section a mo-
ton was adopted condemning the
delegation Of Local % to the recent
IL.G.W.U. convention for working
hand in hand with the reactionary
leadership and for its failure to rep
resent the interests of the member
ship. At the Downtown meeting a
motion was adopted by a vote Of
74-48 that the union call strike
in every shop where the boss at
tempts to carry through a re-
organization At this same meet
ing another motion was accepted
condemning the Fish Investiga-
ton Committee" committee re-
Gently appointed by the Dress Joint
Board supposedly to investigate the
activities of the Left Wing Group,
but actually an excuse for carrying
through the expulsion Of militant
members of the union.
1t is clear from these section
meetings that the dressmakers are
ready to follow and support the
militant Oropram of the Left Wing