The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-05-07
''UnhOly Trinity Acts
for Bosses 10 Break
Cafeteria Strike
By JOHN nERGER

THE policies Of the A. F. of L. mis-
L leaders can best be illustrated by
the tactics pursued by the officials
OF the Delicatessen, Restaurant.
Countermen, and Cafeteria En-
ployes Union Local 3O2.
In 1929 the Cafeteria section of
the A. F. w. the present Food
Workers Industrial Union, launched
a militant campaign to organize the
Cafeteria workers into an industrial
union. This drive received militant
support from thousands of the
workers in the industry, who worked
AZ and IA hours day under
the most miserable conditions and
speed-up.
Under the leadership of Obermeir.
Kramberg, and others, the cafeteria
workers, through the Industrial I'M
ion, waged a heroic struggle for the
right to organize and improve their
working conditions. The fierce
brutality of the police, the hundreds
and even thousands of arrests. could
not weaken the courage and deter
mlnation of the Cafeteria workers
or their leaders. In spite of the
police terror and gangsters' black
Jacks the Food Workers Industrial
Union, after a short period of time
succeeded in settling between forty
and fifty shops with increases in
wages reaching in some places as
high as 100 per cent.
Alarmed Bosses
Those victories alarmed the bosses
to no small extent. They started to
look around for better way of
Gripping the strike and to defeat
the struggles of the cafeteria
workers.
The United Restaurant Owners
Association therefore fell upon a
good scheme. They sent their or
ganizer, Max Pincus, who was
thrown out of Local of the Walters
Union in 1927, to negotiate with the
secretary of Local 3O2, Abe Borson,
promising him large sum of money
if his local would permit Pincus to
step in and organize" the Cooks
and Countermen in the cafeterias.
On the promise of plenty of jobs"
BorSon forced this action over the
DelicateSsen Clerks, since it already
had the approval Of the Interna-
tional. Borson and Pincus picked
themselves a bodyguard in the
person of Irving Epstein, a man
known to be of i'll repute and sly
fingers. Thus was the alliance of
the unholy three established with
the sinister purpose of breaking the
cafeteria strike.
The First Job
Their first job was Our Cafe
terra" on West 9th st. The In
dustrial Union succeeded in pulling
the shop 100 per cent. After
militant struggle on the picket line
the boss was forced to close his
shop A few days later he reopened
with scab crew and a sign in the
window bearing the name of Local
302 A. F. of L. When the Cafe
terra Workers discovered this be-
trayal Of the bosses agent Pincus,
and the A. F. Of l.. they renewed
their picket lines with more vigor
and determination, but with little
success. The A. F. of L. followed
one betrayal with another. The
"zergreen" on 34th St. witnessed
the most vicious betrayal of the
Scab agents of the A. F. of L. At
this cafeteria, Epstein, Borson and
PincuS, with the aid of the police
and gangsters, sent many militant
workers to the hospitals and
prison.
Shady Elements
Epstein, Borson, and Pincus, sue
ceeded in gathering around them
selves the weak and shady ele-
ments in the industry, who found
the militancy of the Industrial
Union trifle too much for their
delicate stomachs. Wherever the
Industrial Union succeeded in sign
ing shop the A. F. of L. agents
would step in and convince" the
boss that it is bad to deal with
Relief Workers League