The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-05-03
Win Full Recognition
to Worker Controlled
Job Agency
By MARGUERITE YOUNG


their committee and the state and
city relief officials by which the
seamen retain full control Of their
shipping bureau and won other
victories in their fight to retain
control Of relief.
Besides winning full recognition /
of their self controlled employment |
agency. the seamen will have rep
resentatives on the relief board, |
acting in an advisory capacity.
After the failure Of the govern /
ment to starve them out, the sea-
men, after q bitter struggle. were |
again being fed and housed at gov
eminent expense.
Harry Greenstein. Director of the /
Maryland Emergency Relief Adj
ministration, and other officials /
agreed to turn on the gas in the |
Seamen's Project at once and pro-
vide food and supplies taken away !
IS days ago in a drive by the gov
eminent and ship owners to smash /
not only the Seamen's Relief
Project but, more especially, their
workers employment agency.
Points in the agreement are:
%. The marine workers remain in /
their own self-controlled project on |
the waterfront until all have regis
tered, probably during the next few
days. Then officials will place the !
seamen in transient relief centers
uptown or in a project run exclu-
sively for seamen. There is "a
probability" that a seamen's project |
will be established on the water
front, Greenstein said, but the ma
zine workers we're not confident this |
would be done.
Recognize Shipping Bureau
o. Government officials agree |
10 full protection of the central
lied shipping bureau. During the
past week they had been shipping
men from uptown relief stations;
hey agreed to end this immedi-
ately, with marine workers author
zed to report and stop any VIOLA
ion.
80. Seamen's discharges from
any port will be recognized as
qualifying the seanien for relief.
5reenstein previously had threat
sned to require a preponderance of
discharges from Baltimore.
a.. The men agree TO go into
officials-controlled projects, but the
officials agree to recognize "advis-
Dry" house. committees and sub
committees of seamen. 1t was viz
;ually the same basis that the sea-
mems waterfront project was intti-
ated last December, Through grow
ing unity in organization and
through continuous struggle, they
won complete control through the
seamen's committees and ran their
own relief admittedly more econom-
ically than government officials
sver ran it.
Demand No Discrimination
90. There will be no discrimina-
ion against organization leaders of
the seamen. In accepting, the
men agreed that their leading sub
committee members should be
among the first to register)
g.. The question of forced labor
is left for settlement in the fol-
owing manner: The men agree to
work "if the officials can find a
way in which this can be done with
out interfering with waiting for jobs
under the centralized Shipping Blu
reau's rotary system" Officials were
Unable to specify yesterday how this
could be done. They had demanded
hat the men on relief would work
u hours a week for 90 cents. The
committee protested against this
forced labor (three-cents-p lus per
hour on principle, and declared
that they could not be prevented
thus from being present in the ship
ping bureau office, in the M.WIU.
Hall on the waterfront. when they
were in line for the next job open.
Greenstein said be would try to find
a way to avoid conflict but agreed
not to interfere with the mems wait
ing for jobs.
D. Relief officials promise to
place Negro seamen "as close as pos
sible" to whites, and the seamen an
nounce they will continue a mill
tant struggle against jim Crowism
which was abolished in their own
project. The state has an official
Jim Crow policy in relief admins
trotio,1 at7d Cr4aystni,, rvya ~,,ad tLno4
unless he establishes another water
front project for seamen, Negroes
may be segregated. Negro commit
tee members joined whites in saying
thew would accept if forced to do
so but would continually fight this.
Full discussion by leading seamen
and by the rank and file preceded
the adoption of the agreement.
Roundlv applauding the recognition
Of the Centralized Shipping Bureau
and OF advisory" Seesmen's COM
n1ittee. the marine workers frankly
announced they would go into other
relief stations, il denied a seamen's
project, with full intentions of or
gani5ing every house We enter lust
as We organized here"
Other Ports Active
Seanen from Philadelphia, New
Orleans and Buffalo, who had come
TO Baltimore to join the march to
Washington, reported that similar
struggles are under way in their
ports. They said the Baltimore vic
tories will still spur us on"
Tommy Joyce, Secretary of the
Waterfront Unemployment Council,
was vigorously applauded when he
pointed out that one weakness of
the seamen's struggle had been that