The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-11-10

the steel workers while the company union was
being more strongly entrenched than ever.
The Weirton suit for fair" union election is
an attempt to maintain the illusions of the steel
workers that they win union recognition through
the compulsory arbitration boards of the govern
ment.
It through putting the demands of the steel
workers in the hands of these government boards
that the strike Of the Weirton workers was broken
last year. The Tighe machine of the Amalgamated
Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers "a. F.
Of L. told the steel workers they would get fair
election under government supervision.
What actually happened was that the weirton
steel workers were forced to accept the company
union The company union which was installed
by the Weirton company and the workers told
they would have to accept it. Scores of active union
members were not only fired and backlisted in the
company town of Wenton, w. Va. but they were
beaten up and otherwise terrorized.
To forestaIl a re-strike, the federal government
made the empty gesture of bringing suit for fair"
election. How empty this gesture is now seen
in Judge Nields' statements The judge declared that
the company union was not forced on the workers
but was IAN adoption of plan by experimentation
and approval. 1t was a plan that had already
been thought out years ahead this was
plan that worked in Bethlehem and elsewhere
they dhe workers. put in the balance this plan
(the company unon) and they also put in the
balance another idea and the records show the re-
suit the motive behind all this was to get
an effective agency to serve the workmen in ad-
justing their differences with the management, or
their difficulties"
The statement of the judge, in favor of the COM
pany union, and in defense of the Weirton Steel
Co. of course, flies in the face of all evidence
brought into the trial by workers, that they were
blacksted and beaten terrorized and fired for OBJ
jecting to the company union
The judges statement is one more proof that
all of the agencies of the Roosevelt government in
Guiding the courts, are in the service of the en-
ployers, and decide against the workers
While the Weirton case has dragged for months
and while the National Steel Relations Board has
been sitting for months, the speed-up, low wages,
the blacklisting and union smashing continues The
company union dominates under the protection of
these Roosevelt boards and the courts. The Tighe
machine continues to tell the workers to have faith
in these government boards, and in the Weirton
trial
The rank and file of the A. F. of L. steel union
are given another example in the Weirton trial of
the fact that only by strike preparation by strug-
gle they better their conditions defeat the com
pany union and win union recognition. AS long as
reliance the federal government agencies the
arbitration boards and the courts is maintained so
long will the workers be denied any improvements
The judges statement is only continuation Of the
governments strikebreaking policy which broke the
Weirton strike last year,
The rank and file is bringing increasing pres
sure to bear on the Tighe machine to prepare now
for strikes against the antunion drive of the steel
employers and the anti-labor decisions of the fed
eral governments strikebreaking boards The rank
and file of the Amalgamated Association should
build up strong opposition groups and prepare the
strikes for their demands