Зображення сторінки
PDF
ePub

its existence,1 is sweeping Canada, and has established units in the United States at Oakland, Chicago, Toledo, Butte, etc. Since the Automobile Workers were suspended from the A. F. of L., April 1, 1918, they have more than multiplied their mem

4

2

bership by ten; at present 95% of the organized automobile workers of America are members of this organization,3 and their Detroit Local of 10,000 members is the largest local of any kind in the United States. The Ladies' Garment Workers have approximately 145,000 members, of whom 108,000 are in New York City. In 1914 the Amalgamated Clothing Workers seceded from the United Garment Workers, with the result that at 5 present the A. F. of L. union has less than 60,000 members,* while its outlaw rival has approximately 200,000. Moreover, the Amalgamated Textile Workers, who seceded from the United Textile Workers a year ago, have now more than 50,000 members, and are planning to coalesce with the Amalgamated Clothing Workers.

6

The number of "outlaw" organizations is growing, and all of them are gaining rapidly in strength and membership, so much so that employers are coming to feel more kindly toward the . F. of L. With wicked glee the W. I. I. U. quotes the report of Roger W. Babson on the A. F. of L. Convention of 1919, in which he said: "In the great fight against Bolshevism, clients may be sure of the help of the

1. V. R. Midgley in circular letter.

2. President W. . Logan, in private letter.

3. The Auto Worker, January, 1920, editorial page.

4. Statement from Secretary's office, in private letter.

5. Membership in November, 1914, was 60,686. Proceedings of the 19th Convention, United Garment Workers of America 71918), 55.

6. Estimate of Business Agent of Milwaukee Joint Board, apr.1920.

[ocr errors]

A. F. of L......

"Clients may, however, feel entirely safe in believing that the A. F. of L. is linked with them to continue conserva

tism in American society.....

"There can be no question that the convention of 1919

has on the whole served to commend organized labor to the em

ployers of this country. "1

Likewise, the Auto Workers quote the Wall Street Journal as saying, in speaking of the A. F. of L., "It is time for

employers to extend both encouragement and practical support."2

Meanwhile, volcanic mutterings become ever more ominous. The New York harbor strike of 60,000 workers in six dif3 ferent crafts without permission of International officers points toward the formation of a Marine Workers' Industrial Union. The Machinists' Union is urging amalgamation of the metal trades unions into an industrial union, a principle to which it pledged itself by referendum vote as long ago as 1914. Members of the Typographical Union in New York walked out by the thousands without a strike vote, in sympathy with locked-out members of four pressmen's unions outlawed by their 5 Internationals. A spontaneous rank-and-file strike of Bricklayers in New York suggests the possibility of an industrial union in the Building Trades. And the present great railroad

4

6

1. Industrial Union News, August 2, 1919. Reprinted from Ohio Sociaist, July 23, 1919.

2. The Auto Worker, January, 1920.

3. The One Big Union Monthly, August, 1919, p. 32; the Auto Workers' News, October 16, 1919. Longshoremen, carpenters,

ship joiners, pipe fitters, riggers, and helpers were involved.

4. The Machiasts Monthly Journal, May, 1919.

5. Auto Workers News, Oct. 9, 1919.

6. The Voice of Labor, October 1, 1919.

« НазадПродовжити »