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Hebrew Teachers Plan Strike End

May 9, 1934
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More than fifty parents whose children attend the Yeshivath Torah M’Zion and the four Hebrew teachers of the school who have been on strike for higher wages since last week met last night in the synagogue at Christopher street and Pitkin avenue, Brooklyn, and decided upon terms of settlement which will be presented to Abraham Solowitz, president of the board.

According to Solowitz, the settlement of the strike depends sole-up upon the teachers themselves. Solowitz yesterday declared he was eager to have the teachers and their representatives meet board members before an informal court of arbitration to settle the matter.

“Let the teachers come to me with two people from the synagogue, and we will have two board members and a fifth man chosen by both factions to decide the strike.” Solowitz declared over the telephone yesterday.

The terms which the teachers will present to the board, demand at least $20 a week, as well as vacations and wages during religious holiday suspension of teaching activities.

The Yeshiva has been closed since the dispute started and the four teachers, including one woman, began picketing the school with placards proclaiming to passersby that the institution’s board of directors was unfair to organized labor.

DEMAND RECOGNITION

The teachers at first demanded that the board recognize the Central Committee of Hebrew Teachers’ Organizations in setting the strike, but the refusal of the board of directors to deal with the union has forced them to modify their demands in this respect.

At a meeting held Sunday night in the synagogue parents of the children attending the Yeshiva resolved that they would fully support the teachers’ demands; that the teachers’ be granted by the board of directors: that the directors of the school settle the strike immediately so that the children would not lose time from their studies, and that they would form a parents’ committee to meet with the directors and present their demands.

According to the teachers, their average salary was $16 a week, and often “they weren’t even sure of getting that.”

There are 300 pupils in the school ranging in age from six to sixteen.

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