Prospects for an early settlement of the strike of more than 5,000 pocketbook workers in New York City, who have been out since September 20, vanished yesterday, when it was announced that the Council of Leather Goods Manufacturers, the employers’ group, had rejected a settlement proposed by Ben Golden, executive secretary of the Regional Labor Board.
The general strike called by the International Pocketbook Workers Union will continue indefinitely, Charles I. Goldman, secretary-treasurer of the union, declared, adding that the strike was rapidly spreading to factories in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
According to the union officials, another 3,000 workers outside of New York are expected to join the ranks of the strikers by the end of this week.
DECISION FOLLOWS TALKS
The general strike, Mr. Goldman said, was decided upon only after repeated negotiations with the employers and attempts to raise wages in the entire industry through action at Washington broke down completely.
Among the chief demands made by the union are a ten per cent increase in wages, a reduction of working hours to thirty-six, a ten per cent increase in factory staffs to give work to the unemployed, and union control over the contracting evil.
Cmplete satisfaction with the progress of the strike was expressed by Goldman, who pointed out that the union has already received fifty applications for settlements from employers, and that eleven settlements have already been signed and the workers sent back to their jobs. The employees of the eleven shops immediately voted to tax themselves fifteen per cent of their wages in order to help finance the strike of the workers still out.
CONDITIONS GET WORSE
Since the depression began, Mr. Goldman declared, conditions in the industry have become progressively worse. Wages were cut drastically, in some cases more than fifty per cent, and many factories moved out of town, where they paid wages of no more than $5 or $10 a week.
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