is a general spirit of optimism among the workers. Everyone is looking forward to a good season. The stoppage will result in the complete unionization of the industry in this district.
“We asked for an increase in wages of 25 per cent, but found that earnings were very unequal in the various shops. Certain ruthless employers had cut wages very deeply even succeeding in making cuts in earnings which the workers were compelled to keep secret, on threats of losing their jobs. Naturally they will have to increase wages all the more. Other employers who were more humane will have smaller increases to make. The settlements being negotiated by the union will carry wage increases ranging from ten to thirty per cent.”
At the same time that the Amalgamated strike was in process of being settled, a new strike involving from 20,000 to 30,000 workers in the garment industries loomed as a result of a dispute between the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union and the Industrial Council of Cloak, Suit and Skirt Manufacturers, Inc. The representatives of the workers and employers who have been in conference, disagreed on the question of renewing a working contract based on ‘week-work’ or ‘piece work.’
The union demanded the incorporation of week-work into the contract pointing out that they were bound by the result of a referendum held by the workers who voted 2 to 1 in favor of week-work.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.