Page 2 -- (Labor Pains - The Birth of a Contract)
The newly-formed International Hotel Workers Union, which conducted
the 1912 strike, was unable to withstand the attacks by the police
and the firm anti-union stance of the hotels and restaurants.
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Leaflet
headed, "To the Public: The Hotel Workers Strike."
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January,
1913 picture of workers meeting in front of Bryant Hall.
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Hotel and restaurant workers struck again in 1918, 1929 and 1934
- with the same disastrous results as in 1912.
The 1934 strike took place during the early part of the Roosevelt
New Deal, when the climate became more favorable to unions. As a
result, the hotel and restaurant owners could no longer rely on
the help of the courts and the police.
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Demonstration
during the 1934 strike.
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Organizing
leaflets headed "Hotel Maids" and "To All
Bartenders and Bar Boys."
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Despite the blacklisting of many of the most active union members,
there was still a solid core of determined workers who were ready
for organization. With a program aimed at uniting all crafts and
all national and ethnic groups, Jay Rubin emerged as the leader
of the combined forces, and in June, 1937, these unions, part of
the American Federation of Labor, set up an organizing committee
to conduct a massive organizing drive.
The organizing committee won its first victory with the successful
signing up of the 3,200 workers in the 52 restaurants of the Childs
Restaurant chain.
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