#1934 windsor motor lamp strike

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"Mayor Objects To Police In East Windsor," Border Cities Star. April 10, 1934. Page 3. --- Says Windsor Constables Should Not Be There ---- MAYOR CROLL this afternoon protested the transportation of Windsor police to the East Windsor strike zone.

His Worship, learning that Chief Wigle had sent a detachment of 18 officers to the East Windsor police headquarters this morning, promptly voiced his disapproval in a most emphatic manner and called an emergency sitting of the Windsor Police Commission to deal with the situation.

"I did not hear of the move until noon," the mayor announced. "The East Windsor affair is not a criminal situation and our police had no business there. The situation in East Windsor is an economic matter, not a criminal matter, and our police are not to be used to coerce strikers in the automobile plants of East Windsor or other municipalities."

Mayor Croll added, "I was in total ignorance of the move until 12 o'clock but I immediately took action."

The mayor called the meeting of the commission directly he returned from the strike picket lines in front of the Canadian Motor Lamp Company in Seminole street.

The mayor went to East Windsor to verify conflicting reports of the presence there of the Windsor officers.

At 2:45 this afternoon the Windsor police officers were still in East Windsor.

At 3.20 Mayor Croll sent the Windsor police back to Windsor.

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"Motor Lamp Employes, Pickets in Clash," Border Cities Star. April 19, 1934. Page 3. ---- Confusion At East Windsor ---- Crown Attorney Allan Orders Warrant On Assault Charge ---- Men Want to Work ---- Demand Police Protection In Returning to Jobs At Plant ---- Confusion resulted this afternoon in the East Windsor City Hall when a delegation of strikers who want to go back to work at the Canadian Motor Lamp Company, Limited, in East Windsor encountered a delegation of pickets, who are determined to keep the men from going back on the job.

As a result of the clash, Crown Attorney Allan, K.C.. ordered that a warrant be issued and a charge of assault laid against someone, who grabbed Alex. Garant, leader of the men who want police protection so they can resume work.

GUARD REQUESTED The clash came when the delegation of strikers went to see the East Windsor Police Commission to request a guard be granted them so they could go in and out of the Motor Lamp plant in safety.

The pickets knew the delegation was going to go to the police commission and there was a much larger delegation of picketers on hand. This crowd was led by Messrs. Stewart, Cochrane and Collins, who have been chief organizers and agitators of the strike.

The trio belong to the Workers Unity League, a Marxist organization. The picketers accused the strikers of wanting to sell out to the bosses and there was considerable interchange of uncomplimentary epithets. It was when someone tried to grab hold of Mr. Gerant that Mr. Allan ordered the assault warrant.

This afternoon's affair followed proceedings this morning when a majority of the strikers at the Motor Lamp decided to go back to work, if they could get protection.

BARRED BY PICKETS Refused relief and denied the right to work by radical and militant picketers, a delegation of the employes called upon Crown Attorney James Allan, K.C., at Sandwich, th this morning, demanding police protection to gain entrance to the Motor Lamp fac tory and resume work. Eleven men were in the delegation and they claimed to have the support of 37 others in East Windsor. That makes 68 or a majority of the Motor Lamp employes. Only 99 persons were involved in the strike, the others of the 108 employes being on the office staff.

Mr. Allan pointed out that he had made several appeals to the police commissioners to supply enough police commissioners to supply enough police to handle the strike situation. His instructions, originating with the Attorney-General, were ignored by the commission. He referred the employes to the police commission.

Judge Coughlin, a member of the commission, announced that a meeting of the commission had been called for this afternoon. The delegation that called on Mr. Allan would be heard, he said.

REFUSED RELIEF The Motor Lamp employes, it is understood, went to Mr. Allan after some of their number, in need of assistance, were turned down at the East Windsor welfare office.

A meeting of the East Windsor Welfare Board was held yesterday afternoon and the board decided to take no action with regard to supplying aid to the Motor Lamp employes. Such assistance would be in the nature of a government subsidy for the strikers, It was decided.

Several of the employes have reported to welfare officials that they are absolutely without funds and that their families are suffering as a result. Welfare officials said today that the cases where actual suffering was being reported were being investigated The situation would be reviewed again at a meeting of the welfare board to morrow morning, it was said.

ALDERMEN INVITED Organizer Douglas Stewart of the Workers Unity League today in a pup be announcement invited Commissioners Fleming and Eanson to attend as open meeting tonight in the stadium at Mercer and Wyandotte streets.

The gathering, Organizer Stewart said, is being sponsored by striking employes of the Motor Lamp Company.

"The strike committee," announced the organizer, "is concerned by the public statements of these commissioners at Monday's session of the Windsor City Council. They have invited them to attend the meeting and will give them an opportunity to justify their slanderous statements about myself."

CRITICAL OF ORGANIZER Commissioners Eansor and Fleming launched devastating attacks on Stewart during the council's consideration of the request by the Workers International Relief Committee for a strikers tag day.

Permission for the tag day was forthcoming Commissioner Eansor the negative and Commissioner Fleming voting in the affirmative.

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"Strike Leader Held 'Undesirable Citizen'," Border CIties Star. April 16, 1934. Page 3 & 13. ---- Mr. Eansor Asks His Deportation ---- COMMISSIONER WONDERS WHY WORKERS ARE DEPENDING ON COCHRANE AND STEWART AS COUNCIL O.K.'S TAG DAY ---- ORGANIZER DOUGLAS STEWART of the Workers Unity League is an undesirable citizen who probably has never done an honest day's work in his life and should be deported to the land of his origin.

That's the opinion of Commissioner Norman D. Eansor delivered at this morning's session of Windsor City Council. The council, after a warm battle, authorized the Workers International Relief to hold a tag day in Windsor on behalf of the striking employes of the Canadian Motor Lamp Company, Limited, of East Windsor.

Greeted With Derision A roar of derision from the audience greeted Commissioner Eansor's aggresive defence of manufacturers and other employers of this area. His listeners gave vocal vent to their opinions when he declared that all employers of the Border Cities are trying to be fair to their staffs. The audience laughed him to scorn.

Mayor Croll threatened to have police clear the hall in the event of further outbreaks.

Commissioner Eanser shouted back his defiance:

If these people who are doing the booing were out this morning looking for work, we wouldn't have the conditions we have today. The same faces have been seen here for the past three years. They are not looking for work.

The ire of the audience was invoked by the commissioner's statement that all the plants here with parent bodies in the United States can move over to the other side and can supply their products to Canada. They don't have to be in business here. They are only trying to provide work. The industrial leaders are trying to put their shoulders to the wheel.

Charges Lock-out Mayor Croll insisted the Canadian Motor Lamp Company had locked out its employes and its president, H.J Warner, had refused them the lawful right to collective bargaining. He believed the Dominion Government should step into the picture and force the company to a proper arbitration.

The mayor and Commissioners Dayus, Bennest and Fleming voted for the tag day, while against the strikers were Commissioners Eanor, Curry and Duck.

Commissioner Fleming joined with Commissioner Eansor in the attack on Organizer Stewart and his colleagues and, incidentally, charged as "deliberate liars" the committee which sought funds here last year on behalf of the striking furniture workers of Stratford. When the vote was taken, he switched over and voted for the tag.

Funds Needed The W. I. R. deputation comprised Georgina Ketchesen and Charles Newbury. Mr. Newbury said the lamp works strike has all the earmarks of a prolonged affair and funds are needed to feed the strikers and their families and the pickets.

"How many pickets?" asked Commisioner Duck.

"We have fed as many as 2,000 pickets in one day," reported Mr. Newbury.

Commissioner Eansor asked "Who heads this strike? and Commissioner Fleming sked "Are you an employe there?"

The delegates explained they were a committee from the W. I. R. which extends assistance to any group of strikers.

"To this man Stewart the head?" persisted Commissioner Eansor.

"No, he's just in here deliberately trying up a lot of trouble volunteered Commissioner Fleming.

Spontaneous Strike "The strike at the lamp company was spontaneous Mr. Newbury submitted. "The Auto Workers Union was not responsible. The employes asked the union for an organizer. The men organized themselves before Stewart was invitd in."

"Where is this Stewart from?" asked Commissioner Easnor. "He is from England," said Mr. Newbury.

"A good country, observed Commissioner Bennett, ha native of the north country. "But where did he just come from?" persisted Commissioner Eansor.

"I can't tell you that but he's the Canadian organizer," answered Mr. Newbury.

"Who is Cochrane?" demanded Commissioner Eansor.

"He lives in Walkerville," said Mr. Newbury.

Mayor Croll broke in with: "These lamp workers didn't need organizers as you can see from their pay list. They should have walked out long ago."

Commissioner Eansor wondered why they are not "working out their salvation without Stewart and Cochrane."

"I will not support a tag day," he continued, "as long as this Stewart is going around the factories pulling the men out. What is he living on? He must be getting a fee from the men."

Don't Know That "You don't know that," reminded Mr. Newbury.

"Stewart must be getting something," insisted Commissioner Eansor. "Why have the strikers got to have him dictating to them when they have families at home to be taken care of?"

After sitting uneasily by through all this, Commissioner Bennett broke out with: "All this is beside the point. It makes no difference about Stewart if the men are not receiving a decent wage."

Mayor Croll added: "It is not a question of the color of Stewart's eyes if the cause of the men is justified. Warner has taken the position he must deal individually with the men. I wouldn't if I were there."

"Why not?" queried Commissioner Eansor.

"Because," the mayor retorted. "collective bargaining is a lawful principle in all civilized countries. Warner has closed the plant and locked out the men. I think this may be a case for the government. He should be forced to open it again."

East Windsor Tagging Commissioner Eansor, after discussing the rights of employers to differentiate between employes, declared the strikers should hold their tag day in East Windsor.

"I'm absolutely against a tag day." Interjected Commissioner Curry, his first observation, although he seemed vastly amused by the debate.

"Stewart is an undesirable," charged Commissioner Eansor. "Eighty per cent, of the men would go back to work if Stewart went back to where he came from."

Mr. Newbury said the agitation for higher wages and improved working conditions could not be killed by the removal of one man or two men.

Commissioner Eansor thought Stewart is "too smart for the strikers" because he "won't go to work himself."

"He's a duly appointed organizer of the union," said Newbury.

Mrs. Ketcheson told the council: "Any person with any sense can see that $18.60 for 63 hours is not enough for a man with a wife and four children."

Right to Organizers Commissioner Eansor still wanted to know why organizers "had been imported."

Newbury said the Workers' Unity League has the right to its organizers as the American Federation of Labor or other unions.

Commissioner Eansor wanted to know again how Organizer Stewart lives. Mr. Newbury said he is living with friends who are able to support him.

"Did he ever work?" asked Commissioner Eansor caustically.

"Does he like candy, you have not asked that!" suggested Mayor Croll.

"Many of these strikers have been on relief for two or three years," maintained Commissioner Eansor. "During that time these factories have been in the red. They are trying to come back gradually."

"By taking it out on the men?" asked the mayor. "They have always made the profits while exploiting the men," insisted Mrs. Ketcheson.

Never a Day's Work Commissioner Eansor suggested that possibly Organizer Stewart "never did a day's work in his life, but he is making a the big thing out of this. If workers would get away from Stewart and have him sent back where he comes from, I'll support a tag day."

"Do you consider $18 a fair wage." asked Mrs. Ketcheson.

"All the employers want to pay a fair wage," returned Commissioner Eansor.

A roar from the audience ensued.

Commissioner Eansor said this: "Labor always has been a bugaboo here. It's down east you want to cause your strikes, down where the competition is and where the low wages are paid. Start down east and work this way with them."

Mrs. Ketcheson charged flatly that Commissioner Eansor's view was biased "cause he has material in the lamp works where the strike is and wants to get it out."

The commissioner said he could obtain his material from other sources.

Abominable Wages "Any place." declared Commissioner Bennett, "is a good place for a strike where wages are abominable and they were abominable at the lamp works. I don't care if the organizer comes from Timbuctoo or where he comes from."

"Warner," revealed Mayor Croll, "was warned by the auto manufacturers to pay higher wages and they would pay him more, but he wasn't interested."

"I'm interested in seeing this strike carried through successfully and I'll vote for a tag day," asserted Commissioner Dayus.

"This is the same committee." charged Commissioner Fleming, "that came here for a tag day for the Stratford strikers and said they were starving. I find they got sufficient funds to carry them from last October until this March. They were not starving."

"I don't believe that statement." asserted Commissioner Dayus frankly.

"They said the strikers were starving," persisted Commissioner Fleming. "It was a deliberate lie."

Wage List Published Commissioner Fleming said he did not know what salaries were being paid at the lamp works. The mayor reminded the wage list already has been published. (Also, the company's offer has been published.)

"That list," the mayor said, "should satisfy any person the wages were atrociously low. Of course that doesn't apply to all the factories. Some are willing to pay more and are moving up wages gradually."

Commissioner Eansor said the strikers could go back on relief.

"The relief department," he said. "is still running. We're not asking them to work for an unfair wage."

The mayor considered this solution "strange," either go back on relief or work 63 hours.

"Who is going to say what's a fair wage?" challenged Commissioner Eansor.

"It's time somebody did," retorted the mayor. "I'm against a lockout. Warner wouldn't lock the plant if I were in authority. Ford tried it in the States and the U.S. Government stepped in."

Free Country "That's not here, this is a free country," maintained Commissioner Eansor.

"Free for some, perhaps," observed the mayor.

Commissioner Bennett declared every employe has a right to organize and bargain with the boss.

"I've always been fair to labor." claimed Commissioner Eansor.

Commissioner Dayus suggested the council ask the lamp works for a copy of its 1933 payroll in detail.

The vote was called at this juncture when the council indicated no desire to enter negotiations with the company.

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"Hoping Clash Won't Come," Border Cities Star. April 10, 1934. Page 3 & 12. --- Police at East Windsor Reinforced by Squads From Border ---- Pickets on Duty ---- Strike at Canadian Motor Lamp Company Not Settled Yet ---- BULLETIN At 2:45 this afternoon strikers at the Canadian Motor Lamp Company in East Windsor refused to attend a conference in the East Windsor City Hall.

Members of the East Windsor Police Commission, H. J. Warner, president of the Motor Lamp Company, Mayor Fontaine of East Windsor and Mayor Croll of Windsor had asked a committee of the strikers to come to the city hall in East Windsor to talk over matters. (Judge Coughlin and Magistrate Smith with Mayor Fontaine form the Police Commission.)

The strikers considered the invitation and sent back word that any conference attended by them would have to be on neutral territory. They did not consider the city hall neutral.

At 3.15 Mayor Fontaine went out to ask the strikers to attend a conference.

A clash between police and striking employes of the Canadian Motor Lamp Company at East Windsor seemed imminent today. Provincial, Royal Canadian Mounted, Windsor, and the local East Windsor police massed at the East Windsor police station during the morning, with trouble anticipated.

TRY FOR SETTLEMENT Meanwhile authorities were working feverishly to attempt a settlement of differences existing between the strikers and the Motor Lamp management.

The crisis came with repeated appeals for permission to remove finished products from the plant. This permission strikers refused to give. Between 30 and 40 policemen were stationed at the East Windsor police station all morning, waiting for orders to go out to the plant and escort trucks out of the building and through the picket lines.

Word was received this morning that the Attorney-General's office considered the strike situation a local responsibility. East Windsor would have to provide its own police, it was reported.

SPECIAL MEETING An emergency meeting of the East Windsor Police Commission was held to discuss the situation. The commissioners were anxious to do anything possible to prevent an open clash between the strikers and their supporters and police. At 12.30 this afternoon the police commission meeting disbanded.

Mayor Fontaine, chairman of the commission, explained that the com- mission decided to renew negotiations with the strikers in an attempt to get the picketers to allow peaceful passage of trucks to and from the Motor Lamp property.

While these negotiations were in progress, police stayed away from the plant. Picketers took advantage of the opportunity to relax, and most of the picketers were withdrawn during the morning.

UNSUCCESSFUL EFFORT Striking Canadian Motor Lamp Company employes were still out today, following lengthy but unsuccessful attempts at a settlement yesterday afternoon and evening.

During the afternoon the strike committee conferred with H. J. Warner, Motor Lamp president. They talked over the schedule of wages offered by Mr. Warner once before and rejected by the strikers at a meeting Sunday night. Members of the committee seemed satisfied with the scale after the conference with Mr. Warner.

They reported back at a meeting in the Ukrainian Hall, Drouillard road, during the evening. For more than three hours the strikers argued over the offer, in a closed meeting and then again decided to reject it.

The following laconic message was sent to Mr. Warner after last night's meeting. "Your terms not acceptable. Our answer is bigger picket lines, greater unity, determination to win wages, hours, conditions. (Signed) Strike Committee."

Several thousand persons milled around in front of the plant throughout the day. There was some excitement during the afternoon, after provincial police had been called in to help out the local department.

LET ONE TRUCK ENTER Strikers refused to allow trucks to enter or leave the Motor Lamp premises. Only after long negotiations did they consent to allow one truckload of raw material to enter the plant.

A squad of seven or eight provincial police arrived at 2.30 pm. Immediately Inspector Johnson, of the East Windsor Police Department, called for the strike committee. Word had come from the Crown attorney, he said, that shipments in and out of the plant must no. be interfered with.

Inspector Johnson explained that he wanted the peaceful co-operation of the strikers. Orders were that trucks must be allowed through the picket lines, he said, and he practically pleaded with the strikers to allow police to carry out their instructions without trouble. The committee asked for time to consider the situation. Consideration too about about three hours, with the strikers finally agreeing to allow one truck admission to the plank.

VIOLENCE BARRED Inspector Johnson explained that the privilege of peaceful picketing, allowed strikers, did not include the use of physical force. The police themselves, both local and provincial, did everything in their power to avoid trouble.

Several times during the afternoon, worm trucks approached the plant, a mob numbering hundreds swarmed menacingly in the direction of the truck. But at no time did the police make a motion that might be interpreted an unfriendly to the strikers.

The trucks in question were waved away by police, who had arguments with the picketers at the plant.

Several times during the afternoon police shooed away persons who visualized themselves s in the role of strikebreakers. Two young women marched boldly through the picket lines and asked police for an escort to the office. They were warned to get off the premises before they caused trouble and advised that the management was not interested in hiring at the time.

"DEPORTED" TO WALKERVILLE One young man. Alex Johnson, of "gorilla infamy" at Walkerville, was "deported to Walkerville." He insisted that he wanted to see the manager "on business" and when hispersistence seemed to threaten trouble police ordered him off the premises. When Alex stood on his right to see the manager om business, police recalled that when he appeared in court on a gun-toting charge some time ago he had received suspended sentence on condition that he keep out of the city. So Alex was brushed unceremoniously across the East Windsor-Walkerville boundary line.

Police did not attempt to keep the picketers moving. Nor did they try to keep the strikers and their supporters off the plant property. It was explained that the absence of a fence made this practically impossible.

Throughout most of the day, the picketers took it easy. When their signs stuck upright in the ground, they relaxed - sprawled out in shady spots or seated on rails. Only when trouble threatened did the picketers spring to attention.

The argument of police that the management had a perfect right to move materials that did not get much response from the strikers. It was only through the efforts of Douglas Stewart, union organizer and recognized as leader of the strike, that police finally succeed in getting one truck through the picket lines.

Mr. Stewart pointed out that the strikers had no grounds for objecting to the bringing of raw materials into the plant. He supported their stand that no finished or partly finished products could be allowed to leave the plant.

Police argued that holding up finished products would halt production in other plants and force other workmen into involuntary idleness. The strikers did not see this as a disadvantage as far as their cause is concerned, pointing out that such developments would probably hasten a settlement favorable to them. With regard to unfinished work, the strikers argued that to allow it to leave

NO ONE IN HURRY .... Women and children took part in the picketing. The odd baby carriage was observed in the picket line and babies were playing contentedly and peacefully with a neat little pile of nice round stones near the sidewalk in from the plant.

Making a statement following last night's meeting, Mr. Stewart announced that the wage schedule offered by the management was 'a slight reduction for some employees, a reasonable increase for some others, and just a slight increase for most of the employers.'

The Ukrainian Hall on Drouillard road has been established as the headquarters of the strikers. A kitchen has been established there, with refreshments available for the picketers.

The hall is just around the corner from the plans and "runners keep those stationed there in touch with developments at the picket line. In arguing to get the strikers to al- low trucks entry and exit, Inspector Johnson declared that the manage- ment had promised that the plant

would not be operated until the strike had been settled. Yesterday Mr. Warner pointed out that the work done by his plant could be duplicated elsewhere and that the strike would not hold up production in Border automobile plants.

It just meant, he said, that the orders being taken care of by his plant would be placed with Detroit firms and the work involved lost to workmen of the Border Cities. Unless an agreement was reached within a short time, he said, he would close down the plant.

The strikers did not take that threat seriously, however. Use of Windsor city police in the East Windsor strike area evidently had been arranged last week.

Windsp police on the picket line at Windsor Bedding Company last Friday afternoon anticipated the call. Constable Joe Lepine announced at that time their services had been anticipated at headquarters.

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"Strikers Want to Work; Barred by Pickets," Border Cities Star. April 17, 1934. Page 3. ---- Men Asking For Relief ---- Former Lamp Company Workers Say They Want Jobs Back ---- Are Threatened ---- Welfare Officials Hesitate To Subsidize Strike By Giving Vouchers ---- East Windsor welfare officials are puzzled about the peculiar situation existing with regard to the so-called strike of Canadian Motor Lamp employes at East Windsor.

ASKING WELFARE According to word reaching welfare officials from the Motor Lamp employes themselves, who are asking welfare assistance now, there is no strike. The welfare department is being informed that 75, anyway, of the 100 or more Motor Lamp employes are anxious to go back to work.

They understand, they said, that the management wants them to come back to work, at higher wages. But they point to the hundreds of unemployed who are picketing the plant and explain that they dare not go near the plant seeking to go back to work.

So far the welfare department is not giving relief to the Motor Lamp employes. The stand taken to date is that the government would probably not appreciate interference in an industrial dispute to the extent of subsidizing one side in the dispute. Supplying welfare to strikers, they point out, would be nothing more than a subsidy for the strikers.

REMARKABLE PART "But here's the remarkable part of it, the part that has us stumped," a welfare official declared today, "these men come in here and tell us they are not on strike. They say they they want to go back to work and can't. They say 75 of the employes, anyway, want to go back to work, but are afraid to meet the hundreds of unemployed being recruited for the picket lines."

Welfare officials do not feel like subsidizing a strike, but on the other hand, they aren't so sure that it's right to deprive familles of a living when the man of the house is anxious to work but is not allowed to.

An emergency session of the East Windsor Welfare Board is in prospect to deal with the situation. The meeting would have been held yesterday, it was said today, had the chairman of the board been in the city. A regular meeting is scheduled for Friday, but action before that time may be forced by the demands of the Motor Lamp employes who want assistance to tide them over.

PILES OF STONES Just what the employes who fear to return to work are afraid of was reported on today by East Windsor police. They pointed out that the picketers have been employed every night since the strike began in accumulating stones about the Motor Lamp premises.

Most of the stones, piled menacingly about the plant, are being secured from the railway right-of-way nearby. Last night the picketers went in for a little fancy work, constructing a huge slogan on the grass, using stones for the lettering.

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"Claim Unity League Out," Border Cities Star. April 30, 1934. Page 5. ---- Statement Is Issued By 90% of Motor Lamp Workers ---- Same as Stratford ---- Some Had Withdrawn Prior To End of Strike And Return to Work ---- Employes of the Canadian Motor Lamp Company, Limited, are through with the Workers Unity League, the organization that directed the recent Motor Lamp strike, according to an announcement made today.

The announcement was made by Fred Boughton, one of the employes, and was supported by a statement purporting to carry the signatures of 90 per cent. of the Motor Lamp employes.

THE STATEMENT The statement was as follows: "We, the undersigned, as workers of the Canadian Motor Lamp Company, Limited, wish hereby to repudiate any connection with the Workers Unity League of Canada who, through the Automobile Workers Union, directed our recent strike."

The Workers Unity League repudiation move parallels a similar move- ment at Stratford, where the League recently organized the Furniture Workers Union.

A majority of the striking employes at the Canadian Motor Lamp Company plant signed up with the Auto Workers Union during the strike at that plant. Douglas Stewart, W. U. L. organizer, claimed that 53 of the employes, of a total of 76 directly interested in the strike, had taken out union cards.

That some of the workers withdrew from the union before going back to work was evident during the negotiations that preceded the final settlement. Some of the employes were angered at the Workers Unity League for prolonging the strike after a good majority of the employes had voted to go back to work.

INCIDENT OF STRIKE The repudiation movement today recalled an incident that occurred at the East Windsor City Hall more than a week ago when Fred Collins, W. U. L. organizer, encountered one of the leaders of the group anxious to return to work.

Mr. Collins and a ring of his supporters hurled abuse at the leader of the employes and demanded, "How about your union?"

"I've torn up my card," the employe returned. "That's a fine way to treat your union," Collins declared, bitterly.

"What a union!" exclaimed the employe, "just giving a living to you fellows."

Later Organizer Stewart admitted that the business of tearing up union cards had made some headway among the employes. In citing the number of Motor Lamp employes who had signed union cards, he admitted: "Some of them have been torn up, I understand."

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"Lend Support To Strikers," Border Cities Star. April 18, 1934. Page 15. ---- East Windsor Council In Sympathy With Workers ---- Seek Settlement ---- Ask Government to Create Minimum Wage For Men ---- Striking employes of the Canadian Motor Lamp Company, Limited, of East Windsor, received plenty of support at last night's meeting of the East Windsor City Council. Members of the council expressed themselves freely as being in sympathy with the strikers in their dispute with the Motor Lamp management.

APPROACH OTTAWA Although United Front members of the council objected strenuously, the council voted to join with the East Windsor Police Commission in asking that the Dominion Government intercede in an effort to settle the strike.

Another resolution was passed calling upon the government to pass legislation guaranteeing a minimum wage to male laborers and to enforce existing legislation covering a minimum wage for female laborers.

A third resolution was passed asking the Motor Lamp management to discuss the situation with a committee of the strikers "together with their union organizer or a man of the strikers' choice."

The police commission's idea that the Dominion Government send in a man to attempt to settle the strike did not meet with the entire approval of Alderman Gardner, though he finally voted in favor of it.

It was no use, he said, settling the East Windsor strike while conditions at which the strike was aimed were allowed to continue in competing plants. The government, he charged. was setting a "horrible example" by paying less than a living wage on government projects. It was simple for the government, he said, to pass minimum wage legislation which would make all strikes unnecessary.

"MAYOR ACTED WISELY" Alderman Gardner congratulated Mayor Fontaine for refusing to be "made the goat" by the provincial government in the East Windsor strike situation. The mayor. Alder- man Gardner said, acted wisely in holding back about appointing special police to handle the strike situation. "We are responsible for the protection of life and property," Alderman Gardner said. "but we have no right protecting firms paying such low wages. You did right. Mr. Mayor, in turning back the Attorney-General's instructions to you."

Alderman Raycraft charged that the police commission's resolution, asking the Minister of Labor to intervene in the East Windsor strike, was an effort to intimidate the strikers. The council should back up the strikers instead of the plant management, he thought. He didn't see how any judge from Ottawa could know more about Motor Lamp plant conditions than the Motor Lamp employes themselves.

Alderman Poisson denied the charge that the commission was out to defeat the strike.

"I really think," he said, "that the commission wants to protect the strikers, but is anxious to end the strike. What's the use of keeping this plant closed while the busy season in the automobile industry is on? We're all in favor of the strikers in East Windsor. You didn't see us trying to mobilize a big special police force. But continuing this strike means that the products of local plants will be brought in from the United States, or from other plants in Ontario, and our workers will suffer."

ONLY SOLUTION Alderman Gardner declared that it would be unfair to give employes of one striking plant fair wages while taking no action with regard to employes of other plants, who might be as poorly paid but who were afraid to strike. General legislation fixing minimum wages, he argued, was the only solution of the problem.

Alderman Morris argued that the only difference between the plant management and the employes was the question of recognition of a shop committee. This question was not big enough to warrant threats of violence, he argued. He was afraid the federal government, in sending in an arbitrator to handle the situation. would select a man favorable to the boss class.

"If they send in a man to settle the strike and it results in failure." he asked, "what happens? What happened in Stratford? On the heels of such a man comes the mounted police.

Mayor Fontaine denied emphatically that the police commission had any idea of intimidating" the strikers. Perhaps, he suggested, Alderman Morris did not realize the pressure that had been brought to bear upon the commission during the past week.

"As far as the Attorney-General is concerned," the mayor declared, "I consider him, as chief peace officer in Ontario, responsible for the present situation. He may have thrown the responsibility on the mayor of Stratford, but he's not going to do it with the mayor of East Windsor."

Alderman Morris did not see much strength in the argument that motor lamps could be brought in from outside plants. Detroit workmen were refusing to work on lamps for export to the Border Cities strike zone and other Ontario plants could not meet the demand, he said.

COMPLIMENTS STRIKERS Alderman Gardner complimented the strikers and picketers on the orderly and gentlemanly manner in which they had carried out their strike. As a result, he said, there had been no rioting or destruction of property.

Alderman Raycraft did not think much of the minimum wage idea. It was open to abuse, he argued, for it would be useless to guarantee a man $10 per day if speeding up would mean that his usefulness disappeared after several months' work.

Mayor Fontaine could see nothing unreasonable in the strikers demand for recognition for their shop committee. Alderman Raycraft declared that the automobile manufacturers were "taking their stand" in connection with the present strike, confident that recognition of a union or shop committee in the Motor Lamp plant would have to be followed by similar steps in all other auto plants.

It was decided that the resolution asking for minimum wage legislation should be sent to other municipal councils, as well as to the government. A resolution was passed giving the Workers United League permission to hold a tag day in the city Saturday.

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"Agitators Back Strike," Border Cities Star. April 14, 1934. Page 3 & 11. ---- Workers' Unity League Organizers Come In For Trouble ---- Marxist Group ---- Wherever Any Disturbance Starts, Some Leaders Start Pouring In ---- The Workers Unity League - a 100 per cent. Marxist group with international affiliations - is directing strikes and strike agitation among the automobile workers of the Border Cities.

WALKING DELEGATES The flame of unrest and discord in nearly all of the automobile plants of this area is being fed by the high-powered oratory of organizers and "walking delegates," many of them imported from Toronto, Vancouver and other centres, for the occasion. After the arrival of the Workers' Unity League in any community trouble follows. League orators were busy in Stratford during the furniture workers' strike there last year. The result was a situation evidently demanding the use of the regular soldiery.

FROM ENGLAND The fluent, plausible Douglas Stewart, who came out to America after England's general strike of 1921, is the central figure in the strike of the employes of the Canadian Motor Lamp Company of East Windsor.

Mr. Stewart is not an employe of the lamp works. He has never been an employe of that firm. In fact, there is nothing on the records indicating that he has been employed by any firm in the Border area at any time. Mr. Stewart's business apparently is organizing for the international Labor movement.

HERE BEFORE Wherever trouble develops, Mr. Stewart is there, sooner or later if he is in the neighborhood. He was in the township of Sandwich West last year when the relief workers of the "New Detroit" area threw down their shovels and marched to the relief office. In the shade of the relief bureau Mr. Stewart addressed the relief recipients.

Mr. Stewart has been in and out of the Border Cities the past year or 18 months. When things are quiet Mr. Stewart is elsewhere, sometimes with Izzy Minster, a leading figure in the Winnipeg strike disorders. Mr. Stewart's co-orator, Mr. Minster is conducting an agitation in another Canadian city or he would be on the picket line in East Windsor.

Vancouver among other centres knows Mr. Stewart. He has been active on the Pacific coast. And Mr. Stewart, by his own revelation at East Windsor strike meetings has been in jail as a result of his organizing efforts.

ANOTHER LEADER Another leader of the left wing movement in this area is James Cochrane of Walkerville. Mr. Cochrane, like Mr. Stewart, organizes. He does not work in any of the local automobile plants although he did at one time. Mr. Cochrane is bound up tightly with the left wing or so-called "Red" movement. He has been long identified with the United Front, an organization which sprang up over-night after the Canadian courts put the Communist Party underground.

Mr. Cochrane ran for the Walkerville town council once. He served a term in the Essex County Jail at Sandwich for unlawful utterances in Lanspeary Park. The occasion was a "free speech" rally sponsored by the Canadian Labor Defence League. (Rev. A. E. Smith is national secretary of that unit.)

Mr. Cochrane marched in the May Day parade. He had led groups of jobless and welfare workers on to the city halls and relief bureaux. Wherever trouble lurks there one will find Mr. Cochrane or Mr. Stewart or Alderman Tom Raycraft of East Windsor or his colleague, Alderman Reg Morris.

Mr. Cochrane will speak in Windsor, Sandwich East, Riverside-it's all the same to him as long as there is indication of friction between employes and employers.

RAYCRAFT AND MORRIS Alderman Raycraft also is in the forefront of the battle and every battle where there is a chance to keep things stirred up. Alderman Raycraft was in the county jail with Mr. Cochrane. He is to be seen on the picket line at the lamp works and in the conference halls of the Ukrainian Hall, the East Windsor citadel of the revolutionary workers movement.

The same is true of Alderman Morris. He also may be observed on the picket lines, also at the continuous meetings of "agitational" or "organizational" and "propaganda" committees in the Ukrainian Hall.

The Workers Unity League deplores in its enthusiasm that it lacks sufficient organizers to handle the local situation. Fred Collins who evidently made himself famous at the Stratford disturbances was here at the tag end of the Auto Specialties walkout but he was called away. Everything was left temporarily to Organizer Stewart and his associates.

OTHER COMMUNISTS A number of assistant organizers of minor importance are on the scene. They have been coming here in notice- able numbers since the first of the year. They are young, aggressive, fast talkers and nearly all of them appear to be students of Marx and Lenin They are, in many instances, graduates of the Young Communist League. And some of them actually are employed in local shops and factories.

The big organization drive in the automotive section under auspices of the Workers' Unity League has been under way for months. Followers of the United Front were busy last year. haranguing workers at the factory gates, passing out literature, placing their delegates on the lines in the shops as the nucleus of the Auto Workers Industrial Union.

Progress was necessarily slow and labored. Obviously, the time was not opportune. Few men were at work. It was an off season in the auto trade.

But with this year's big improve- ment in industry, with employment figures back to the level of the sum- mer of 1931, it was time to strike. The iron was hot.

WORK BY SYSTEM Organizers of the Workers' Unity League went methodically about their business. They are shrewd. They know the organizing game. It's their business. So they picked out the small accessory plants, firms, they said, which had the lowest payrolls.

The employes won at the recent Auto Specialties strike. They won a week ago tonight at the Windsor Bedding Company.

This is the ninth day of the strike at the Canadian Motor Lamp Company of East Windsor. The men struck the same morning as the bedding workers. But there is an obvious hitch in the program. Victory did not come overnight. Victory or even partial victory is not assured today.

The strike drags on. The company warned at the outset it could shut down operations and the local plants still would be served with lamps from outside sources.

Even now some of the younger and "less militant" of the striking lamp workers indicate willingness to go back and deal individually across the green table with their employers.

But rousing speeches by the organisers in secret caucus and in front of the plant, has kept them in line. POLICE INACTIVE Belligerent pickets in front of the shop - unhampered by police - have kept away from the factory some men who did not walk out but who naturally did not want to risk life and limb in a dash through the mob without police protection.

Fearful of a permanent lockout and its discouraging effects on their confederates who contemplated strikes in neighboring plants in the event of a successful termination of the works strike, the shrewd organizers realized the time had come for a new avenue of approach.

CHRYSLER AND FORD And so the call has gone out to the employes of the Chrysler planta and to the men of the Ford Company.

The reaction of the men in these plants, however, evidently has not justified a general walkout. The greater majority of the men in these establishments evidently are satisfied with their lot.

As strike sympathizers passed out cards at the Chrysler gates this week some of the Chrysler men made it clear they did not want any interference with their jobs by outsiders.

Angrily they struck the cards from the hands of the organizers or ignored them completely.

A mass meeting called in Windsor for Chrysler men was poorly attended. Organizer Stewart spoke. He maintained he was not discouraged. He wouldn't say anything else it would be bad for his business and for Mr. Cochrane's business.

It is quite evident to the organizers, however, that plans for a general walkout in the Border have received a setback. The men who are working, some of them for the first time in three years at steady employment, will not be enticed away by Organizers Stewart and Cochrane. They will not even listen to them.

Another attempt to line up the automobile werkers is being staged tomorrow night. A theatre has been leased for the purpose and all employes of the Border Cities have been invited to hear Organizers Stewart and Cochrane who will tell them "of the benefits of a united front."

Mr. Stewart, of course, will not be able to review his experiences in any of the local factories. He has never worked in any of them.

The slogan for tomorrow night's meeting is to be "back to seven dollars per day in all the automotive plants.

There is every indication that the men of Chrysler's and the men of Ford's and the men of all other plants in this area, large and small. will say "back to the job in the morning.

For years past this is the first time the majority of them have had any real cash in their pockets Saturday nights and they indicate they will brook no interference from outside organizers.

It is not unreasonable to assume that the factory heads will give honest consideration to legitimate grievances and requests if presented to them in a businesslike manner by the employes themselves not by professional organisers whose experiences date back to the general strike in England and beyond.

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"Interest In Strike Wanes," Border Cities Star. April 16, 1934. Page 3. --- Tension Much Easier In East Windsor Wage Dispute ---- New Talk Refused ---- Company Contends Higher Wage Scale Suitable To Majority ---- Though a majority of the Motor Lamp employes are evidently in favor of going back to work and the shop management is willing to take them back at higher wages, the Canadian Motor Lamp "strike" continued today with little prospect of an early settlement.

SAY SCALE ACCEPTABLE Mop authorities felt sure that the wage schedule offered last work is acceptable to the majority of their empires. They print out that when the offer was made to the employes Individually, the strike organizers announced that letters sent to the individual letters would all be returned to the management. Less than half of the letters were returned, however.

The strikers took a stand opposing any bargaining between the management and the employes as individuals. Today according to word emanating from the plant office, a delegate from the strike committee proposed that a conference between the management and his committee be entered into The proposal was turned down.

After a quiet week-end, the picket line was reinforced today. Plant officials declared, however, that only one or two of their employes could be spotted in the picket lines. The rest of the picketers were recruited among the unemployed, they said.

It is beginning to be become evident to some of the strikers that the declaration of I. E. J. Warner, president of the plant, made a work may not have been a huff. Mr. Warner declared that he was ready to shut the plant down until the labor trouble had blown over.

There was no sign at the plant over the week-end that the management was in the least concerned about the strike. As a matter of fact, none of the plant offered the plant and the police posted there had a quiet time.

HUDDLED AROUND FIRE East Windsor police pointed out that while the picketers as the plant weren't very numerous, reserves were stationed in the Ukrainian Hall, East Windsor's Red headquarters, just around the corner. The plan of the picketers, it was said, was to send a runner to the hall in the event of anything happening on the picket Iine. But there seemed as likelihood of any thing happening and the picketers passed away the long hours huddled around a small bonfire on property adjoining the Motor Lamp plant.

As the strike went into its second week, another factor-how to live while the dispute is on-became an increasingly important question for the consideration of the striking employees.

J. S. White, East Windsor welfare director, reported that the Motor Lamp employes were calling on him the help. He was not giving relief pending a meeting of the East Windsor Water Board scheduled for today, he said. Giving welfare to the strikers would be form of subsidy, he thought, and he didn't know whether the government would be willing to take a step of that kind.

That interest in the new Auto Workers Union is not as keen as the radical sponsors would like the public to believe was evident last night. Union organizers claim to have 4.000 or more auto plant workers in the Border Cities organized. They have been speaking enthusiastically about the string of strikes they are planning

MEETING CALLED OF But a meeting of all Border automobile workers was called last evening for the old Empire Theatre on Pitt street and only a handful of persons, a good portion of them not auto workers but interested in stirring up something, showed up. The result was that the meeting was called off.

The strikers had hoped that tying up of the Motor Lamp plant would result in halting operations in other Windsor automobile plants. The other auto plants, however, are getting from Detroit the articles formerly supplied from the East Windsor plant. Besides manufacturing motor lamps, the East Windsor plant does considerable chrome-plating and nickel-plating Radiators, and cape and other plated parts of automobiles, are finished at the plant. The Motor Lamp's business not confined to the automobile industry. When the employees walked out they were working on a big order of toy shovels, hoes and rakes for a little store firm.

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"Unity League Men on Job," Border Cities Star. April 20, 1934. Page 3. === FOR LAMP STRIKE --- Fred Collins Arrives; Repeats Tim Buck Charge --- Fred Collins, the most outstanding organizer of the Workers' Unity League and the one who directed the furniture workers' strike in Stratford, is in the Border Cities and, evidently, is to remain in this area until settlement of differences between auto workers and their employers.

Collins was the chief speaker at a public rally in the Mercer street stadium last night. The meeting was sponsored by the committee of the striking lamp workers of East Windsor.

An address also was delivered by Organizer Douglas Stewart who has been prominent in the strike area here.

Mr. Stewart referred to the remarks in Windsor City Council last Monday by Commissioners Eansor and Fleming. These commissioners had attacked Mr. Stewart's character and he gave reply last night after extending a public invitation to them to be there. They were not there.

Commissioner Fleming, said Organizer Stewart "is a lawyer, not a worker" and Commissioner Eansor, he charged, "has never been a friend of labor.

Organizer Collins in a vigorous attack on the administrations of Prime Minister Bennett and Premier Henry charged a deliberate attempt had been made to assassinate Tim Buck in the Portsmouth prison and defied successful contradiction of that or any other statement he made during a long address.