Call for support of striking leather workers
Title:
Call for support of striking leather workers
Description:
Call from the District Commission of the Professional Classes Union in Bialystok for support of workers striking against Bekker's leather factory. Employers are accused of taking advantage of workers during a period of high unemployment and desperate poverty by violating the 8-hour day in order to purge "unwanted elements such as the class-conscious worker." Bekker, the owner of a leather factory has been particularly egregious, locking out dozens of workers and replacing them with strike-breakers. Despite the fact that he is a respected member of the community and a trustee in a bet hamidrash (study house), he has shown his workers no mercy. The matter has gone to arbitration but Bekker has appointed the head of the strike-breakers to argue his side. This is nothing but a ploy of the "nationalists" (e.g., Zionists) and the "N.P.R." to break the unity of the proletariat in Bialystok.