The Daily Worker

700 Dental Workers Picket in Answering Union's Strike Call

Some 700 workers, answered the strike call of the Dental Laboratory Workers Union yesterday in a fight for union recognition, the 8-hour day and the minimum wage. The union reports 75 per cent of the industry is crippled. It expects a complete tie-up today.

Response in some sections in Harlem and the Bronx is reported to be 100 per cent. Picketing committees are concentrating on the Union Sq. and Times Sq. district.

The strike vote had been enthusiastically welcomed by the membership a month ago, but placing too much faith in laboratory owners, the union officials delayed the strike till negotiations convinced them that the bosses, as Union President Posner lamented at a strike meeting, "lacked sincerity."

The union membership has adopted a resolution condemning the International Jewelry Workers Union, an A. F. of L. group with which the union was formerly affiliated, for jumping over the heads of the dental workers and conferring with boss associations in their name. The move was characterized by the official resolution as "hampering the way to a peaceful settlement."

However, the militant spirit of the workers indicates they are interested in resolutely fighting for their demands even though the struggle will not be so "peaceful."