Atlanta Daily World

SIGNING OF UNION CONTRACT

NINE-MONTH STRIKE IN NEW YORK

ENDS

Victory For 376 Workers

Agreement Calls For Complete Union Shop

NEW YORK--(ANP)--The nine-month strike of 376 Negro unionists against the Spring Products corporation in Long Island City ended with a complete victory for the United Furniture Workers of America last week when Samuel S. Marcus, president of the corporation, signed a contract ending the lengthy dispute.

The agreement, ratified by the Negro strikers last Saturday following extended negotiations, calls for a complete union shop, reinstatement of all strikers within 30 days, the immediate dismissal of all strikebreakers, a 5-day, 40-hour week, time and a half for overtime, one week's vacation with pay and other features.

The contract also provides for the re-employment of three strikers who are now serving sentences for assault following clashes with scabs on the picket line. These include Horace M. Smalls, vice president of local 91, the striking unit; Samuel Bryant and Leroy Clark.

BETTER WAGES

Other features of the two-year contract include a stipulation that no one can be discharged during the life of the agreement. The returning workers will receive 5 per cent more than the present wage scale in the factory, and negotiations for an upward revision of the salary scale will be opened within 12 months.

Local 91, UFW, will be the sole bargaining agent for the workers and Marcus has agreed to post signs in the shop calling attention to the union contract and urging new workers to join the union. No new men will be hired, however, unless the present union staff is working a full five-day week, and new men will be (Continued on Page 2, Col. 1)
Victory For 376
(Continued from Page 1)

dropped first during slack seasons. All complaints and grievances will be handled through the shop committee, and union officials will have access to the factory at all times.

LONG STRIKE

The strike, one of the longest and most bitterly contested in the local history of the CIO, was called last August 4 after attempt to renew a one-year contract had broken down during lengthy negotiations.

The widespread support of UAW locals and of progressive Negro organizations was credited by Sol Silverman, organizer for the Furniture Workers Joint council, with the success of the strike.

"This strike never would have been won," he stated, "without the remarkable display of courage and determination on the part of the Negro strikers, or without the wholehearted support of the entire Negro community of Harlem, especially the Harlem Citizens committee whose chairman was Charles A. Collier, Jr.

"The union deeply appreciates the support of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the New York Urban league, the Negro Labor committee and many other organizations and individuals like the Workers Alliance, Congressman Joseph A. Gavagan, former Alderman George W. Harris, George LeMarr, the Rev. Adam C. Powell Jr., and others."