People : Author : Rose Pesotta Tags

CHAPTER 25
We Win Against Odds in Montreal
SIGNS OF A WIDENING RIFT in the Dress Manufacturers Guild wereevident on Friday. One faction was determined to fight our union to the lastditch. The other group indicated that if a union was to be organized amongthe city's dressmakers, they would "rather have the responsible ILGWU thana Jew-baiting Catholic 'syndicate."'
Their profits depended upon their taking advantage of changes in seasons.Soon there would be warm weather; summer dresses must he put on themarket, but none could be shipped because the strikers had essential parts ofthem at home in large quantity÷belts, loops, collars, and cuffs. In the pastthey had been compelled to do home work at night without pay.
Several manufacturers, including the four who had repudiated the contractwith La Ligue, requested a conference with us. We met at the Mount RoyalHotel and discussed the issues amicably, and prospects for an equitablesettlement seemed bright.
On Sunday, the 18th, however, more trouble loomed on the religious front.A letter urging the deportation of Shane and myself, addressed to theArchbishop of Montreal, was published with his approval in the widely readlocal French paper, La Patrie. Signed by representative,s of the Catholicsyndicates of Montreal and La Ligue Catholique, it read as follows:
To His Excellency,

Monseigneur Georges Gauthier,

Archbishop of Montreal,

Montreal.
Excellency:
Following the conversation. I had with you this morning, let me say that I had an interview with Rev. Father Bertrand and Mr. Conrad Bock, and that after discussion we came to the following conclusions,which I submit to you very respectfully.
After serious inquiry on "La Ligue Catholique des ouvrieres des industriesl'aiguille de la Province de Quebec," we can assure you that the said "Ligue"is in a position to assure, in a very effective manner, the protection of thematerial, moral, and religious interests of the workers in the industry. Thereare no reasons for the workers to join foreign and neutral associations(unions). Hence, we humbly recommend to the Religious Authority:

to give his entire support to "La Ligue . . ."to warn the Catholic dressmakers against the exaggerated promises offoreign organizations hostile to our faith, promises that cannot evermaterialize, and tell the workers to adhere to "La Ligue . . ."to ask the public authorities for special protection so that the Catholicdressmakers are not forced to give their name to the International Unionin order to get work, because, if in the present conflict, "La Ligue . . ."suffers a defeat, the Catholic workers, if they don't want to go on relief,will have to belong to a union with communist tendencies, and has thegovernment not promised to fight communism in this province?to press upon the government the immediate deportation of Miss RosePesotta and Mr. Bernard Shane and the arrest of any picket who is not aMontreal resident.(Signed) Jean Bertrand, priest

Catholic Syndicates of Montreal

Conrad Bock

Organizer of "La Ligue . . ."

J. B. Desrosiers, p.s.s
Please believe, Excellency, inmy filial and humble submission,
J. B. Desrosiers, p.s.s.
READ AND APPROVED by Georges Gauthier, Archbishop, and CardinalVillenueve.
April 17, 1937
On that Sunday the Catholic clergy made sweeping attacks on us in their sermons, and in parishes where many of the strikers lived the priestsannounced that Mademoiselle Pesotta and Monsieur Shane already had beendeported. Some of the girls phoned my hotel and learned that this was nottrue. I promised to be on the picket-line early next day.
To the surprise of the police, the employers, and the Fascist-mindedofficers of La Ligue, there was a huge turn-out of pickets on Monday, withShane and myself at the head.
On the line that morning, the French girls confided to me that this timetheir priests had missed the point.
"If we had heard that stuff one year ago," said Andrea Branchard, awillowy attractive brunet with shining black eyes, "we would have believedthem, but no more "
"All they want is our money, money, money," added Sally Paquette, achairlady in one of the larger shops. "Now we know why they were againstthe union÷we learn things for ourselves."1
At our afternoon meeting in the auditorium, I dwelt upon the attitude ofthe Catholic prelates, holding that they had no ethical right to aid orencourage the formation of company unions. In contrast to this attitude inQuebec, I pointed out that when Catholic priests in the United States enteredan industrial conflict, they usually sided with the workers.
I cited a few examples: friendly co-operation given us in Los Angeles byFather James F. Cunningham; food donated to our strikers there by theCatholic Welfare Association; courageous help accorded by Father E:azinscito the steel strikers in Braddock, Pennsylvania, in 1919, and to the CIO in itsdrive to organize steel in 1936; outspoken pronouncements by MonsignorJohn A. Ryan of the National Catholic Welfare Conference in favor of laborunions; and the aid given to our union by Monsignor Joseph Smith ofCleveland. Also I emphasized the mandates to Catholics in behalf of theworkers in the encyclicals of two Popes, Leo XIII and Pius XI.
The fight against us drained all our energies. We had to be alert day andnight. Representatives of La Ligue Catholique visited the strikers' homes,and blackened our union and the strike in the eyes of their parents. Girls wereput into the street by stern mothers be cause they could no longer bring in the pitiful wage they had been paid.Others were evicted from furnished rooms by landladies as "undesirable." Wemet these emergencies with cash relief, but they left their mark.
La Ligue's emissaries assailed us for helping the Spanish Loyalists againstGeneral Franco, who was their choice for ruler of the Spanish people. Thisgave me a legitimate reason to discuss the Spanish conflict at strike meetingsand to make clear the attitude of the ILGWU. Previously I had avoided thattopic, but since the Church had brought up the subject I felt in duty bound togive our union's views on the Spanish tragedy÷and to indicate what mighthappen to other peoples, including the Canadians, if the Loyalists lost andFranco, backed by Mussolini and Hitler, won.
But whatever I thought about the reactionary elements in the CatholicChurch, I had never tried to influence my secretary, Yvette Cadeux. In viewof her general intelligence, I believed time would take care of that. It did.
Shortly before the strike began, Yvette's younger sister, Denise, came intothe office one afternoon. Yvette received her with tears in her eyes. Sheseemed so affected that I asked why.
The younger girl had lost her job as an office worker. Unable to findanother, and heartsick, she had resolved to make a pilgrimage to the Shrine ofSt. Joseph, where a huge pile of crutches attested to the reputed miracles.Cripples who threw away those crutches, it was said, had been cured afterclimbing the long series of stone steps leading to the shrine.
Denise had walked several miles from her home and then made the climbon her knees, counting her beads and saying a prayer as she paused on eachstep. She had asked St. Joseph to help her find work.
"But, Yvette," I said, "why didn't you tell me? I could have saved her allthat. We need another girl in this office. The job is hers."
As the months passed, both sisters became imbued with the spirit ofmilitant unionism. After Yvette had translated a lot of our speeches andleaflets into French, and got a perspective on the whole fight, she begandelivering speeches to her coreligionists. When the priests attacked us as "foreigners and Communists," she demolished theirarguments for the benefit of the French-Canadian girls. Later the two visitedmany workers' homes, to counteract the speeches of our opposition.
"Now I understand what lies I've been fed all these years," Yvette confidedto me one day. "Never again will I believe what is said by others aboutanything, unless I study the question for myself."
La Ligue Catholique opened an "employment agency" for dressmakersand began to send workers to the factories÷girls who knew little if anythingabout the strike. But these innocents were intercepted by the pickets, whobrought them to the strike halls, where the situation was explained to them.Nearly always they joined our ranks.
The employers placed advertisements in the newspapers headed 'AnInvitation to the Workers in the Dress Industry," singing the old song:
"We know that Canadian workers in the dress industry want to work forwages, not strike. We know that numbers of Canadian workers are being keptfrom their factory by threats and intimidation. We are willing, as employers,to meet and discuss wages and working conditions with any Canadianworkers through their own Canadian organizations. We are not willing toassist any foreign agitators in forcing Canadian workers to join foreignorganizations which have no concern for the workers' welfare....
"We are willing to meet workers at any time, . . . to negotiate sanely andhonestly. Canadian workers, do not be misled by fantastic promises fromforeign agitators. We who have given you jobs and paid you wages are yourbest friends.,, ,"2
By this time the girls could see for themselves how dishonest this creedwas.
The Manufacturers' Guild, however, had gained the support of thereactionary daily press, which branded Shane and myself as "outsiders."Erroneously I was described in some of these attacks as a Cuban. Thedrum-fire became heavy.
May Day would fall on Saturday. We had planned to celebrate it fitly. Finespring weather had come, and we all felt in holiday mood. But on Fridayevening we learned that Premier Maurice Duplessis had ordered the arrest ofShane and Trepanier on a charge of "conspiracy to foment grave publicdisorder." And at 6:30 a.m. Saturday I was tipped off by telephone thatwarrants had been issued for all the strike leaders and that Shane and I wereto be held for deportation. Immediately we were notified by the union'sattorneys, Berkowitz & Spector, and Louis Fitch, that they would be ready toact. Mr. Berkowitz, a member of the Dominion Parliament, had manyimportant governmental contacts.
The reasoning of our enemies was apparent. In Quebec it is not easy on aSaturday to find a judge to set bail; on Sundays none at all can be found.With the leadership in jail over the week-end, the manufacturers and theheads of La Ligue Catholique figured that the spirit of the strikers would bebroken, for on Sunday, at mass in their parish churches, the priests would becertain to order the workers back into the shops.
We who faced arrest quickly got out of sight. I took breakfast in an obscurerestaurant, then spent most of the forenoon in a beauty parlor, having my hairdone, a facial, a manicure, and sundry other services, to keep me there as longas possible.
As I sat under the hair dryer, my thoughts strayed to New York. Delegatesto the 23d ILGWU convention, who would meet in Atlantic City on Monday,would now be assembling on Randall's Island for the May Day pageant. I hadhoped to be there. I pictured other May Day parades and pageants I had seenor taken part in. Outside the sun was bright and warm, the day perfect.Nostalgia pressed in upon me. Weeks of cumulative fatigue and lonelinesswere having their effect. I felt like a castaway on a desert island, not knowingwhen rescuers would come.
After the beauty parlor session, I scarcely recognized myself in the mirrorand hoped others wouldn't. Not having had any word about what to do next,I ate lunch in a second secluded eating place, and went back into hiding in amovie. That night I didn't use my own room at the Hotel Mount Royal, butslept instead in another room for which a friend had registered.
But the warrants Premier Duplessis had ordered were not served. AttorneyJ. J. Spector had given out a statement that if the threatened arrests weremade the union would apply for a writ of habeas corpus÷or whatever mightbe necessary÷and would fight the case. He pointed out that the 50,000unionists in Montreal had endorsed our strike and that they would not "takethis lying down."
A warning came from the Ministry of Labor that unless the strikers weresent back to work within 24 hours the arrests would be made. We answeredthat it was not the practice of the ILGWU's officers to order its membershiparound like a flock of sheep. Our arrests would not reopen the factories, wesaid; other leaders would step in and the strike would go on.
Duplessis backed down on Monday, when the Montreal conflict was thesubject of heated discussion in the Legislative Assembly in the City ofQuebec. The Premier asserted that the warrants had been issued "oninformation received from reliable sources, that disorder might spread toserious proportions." Now, he had suspended the serving of the warrants"until the Attorney General's Department can check the informationreceived."
President Dubinsky, in the name of the assembled delegates at theILGWU convention in Atlantic City, sent us a message of cordial greetingthat afternoon. Hyman Langer and Sam Kreisman, our Toronto organizers,and the cloakmakers' delegates had gone to the convention, but none of therest of us even dreamed of attending. There was no telling how long the fightmight last.
But evidently we had overestimated the employers' financial strength. Itsoon became apparent that they were weakening. They realized that the strikemust be settled, because the manufacturers who had signed individual pactswith us were operating to capacity. Now the shop owners were anxious tomeet with us.
Conferences were begun ;Monday evening and went on continuouslythrough the night and all day Tuesday. A settlement was finally reached at 2a.m. on Wednesday. In addition to our standard provisions, it gave thestrikers an immediate 10 per cent wage increase for all workers, a 44-hourweek, time and a half for overtime, no Saturday