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From Labor Action, Vol. 4 No. 30, 4 November 1940, p. 1.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for the Encyclopaedia of Trotskyism On-Line (ETOL).
BROOKLYN, N.Y., October 28 – Immediately upon the counting of the votes last Thursday showing that an overwhelming majority of the employees of the Leviton Manufacturing Company wished to be represented by Local 3 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, union officials sent a telegram to Leviton requesting an immediate conference on wages and conditions.
The boss’s reply was that the company would wait until official certification of the election results came from Washington. Such certification came from the National Labor Relations Board Saturday morning. However, following through on his dog-in-the-manger policy, Leviton is now taking advantage of the five days allowed him to protest the election if he wishes.
I was informed at strike headquarters that there is absolutely no ground for a protest, and Leviton knows it. The NLRB officials who supervised the balloting stated that the Leviton workers participated in the most orderly election they ever witnessed. In the first hour, 1,000 workers cast their votes. Of the total votes cast 1,299 were for Local 3, 70 were against the union, and 16 votes were challenged by the company.
In the meantime, the strikers are attending to the grim business of keeping the plant tied up tight. Every morning, between 700 and 800 and more pickets are on the job at the plant. Amply protected by from 200 to 300 cops on motorcycle, on horseback and on foot, nine private cars enter the plant – carrying strike-breakers. Were it not for the tremendous police force that the city government so generously supplies the boss in this struggle the strikers could prevent even these few scabs from functioning.
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Last updated: 16 February 2014