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Union Organizer ~
Carl Hacker
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The Bulletin Index,
October 28, 1937
 "....First
to get it in the neck fortnight ago were the plebian, garish
hamburger emporiums of Brass Rail Restaurant Co., Pittsburgh
owned chain of all-night eateries that goes in heavily for
pseudo-Neopolitan atmosphere, 6c hamburgers and 5c beer.
Suddenly one morning Brass Rail windows blossomed with
flamboyant, protesting signs and Brass Rail's 175 men & girl
employe[e]s began picketing the chain's 11 locked doors.
What happened was difficult to say, for the fuss was not
an hour old before charges & counter-charges, voll[e]ying
back & forth between Brass Rail's hardboiled little General
Manager E. A. DeLucia and the Hotel & Restaurant Employees'
International Alliance Local 237's implacable, tall President
Carl Hacker, blackened the air. On the heels of this
rumpus, that at week's end was still tightly deadlocked, Union
President Hacker pulled 200 waiters, maids, bartenders and
kitchen help out on strike at the keystone Hotel, demanding
higher wages and a closed shop. At week's end this dispute
had taken on graver proportions, for Keystone's management
(Knott Corp.) pronounced itself unable to add $1,700 to its
weekly payroll and still meet its bond requirements, prepared to
shut down the 20-story hotel for good.
Event precipitating the Keystone fuss
was the signing of a union contract calling for higher wages at
the Hotel Pittsburgher, also under Knott Management. But
the Pittsburgher promptly closed its Union Grill, famed
political meeting-place, and threw 60 out of work. For a
month similar jitters, retrenchments and closings in the face of
the advancing union drive have featured Restaurant Row. Dimling's
Restaurant last week closed down its 2nd floor. The Hotel
Henry Rathskeller, once open until 2 a.m., now closes at 9 p.m.,
eliminating 20 workers. The Nixon Restaurant has passed up
the luncheon trade to be open only evenings. The word was
retrenchment all up & down fear-inspired Restaurant Row last
week.
Inspirer of that fear was a
mild-mannered, intelligent, sleek-haired 6-footer who is rated
one of the ablest union organizers in Pennsylvania.
41-year-old, Cleveland-born Carl Hacker, who started out
as an auto-factory worker and electrician, came to Pittsburgh in
1929 as organizer for the radical International Labor Defense.
In 1933 he organized the Food Workers Industry Union,
piloted it through the Hotel William Penn strike fiasco of 1934.
Thereupon Organizer Hacker, who left school at 13 and is
self-taught, decided that he needed more knowledge of the
restaurant business, got himself a job as counterman for two
years in the Wood Street B & G Sandwich Shop to observe life
from the inside.
Year ago he was ready, quit his job and
took over the tasks of special organizer for the Hotel &
Restaurant Employees' union. Oddity of his union is that
it is an A.F. of L. affiliate though it is being organized on
C.I.O. lines, i.e. dishwashers, cooks, countermen, waiters &
waitresses all in one union, plus a close tie-up with the
Bartenders' International League, Local 188. Today
Laborman Hacker and 11 organizers have implanted the union
firmly in all of Pittsburgh's first-class hotels save the
Keystone, have organized nearly 300 restaurants and rolled up a
claimed union membership of 4,000. Sometimes working 14
hours a day, in & out of one conference after another behind
the unpainted door of his lower Liberty Avenue office,
pale-faced, hard-driving Carl Hacker is currently negotiating
with Hotel Webster Hall, Hotel Schenley, Hotel Roosevelt, some
40 to 50 restaurants, feels confident that within a year he will
have all of Pittsburgh's potential 10,000 restaurant, hotel and
domestic employe[e]s signed up."
(Source: Excerpt from article, "Restuarants:
Caught Between Fires Of Labor Unionism And The State's
44-Hour Week Is Restaurant Row." Pittsburgh, State
& Nation, The Bulletin Index, October 28, 1937.
Full article available at ASC.)
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HACKER FACES DOUBLE FIRE IN UNION DISPUTE
Election Tomorrow to Be Test; National Officers May Intervene
January 27, 1938
"For his utterances
before a Communist rally at Duquesne Garden Sunday night, Carl Hacker,
president of Local 237, Hotel and Restaurant Employes' Alliance, faces
arraignment today before the executive committee of the Central Labor
Union.
And tomorrow, Mr. Hacker will seek vindication
among his 6000 members in an election fight intensified by his flat
declaration to the Communists that William Green, president of the
American Federation of Labor, is a "labor disrupter." His
union is affiliated with the A.F. of L.
The C.L.U. executive committee, headed by
Charles L. Miller, of Engineers' Local 95, planned to convene at 2:30
p.m. to hear Mr. Hacker's version of the attack on Mr. Green,
precipitated by the Federation president's insistence that the
Pennsylvania Federation of Labor be purged of CIO unions......" (full
article available at ASC) |
HOTEL UNION FIRES HACKER AS PRESIDENT
Communist Party Membership Costs Job as Superiors Remove Him
January 29, 1938
"Carl Hacker's
membership in the Communist Party of America cost him his standing in
the trade union movement. His superiors have removed him from
presidency of Local 237. Hotel and Restaurant Employes' Alliance.
The removal was effected yesterday by Fred H.
Rasser, of Cincinnati, vice president of the international union, who
came here on orders of President Edward Flore to probe Mr. Hacker's
utterance against William Green, head of the American Federation of
Labor.
Mr. Rasser seized control of the local union and
installed John Bookjans, secretary-treasurer-business manager and
arch-foe of Mr. Hacker, as international representative in charge.
Emerging from a conference with the local's executive board, Mr.
Rasser announced: 'The international union has taken over the
operation of Local 237 and taken its autonomy. The local's
autonomy will be restored only by President Flore'......" (full
article available at ASC) |
HOTEL WORKERS SELECT HACKER
Wins After Attempt to Sidetrack Him Fails
March 12, 1940
"Carl Hacker followed up
his injunctive coup against hostile elements in the Hotel &
Restaurant Employes Alliance yesterday by winning election as business
agent of the kitchen department of Local 237.
Enemies of the man who was unseated as president
two years ago for his membership in the Communist Party and criticism of
AFL President William Green sought on the eve of the local's election to
remove his name from the ballot.
But Mr. Hecker [Hacker] obtained an injunction
Saturday and came through in the election with 362 votes against 37 for
Frank Gaglioni, 37 for Charles Kloter and 36 for Albert Casilio, his
opponents. The job pays $40 a week......" (full article
available at ASC) |
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Newspaper Clippings Available at the Archives Service
Center:
October 28, 1937
Restaurants: Caught Between Fires Of Labor Unionism And The State's
44-Hour Week Is Restaurant Row
(Pittsburgh, State & Nation. The Bulletin Index)
January 24, 1938
Green's Critic Faces Grilling
Communist Head of AFL Union Asked to Explain
January 25, 1938
Scheme to Ruin Unions Charged
Hacker Blames Employers For Ouster Move
January 26, 1938
Hacker Cites Free Speech as His Privilege
U. S. 'Still a Democracy....Communist Says in.....'
January 27, 1938
Hacker Faces Double Fire in Union Dispute
Election Tomorrow to Be Test; National Officers May Intervene
January 27, 1938
Hurting His Own Union
January 28, 1938
Union Delays Hacker Voting
Halts Election as C.L.U. Acts to Expel Communist
January 29, 1938
Hotel Union Fires Hacker as President
Communist Party Membership Costs Job as Superiors Remove Him
January 30, 1938
Hacker is Ousted
January 31, 1938
Hacker to Defend Beliefs at Forum
February 1, 1938
Father Rice, Hacker Debate Communism
Ousted Union Leader Sees Labor Benefits -- Pastor Stresses Perils
February 1, 1938
Hacker Speaks As Communist
Defends Conduct of Union Affairs in Debate With Rev. Charles O. Rice
(Pittsburgh Post Gazette)
February 8, 1938
Hacker's Proposal Refused by Judge
February 9, 1938
Hacker Injunction Postponed
February 21, 1938
Hacker Drops Suit to Regain Union Job
March 14, 1940
Hacker Injunction Hearing Postponed
April 6, 1938
Union Parley Bars Hacker
Ousted Head of Restaurant Workers Stand Outside
November 23, 1938
Hacker Taken Back Into Union
Expelled Communist Reinstated With $25 Fine
November 2, 1939
Communist Head's Wife Quits City Job
February 27, 1940
Red Issue Up In Union Again
Hacker Nominated for Post in Hotel Alliance
March 12, 1940
Hotel Workers Select Hacker
Wins After Attempt to Sidetrack Him Fails
March 21, 1940
Red Saga
(The Bulletin Index)
April 11, 1940
Injunction Postponed on Union Ballot Dispute
May 1, 1940
Union Member Winner in Row
Communist's Name Ordered on Local's Ballot
October 1, 1941
Strike Leader Once Ousted for Assailing Green
Hacker Re-instated by AFL After Many Appeals
Unknown Dates:
Progress Must Continue
Wage Rates Must Be Maintained
February 1
Forum Hears Rice Attack, Hacker Defends Reds
Unionist Tries to Regain Post
Alleged Red, Once Ousted, Seeks Presidency
Catholic Radical Alliance Urges Hacker to Be Ousted |
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