The Daily Worker Newspaper, November 7, 1925, Page 17

f , Wages and Profits in the Railroad Industry i 1} ane aly? MORD WI WILGUS. \PART iby RAILROAD: WAGES | ile thé’ opinion of the’ public at large, the railroad workers ‘are paid wages far in excess of other wage earners. The question arises how such an opin- ion, false as it is, has been able to gain wide cufrency even among work- ers themselves. It is not denied that there are some groups of workers in this industry who receive wages which permit them -to live in decency. But to apply this standard to the railroad workets as a unit is nothing short of deception, The existence of the labor aristoc- racy in the form of the. Big Four Brotherhoods is unquestionably the chief cause of this prevailing belief taking root among wage earners in general, A contributing cause is the policy. of the railroad employers “in quietly spreading illusions inthe press and otherwise ‘of railroad “workers leisurély G@riving ‘in’ to work in their privatély-owiied automobiles, with the consequence that this myth reached fantastic proportions several years ago. The mental picture of a railroad worker driving his “own car” into the yard seduces the critical faculty of the average worker completely. He at once conjures up images in his mind of the ease and plenty enjoyed by cer- tain groups of workers while he must toil on endlessly on wages scarcely permitting the necessities of life. OWEVER, let us look at the facts. Let us see just how much wages these “high-paid” men actually re- ceive. In a shop one is often in- clined to think: “Well, I don’t get much wages, but the others must be getting it.” This is but natural in view of the general secrecy about wages prevailing in the shops. In ad- dition to this, the employers for their own interests, never cease spreading false rumors and exaggerations in or- der to create jealousy amongst the pa lf d ,thus divide them . against each of her. Divide and conquer ‘has always been the slogan.of the mas- ters. Furthermore, the failure of the employers. to make public. their pay- rolls denies the more class conscious worker a source from which to make eomparisons and thus effectively ex- pose on the spot the machinations and chicane of the bosses. The U. S. department of commerce from which our data is taken divides the railroad workers in seven groups as follows: 1—Executives, assistants and staff assistants. '2—Professional, clerical and gen- - eral. 3—Maintenance of Way and Struc-, tures. 4—-Maintenance of Equipment and Stores. ~ 5—Transportation — other than train, engine or yard. 6—Transportation—yard masters, switch tenders and hostlers, 7—Transportation—train and en- gine service. IS..grouping which corresponds with the forms*of labor in the in- dustry gives a distorted picture of the wage scales in force for the workers as.a whole. _To eliminate this. distor- tion, we have divided the railroad workers in accordance with minimum and maximum wages they receive. To arrive at the actual weekly wages, the monthly stated wages were multiplied by twelve and then divided by fifty- two. The workers on the railroads are generally paid twice a month. Since there are fifty-two weeks in the year, it would be erroneous to divide the monthly wages by four weeks for a man must eat fifty-two weeks in the year and not forty-eight. All data is for the year 1923, but no material changes have taken place since, GROUP A—Railroad er ae Receiving Less Than $25 ed eek. Kind of Work Workers Wages Mechanical device op-. 7,625 $24.50 6,721 13.15 ie: Stes Acre... Aeil i710 AS8tS......00 5 Janitors & Cleanere.., 18.00 » Oitied zondee : Hel 22.45 Pumpin Opera ee 18.95 Werkers ony gang & WOK train). 58,310 18.68 . Wovmers: (track & roadway) 210,913 17.10 Maintenance of Orie te ong 'W may Laborers (other than ; ; track & roadway) ©)8,401) °0.° 4740 © Signal man and signal . maintenance helpers 3,232 22.06 Helper Apprenticés .... 7,619 24.50 bet ea Subainiien tices ........ “i 16.25 Coach Cleaners . , 20.75 Maintenance of equip- ment laborers . 115,567 20,35 Station agents (small) 4 137 23.10 Baggage, parcel-room and station workers 9,571 22.85 Callers, loaders, scal- ers, sealers and per- ishable freight in- spectors . 23.80 Truckers . 21.25 Laborers 6, 22.85 Crossing arfd bridge flag- men and gatemen.... 22,813 17.08 Total number of workers receiving less than $25 per week—574,655. E group of workers comprised above number 574,655 men and wo- men or 33 per cent of the grand’ or railroad employes on all class. 1] in roads. Together with their wives nd} children, they represent a: ity. of over 2,000,000 souls, this group represents What ig gener- ally known as unskilled labor, never- theless they play a decisive part in maintaining the arteries of the coun- try in running order. The arduous toil of keeping the roadbeds im condi- tion is in their keeping. And yet they are paid wages which will scarcely afford to bare necessities of life. In the face of these facts it is prepost- erous to prattle about high-paid rail- roaders, a third of whom receive less than $25 per week. Group B—Railroad Workers Receiving Between $25 and $33 per Week. No. of Weekly Workers Wa 1923 1 Kind of Work— bse ae $28.85 nograp’ typists ..... 21,822 26.10 Carpenters and egy it ~ 507 27.95 Painters (bride an - building) oc. 565 27.00 Gang and section- : "28.95 27.45 33.00: Carm Skilled. trades helpers Gang foremen, Labor.° ers (shops, enging- houses, etc). Telegraphers and ‘tele. emoners . cer eer 19,571 Telegrap ers an le- sBhoners’ clerk $s 18,813. 31.95 aggage agents Baie ee: assistants . 846° 30.50 Gang Foreme n . trretignt Station, warehouse, etc.) ...... 3,774. 32.10 Total mb if workers receiving be- tweat, $25, ‘and. $33 per week—577,853. Group B whose wages fall between $25 and $33 per week consist of skilled workers. Together with Group A they number 1,152,506 wage earners or practically two-thirds of the total number of railroad employes. Com- pared to organized trades in other in- dustries the scale is low, falling far behind the so-called American stand- ard of living. Group C—Railroad Workers Receiving Between $33 and $40 per Week. No. of Weekly Workers Wages 1923 19. Bridge “a. buildi ridge uilding anno foremen............. 5,440 $38.35 Gang foremen (extra gang, work ib on te)”. ae ager 4,852 33.50 nalmen. & signa analmen a etevce,, S067 36.25 Blacksmiths. ..... 37.50 lectrical workers Machinists 40 ~~ «38.00 _— awa veo on 12,594 37.00 upervisory station - age _ oA bt hae 5,469 38.10 Roa ogc er - tga oanaee ena es Road passenger ‘brake- 14,581 36.00 men & flagmen.......... 65,750 39.00 Yard brakemen & vacate . 38.00 wa he 34.65 Total N orkers Yea by yr tween $33 & $40 per week—310. HERE are 310,421 workers ool prised in Group C receiving wages which assure them the necessities of life but no more. To talk of main- taining a family in health and decency on a weekly avreage income of $36 is ridiculous. Of course one must live. But, to say that you are living in health and decency is false. You can- not do it, One cannot obtain a modern three- room apartment today under $45 per month. But a three-room apartment for a family of five, the average com- position of a worker’s home, is too small and causes overcrowding. And overcrowding, as every intelligent worker knows, contributes neither to of health nor, decency, , Suppose then, the. railroad worker, in Group C rents a ‘four-room apart- ment, What is’ the’ consequence of that? A four-room modern fiat rents at a minimum of $60 per month or $14 per week. Subtract this sum from $36, the approximate average wage of the above group, and you find the high paid railroad man has $22 left to cover expenditures. on food and clothing for a family of five! Not to say a word about unemployment, sick- ness, etc! If the worker eats, as he should in order to maintain his effi- ciency as a wage earner, he must live in an overcrowded flat; if, on the other hand, he takes & four-room edartadeits to-.permit himself and his # minimum amount of breath- & », he iscompelled to cut down L or! edt; chéap, undernour- How then, can wages “permit the necessities of 4 iife aiow.de.t> indulge in luxuries or an automobile? Group D—Railroad Workers Receiving Between $40 and $60 per Week, No. Actual of Weekly Workers Wages 1923 1923 Kind of Work— Road passenger con- hash cacy coh AO na ena 10,531 $54.00 Road freight conduc- MEW: <ccssuRiscapchiomsndbcons oreap 26,901 52.65 Yard conductors & yard foremen ......... 22,002 44.10 Road passenger engi- neers & motormen .. 13.042 58.65 Road freight engi- neers & motormen.. 34,137. 59.40 Yard engineers & mo- tormen woe 22,142 46.45 Road pass men & helpers .. 12,756 43.45 Road freight firemen & helpers 41.30 Supervisor: 53.10 Chief clerks .... 41.60 Signal & Tele gang foremen 1,180 44.10 Assistant General partment foremen ., * 42,112 59.15 Maintenance gang fore- _ men & leaders 553 52.50 Train remggyapteet it direetors ......... 645 59.65 Supervisory st a t ion a in, et hc 459 56.60 Yardmasters and as- Cn ee SR ie hE 7,111 58.90 Total, if rier maelvisg. Be- eek—217, i how! comé”™”to~_ the group of workers who are gener- ally regarded as the labor aristocracy and justly so. This class of workmen despise the word “worker” and look upon themselves as a category dis- tinct from and independent of com- mon labor. Psychologically corrupted with bourgeois ideas and standards, they have abandoned the militancy which formerly characterized their ac- tivities and are now engaged in op- erating non-union coal mines, “labor” banks and insurance schemes in com- plete harmony and’ co-operation with the capitalistic interests. It is not accidental that these work- ers known collectively as the Big 4 Brotherhoods have gained their priv- ileged position. Their gains are not the result of a militant struggle or the class conscious solidarity of its mem- bers but on the contrary they are the concessions designedly granted by the railroad interests in order to split and divide the workers and render them impotent as a conscious force in the ever-increasing struggle betwen capi- tal and labor. Hence one must not be surprised to find this group receiving wages higher]; than’ their fellow workers. It is a means of keeping them apart and weakening the tremendous potential power of the railroad workers as a single‘unit. Of course, superficially it appears that the ‘higher wages of the labor aristocracy come from the skill- ed work they do—but then one asks how was it possible for certain sec- tions of the working class to obtain this skill to the exclusion of the vast majority of the proletariat? The answer is obvious. It was the em- Ployers who provided the means in the form of free vocational schools (nominal fee schools, Y. M. C, A. Baron de Hirche’s Cooper Unions) and promotions based on seniority as in the railroads, These are the two chief subjective factors which constitute the basis for the existence of a labor ristocracy. Both these factors, that ss the vocational schools and promo- tions are initiated and controlled by the employers. By means of these they seduce and corrupt the more in- dividualistic and ambitious members ', their contemptible of the proletariat and raise them to a labor aristocracy. It is this oppor- tunity furnished by the capitalist for a small minority of the workers which constitutes the bribery: Hence in re- ality it is not greater skill which comands higher wages—it is indirect bribery shamelessly accepted by. the Brotherhoods of Enineers and Conduc- tors at the expense of their underpaid fellow workers the majority of whom receive wages decidedly below the lowest minimum prescribed by the , government itself. It should be kept in mind that, the, Big 4 Brotherhoods together with the... higher ‘paid technical force comprised in Group D total not more than 20 per cent of the total number of rail- road .employes, Sas figures furnished by the U. S. department of commerce give the total number of railroad workers for the year 1923 as 1,879,770. This grand total includes the “executives,” gen- eral officers, lieutenants, and ser- geants of police, patrolmen, etc. We fail to see, however, how an execu-~ tive or general officer can be classified as an “employe” qr how a police force organized and paid by the railroads to overawe and terrorize the workers can be called useful or necessary to the efficient running of the roads. The well-paid “executives” are nothing but - figureheads holding down sinecures while the riff-raff organized as police bullies receive pariah’s wages for “labor.” These two parasitical groups comprise over 14,000 so-called “employes” who pork- barrelled the stupendous sum of over $75,000,000 in salaries ‘for the year 1923. HE total amount paid in wages for the year 1923 was $3,043,161,000. This sum includes the 75 million dol- lars expended on sinecures and “law and order.” Dividing the $3,043,161,- 000 among the 1,879,770 workers, we find the average wage to be $31 per week, a sum absolutely insufficient to support a family in health and de- cency according to the U. 8S. depart- ment of labor itself. The ‘osper. 7) tf ity” of the American worker exists principally in the imaginations of the bourgeoisie, in their press and in their propaganda abroad designed to entice foreign workmen to the hell-breathing ten- and twelve-hour day steel fur- naces of Gary & Co. EFORE passing to the second part of the article dealing with rail- road profits, it would be in place to describe the hours of labor in this in- dustry. Unfortunately we cannot do so as the department of commerce withholds all data on the subject of hours. .The “basic” day is supposed to consist of eight hours, but this is a myth, By allowing overtime, extras, exceptions, etc., the railroad managers craftily metamorphose the “basic” eight-hour day into a “baseless”. day; Of course overtime may be necesgary in emergencies but when the “emerg+ encies” are more or less permanent affairs there is an end of the eight- hour day. (To Be Continued) Riceam Out to Grab Great Muscle Shoals Resources of Power WASHINGTON—(FP)—Once more the Alabama Power Co., which is owned by the General Electric trust, which is Morgan & Co., is reaching out to grab the nation’s yast hydro- electric power plant at Muscle Shoals, Its transmission lines are the only ones' in the region. It is now using the power from the Wilson dam under a six months lease which it secured during the summer from the secretary of war. Its scheme is that Congress shall yield to the demand of the Cool- idge administration that the govern- ment rid itself of its power dams, and that the company shall get Muscle Shoals on a 50-year lease, with the privilege of renewal after that period. This would in effect be a sale of the plant to the power trust. It would remove the last opportunity of six southern states to have their rates for electric power and light eut by federal competition. ,