The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 30, 1929, Page 4

Page Four WORKERS MUS By a Worker Correspondent. PERTH AMBOY, N. J. (By Mail).—The Ameri Smelting & Refining Co. of Perth Amboy is owned by the Guggenheims. It refines gold, silver, zinc, lead, etc. There are about 1,200 workers working here. T We work 8 hours a day and get 50c an hour. Most of the jobs are heavy and dirty. There are many | Latin-American and Negro work- ers working here. The company hires and fires workers every week. The big shot here is Bob Miller, Workers of Raritan Co LABOR FAKERS “UNION DRIVE” WAS BUT FARCE Fear Makes the Bosses Give Small Raise 1 « Worker Correspondent) PERTH AMBOY, N. J. (By Mail).— I want to speak about the Raritan Copper Works where I k. Hundreds of workers in the ant joined the International Mine, Mill & Smelter Workers’ Union. A number of workers who joined the PAY TO GET JOBS the “big boss.” If you want to get a job here you have to pay for it from $3 to $5 and up to the com- pany “agents.” The foremen drive the men pretty hard. Hotter Than Hell. One of the worst departments here is the copper room where DAILY WORKER, W YOR! ¥/ 4 K, TUESDAY, APRIL 30, 1929 IN GUGGENHEIM COPPER WORKS AT PERTH AMBOY, N. J. they melt the copper and make bars out of it. It is hotter than hell in this department. The com- pany only pays time and a half for after ten hours of work. When- ever it can the company tries to gyp the workers out of their over- time. I know a case where a worker sometime ago worker five hours overtime and was gypped out of it. When he asked for it he was fired. The washroom where we change clothes is about 5 minutes walk | (By a Worker Correspondent) SPOKANE, Wash. (By Mail).— Ten years ago, in spite of the war ysteria, the lumber workers were demanding and taking fairly good wages and conditions. On the Coast nine years ago the lumber workers voted to tie up every camp in the Northwest if the I. W. W. hall was closed in Seattle. Immediately wages went up from one to two dollars. Choker setters received $6.50 and $7, and the hooker kept his mouth closed. The workers had met the test and came thru with flying colors, In 1921-22 the lumber bosses cut | Prosperity, what does it mean for | the lumber slaves? Four years when | the bosses filled their coffers with gold and we filled the hospitals, | cemeteri missions and streets with our care: Now these $: jobs on the board point the finger of scorn at us and/ sceram to the skies, “Wanted, one scab.” Why don’t we organize? Must Organize. If we refuse to work for low wages, when unorganized, we simply go on the bum, become mission stiffs, or crooks, and wind up in prison, | an sper Works Get Low Lumber Workers, Organize ‘THOUSAND SLAVE . I to Beat the Clearing House: N ANACONDA CO. AMBOY BRANCH TEN HOURS A DAY | Workers Want To Be Organized | By a Worker Correspondent PERTH AMBOY, N. J. (By Mail).—One of the largest plants in Perth Amboy is the Raritan Cop- per Works. This plant when run- ning normal employs 1,500 men. | If we want to raise the wages,| Now about 1,000 men are employed. our conditions we will have to put up a fight, something like the workers did here about 15-20 years ago when they even had the militia out here against the work- ers. In that fight some workers were killed. Organization is pow- er. Let’s organize a shop commit- from where we punch our cards. | The company gives us no time to change our clothes or to wash up. We must do it on our own time. This is only a little ‘nstance of how the workers in Guggenheim’s factories are treated. To improve tee with representatives from all departments. Let us send dele- gates to the great Trade Unity Conference to be held under the auspices of the Trade Union Edu- cational League in Cleveland, ;* June 1 and 2. 2 —GUGGENHEIM SLAVE. Wages; Sold by A.F.L.; Correspondent Says ‘STANDARD CABLE! WORKERS SLAVE Low Wages, Insurance Scheme In Plant (By a Worker Correspondent) PERTH AMBOY, N, J., (By Mail).—The Standard Underground | | Cable Co. is the biggest factory in | Perth Amboy. When it is running full speed it employs over 2,500 workers. Now there are about 1,300 ! DRAMA KATHARINE CORNELL. “Harlem” Takes Up) | New Quarters at Times Square After a nine-week stay at the Apollo, “Harlem,” the Rapp-Thur- | man play of New York’s black belt, moved last night into the Times | Square Theatre next door, there to | continue its run until its departure | for London within the next month or | two. Tonight will mark the 250th per- formance of “The New Moon” at the Imperial Theatre and the 125th performance of “Follow Thru” at the Star of “The Age of Innocence,” a dramatization of Edith Wharton’s NERO SLAVES TREATED WORST IN AUTO PLANTS Get Only Janitor Jobs In Dodge (By a Wo Correspondent) DETROIT, (By Mail).—At Dodge Brothers conditions are bad. Many of the well-paying piece-work jobs are auctioned off by the “straw bosses”; Negroes are employed only on the janitor, chip tucking, car | Chanin 46th Street Theatre. now playing at the Empire Theat - loading and trash-hauling jobs. the best way is to stop the wheels; The plant belongs to the Anaconda of industry. The only way to do|Copper Co. The wages are 53e per away with our slave conditions is to| hour and up. organize and call a general strike | We recently got a 3c raise when workers working in the plant. Several hundred of the workers jare women and young workers. }on Saturday, May 25. The Guild’s “Porgy” is now playing in London at Majesty’s Theatre. union were fired and the local, over | the wages and in 1923 found the the protest of the organizer declared| union on the job for better condi- a strike for the reinstatement of the| tions once more. fter working 10 and 11 hours the janitors are forced to scrub the |floors several nights cach week for The Theatre Guild production of “Caprice” will be presented by the rt : r e | Many women work in the rubber| Gai ’ : Ne cidvey ek he : fired men and for the recognition| Blacklisted. 4, |0f the lumber workers. If the boss| the Price of copper was going up| mill. We work 10 hours a day and| [ion on fuse’ 3. Whe Tact weet Thentoe Canty payed for ine |two and three hours extra. of the union. | In September 1923, when a strike | mows we are always ready to walk| 0M an average of a half a cent per| half a day Saturday. Our wages! s°Mdo™ : Hn 5 MeL ASL S2 pedas ules tae ta eb Men Walk Out. Several hundred workers respond-| ed to the strike call, but the organ- izers’ conservative policies failed to| bring out the whole plant and the strike was lost, and the union melted away. In this strike several rank and file workers were framed up, two from my plant and one from the United Lead Works, who also was in our union, and was active in our picket line. These workers were thrown into jail for their militant activities and later fined $150 each by the boss-controlled courts of New Brunswick, N. J. They were convicted of the charge of “asault and battery.” Company Promises Just Talk. In the first strike three years} ago the company promised to give the other nickel raise we asked for “when business picks up.” About} two months ago we noticed in the! newspapers that the price of copper was going up almost every week by from one-quarter to three-quarters per pound, so we decided to kick for more money. But the company, through the company union it form- ed, after the loss of our strike lead by the International Union of Mine, Mill & Smelter Workers’ Union, did not want to give us a raise. So the electrical department walked out on strike, but the rest of us did not go out with them and a couple of elec- tricians lost their jobs. The com- pany seeing that we were still dis- satisfied and talking about asking more money, then decided to give/ the whole plant a three cent per hour raise. Fellow workers, when things get slack the company will lay off many of us and will try to take back our wage increases by speeding us up more and by wage cuts. To protect ourselves we must organize into a real fighting union with a fighting leadership, and smash the company union of the bosses that is in the| plant now. —INGOT. LABOR SOCCER MEET SUNDAY A conference of representatives from workers’ soccer leagues and clubs from various parts of the country will be held here in New York City next Sunday. The con- ference will start at 11 a. m, at frving Plaza, 15th St. and Irving Pi. This conference will establish a workers’ soccer association of the United States on a real amateur basis. It will be a rallying center for all the workers’ soccer players who are now members of the United States Football Association (a bosses’ soccer organization) and will make a step forward in the broadening of the labor sports move- nent. Children Less Than 16 Slave At Bellas-Hess (By a Worker Correspondent) 1 would like to call attention to he conditions in the National Bellas fess.Co., 24th St. and Seventh Ave., few York City. (A cloak house.) There is posted on time clocks a oster stating that work is from $:80 a. m. to 6 p. m., with three- _uarters of an hour for lunch, There tie hundreds of women and girls nd also boys under 16 years of age vorking 50 hours a week. This in- Judes Saturdays until 4:30 p. m., ill this overtime being without pay. ‘This should be stopped, taking ad- vantage of children under age. They just finished five weeks of _ overtime the Monday after Easter, “never received any pay for it. these conditions to go on for- blacklisted. A clearing house was started in| It should have been met with a gen- | of nothing happening for the lumber workers. improve. obody wants to} | the conditions wil! The old song “ ears. Let him do the singing of it) them. —LOGGER. (By a Worker Correspondent) SWEYERVILLE, Pa., (By Mail).| Militant miners are waging a fight) in District No. 1 in the anthracite} The miners’ condition is worse now! than at any time before. The work- ers of the Glen Alden Coal Co, struck | against the wage cut which was a cut of $2.35 a yard in one vein; also a cut on the car from $6.00 to $3.00. Because of the sabotage of the di: trict officials this strike was lost. The miners of the Kingston Coal Co. struck for equal distribution of -irank and file miners. in opposition | district 1 by Boylan, Cappellini andy Conditions Worse Than Ever in the Anthracite | a few months been brought here from the bituminous field. Miners are tired of these terrible conditions existing in the mines and are ready to fight in spite of the united front of the union officials, coal companies and contractors. This is shown by the recent rank and file} militant slate which was formed by to the reactionary slates put up in McGarry followers. Besides their candidates the rank and file miners| work in the four collieries and equal| have a militant program which in- distribution of the cars. In spite of cludes 21 demands. These demands, the fact that the U. M. W. officials| which include a 6-hour day, 5 day tried to force the miners back to) week, social insurance and other de- work, the miners, many of whom) mands beneficial to the miners, are are members of the National Min-| bitterly oposed by the reactionary ers Union, stayed out until they won| U. M. W. officials. They tried to their demands. During this strike,| discredit them by saying theyeare one of the leading militant miners | “Communist”, “Red”, and could only received a black hand letter threat-| work in “bolshevik Russia”; this ening him with death, indications} makes the miners think Russia must pointing that this was sent by the| be a good place for workers to live | | was called, those who struck were! out to get better conditions, then| pound per week, and the men threat- | ened to strike for more money, in fact the electrician department actu- | Portland, Oregon, as an experiment.) strike” is sweet music to the bosses’ | ally did walk out. Walkout Wins. eral strike. But it was not, and the| in the future. We have songs to fan| -Three years ago the workers in| four years that followed were years| the flame of discontent—let’s sing| the plant were getting 45c per hour. There was a spontaneous walk out, a strike in which all came out to} one man asking for ten cents per} hour increase in wages. The strike} lasted two days and we won five) cents per hour raise for everybody, | and changed the pay from every two weeks in check to every week in cash. | The bosses being afraid the strike | would spread thruout the whole city, | as the men in the other plants in| town were beginning to ask them- selves that if the copper workers| are not afraid to ask for a ten cent raise why should we be afraid to ask | they gave their workers a raise of| from four to five cents per hour in| practically all the important fac- tories in the city. Workers in the following plants | got the raise: Standard Under-| ground Cable Co., Chemical Plants) (several of them), American Smelt- ing & Refining Co., Barber Asphalt Co., and United Lead Works, all em- ploying from 500 to 1,500 workers; each. Fake A. F. L. Drive. Soon after this the American Fed- eration of Labor started an organi-| zation campaign in this city to or- ganize all the workers They had or- ganizers from the following unions here: United Hatters of North America (two organizers), Cigar coal company. Strike Breaking. Because of discrimination against one of the miners at the Loomis Colliery, of the Glen Alden Coal Co., 3000 men went on a 2-day strike, forcing the boss to give in to their) demands, | In the recent strike in} Olyphant, the strike was broken by John Boylan, district No. 1 presi-| dent, and other U, M. W. officials. | Wage cuts under the contractors in the Pennsylvania Coal Co. in Pittston have been from $9 to $7. This cut was undoubtedly the result of a deal between Boylan, the con- tractors, and Rinaldo Cappellini,| former president of the district, first because the contractors want the| wages cut, and second to leave some; prestige for Cappellini among the| miners. Although Cappellini and Boylan in the present election cam- paign are making efforts to fool the miners into thinking there is a difference between them. They are in reality working hand in hand with the coal companies, contractors and} Lewis machine. In trying to mis- lead the miners into thinking there is a difference between these two fakers, they hope to keep the min-| ers from drifting to the militant Na-) tional Miners Union. Strike Every Day. The miners have so many griev- ances that there is at least one strike a day in the anthracite. Every | strike is considered illegal by the reactionary Lewis-Boylan-Cappellini machine, and almost every strike is sold out to the coal companies by these officials. In practically every ease, the grievances which are the result of the violation of the agree- ment by the coal companies, are settled in favor of the coal com- panies, because, as many miners openly state, the union officials and the entire conciliation board are on the pay roll of the coal company. Even the fake “progressives”, like McGarry, Harris and Co. in Pittston, did not openly attack the reactionary machine for its strike-breaking po- licy. Officials of local unions who formerly called themselves “progres- sives” are now openly showing their association with the coal companies. The companies because of their con- trol of the cities and towns in the anthracite not only buys off the of- ficials by giving them good jobs in the mines, but also give them good city jobs when necessary. This is part of the preparation for open wage cuts; another part of the wage- cutting plan is the bringing in from the soft coal fields, of mine bosses, mine superintendents and engineers —BELLAS SLAVE. Demonstrate against imperialist May First at the Coliseum, 4 who have had experience in wage- cutting policy. More than half of} Makers Union, Brick & Clay Work- {ers Union, and an organizer of the International Union of Mine, Mill & Smelter Workers. We know what kind of an organi-| | zation campaign the A, F. of L. | fakers carry on. Spending most of | their money in their hotels and | saloons, where they spent most of | their time. in. In spite of the fakers the min- ers put up a fight and spoke before the members of 37 locals, for their militant program. In many cases, local officials used their authority to ignore the decision of the rank and file and secretly sent in a vote for the reactionary machine. In Local 1432, in Ashley, for example, where the slate was unanimously endorsed, and where members of the National} A®Yhow <he workers wanted to be Miners Union control the local, the organized and they joined "the vote for the rank and file slate was | Uns of eheir eet: fora after stolen for the fakers. | strikes broke out in almost all the s | plants where the union was being The miners of the anthracite are| formed. But because of the A. F. reading the Coal Digger. They will) of L. organizers’ betrayal, by their guard themselves from the fake! inactivity, sleeping in their hotels “progressives” like McGarry, and the | until 10 o’clock instead of being on open reactionaries and strike-break-| the picket lines with the workers and ers like Boylan, Cappelini and Lewis,| raising their fighting spirit—especi- by joining the National Miners|ally in the hatters strike, and by Union. The National Miners Union,|their class-collaboration no gain because of the bad conditions in the| was made. anthracite, is growing and will grow —_——_———— faster in the future. The National RELIEF T A G D AY Miners Union will wage an intensive fight in the coming struggle. It is Workers Will Collect. for Southern Strike | | the only hope for bettering the con- ditions of the miners, —FRANK VRATARIC. JOBLESS VETERAN KILLS SELF HOBOKEN.—Made a_ hopeless wreck by bursting shells in the im- perialist world war, and his com- pensation from the Veterans’ Eu- are from 29 cents per hour for the women and some young workers to 48 cents per hour for the men. Of all the big plants in this city we in this factory are the only ones that work ten hours a day, and get such low wages. All kinds of electrical wires and cables are made here. The last raise we got was three years ago when the workers of the Raritan Copper Works went on strike for more money. Then the company gave us a four cent raise without asking for it on the first day of the copper works strike, because the company knew we were going to join the strike too. y Lay Off Old Hands. About two years ago the company decided to “reorganize” the plant to change things. They changed things such a way that many work- ers who worked here ten to fifteen years were laid off. This is the kind of a reward the old workers got there for long years of service to the company. Instead of getting a pension they got the gate. Younger men and fresh labor power was hired in their places. The company has an insurance scheme to which everyone belongs who works here after six months. The insurance starts with $500, and is increased $50 every year until it goes up to $1,500, and thats the highest it goes. Jt is about time we were getting a raise and our hours were reduced to eight hours a day and five days a week. We will not get this tho unless we put up a fight for it. We must organize a shop com- mittee to form plans for a fight for better conditions, and we ought also to send a delegate to the Trade Union Unity Conference to be held in Cleveland June 1 and 2, by the | Trade Union Educational League. —CABLE WORKER. TRACTOR CRUSHES FARMER. MASSILLON, Ohio (By Mail),— Edgar Filknitter, a farmer, was killed when a tractor he was operat- ing overturned and crushed him to death. On May Day—long live the Communist International! Join the ranks of the Communist Party! Hail the world revolution. ope,” has succeeded Percy Waram in “The Camel Through the Needle’s Eye” at the Martin Beck. formance of the comedy here in New York will be given Friday even- ing, ay 24 and the company will sail BOSS COLLECTS FOR HILLMAN Misleaders Start the Checkoff System (By a Worker Correspondent) BALTIMORE, Md., (By Mail).— } Promised by the company and the | officials of the A. C. W. that after | | two years of payments of the 5 per) cent of their wages their money | | would have been returned plus the} “profit.” Two years have passed, | since the workers are paying with | their sweat and blood, but nothing} | has been returned. Three weeks ago when these workers demanded that | their money be returned and that the Sunneburn workers should stop the boss robbing them 45 per cent/| of their wages every week. Hillman} came here from New York to force sonally know two young men who have died with tuberculosis taken while working there, and another is in the sanitarium now. I am constantly inquiring about the conditions of plants I have not worked in and I get about the same reports as my experience in the places I have worked, There is the mighty Ford Motor Ccmpany. Production is the watch- word. Men are simply universal joints to the machines. The thing that men suffer from in this place is overwork. Production is ever in- | creasing. New men, which has never been before to my knowledge, are forced to make the production limit. The check-off system has been intro-| jduced here in Baltimore for the | clothing workers by the treacherous | Hillman machine. Workers are] forced to pay dues to the Amalga- mated here thru the bosses who take | | their money away from their en-| j velope on pay day. The sweatshop conditions for the) Baltimore tailors still prevail. The} speed up piece-work system is kept | by the clothing manufacturers here j With the aid of the Medonick, Sol Gross, Flingman, Hillman machine. Starvation Wages. Young girls are forced to toil for | the miserable wages of $10 and) less per week and under the worst) speed-up system. Workers with a family of four, five and six children are receiving the starvation wages of $20 per week. The Sunneburn Clothing Co. “eon- trolled” by the Amalgamated here has introduced special schemes to reduce the wages of the workers. Be- side the speed-up and piece-work system prevailing in the shop, be-| side the fact that the Sunneburn Co. has the right (given by the Amal- gamated officialdom) to hire and fire workers at any time it is con- venient for the company, beside the fact that reductions are granted by the Amalgamated officialdom at any time requested by the bosses. The Sunneburn Co. take away from the envelopes of the workers 5 per cent of their wages every week with the approval of the A. C. W. officialdom. The 5 per cent robbed by the Sunne- | burn Co. of the workers is supposed to be “shares” to 11ake workers be- come “partners” in the business. The Sunnebaum workers were | Our Answer to the Attack Against the Soviet Union, VvvVvVvvVvVv BEGINNING MAY 1ST Daily 35 Worker these workers to accept the robbery of their wages every week, Hillman speaking to the workers who de- |manded that their money be re- turned by the company, said: “Morally you should get the money back, but I cannot guarantee it.” Then in making his treacherous ap- peal, Mr. Hillman said: Doesn’t it pay to give 5 per cent of your wages to have a job? Just consider it that you had a wage cut.” The left wing forces in the A. C. W. will fight to the end against these corrupted high paid- re- actionary officials of fhe Amalga- mated —BALTIMORE NEEDLE WORKER. May Day—the day which began with a general strike for the 8- hour day in the U. 8. | There seems to be nothing human | about the entire process—all ma- | chines, men and all. Summing up: the worker is faced | with a horrible condition throughout | Detroit, which is continually grow- |ing worse. All have grievances but no one to redress them. The Negro lit seems is faced by the most serious | problem of all. He is refused decent |jobs in many factories, yet he must |compete in the great struggle for existence. Both he and the white worker are ignorant of what lies at |bottom of their ills. But unless |Negro and white workers unite for |the cause of liberating themselves jfrom their _ worse - than - chattel | slavery the knell of both is sounded. On May Day—tlong live the al- liance of the working class and the poor farmers! TR : ARTHUR HOPKINS H presents Y | ‘Theatre Guild Productions “ : | D A | rT Through the | » CAME Needle‘sEye Comedy Hit by PHILIP BARRY cies oe ne As MARTIN BECK THEA.’ 45th W. of Sth A 8 Mats,, Thurs. Man’s Estate by Beatrice Blackmar and Bruce Gould BILTMORE ‘Theatre, w. 47th Street Eves. 8:50; Mats, Thurs.&Sat. A Comedy by Sil-Vara CAPRICE 3ULLD ‘“hea.. W. bund St GU: Eves. 8:50 Mats., Thurs, and Sat., 2:40 LAST WEEKS! EUGENE O'NEILL'S Mats. Thurs. & Sat, 2.35) BIRD NHAND Chanin’s MAJESTIC Theatre| 44th St., Weat of Broadway Eves, 8:30; Mats.: Wed. & Sat. 2:30 The Greatest and Funniest Revue Pleasure Bound “The Betrayal” Strange Interlude}. A British. Masterpiece Jonn GOLDEN, Tex. seen | | EMIL JANNINGS EVENINGS ONLY AT 5:30 in a Burlesque movie “THE APACHE'S REVENGE” 5th Ave, Playhouse 66 FIFTH AVENUE, Corner 12th St. | Continuous 2 P, M. to Midnight Dally The working cl lay hold of the ot simply | dy de State machinery, and wield it for its own purpose. ‘This new Commune (Paris Commune). . .brenks the moderm State power,—Marx, will begin publication of new serial reau cut off since January, Frank Orr, a worker, committed suicide by Grinking carbolic acid. Slogan for May Day—fight against the speed-up and for the winning of the eight-hour day. Long live the seven-hour day, and the six-hour day for young work- ers! TERMINAL STRIKE. BALTIMORE, Md., (By Mail).— Low | wages has caused threat of a) general strike in the Baltimore Port Development. Terminal devel- opment strike has already started. 26-28 Union Square, New York City. ADDRESS......... the officials of the Pennsylvania Coal Co., for example, have within JOIN YOUR PARTY ON MAY DAY! COMMUNIST PARTY, NEW YORK DISTRICT I want to celebrate May Day, the International Revolution- ary Labor Holiday, by Joining the Communist Party. OCCUPATION..... Mail this bixnk to our office or bring it to the Coliseum May Ist, CLEVELAND, April 29.—A tag day to raise funds for the striking textile workers of the South will be held Saturday, May 4 by the Work- ers International Relief. Hundreds of workers are expected to partici- pate. Stations for the collectors have| been established at 3335 E, 118th St.; 5607 St. Clair Ave.; E. 67 and Chambers Ave.; and the W. I. R. headquarters, 226 W. Superior Ave. All those who wish to participate are asked to report for duty at any of the stations mentioned. May Day is the holiday of mili- tant labor. By FEODOR GLADKOV one of the outstanding Revolutionary Fiction writers of today Be Sure to Read This Ex- cellent Story, — Order an Extra Copy from Your Newsdealer.—Get a Copy of the Daily Worker Into (Rates can be found in Hands of YourShop mate If You Live Outside New York SUBSCRIBE! A story of life under Work- ers’ Rule and the real ef- forts that are being ma to build a Socialist Economy in the Soviet Union Vv the another part of the paper). TWO Revolutionary Move Marxism by Lenin This special offer ing the months of 43 East 125th Street WITH A YEAR’S SUBSCRIPTION TO THE COM- MUNIST YOU HAVE YOUR CHOICE OF EITHER OF THE FOLLOWING Reminiscences of Lenin by Zetkin Program of Communist International Paris on the Barricades by George Spiro OR Building Up Socialism by N. Bukharin $2.00 Mail your sub to WORKERS LIBRARY PUBLISHERS SETS omens aoi—F 3 ment in Colonies ¥ r will hold good dur- April and May only New York City