The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 5, 1930, Page 2

Page Two WESTINGHOUSE MILLIONS ARE The Toilers Are Speeded to Limit, Under Con- ditions of Torture, Then Many Are Thrown Out Only Way Out Is Organize Into Trade Union Unity League, Worker Points Out (By a Worker NEWARK, N. J. lanufacturing Company shows that 921 m than in 1928. by the introduction of the latest spe: ment of the workers. It is not ORGANIZE AS AN ANSWER TO U. 5. RUBBER 60, Rotten Conditions Workers There for As I was read- r a little inci- nd which I be- n they ask the U, S. . foreman, the generous and kind-hearted Mr. Higgs, what eir piece-work rates are: “Do you want to work or talk? If you want o talk, there is plenty of room in the stree' That kind of an an- wer is a dy enough to make you 4 Faithfal Spy ady heard through Worker about Dept. 92 in| his plant. Mr. Higgs is the two-! aced gentleman that runs that de- vartment so honestly and faithfully or the U. S. Rubber blood-suckers. Ye is a faithful spy of the rubber arons. Because the Mea Are The for Unorganized worke are laboring there n hour, The day rate bonus, according to the in- and th formation, received through the check s to $7.75 for nine | hou ys were working like the devil to make some money. After | ys came the pay day. Of course, the boys were very glad. But the great surprise was that in place of the check for $46.50 they got a check for $27 only. Now, comrades and fellow-workers, do you think that the bo give a damn for the | working class And would the| s dare to take that $19.50 | from t x rs if the workers | were organized One Workers’ Answer to this rotten deal in all the in- é''getting, is: Workers, . U. U. L, the only or-|{ ganizniion that stands ready to sup- port the workers against the bosses. Also every worker should be a mem- ber of the WIR, that organization is n that stands ready to the workers of all colors and Defend the Soviet Union, workers’ fatherland! De- Long live the Down with the capi- | Up with the Red Ban- swer he only mand its. recognition. Soviet Union. list class, ner of Communism. —U. 8S. RUBBER WORKER. GFFICIALS SPY WW AYER MILL (By a Wobker Correspondent) LAWRENCE, Mass. — The con- dition in “Ayer Mills of Lawr- ence, Mass, beggars description. | They are cutting down all help be- cause one person does the -vork of three mené sf same salary—7/ hours a days days weekly. If! the people do tet work or f they} tov to rest fof @ few minutes they | will get “ired and the bosses will try hire other workers at less pay. , They have-stool-pigeons called of- | ficiels who ‘tour the mi!l unexpected- ly, dressed Hs, and see if the | veonle wo jot. If they see sem ssi ep will report it to; lie bosses who will fire them. i Some men have families to sup-{ port and they haven’t a cent to buy) milk for their new-born children. | The conditions are getting worse; and worse daily. Something must be done here in| the right way and the only way is) to join the National Textile Work-| ers’ Union, controlled by the work-} ers, fighting for the workers’ inter- est, and make Lawrence a 100 per cent union town. | Young workers in the mills of Lawrence are much exploited be-! cause they take the places of the! old workers. | Young workers must join the Na- tional Textile Workers’ Union, and) fight for better conditions and} higher wages. Come to the union} office and join the fighting ranks. | ‘District Office is at 181 Essex) street, room 6, Lawrence, Mass. i _—LAWRENCE MILL WORKER. _, {Young Worker). —The annual report of the Westingho ‘told to speed up or get out. \ Indiv pondent) e Electric $4,987,- the company made in 1 This tremendous “profit” was made possible up schemes and brutal enslave- ey but the sweat and blood of the And the company boast fact that all x were broken, Here are rea- or such stupendous profits. ds for The Bonus System 1. The Bonus System for Fore- men. The fore er cen y can sav The cnt know how rtment. the: S to save money for the hy oppressing the work: made every must be at r bench when the whistle blows ir, the morning and they must work until the whistle blows in the eve- ning, although they insist that each cne must clean h ywn bench No lunch is to be seen in sight, but no place is provided to keep the lunch box. When a worker goes to get a drink or to the washroom, tke bosses time him. Workers whe have been in service of the company from 19 to 25 years are fired to make room for girls or young men because they can be paid less. The older work who ven the best of the slow money" (60 to 7 that is the way they for the company. men are bigger they look. The Group System p er: th Phe have cents per hou ave money But these for what fools than job. |Each worker performs some minor | 3 y operation as is the case with the |geant of the guard beat’a 17-year- of workers are given a certai “watt honr meter register.” 4 ber to do each d: bonus.” Naturally some girls wer than others and slower ones. These slower gir WESTINGHOUSE ELECT a 10} ney ives are too | offi for them and :nake “too much | ter is assembled by a group of |@ club, s 3 ‘Is who are given a certain num- | he was unconscious. This was done Tf they do becau more they are given a “10 per cent | ate hi the fast of death to sign a cotife girls are expected to report the he re ,of prison. Thus | (By « Worker CLEVELAND.—I used to be RIC | WESTINGHOUSE WO SWEATED OUT OF THE WORKERS: : pase a one of those thought that Uncle Sam was the guardian saint of all good Americans and it teok a-good stiff jolt to knock me loose from my goofy ideas. I used to curse because I was too young to go to France and shoot down, Defend KILL AMAN, HIRE ANOTHER,” SAY German worker: 9 years old I and was put in the pre that I learned the truth about ‘(our) grand and glorious any. The first thing th ught me tand like an officer a buck e slime under the was that I should alway a marble statue whenever passes by, for in the ar private is only th rs’ feet. Then they taught me that I must never strike or talk back to an offi cer, for no matter what he does, he like the pope, can do no wrong. I have personal knowledge of the {military prisons im the United States that a guard holds the life and death over a I was within 15 feet when a ser- This |old prisoner nearly to death with iking him 10 times after e the had refused to degener- elf for the sergee Later prisoner was forced the trying to shoot his way The ration allowance at Fort VA. COAL BOSSES |Gyp Miners in Stores) of Company | (By a Worker Correspondent) | BIG STONE GAP, Va—I am an American and my parents and an- jcestors reach so far back that I don’t know where my folks came j from. Soldiers Must F ight Their Real Enemy--The Bosses WORKERS READY patriotic boys who E jto the worke: to I was born and raised in the Vir-} ginia coal mine fields, so I think I am capable of knowing something | about the conditions of the Virginia | 4), miners. I started as a trapper boy at the age of 14-and have held many jobs. I am now 44 years of age. The mines here run three and four days a week and the mine companies | own all the ‘houses and they should be called shacks, es- surrounding stores, lands, the job is speeded up until finally | Leavenworth during 1926 was 18 | pecially she Negro houses. the workers are able to make « little |cents per day for each prisoner. Out |” Must Trade in Company's Stores bonus. Z seiter zets busy and retimes the job and thre is no more bonus v til the workers can speed up still | capital more and the same thing happens | shoot workers, or the wor! again. 3. Some Work Must he Done hy ual Workers. This kind work the same fak2 business goes on in the group system. As soon as a worker makes a few cents, the rate setter gets on the job, time: sork and a new rate—a lower rate | is paid for the work. Out on the Street | 4. Standard Time. Some work | “standard Crisis Severe There; the 2 certain time b. The time ean just is performed on time” basis. That is allowed for a given is set so that the wo about mak: it. If he fail work within the time allowed, he finds himself in the army of the unemployed. On the Belt 5. Conveyors. Wherever nle conveyors are installed. Such is of | is then put on piece-work, but | the | to do the | Then one morning the rate |of this the food, tobacco, soap and | toilet articles were bought. Soldiers, turn’ your guns on the when they ask you to ;Soviet Union. I'm talking to you as fellow workers, —EX-SOLDIER. A JOBLESS “BELGIAN WORKER FROM Many Jobless (By a Worker Correspondent.) BRUXELLES, Belgium—{ would like to tell you a few words about our condition here in Belgium. | We are now caught in an unbear- ‘able crisis. Where I work, in a cap possi- |factory, we have absolutely nothing jto do. We are told to come two or the case in the assembly of the /three times a week, and make out meters. The workers must keep up with the speed of the machine or finds the conveyors overcrowded ith meters: he “holds up produc- tion,’ The foreman is right on the job to see what is wrong, and the worker must exert himself still more, aod when the day is over. he ‘has no strength left to drag his body home Come %n, workers of Westing- ouse, let’s not stand this any longer. ‘There's an organization that will fight for us. Its the Trade Union Unity League. It’s Newark headquarters is at 93 Merzer street. Get into it. —Slave at Westinghouse Electric. I spoke with They are practically nothing. many other workers here. all in a critical position. The crisis is reflected on an in- \ternational scale. We are affected | because our work was done for Eng- |lish customers and a few in Holland. |Then suddenly the orders stopped. We then discovered that Germany competes with Belgian manufac- turers for the English markets and puts out goods cheaper than our |factories. This is the basic reason, |which comes with the capitalist anarcht production, and we work- ers have to fight against it. CHITA BERLAD, Jobless Belgian Worker. rs of the | jin th ecompany’s stores and pay \twice and three times the prices |they would have to pay at other stor The company issues: what is called script, and 90 per cent of the miners never draw any money. Most of them are in debt to their em- ployers, | They live in miserable houses, Some of the houses leak when it ‘rains, although you are compelled to pay the same rent for a leaky jhouse, as the bosses have their own law, such as policemen and magis- trates. And believe me, they sure know what to do to anyone who ob- jects or kicks against their way of doing business, which is all their ‘own busine: We have tried many times to organize to help our con- ditions. They beat up our men and throw them in jail and let them rot. Murderous Conditions As to the working conditions. In |the mines there is terribly bad air, | loose hanging rocks in the manways, and the motor haulways are so | gobbed up, until you can hardly run the motors through them. This is very dangerous to both the motor- men and the brakeman, including |miners who may be compelled to walk on the motor haulage ways. ‘ “Kill a Man, Hire Another” But what does the company care. They say, kill a man, hire another. They have cut the men’s wages \three times here within the last three years. There is only one thing for the poor and long suffering miners. of Virginia tc do and that’s to join the Communist Party and fight for a living wage. They are the only ones who will do anything for them. join the National Miners’ Union! _ — VIRGINIA MINER. I say houses, ! The miner is compelled to trade! DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, SATURDAY, A’ The workers of the Westing- ouse Electrie suffer under the speed-up, slave for low wages, and are laid off at the They're not going ‘o stand this long, if the letters from some of them printed in this ssue mean anything. They'll fight der the leadership of the Trade Unity League. vorst vosses’ whims, Photos show Westinghouse orkers at work. Left, testing rrent transformers. Right, in he switchgear department, OR STRUGGLES Speaker for Communist Party (By a Worker Correspondent) NEWARK, N. J., (By Mail)— The Communist Party held a factory gate meeting today at noon at the Westinghouse Electric and Manu- facturing Co. The first Speaker was addressing a large gathering of the workers, when Capt. Franz of the |company guards, in company of po- | lice, approached him and demanded to see the speaker's permit. | Workers for Speaker The speaker told them he did not | Ineed a permit as he had a consti- tutional right to address the work- ers, stand and the speaker then eppealed if they wanted him speak, Everybody shouted he |should be permitted to speak, This junnerved the police. The speaker proceeded but soon and pulled the speaker a Im- mediately another speaker took the j Stand and began to speak amid the cheers of the workers. The captain jof the company guards tried to pull him off, but the workers showed such a militant spirit of resentment jthat he got cold feet and let the | speaker alone. Presently the first speaker came jback, The police called up for a wagon, but he was instructed to let |the speaker go, | The workers in the shop are speeded up beyond endurance. Pa is so low that even those that work | Steady can’t make ends meet. The jworkers are desperate and are only hoping that in the near future they | will have the chance to organize and | jfight for their most fundamental |needs at least. | In the afternoon all the workers ; Were talking about the noon a. condemning the police and pra’ | the firm stand that the Communis jtook. The workers are ready to join | the struggle. —A WESTINGHOUSE WORKER. MERGENTHALER NTW Is Organizing to Fight Speedup (By a Worker Correspondent) BROOKLYN, N. Y.—Things are happening:fast and furious lately at the Mergenthaler Linotype Co. in Brooklyn. For the last three weeks quite a few skilled slaves in different de- partments were laid off or fired and from what I can see they picked out the class-conscious workers that were part of the shop movement in calling for a, strike the coming month of May under the leadership of the Trade Union Unity League. There is no question that the The police pulled him off the ! e police got up nerve enough again | « WORKERS READY PRIL 5, 1930 WORKERS TELL OF LAY- RKERS WANT FIGHTING LEA ie ee ol WESTINGHOUSE LA Challenge trom The following letter from the remova, in the Soviet Union, contai hear n work Dear C << SPEED-U 0 OFFS, DERSHIP _ WESTINGHOUSE : < TORMENTS MEN INTO SPEEDUP iGyps Them in Every | Way; Lay Off Old (By a Worker Correspondent) _ NEWARK, N, J.—In the Westine- house Electric plant in Newark, in | every denartment, every day, new labor saving machines sre installed. The work is simplified so that zirls and young men with no experience can do the work and can do it faster. | The old hands and good mechanics jare fired, The same old story but |with the same disastrous results to ;the workers — more unemployed, smaller pay, more speed-up. Then there’s the production clerks. Tf there is anyone, that torments the workers more than the produc- ition clerk, it is another production jelerk. All day long he keeps after he workers with a dumb look on his face, magging with the eternal railroad workers of the station Ef. “vestion—“When will you be done?” ins both a challenge and a desire to; “When can I have it?” “How ae beth many have you done?” This mag- mrades: We, the railway workers of the station Efremova 7g keeps up day after day and it of the Moscow-Kursky railroad, one of the grains of sand of our vast ‘kes superhuman will power to keep MICHIGAN PHONE GIRLS SUFFERING FROM LAY-OFFS Expect More Lay-Offs in Future (By a Wor C pondent) DETROIT—The increasing un- employment here has hit the Michi- gan Bell Telephone Co. Girl oper- ators there have been “requested” to move their vacation periods from fall and summer months up to the present. If the situation has not improved by the summer compulsory ations” without will b given, Operators also ect a lay- off then. pa “e afternoons s from the night shift are put in their places, In this way the shift are being total number of operators has been | ' considerably reduced, When these changes were announced the girls were told that “the company has 3,00) more operators than it needs at present.” They were left to draw their own conclusions! Company Union The company union which the corporation maintains for its em- ployees avails them nothing in this crisis, They may determin> what kind of spoons they should aave in the dining rooms, but when it comes such complicated economies to the er heads of the management.” DETROIT WORKER. company is using those low-down mise: that sell their fellow-worl privilege of keeping their job and are ready to betray their fellow- wo who are trying to improve their miserable we ng conditions and stop the speed-up system that \is sapping the health and strength of the workers. Let us serve notice jon big boss Hanson that he can’t | fire the whole plant and that he can’t operate with his stool pigeons, A Driver Boss Hanson is a terrible driver j and an open-shopper and he likes to jeut the piece-work rate to the bone and above the endurance of the |men. And in return for that he gives us some bunk under the name {of welfare. What we want ‘s more |wages and the abolition of the | piece-work system, | The spirit in the plant is very ripe |for good organization. And while |we don’t know who is going to be \fired next, let us agitate and orga- nize the workers into and with the help of the Trade Union Unity League. Answer boss Hanson with GREENVILLE MILL WORKERS DIDN’T FALL FOR GREEN AND MISLEADERS Workers Ejecied When They By a Worker Correspondent GREENVILLE, S. C.—The speaking by William Green took place in the county courthouse where there is a space-enclosed for lawyers, prisoners, jury, judge and court officials. This space is in the front and is just about half the room and all this was re- served especially for the bosses and their bootlicks, preachers, law- yers, and others that are not friendly to the workers. They had a chair across the ateway, that is the entrance to these special reserved seats and a special officer was usher. He knew them all. When one of the big ones came in, he would pat him on the back, the chair vould drop and another reserved seat was filled. But the workers had ‘ to take seats where they could, and some were standing while part of the reserved seats were empty. Sweet-Voiced Faker Paterson, the president of the State Federation, spoke after prayer by a preacher with a cul- tivated voice that was so sweet that I was afraid his lungs would melt before he got through. That would have been too bad, for that was to sweeten things up for our good southern people. For they believe im everything that is start- ed with a prayer, especially when it is rendered in such a sweet voice. The workers don’t get to hear one like that often. Just on special occasions like that one of the big boys will give them a chance to hear him Ask Questions Embarrassing to Labor Fakers; Start With A Prayer Force Workers to Act Religious But if,they don’t act religious down here, they don’t like them much, and if they work up in the mill, they must be good church workers. In one mill here they have prayer meetings every Wed- nesday night, In another one they do this at lunch time. And the boss will tell you to be sure to come, of course, you don’t have to go. but if you don’t, the boss will let you know that he didn’t see you there. So most of them go. But I want to go ahead telling you about the Green meeting. After the prayer Paterson intro- | duced the speaker and at that | time a worker rose in the middle of the room aad wanted to ask Green a question, so he could an- | swer it in the course of his speech. | The chairman asked for his name, that the bosses should know him. But he got the name quick and | clear. Then he wanted to know if the worker was a member of the A. F. of L. The answer was Then he asked «Who do you represent?” The answer was “Part of the textile. workers of Greenville.” Patter=» then said, “The speaker wili an“wer you if you will see him after the meeting. The work- er said: “I don’t want the ques- tion answered for myself alone, it is for ‘ne workers here that I want if :nswered, so they will know theruth. But at this time officers 2-:de the workers sit down an@iGreen made his jlea to the bossgyato let him come in and Operators who are on the day-| to laying off they are told to leave! -L. will organize these work- © 06 AFTER (2 YRS, Soviet Union, contain in our unifi- |fPom hitting him in the head with jcation 500 persons. We want to|% ™elter. The workers speed up in |have with you a comradely commu- | °rder to get rid of kim if only for nication, we want simply, in a) While. friendly way to discuss with you our fhe Suggestion System. \life—we shall tell you the truth] They may call the workers dumb jabout our life. and tell him thas he is poor because | We have now the hottest and the| He hasn't the brains of those who most tempestous time, our task is |°T, 7st | But they sey. this only to to overtake and surpass the capi-| £0! wn6. wommeny (iemnbelvens “pe talistic countries: You have heard |0%es “know better” and:for: that about our Five-YearPlen, which we| seu, ee neve, she Whole plans noel i ‘iin ¢ wy, |placarded with signs which read give pledges to fulfill in tour Years. |erwo incomes are better than one”. In particular, our station Efre- “Hand in your suggestion”. These mova took the first place in certain | suggestions come in by the hundreds parts of socialistic competition—in | ang many are very important inven- conductor's reserve, tions. The worker is made to be- Among locomotive men there are lieve that he will get paid for them great enthusiasts, who take upon! according to their worth. After themselves the task of still better! waiting from 3 to % months, the improvement of the serving of the/ worker receives the “liberal” sum trains, Our slogan is “socialistic | of two and a half dollars. |transport.” We are the fathership| The worker’s name goes on the ‘of surrounded villages in which our | bulletin board and thousands of dol- shock brigade produces the work of | lars saved goes into the pockets of collectivi The first days of the company owners, One case de- work showed us that workmen and serves mention. Two women friends peasants are with us. The workers | were employed warhing glass covers. ant to re-build the old imperialistic }One suggested a way of wiping these llage into a new socialistic one. j covers so that it will be unnecessary We wish to know what are the | to wash them. This woman got two wages of your machinists, machin-/and a half dollar check and hor ssistants, stokers, conductors | friend got the gate, The company ete. what is the cost of your|s9ves about $750,000 evary year and articles of necessity; how long do | they invested $2.50 to save that eum, you work and what are the condi-! Not only does the company undev- | tions of your work, . j pay the workers, not only do they | Our great wish is to call you for| °PPTess them, overwork ire ae |competition on raising and improv. |thev cheat the workers out of thels ing organization and education in | ftuits of their train, Yes, they can ion profit 7 hoast of twenty-seven m’ \the way of Communism among your | + x ay in one year. Who made it? workers. From our side we pledge i jand make with you an agreement! The workers from the Westing- on raising and improving our social- |#0use Electric Manufacturing eS | must organize into a union whick listic economy .and our transport. ss ray r hes Our address is station Ef iq {Will fight militantly in their inter- sw-Kureky Railvont adi, {ests. Not in the A. F, of L. com- of the Moscow-Kursky Railroad, edi- ‘ - Lom torial department of the wallpaper, | P&"Y reactionary unions but into the “Krasniy-Transportnik.” jrevolutionary Trade Union Unity The editor of the wallpaper. League. Under its banner we will —ALEXANDER SHAROV, | be able to struggle against sneed- up, the rotten conditions, and for 7- hour, five-day week and for higher pay. Workers from the Westinghouse | Electric Manufacturing Co, wake up! 5 Fight forgyour vight! Organize! AT BIEBERMAN § sex in your name and address to jthe Trade Union Unity League, |Newark office, 8 Mercer Street, Newark, N. J. —Westinghouse Slave. 'That’s Week’s Wage at Phila. Dress Shop (By a Worker Correspondent.) ——————— their lives get the benefit of the great American plan, whereby the supposition is that the longer # PHILADELPHIA, Pa, — Bieber- ion i jan Bros., at 15th and Wallace Sts,,| VOvken, #8 Petal Ste Tem fa Tet kes cotton dress shop in| $6 a Week After 12 Years. About 600 workers on an average, |,» ‘ slave here under conditions almost | bee? hie iat J Rehab Rain hr unbelievable, Most of the workers| 20% nad 6.00 per week! ‘The high are young girls, and a considerable | ??” ; lest wage paid to any worker at themselves to the bone working all this sum to only a very few girls. The workers. never know what the price to be paid for making a dress will be until they are through, then there is nothing to do but accept what is offered. Welfare Schemes to Fool Them. The company uses all the welfare demands for more wages, shorter hours, abolition of the piece-worl: system and week-work instead. MACHINIST. organize in their mills and he would give them more profits | with his organization in the mills, | than they had even made before. He offered them the workers for sale cheaper as a body wholesale than they could ever hope to buy | them as individuals. Worker Ljected He told the bosses that if they didn’t accept his offer, and sewed wind, they would earn whirlwind, He repeated this two or three times in his talk. Then he started to show the bosses what the whirl- | wind was, by saying that they would have to take such organiza- tions as the I. L. D., W. I. R. and other fighting organizations. At this time the same worker rose again and shouted: “I object to that, every man has a right to schemes that have been devised to fool the workers, so that the work- ers will continue to work for next to nothing at Bieberman’s, A Building and Loan organization was started by the company. Now turned to the workers who were misled by this scheme, ! believe as he pleases.” The aisle Ten cents a week is taken out of. was filled with officers. Ina sec- | every pay, incliding the $5.00 per ond they grabbed the worker to | week. This ten cents is supposed to throw him out. He was still bel- | go towards $8.00 a week sick bene- |, lowing “A man has a right to ‘fit. But the officers of this asso- believe what he pleases.” Then ciation, called the Welfare Associ- anoihc: worker in the back of the | ation, are all members of the firm. | house yelled: “Bill Green is a 'No workers are represented on this | faker.” And out he went, and the | supposed Welfare Association for | meeting was closed in short .rder | workers. | with a few remarks. But every | The workers now know that only worker there could sce what a | by joining the Needle Trades Worke sell-out bunch the A. F. of L. is. | evs Industrial Union can they bet- So we re going to work for the | ¢" their conditions. The bosses at 1. U. Us Ly WIR, TL. D. and | Bieherman’s are dreadfully fright, the Communtat Party, to fight the | who ane AA ous ae’ Be ate » bosses from all sides at the same , knowing that through organization time. | the workers will be able to remedy YOURS FOR ALL WorwEns | (fe, ‘ude! conditions prevailing at —A MILL WORKER. i | | | this factory. } aon a Thus, some of these women have ° .it has failed, no money being re © Philadelphia Dress Workers, — by h 4 h h Seruwrs Bes ee