The Daily Worker Newspaper, April 12, 1930, Page 2

Teaeee rene “EMPLOYEES REPR ESENTATION® KNOWN BY BETHLEHEM STEEL The Foreman “Takes the Vote”; the Bosses Count It; AN W hom Bosses Want Are Elected Honest inverse Wont Allow Selves To Be Candidates, utors BALTIMORE, March 4 that in being ce policy in. giving the workers THE WORKERS KNOW IT’S BUNK. 100 per cent with a Biceral criticis This event is met almost GASTONIA WAS LAND MAP GLASS STP! Dewey Martin Out Significance (By @ Worker WINSTON. ‘year ago in fulfilled a pr: by one of Correspe ALEM, N. voted for would g workers were f strike, that the N’ leAdership and as lo: ers ‘would stand hehi nd their the “NTWU would ead Tegardies what ‘and th have found true; so far as give ¢ y tool; the hip of above leader workers A. I fot, have heen low to ce ls sple; -prs—both Negro and White. oe A. B. C. of Strength ‘We find by past experience that the strike in Gastonia was A.B. C. class in struggle throu; out the South. The worl world know that the Gastonia « Ws ali the muggle that ever been carried on in the Soutle textile mills for better conditi real s Where the | b workers regardle: what the hosses ard their + such as the National Guards, polic county ‘sheriffs, city government 1 al the sta‘e government Gastonia Marked Awakening Some of our leade w face long terms in state pris Not be cause they ha committed any crime, more than to try to te: workers how to get a living Tike ‘great wealth that the: by selling their labor manufacturers at such insufficiert | rate.that they cant support t ‘family without drafting their wi _and children az a meager wage to kelp keep alive fer another day of -slavery in the factory. The Gastonia strike wes the awakening of the Southern textile workers, not only in Gastonia but all over the whole country. All workers should rememb2. on April 1 and keep this day as a day of gieat achievement for the workingelass. Workers of revolu- fipnary unions should have this day Set aside and carry on mass demon- strations in ell parts of the coun- try. the out create to the Wake Up! | Workers, wake up and see if you} have done enough for the leaders— who come to ali workers’ rescue | with a unioa that would free the a; to which way to turn. The workingclass from the _ bosses’ | clutch. On the day of the appee! come} out and demonstrate against the | Jong sentences and injustice of ti bosses’ courts. vt # vou textile ‘ers join with} your fellow workers and protest, and all other workers of all trades join in the revolutionary orgeniza- tion to help us better ou conditions | ‘and demand complete freedom for | “class wir priseners. —DEWEY cet ‘Steel Bosses Act to ~ Save Reputation of > » Moran; Reject “Al” Yai «ti The Structural Steel Board of ‘Trade has rejected the mafiation of Governor Smith in the case of, “the Starrett Co. strike. Opinion in thettrade is that the bosses’ or-| ganization acted to end what had, through publicity, become a scan- 1.' The Structural Steel Workers’ | Union accepted the mediation of | Smith. on a job in which he was the owner—too open a sellout to please even the bosses, who find! Pat Moran’s union useful for a time at least in fooling the workers. This “union” was one which prom- ised President Hoover that it would do nothing to improve wages for, the wotkers during the present in- \ strial crisis. Md.—Advance noti stent w Points , who , Pe lto fight against th for They Don’t Want To Be to Mates respondent) h the Bethlehem Stee! Compa ion of employees representation. The Foreman the dress Each department is allo elect a “representative,” an a thi of electing the r sresenta- one in the follow s the ballot x around f and asks him to w orker to an ite his car didate on the slip. The for this case is very suggestive as to 0 the workers should vote for. The worker places the name on the and Pp nied with a seemed to sa foreman lool it in the box, accompa- foreman’s smile” that ‘See the democra we give you.” The ballots are col. lected and counted without the supervision of a workers’ commit- tee. The whole election is without life as the workers don't take the r giving th the workers at the meetings. Bosses’ and pace-setters are the ones get the representation jobs, is the department bosses no if him. For Benefit. meets at jurisdiction of a the Bosses’ The vals and under the ding boss of the splat, Mr. committee esenieaa by this committee. Jus: ntly the workers were told that is committee voted for paying off | instead of meets with the! co: pproval of every worker. Another incident is where the demanded the mmittee” to vote for a day week instead week and this ning on the part of had a certain object. sny workers were becoming rebel- Nous at the seven-day week, also there was q lot of lay-off on the week-en when the workers were too tired to go to work; also de- creased production meant curtail- ing the amount of days work. Now the company lays off a man if he misses one day of the six and they tell the worker that your own vosses "representative committee voted for ago a representa- itter, as fired because he a increase in wages after of the working hour was made. A skilled melter also lost his job last year because he wanted to represent the workers. Join the Metal Workers’ Industrial League. The fallagy is clear to the work- ers of the “employees’ repre- sentation,” but what should we d s fake co unionism. The present time thousands of metal workers anxious for organization, but are at a loss an shortening American Federation of Labor, that ‘has proven itself so corrupt, won’t Similar workers, | |such as ‘the Amalgamated Iron and | Union and the In- of Ma- Boiler have the same cor- iding the workers s, race, skilled |and unskilled workers, creating the | disorganization of the workers in- They | organize steel workers. misleaders of the steel Steel Workers’ ternational Organization chinists and International Makers Union, rupt policies, di \in crafts, national: stead of the organization. IN THE U. S, RUBBER HELL-HOLE—DEFYING A “TOUGH” FOREMAN A Slap in the Face Was Not O. K. With This Miltant Worker; Urges All to loin Communist Party (By « Worker Correspondent.) DETROIT, Mich.—Not so very long ago in the well known slave shop of the grand and generous | company of the U. S. Rubber Co. an incident that happened made me feel very hostile towards that company. The incident took place in Department — where the fore- man was very generous to a cer- tain foreign born worker. At the time of the happening of that act I was working about 20 feet from this foreign worker and I hap- pened to overhear the matter very clearly not only hearing the matter but also had the privilege of wit- WORKERS TO BE FAKE SCHEME | S are sent out several weeks before inter- | | | “employees representation” that regular | nominations will be held for the electi | j | | | until February 4 Manufacturing Cc for them any longer, and went to 0 working in the tin S® finds , t From the breadlines, such as the one in the center (in Chicago during a blizzard) will come thousands demonstrate May 1. Extreme - Intimidation Can't Hinder Workers of Wi nston- Salem, N. ON-SALE police force, of detective: and assignment KICk WORKERS AROUND IN Gil. ELEGTRIC PLANT Starrett Regards Them As Animals (By a Worker Cor CHICAGO. Immediately Starrett which is one rganized factor- ploycd at the the completely hired there with 5 hour and a lot of prom lies. used, to keep people there as long-as they need them. Lay-off Begins. | of Dewey Martin, workers have been | taken | ° The bosses are ighitenicg and strength- and all pimps and stool pigeons. The} Ww inston- Salem Journal informs us that the “police create a new division rd all men will assemble daily in the morning for roll call) after the roll call for detectives, the} > ‘parade’ | ducted. The to C,| nt) of prisoners will be con- oners in the parade will be required to pass before a powerful light while the detectives observe them carefully and take in their general features in order that} they may be more likely to recog- | nize the individual should they ever encounter them on a job again.” Intimidation Will Fail. This another public warning r us workers, but we are organ- 2 and will be prepared. For the | st week, especially since the trial! arrested and their leafle: asked for their “red” cards | ning that if they are ever caught | } ain they would be jailed. There is a Jaw in Winston-Salem that no literature be distributed. on |! “ty | Daily reets or public places, | The other day two of our com- rades gave out our leaflets and, Workers to the workers in| the cafes around the Reynolds To-| |bacco factories where the workers During the first six or eight weeks everything was alright. But then they began to us of and put us on as soon as their ra | opened up again. They knew very well that we all were disgusted. But later on, in March, 1929, they be: to promise and lie about how t were going to In reality they were working th on that cursed boge: hes killing th workers now, Laid Off Again. I stood there till they laid us off again during the first days Augu: When this time they called it a va cation, I lost my patience of slaving of these parasites, who call the smployment agents, to bought it, and w of becoming a ‘ I started again but months later w the ¢ ployment er began. find something else I ag: went to one of these “Money first then a job” waiting shark who prey,npon Unable to the working class, Another ten dol lars went to hell, all I possibly eat scrape together in a week's hard la- ime I hit a real one, Thir. was all this place later with me, Swindling the Unemployed. They were always taking men from the employment agency and kept on firing them when their (the So no- men’s) receipts expired. have failed miserably and are ing them in front. Workers, join a militant union Organize into the Metal Workers Industrial League. ditions, —STEEL SLAVE AT SPAR- ROW’S POINT. | nessing. | Well, as this comrade was work- ing on a machine, a balancing ma- cine, and by chance the balancing weight happened to fall off the wheel, and as this comrade was looking for the weight the foreman, Higgs, happened to come by. At least I did not think it that way because this famous de- in back of the workers instead of lead- Build up your union and forward for better con- rush to eat, and as our comrades a group of workers on Reynolds y they decided to give these |! cers our literature as well. | ‘Yorkers Eager for Daily. | Sure enough after the crowd of workers came for our literature two stem,’ which | © » the | the organizers are hounded day and | tective is always sneaking on the | workers in that department as 1 | was watching the foreman come near I made believe that I did not see him, in the meanwhile I said to the comrade who was seeking the weight, “Here is a weight off policemen who had been following , our comrades came up and grabbed , them and cal ried them straight to! the police station, searched them, heir literature away and read y law to them. After holding | our comrades for an hour, they let them out with the warning “that if) ny worker gives out any literautre | sll those responsible will be jailed.” “Threats Won't Stop Us.” These threats of course will not} | stop us and the other day we dis- tributed 800 Daily Workers through | the mill lages from ho to hou After we had just finished the distribution on the Hanes Mill! oe sheriff, who had been after s, fin found us and! warned us again. The tools of Rey- | nolds and Hanes company-owned town are waiting to pounce down on; us, every movement is watched and . But the workers are learning | n of solidarity and will re- | taliate to the offensive of the boss- | —Winston-Salem Workers. bedy ean bring in any claims in any court. This company had done this | with 70-80 poor unemployed before | me. I could not find anything now, | so I went back to Starrets again. . | I ad at one time $200 in the bank. | But one thing I do know: I am not | the .only one, many hundreds of) thousands are as well or worse off | than Iam. This is the world-wide advertised prosperity in the land of “America.” Workers, join the Communist Party! —One Whose Eyes Are Gpetea| vow. | BETHLEHEM STEEL TOILERS TELL OF SPEED. UP LEADING TO DAILY WORKER, NEW" YORK, SATURD! AY, AERIL 12, 1930 — my eee enen eg Slavery in Winston- Salem 4 iii J Reynolds as ) and then let go with the! Ce DN stétespn 7 I. ar Tobacce to, | R ), Reynolds Tohacea Co. f |switchboard four and work Young form new revolutionary Metal Work- ers’ In Nearly 4000 | Slaves Are Laid Off | in 3 Months in Cal. (By a Worker SAN FRANCISCO, Cal.—About Commission, | public utilities, a highly satis! .” granted the Pacific ‘and at the same time installed mo-© dern efficiency methods at Central | Station, automatic speed-up switehboards as witnessed by this sult. | Nearly 4000 Laid Off. In the course of this three-months {period nearly 4000 workers have! been discharged, as on the new | operators do the! pa that required the services of | 120 operators, They are forced to | Speed up to a nerve-wrecking pace, | ith not a moment to spare for a drink of water, and must wait for | ja relief operator until in great di: for p mal comfort, one of the@reatest causes of phy- al disorde | 16 Year Old Slaves. The few operators now employed axe girls from 16 to 20 years of age. Wages are $15 per week, eight- hour day and six-day week. More than one half of the operators work the’ split shift, their working hours | spread over a period of 12 hours. If \they remain in service of the com- |pany for 35 years, they are given $125 per. month. Try and find one of these employes on the pay roll receiving $125 per month! There is much dissatisfaction among, these | over their miserable wages ,and working conditions and are rot- j ten ripe for organization. Trade Union Unity League organizers in this industry should take notice. Slave Wages. cents per hour, laborers 50 cents and when in service three months none on the pay roll at this rate. The company has a nice way of keeping thesé workers off the pay roll. They also are ripe for organ- ization. Not even an A. F. of L. organizer is on this job, These lay- offs were from the janitor force to the top of the ranks. Must Buy. All workers are required to buy stock in the company at the rate of $10 per month. They send a let- ter to employes at their homes with subscription steck blank. Those who | subscribe for stock fill out the blank and mail to the company and agree to the $10 being held out of their | Wages. | Those who do not subscribe for any reason, are laid off the follow- ing day, as one’comrade was a vic- tim of this system. This stock is worthless paper and is scheme whereby the company re- | | duces the wages of its employes. The T.U.U.L. must organize the | telephone workers. i —Telephone Worker. These weekly pay envelopes of workers in Reynolds Tabacco plan in Winston-Salem indicate why | workers down there ave respond- ing to the Trade Union Unity League. Cor “whose function it is to hear and decide rate disputes of ‘actory increase in phone rate charges which resulted in | thousands of workers and petty business discontinuing Phone service, which | Men of this company are paid 60! 56% cents per hour. But we find) only a} LAY-OFFS STEEL WORKERS IN BETHLEHEM €0, MUST BUY STOCK | iNegro Wor How They Are Torker Tells Tricked (By a Worker Cori pondent) month . rs were | ordered to go to the office to sign up for Bethlehem stock We don’t want no stocks, but there is so much gossip going around that men to feel sorry if When we get into the office we have to take off our hats and act just like slaves, othe: Schreck is made very: angry, that ain’t all, he insults us,wor h his sneering manner and. wise acks like as if we was so much left, gstown convention in June to j ndustrial Union. | serap. - ——-————— | “Well, how much shares you go- jing to buy.” He knows that we are going to buy them, they have us Phone workers bluffed. If we buy one share, it means four dollars gut of }our pay for one year; but he says |buy two shares at the same pri | (when you sign up for two shares |they take four dollars out’ of each |pay, that is two dollars’ for each share but it takes two years to pay) but he fools us, because he don’t say that it takes two years to pay. ly we say that we only want one, he calls us a fool. I know plenty fellows who can’t write and he asks them: “Who do you want it to go to in case of | death,” and he says his name, and many of the workers who can’t write Mion t know what they are signing up |for. Many of us are paying on stocks GASTONIA, K. G, | purchased two years ago or last year { i but still are compelled to buy this a |year. A list of those workers whe !don’t buy is turned into the boss and Mill Super’s Boast) the workers in fear of losing their | jobs or having to go on the bossés Made Him Laugh (By a Worker Correspondent.) carpet and asked a lot of’ questions! and being shot a lot of bunk about being loyal to the company ‘pur- chases stocks. GASTONIA, N. C.—A mill super- intendent told me yesterday that there wasn’t a Communist in Gas- jton County. pondent) three months ago the State Railway Telephone and Telegraph Company —A NEGRO WORKER. , ae, eth 3 + EDITOR’S NOTE :—It is clear to see that the methods of sale under force and intimidation would technically make the sale illegal, but the Schwabs have |, Ont | How 1 wanted to tell Mim | their courts and paid press over- WAS .8 damn Har, \.r1¢o8:F0 SUS" | come. thid injistion. “Phve ‘you that such things as Communists see that the workers'are not*pro- tected through these channels. The only solution for the Béthle hem Steel workers is to organize into the Metal Workers’ * Indus= trial League and demand ~ the union conditions that this militant trade union fights for. Workers, refuse to buy stocks in the company that enslaves you. Dowt let the company have part of your pay so that they can strengthen the company to exploit you more effectively. Steel awork- ers, join your union and swell the ranks of the workers that’ want to better their conditions. ~ Write for more information. to the office of the union, 814. N. Entaw St., Baltimore, Md. were not allowed in Gaston County. | hae was the best joke I had heard | Isince Walter Raleigh was found} smoking at a bucket of water thrown on him to put out the fire. He also stated that Communists would never | he.allowed to exist in Gaston County. day drew $1. weight to that comrade because I happened to have two weights on the machine that I was work- | ing on. When the foreman came near the comrade he bellowed: “What the hell are you standing there like a dummy, don’t you know that | you are here to work and not here + as a statue?” Well, any way the comrade tried to tell the foreman | that he had lost the weight of the wheel and tried to find it. But the foreman paid no attention to the comrade and without saying any more the foreman came close to the machine.” And I gave the 1 i | | the worker and looked at him as if he had never seen the man be- | fore. After he had looked at the man for about a minute he raised his hand and slapped the worker on the face. When he struck the worker on the face I looked directly towards where the foreman was standing and he said to me: “That’s all right, go ahead and mind your business. Everything is alright.” When he said that to me I said, “Well, it may be 0. K. with you but it is not O. K. with me, but I'll dare you to slap me like you slapped him.” The foreman did not say any more but left. When he left I came up to the worker who got slapped and I said to him, | “why did you let him slap you like that? If I were in your place I would knock the living hell out of him, Did you see’ when I dared him to slap me like he slapped you he did not even talk back?” | Anyway we worked until quit- ting time that day. As we were | going out I began to talk to him and spoke to him about the Com- munist Party meetings and told him many other things which I thought he ought to know. The following Sunday the Communists , held a meeting and this same | worker that I talked to in the shop joined the Communist Party. | Comrades and fellow workers, I call upon all the workers of all color and race to join the Commu- nist Party and do away with the rotten capitalist system and put in its place a workers republic like they have done in the Soviet Union. , —RUBBER SLAVE. WRITE about your conditions for the Daily Worker. Become a Worker Correspondent. I hope this superintendent sees | letter and remembers who he isuper of a mill that is working about |300 hands from one to three da he week before. last and for that one day. pay about the same wages and work their hands about the same as they | County that is running {uli time ‘as I know of at present. There has IN DURA PLANT they have seen the effects of March | 6. It was a damn pity that we could), sorrel y ‘Ripe To Be Organized Here’s to the Day of Demonstration. I hope to see the day when we of Gastonia and all over the offic CLEVELAND, Ohio—The work- ‘of Gaston County if they don’t like | ing hours ‘in the Dura Plant are exploiting, wage-cutting bosses, as/40 cents an hour. The wages for we call the damn vermin. When a|women on piece work amounts to | whether he lives or dies, but he can’t |kept in the plant for the time lost see it when a worker sticks to his | fixing the machines. ; i : vou | terrible. The sanitation is very bad. Workers, can’t you see where you f i ry . must stand? Join a good union | Zhe work is very dirty and there is [part of the Party. ‘The Party is [each month. A weel’s pay ts Kept |just the workers that are in the |i" hand meaning that worker ‘must i 4 The conditions in the factoi _ qast s if ry Fe ae Rd peaked make it ripe for organizing and the —A Dura Worker. . Fascist Bluff Fight VIENNA, April 11.—Governmert {cist Heimwehr build their armed forces. The Heimwehr members pro-fascist. The social-faseist’ Social- Deo. declaring they will order the Repub- lican Defense League to: take: the s talking to at the time he was} |per week. A comrade that w in| Work Like Horses. ave two sets of hands at every been little more time added to] not demonstrate in ‘Gastonia on by T. U.U. L. will demonstrate all over the streets it. Why do we have to be driven from 9 to 12 hours a day. The wages worker sticks to the boss, he sticks | about $2 to $2.15 a day, If the ma- ‘union, he is stic! ‘ng to himself. Keep Pay in Boss’ Hand. and the Communist Party, Every nothing to wash with. The pay days Party. So, why not. join the Commu- wait three weeks for his first pay Trade Union Unity League in To- Austrian Fascist | officials in the Provinces of Tyrcl take oath of allegiance hefore the crats are putting up a bluff fight oath of allegiance before the Mayor making these statements. He is the me mill told me he just got The mills of Gaston County all mill. | There isn't but one mill in G on KEEP BACK PAY some of the short-time mills since | March 6. (By a Worker Correspondent.) ‘around by just a few slave- driving, | for the men, unskilled, ‘are about ‘to a man that doesn’t care a damn |chines break down the workers are Join the Communist Party. The conditions in the factory ase |worker that joins the Party is a are on the 7th, 17th and 27th of nist Party? after being hired. ledo is attempting this. Forces Grow; Social- and Vorarlberg are helping: the fas- governors of the Provinces who are against this action of the fascist hy lof Vienna.