The Daily Worker Newspaper, July 12, 1933, Page 3

| “a — Relief Is Being Cut and Stopped. The Lives of the Jobless Are in Danger. BAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, JULY 12, 1933 Page Three <== The Workers Can Only Be Guaranteed A Livelihood If They Unite Against Relief Cuts and for Social Insurance Rise in Steel Fails to Bring vo the Unemployed BALTIMORE, Md.—The whole plant for two years has been like a huge | “Boom” | giant with the wind knocked out of it. You couldn't help being shocked. Everywhere deadness, idle machinery, cranes that never moved. No smoke from most of the tall stacks, and from whole mills no sound at all. It seemed so unreal, so absolutely unbelievable, but sure enough it was true, because your eyes couldn’t betraye——— you. | laborers that is prevalent in the steel) But who cared whether smoke came | out of the stacks or not—the smoke | stocks couldn’t starve or freeze be-) cause they were idle? Those smoke~ less stacks meant something, just) the same—they meant 10,000 unem-/} ployed steel workers, some of them | just managing to live and others slowly starving to death. Last win-| ter, workers and their children grovelled in cinder piles, looking for) small pieces of unburnt coke, until) the company started screening in the | cinders and selling the coke at a profit, After that, you saw people wandering through the woods hunt-| ing for bits of timber. No one would ris putting’ food in the porch ice- boxes any more, after the series of food robberies. In the Company store, families either had their credit cut off entirely or were given a very, very limited credit-dole on the book. The Negroes who lived herded to-/ gether in the bunk houses were/ forced to get out, when the company | with the most inhuman indifference ordered the bunk-houses destroyed. | By royal order of the Bethlehem| Stsel Company, the Children’s Aid Society allotted to steel workers’ fam- ilies the princely sum of 50 cents per person per week. Evictions “from | company-owned ho’ foreclosures | on mortgages held by the company- eoutrolled real estate racket, broken- up homes and broken health ended) the steel workers’ dream of prosper-| What Stzel Rise Means. The presence of so many unem- ployed began to look like a menace) fo capitalist law and order. They| were promised “better times.” And} now, lo and behold! magic inflation | appears on the scene and presto... orders came in for steel. It is true) sooq, Many thousands more are in that steel is not wanted, but money men want to turn their cash into steel before the dollar goes down. And to show that Roosevelt is god’s gift to the working class, none other than Mr. 8. J. Cort, manager of the Sparrows Point Plant, is interviewed by the Baltimore Sun. Mr. Cort states that “the Sparrows Point Plant has inereased operations from 18 per cent to 50 per cent,” that “the local plant is receiving work Golden Gate Bridge, which will take two years to build,” that “the bulk of the new steel orders are not for heavy steel.” . . . This is the first broadside of publicity for the hurried} launching of the Steel Code, which the Iron and Steel Industry is adopt- ing. Behind all the optimism of Mr. Cort’s statements, there remain facts that cannot be talked away:) the fact that some 8,000 Bethlehem | Steel workers in and around Balti-| more are still unemployed, and the} fact that those who are working are getting barely 50 per cent of the Wages they got in 1929. It is true that’ steel orders have picked up| temporarily, but it is ridiculous to| try to tell experienced mill-hands that a bridge under construction for a period of two years will keep the steel mills going for the same length of time. The Plate Mills in Spar- rows Point alone can put out 4,000,000 pounds of steel for structural iron fabrication in a mere 24 hours. An-! other flaw in his statement points | out clearly that there is no real sta- bility in the present pick-up, because the bulk of the orders are not in/ heavy steel, not in materials for) rails or building construction! | Greater Speed-Up Besides, the sheet mill at Sparrows) Point has introduced the three-high| automatic mill, which is scheduled to do away with 75 per cent of the sheet-mill workers. On the opener floor, the firing of the feed-boys. In the tin-mill, on the cold roll side, the annealing furnaces will speed up operations and do away with many hands. Then comes the “abolition of the anti-trust law,” under the industrial “pecovery” act, the giving of greater freedom to the big boys on top. This means that in the process of greater trustification, while the little firms are being pushed to the wall, the steel workers will be ground dow: as if between two stones in the price-war for markets, and that victory will go to those steel manufacturers who can grind down wages most successfully. In other words, further wage cuts for the steel workers. How Wages Are Cut An article in the IRON AGE of June 9th, a magazine for steel-com- pany owners, reveals just what the big boys are planning for us. The Chairman of the American Rolling Mill, Mr. George M. Verity, writes that the N. I. R. A. is a wonderful thing, “it will ensure employment to all those who desire it, and increase purchasing power through a broad- ened earning capacity of all those who do their fair share of the con- structive work of the nation. It is effect an enforcement of the the work plan” , .. this means, so many words, that the steel com- jes are not going to increase Wages, but rather spread employ- ment. This is being done in order to prevent the payment of unem- ployment or part-time relief, ahd in- \ stead force the burden on the steel | workers, Those who have a few days’ Work will have to part with some of «'t to help some other workers to a job. At the same time, the steel in- dustry will increase its output per pour, through the fresh supply of wrt week workers. The steel code of the bosses will, no doubt, try to singe @ minimum wage, using as a jance with the Steel Code. for the | [with 50 delegates from neighbor- industry. This was done in the foun-| dries, and from all likelihood it will ultimately be adopted in the steel mills, unless the steel workers thwart | the attempt. Such a low wage base can only mean that those who earn) higher wages now will soon be re- duced to that lower wage in actord-) For this reason, real rank and file organiza- tion of the steel workers is essential: the workers themselves must prepare their own demands. With the fighting program of the Steel and Metal Workers Industrial Union the workers can go forward to victory. Every worker must immed- jately communicate, with the Steel and Metal Workers Industrial Union. Join or apply for information on the formation of mill congnittees. JOBLESS WORKERS PRESENT DEMANDS (CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE) | cil headquarters. It is pointed out by the delegation that the promises of Mayor O'Brien can be regarded as less than nothing to the hyahlened masses of New York unemploye workers, except insofar as these masses immediately mobilize in tens of thousands to see that thésé prom- ises are carried out, and that more concessions are made. The New York workers are in a condition of suffering today as never before. The death rate for babies of the working class is rapidly increas- ing under the pressure of starvation ‘and lack of proper milk and other | | |need of relief today than were in need before the beginning of the Rootevelt program. It is particularly important that | workers who have never yet succeeded in getting on the list for relief in New York should immediately put their claims in the hands of the Unem- |ployed Council in their neighbor- | hood. Minor Leads Delegation Robert Minor, speaking for the | delegation, declared that the workers {of New York \must be prepared on short notice to assemble by tens of thousands at City Hall, when called by the Unemployed Councils, to im- press the Tammany administration with the fact that the workers take these matters in deadly earnest. ‘When the delegation reached the Mayor's office, it encountered an- other delegation of members of the Socialist Party and of renegade ele~ ments opposed to the Communist Party. Minor, on behalf of the Un- employed Councils, proposed to the other delegation that they immedi- ately join forces and present to the Mayor a united demand. Jack Alt- man, of the Socialist Party, on be- half of the other delegation, refused and insisted that they be regarded as entirely separate. A Needle Trades unemployed dele- gation also appeared before the Mayor. They presented a statement demanding “assurance of unemployed relief to every unemployed worker and their families and that the Home Relief Bureaus pay immediate rent without waiting for dispossesses or marshal notices.” The Harlem Unemployed Council, hoods were also present. Their dele- gation was not admitted, but the chairman, Louis Campbell, organizer’ of the Harlem Unemployed Council, from A Hunger March in St. Nazaire to Nantes, where they demanded that they the Heart of France be given work again. Wis. ia Ruling Huzts Small Home Owner; Favors Large Owners MILWAUKEE, Wis. — The Indus- forcing the cities to put over a “shel- ter allowance” instead of rent for the unemployed. This means that the small home owners will receive instead of rent for “relief” tenants only enough to cover their taxes, in- surance, and interest on mortgages; just enough to give back to the gov- ernment, the banks and the insur- ance companies. Already eviction cases are spring- ing up because of this edict of the slave-merket industrial commission. a member of the Unemployed Coun- cil on N, 12th street. But the Un- employed Council mobilized the workers of the neighborhood and was forced to give the family more time. There is now a block committee in this territory as a result of the struggle against eviction. Jobless Increase But Relief Is Cut, Writes a Worker in Oregon MULINS, Ore.—Dear Comrades: The unemployed workers of Clack- amas County have been working on “relief” last winter at $1.50 in scrip. Some have been able to work 2 days, others 3. Clackamas County was allotted $15,000 formerly for relief, it received $6,500 only for the month of June—with a further cut for July. We aren’t goihg to starve amidst plenty. We are going to follow the only path—and that is struggle—we are going after what we want—with the program of the workers’ guide, the Cornmunist Party. —Henry Matson. trial Commission of Wisconsin is | A real ectate company tried to evict | when the sheriff came around he | Call Conference to Oganize Lumberjacks SEATTLE, Wash., July 11.—A con- ference of outstanding importance to} |the lumber workers of the Northwest | is being called by the National Lum- |ber Workers’ Union in Seattle on} |July 16th, The call which has been | sent out to the workers in the logging | |and pulp. wood camps, the sawmills, | |the shingle mills, the plywood | veneer, paper and pulp mills. The conference opens at 10:30 at 1109 Vir- ginia St., Seattle, and will formulate plans to organize the industry. The A. F. of L. is making frantic \efforts to bring the old International |'Timber Workers Union into life. This | union was allowed to die in 1922 by the officials and the bosses when the |Four El, the bosses company union was in control. ‘The workers are| showing readiness for struggle and} are demanding a fighting organiza-| tion to lead them in their struggles. Spontaneous strikes have broken out all over the Northwest. Strikes “have | occurred at Tacoma, Coos Bay, Olym- pia, Port Angeles and other import- ant lumber centers. These are but) surface indications of a tremendous upsurge of strike activity which will shake the whole industry to its foun- dations. Important War Industry war supplies. But even with war rag-| ing in the Far East, the lumber in-/ dustry is as hard hit by the crisis | as any industry. At the present time, | the industry is running at about 20) per cent of capacity. This means, | of course, that only 20 per cent of| the workers are employed. Only one} out of five! In their desperate greed for profits, the bosses have devised | news methods of speed-up, of capital- 'AF.L. BAKERS SEND DELEGATES TO DEFEND TRADE UNION CONFERENCE ist rationalization, so that the output| per worker is greater than ever be-| fore. | Wage Cuts Co-incident with the driving speed- up, have come deyestating wage-cuts. The basic wage in the lumber indus- try has become $1.20 a day! In 1929) it was $3.60. The black-list and espionage sysiem is highly developed. The Four L Has the Field At the present, there is an almost complete lack, of workers’ organiza- | one time a powerful.mass organiza- pletely died out. The 4 L, a boss| organized in 1916 at a time when| there was continual strike action on the part of militant workers has the) field to itself. Because of a growing | wave of dissatisfaction and a growing) wave of strike struggles, the 4 L is} at present engaged in a strenuous) campaign to completely organize the | industry into the boss controlled com- | Wage represents the instrument for pany unions. But the workers un-| |derstand the nature of the 4 L. Re- /@ained by the work cently, a 4L organizer was bodily| Dubinsky, President of the Inter thtown out of a mill where he was/national Ladies’ Garment Wor! attempting to organize. | Union, who has repeatedly sung pr In line with the Rooseyelt Recovery | dustry, and the provisions of the act will be used in an attempt to forestall and prevent militant action and or- ganization of the workers. |what the employers in the dr silk and rayon industry to the administration can |turers are pror ; contract system. jcontrolled company union Which WA8/peen issued regarding the proposed |tablished by the Needle Trades Wor! Two thousand workers, made jobless when French ship building operations were suspended, marched for thite days PROPOSE MINIMUM WAGE SCALES FOR S« ‘DRESS , SILK CODES NEW YORK.—Somie indi clude in their codes to bi 1 be se from the proposals already announced but not yet put into final form In the dress industry, the manufac- of $14 for un: 40-hour week. The also declare against ch: id x but | tions in the industry. The IWW, at|they know this measure can be easily 3 evaded | ton of the luthber workers, has com-|-weatshops now being used under the through the thousands of No statement has minimum scales for the skilled work- ers, Contrasted with the union scales es- ers’ Industrial Union, ich range from $18 to $50 for the Various opera- tions in the industry, this minimum forcing down the union standards rs, for the Recov (Slavery) Act and Recently, there has been a small| (Slavery) Act, a new code is now be-|has publicly supported a minimum & incfease in the activity within the in-|ing drawn up for the industry. A|wage which would undercut the pre | dustry. This is due to the shipment! starvation wage will be set which will |sent union scale in the ground that lof lumber to the Orient for use as| become a standard for the whole in-|the workers are getting sweats wages anyway, has nothing to against the proposal. Howev warns the bosses against announcing the wage as it would have a bad “psy- Unendurable Speed-Up Described by Our Worker Corresponde | Upholstery Strikers’ Firm in Thid Week Boys Work 13 Hour Day, Get Paid Only 11 Hours at 20 Cents page —— | NEW YORK.—Two A. F. of L. Bakers’ locals have just elected dele- | gates to the Conference in Defense of the Trade Unions which will be held | this Saturday, July 15, at Webster Hall. Credentials coming in from vari- ous A. F. of L. unions sach as the Iron Workers, Painters, Garment workers, | By a Leather Worker Correspondent By 5 Wares Oonresponaene BELLEVILLE, N. J—The condi- PHILADELPHIA, Pa.— The up-| tions in the Federal Leather Com- holstery workers strike: of Philadel-) pony here shows what the Roose- was allowed to present the demand. to revive its practically defun der the Recovery (Slavery) Act. a letter to the local secretary widely Gistributed among the cigar makers here, acting president R. E. Van Horn calls attention to the “permis- sion given under the Recovery (Slav- ery) Act to organize the workers.” “No group of workers will be recog- nized by the National Industrial Re- covery Board except the International Union”, the letter declares. It con- tinues “A company union or a dual union will not be recognized by the administrators of the Act.” Tampa cigar makers who have had a brilliant record of struggle against the continued betrayal policies of the A. F. of L. officials and who have formed a militant industrial union which is now 4,000 strong are not go- | ing to be taken in by the lying pro- paganda of the A. F. of L. It will be rethembered that the Tampa workers waged a heroic fight against the combined forces of the companies, the local authorities, the police and the courts in defense of their rights to organize, to strike and to belong to a union of their own choice in 1931. The A. F. of L. statements that company unions will not be ree+ Tampa Cigar Workers Hit A. F. of L. Member Drive TAMPA, Fla., July 11.—;The Cigar Makers’ International Union, one of the oldest and most reactionary machine ridden unions in the American Federation of Labor is now seeking ct organization by forcing the thousands of militant Tampa cigar makers into its ranks un- Ine —_——_— istration to. the widespread introduc- tion of the company union plan in the steel plants and coal mines all over the country. The A. FP. of L. fears the growing strength of the Militant industrial unions affiliated to the Trade Union Unity League. These unions which they call “dual unions” will force the bosses to rec- ognize them by carrying on vigor- ous struggles in every industry to win better conditions for the workers. The Cigar Makers’ Industrial Union is determined to carry on its struggle to force recognition of ite union by the bosses. It is also fight- ing for the return of the 1920 wae scale, the abolition of a vicious blac! list, the establishment of workers’ inspection committees to enforce the wage scale and the right to have readers in the factories, a right which was taken from them by the bosses during the 1931 struggle. ‘The Tampa tobacco workers should immediately prepare a code to be presented to the workers as a basis for developing a real struggle and exposing the sell-out policies of the A. F. of L, officials. This code should ognized is already proven false by wae the 20 cents pow hour wage for the silent approval of the admin- also be submitted to the authorities in Washington. Amalgamated Food Workers and others indicate that the conference will be based on a wide representation. In responding to the conference the unions are realizing the serious- ness of the situation confronting the | workers with the enforcement of the | Industrial Recovery (Slavery) Act. The workers aré already tasting the | fruits of the Slavery Law in the at- tacks on the Fur workers’ section of the Needle Trades Industrial Union, on the attempts to company union- ize the Laundry Workers’ Industrial Union, and to break the militant strike of the workers, and in the| setting up of a starvation textile code which will attack the wage standards of the whole working class. | These instances showing the work- | ers how false are the promises con-— tained in the act are arousing many | unions to unite in action against the | Slavery Act. The role of the A. F, fof L. officials in imposing the Slavery Law on the workers in order to break down the militant unions and to en- force starvation cohditions on the workers is being revealed daily. ‘The July 15 conference must rally | the workers from evéry organization, shop and factory to unite to defeat the Slavery Act. Credentials should | be sent to the Provisional Commit- tee for the Defense of Trade Unions, Room 637, 80 East 11th Street. Post Set for World Hop. NEW YORK, July 11.—Wiley Post jannounced yestérday that he will take off for his solo flight around the | world, aiming at the same six-day mark Jimmie Mattern {failed to arniéve. His plane, the Win.» Mac, is an perfect condition at Floyd Ben- nett Field, he said, and awaits only & good weather report. ‘ers, the settlements thus far made phia is in its third week. The spirit of the workers is still high. Today , we had a demonstration of workers | in the entire industry. We passed | thru the upholstery factory section up Market Street down Broad, then | to the strike headquarters. | Nine-tenths of the strikers are | youth, but not a single youth has addressed the strike meetings, , neither has a single woman opera- | tor nor a single Negro worker been given the floor to express their op- inion, | One young worker marching be- | side me suddenly said to us in the} line, “You know, if all the working men thfoughout the country would | stop working, lay down their tools | and the Rockefellers and Morgans wouldn't be able to eat and had no) one to drive them around, then they would give us what we demand.” His | fellow worker beside him, a little | stunned at this remark, said, “That would be a revolution.” “Well, the first one answered,” “that’s what we need.” The strike is cohtrolled by the | bureaucrats of the International, but due to the watchful eye of the work- have been 100 per cent victories. One dollar an hour for upholster- ers has been gained in the several shops that have been settled. The bureaucrats have been _prattling about the Recovery Act, giving the workers the right to organize and that the government is behind the workers, but the workers know that this is baloney. They see when they try to stop a scab, the police club their fellow strikers. There is only one way to win a) general victory and that is by mass | picketing at those shops who are employing scabs. This has as yet velt prosperity means to us young New Jersey worke: I am employed with other boys in the dyeing room. We start at 7 a.m and work till 8 p.m., under a grind- ing speed-up system for twenty cents | per hour. The first week's pay envelope | showed a big shortage and they told) us our pay stopped at six p.m., when the machinery stopped. We are then put to work cleaning the vats which takes two hours and we get no pay for it. We have no proper lunch hour. | The fireman usually points to a couple of us at anytime from 11 till 2 and says you can eat now. He watches us and when we are thru eating the sandwich he comes over and says, “Come on, get busy,” and | in that way we only have ten min- | utes to eat. If the job we are on isn’t finished, it means we don’t eat till that batch of leather is fin- ished at 2 o'clock or later. | It’s a shame and the boys can’t | stand it. They usually quit after a| week, some stay two weeks. ‘It is cheaper to use boys than the men that formerly did the job and, of} ‘egg they had a_ proper uur. The windows are closed and the air is blue or green or yellow ac- cording to the dye in the vats that day. If you spit, or cough, or blow your nose, the dye comes out of your system, Your body is all colored at night and pimples and rashes break out and this causes the boys to quit. Some of them get very sick. Some of the boys are writing to Frances Perkins, but I told them a letter in the “Worker” would be better. certain will be surely proposed from the floor at the next strike meet- ing. not been proposed but this I am « lunch | TO FORCE § PEQUOT CO. INVOKES CODE TRETCH- OUT PLAN ON MILL STRIKERS 11—In a half m Eve- SALEM, » been ou compat Gov. Ely Opens Drive to Suspend Night Work Law in Mass. BOSTON, Mass., July 11.—Gov- etnor Ely of Massachusetts today sent a message to the legislature urging authority to suspend th operation of the law prohibi night work for women and chil- dren on the gtound that the law conflicts with the operation of the textile code and the Recovery Ely who has fin- ancia ts in cotton tex- tiles conducted a similar campaign last spring but was forced to re- treat as a result of the mass cam- paign conducted by the National Textile Workers Union. mber Needing Relief Mounts in ios Angeles From June the an in- included statement to reports in cap- gers that an increas- workers are being lists. the fie ht for increased re- formed all over the are 8 locals from 2 to there a hip of 100 each, logical effect” on the workers and mean a strike present when tiations for an agreement are nding. Silk Association has submitted arvation code for the silk and yon weaving industry, which estab- 1es a new low level for the skilled section of the industry. For skilled avers and warpers, many of whom are organized, an $18 minimum wage has been set. Wages for weavers be- fore the c: ranged from $30 to $40 , and warpers averaged $35 for unskilled worke! e cotton textile. cod will be set at $13 in the South, In 192i of to in Ne nts Workers Crazed at Ritz-Carlton By a Worker Correspondent ATLANTIC CITY, N. J—A young an was stabbed to death, by an overworked cook. This happened the 4th of July the elite of the Amercan exploiting society was ce- lebrating the day of indeper Music, more music. The rich man’s vacation must not be spoiled by this grim tragedy, and the show went , a8 @ helpless youth lay on the th a knife deep be- whi tween his should the ¥ a al. \ } is that the over- This exploited workers end, one in jail, the other dead, while the boss or- ders more music! At the Ritz Carlton Hotel in At- lantic City, where this happened, the employees ate Overworked, jlong hours without remuneration, | ten half crazed. | the employees would work less hours, this tragedy could have been avoided. | But then what of the bosses profits? Ritz Carlton Ho- be Conditions at the el are unendurabic. They must changed, But we must be united or we can ne the boss ‘improve our conditions Food workers united! Fight for better conditions! te i Workers Pro-|* fol- ay with wages at a pitiful level and extra Most of the kitchen help is over tired, long hours in front of burning | stoves make them very irritable, of-| If cooks and all * | Threatens to Open Mill Gates to Scabs; Wants Repeal of State Night Work Law Mi th to open men in the Act itself or in t fur nothing which makes any her refer wages. It is not DP: 48 hours’ wages for 40 he is nothing in either the Act or Code which in any way limits re or } ration imits the of machi: > uce previously The Company Wa The company c' r on the main e of|the st is the Stretch-Ou n of ine g the r per worker to 24 from are handled by wo! they say, a fact whic make it good f vn that in contir degree Admitting that number of machines to be op een made, the company de “process has not been carried to the limit inilicated as reasonable by the research department.” The re: department which determines what i jonable for the company has not single worker on it to determine wh is reasonable for the worker, “A check or limitation of research,” say, “will halt the march of civilizat The exploiters who use research ¢ make more profits invariably try t get over the idea that they im it in the name of civilization. Want Night Work Back Raising the issue of night work a3 a means of avoiding the proposed 1 off w tion of the stretchout tatement insi support ] peal the Massa law for women. By t ise to put the married women 0 work. But the Pequot kers ha s with con ing had many experier es to the contrary treasurer of the mill of the Cotton Manufactu: who helped draft starvation code for aunch supporter prom Hood, presi Association Roosevelt workers the the of among the most active in pushing night wor! women. Open Air Meet Exposes Company Following the publication of # compar atement an open air mee! ing of texti on the Salem Com time. More than 2,000 led. Pi t only on condi- would not be . But the workers he meeting anu n she spoke. tretch out sys- . said: “It is like 1 used during the days lisition to tear tho minals. It stretches xposing thi tem at the m of the Spanish limbs from the ¢: you and stretches you until it breaks you and then you are thrown on the scrap heap . She exposed the treachery of the A. F. of L. and the local politicians, and called for mass picket lines as the only effective answer to the com- pany’s latest move. She stressed the nec ty for mass action against evic- tions of strikers from the company houses. She again galled upon the strikers to rely only on their own ore ganized strength for settling the strike, “All strikers and sympathizers to mas3 on the Monday morning picket line,” was her final call. The Arbitration Board which was to start hearings on the strike last (Thursday, cancelled all hearings inde- finitely, anticipating this latest move of the Pequot m! The ‘Denver Post’ Pays $1.50 for 16 Hour Day (By a Worker Correspondent) DENVER, C i | Post” is workii Gay for a dollar and a half a day, It is worth millions of dollars and has no use for workers. per tries to tun It is ® non- 5 union news runs gambiing houses and ¢ crooked boxing in Denver. ‘ Organization and mass pressure jwill relieve this situation im Denver, 3