The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 16, 1933, Page 4

Page Four DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1938 Jobs Scarce, Back Pay Overdue on CWA; Workers Put Up Fight Work of Party L: ging; Strikes, Pro on Increase By CABL REEVE WENTY five hu v ers were laid Park project this w | pane *¥ cessi standing while registered for jobs. Tn Cleveland 390 w when, the schedule be put on jobs C.W.A. is recr are getting wages of uns eidents are incre t ous work. Nine we! orado. Many are hurt at Bear Moun- tain. ‘These workers get no protection workmen's compe! are forced to work at ditions. When fired. gim the dreary get Back on the tion, and futile office to another The Post Covers Up 5 hws New York Evening Post, sup- porter of Roosevelt,.in a clever edi- . | on the list Socialist Administration of Bridgeport Starves Jobless Unemployed Council to Hold Conference for Relief Dec. 16.— 3 have been ist in Bridge- ist Mayor Mc- m the pretext have gone the Unem- oved this to be a > Department ing every amd brutality to din order to save 2GEPOF ds of nee Conr partment. Several families have been put back due to the militant efforts Unem: ed Council who have ed to accept the lies and de- of the Welfare workers and de- manded immediate aid for the cold, hungry unemployed. The Council also demanded assurance from the welfare ir h and the Socialist city adminis- ion that they put an end to the stallmg and empty promises which confront the workers when they ap- ply for relief. The unemployed workers are realiz- ing that only through organization and fighting for their demands under he leadership of the Unemployed Council ean they get aid from the reliminary conference and send delegates the Mass National Convention inst unemployment which will be in Washington, Jan. 13, 14, 15, has been called by the Unemployed Council for Wednesday, Dec. 20 at the Workers Center, 301 Fairfield Ave. Family of Ten | Holds Own Hunger March |Carries Sign Exposing | Chicago Relief CHICAGO, Til, Dec. 15.—A family held a Hunger March Tuesday in the loop to the Cook County Court House carrying banners and signs. The Miller family of ten, including to torlal yesterday, blamed this intoler-|3 baby just able to toddle about, able condition on red tape. This/marched upon the Cook County Court demagogic piece of writing~ entitled | +House in the loop, down Halsted St., “Red Tape and Snowy Sidewalks”}and over Madison they marched, sheds many crocodile tears over the | carrying signs which read: “We have cold and hungry unemployed, and/ten in our family and we live on $14 adyises that red tape be cut, and the|, week.” “Qur mother is in the hos- unemployed “wait indoors” of in the cold. The, New York Evening Post’s new owhér, David Stern was one of the first supporters of Roosevelt for president. He is termed one of the “president makers”. His Philadelphia Record has long been a strong ad- vo¢ate of inflation, and higher prices of “necessit: The Post, e the Record, with its demagogic p y of sentimental talk about the suffering of the unemployed, cloaks the fact that the Post is one of the strongest supporters of Roosevelt's entire C.W. A. and N.R.A. program, and at every step, supports Roosevelt’s chief p icles. The editorial of yesterday h as its theme that the C.W.A. program ot the tape be ning be all right. will m’s Philadelphia is the bitterest demagogic Communist Party relief, for unemployment C.W.A. workers Fight Tt is not only a matter of whether | the unemployed wait inside or out- question is, the achievement of the demands for “a job or relief for every worker”. The program of the Un~ employed Councils, demanding union conditions, demanding no Jim Crow- ing of Negroes, demanding compen- sation—for O.W.A. workers, can only be achieved by the action of the un- employed themselves. The Post is trying to prevent a fight for these demands by its talk of “red tape”. militant action of the unem- ployed workers yesterday at the ‘Hubert St. C.W.A. office, in hammer- ing down the doors and demanding back pay at once, should serve as 4 warning to the Communist Party and Unemployed Councils of New York ity that they are lagging behind the incy of the unemployed workers. "The °C.W.A. workers are willing and ready to fight—the strikes of Bear Mountain, Arden and Hook Moun- tain C.W.A. workers have shown this, ‘The demonstration of the unem- ployed for back pay in spite of many police again shows that the unem- ployed are determined to fight for decent conditions on C.W.A. jobs. A Warning to Us * But the organization and leader- ship of these workers has been pain- tully slow. Work on the job, neigh~ borhood work, mass meetings, de- monstrations, etc, are not being pushed with sufficient energy. directives of the recent New York convention against unemployment must be more quickly put into life. ‘The preparations for the national Unemployed Convention on Jan. 13 in Washington, with the demands centering on C.W.A. work, and the tight for the Workers Unemployment Insurance Bill, must be based on im~- mediate decisive struggle. In the course of this struggle, the unem~- ployed workers, demanding ©.W.A, jobs and union conditions on these jobs, will be organized into job com~ mittees, into Civil Works Councils, i connected with the Unemployed mnetis. The} instead | pital and we have no food or fuel.” “We demand food, clothing and shel- |ter for all unemployed.” The baby, | just able to toddle about, had a sand- |wich about him which read: “Charity | workers are robbing us of our milk.” | ‘The demonstration and Job March of the unemployed single men and | women on Dec. 15, which will start jfrom Union Park, Ogden Ave. and |Randolph St., at 10:30 am., will pre- }sent demands on the C.W.A. head- quarters for all unemployed as well as for single workers who are dis- criminated against in the giving out of jobs the same as in issuing relief. There are 35,000 workers in the var¢r ious flop-houses. The thousands who e denied all relief and the thou- nds who get only. $5 groceries a {month demand jobs or cash relief for |all unemployed. UNEMPLOYED SEND $3. ROCHESTER, N. ¥.—The Unem- ployed Council, No. 3, sent a dona- CWA Men Work in Mud Over Ankles Work Goes on in Freez- ing Wisc. Weather (By a Worker Correspondent) | OSHKOSH, Wis—We have started on civil works projects, here chopping out stumps. Leveling off land for foot- ball fielkis, parks, wading pools, build- ing roads, moving cemeteries, or what have you. It rained here a couple of days and nights meking the ground very soft. The wotkers were on the jobs the following morning were sent out to go to work. I have about 15 years ex- perience around construction worky and I want to say never in all my experience around construction work have I seen workers laboring under such conditions. Mud and water over the ankles, it was almost impossible to move your feet so stickey, when you tried to move some of this mud with a shovel, it had to be scraped off with whet we call a “time killer” (a paddle to clean off a shovel). Some workers were working in this without rubbers. Now it is frozen over it has to be picked loose, and is hard like stone. These workers have to eat their din- ner outside. This lunch freezes and it is impossible to eat it. The work- ers are getting pretty sore about this, and are beginning to organize, to get better conditions on these jobs. The timekeepers got their job because of political pull. The same is so with many of the bosses who are either al- dermen or former contractors, . slave drivers, but the workers are not so easy to drive here. Because they have had some experiences in former strug- gles with the unemployed councils here. The bosses also tried to pre- vent the workers from smoking and wanted to put the muzzles on them (no talking). The bosses are trying to discrimin- ate against the leaders of former struggles; but the workers are ex- pressing their sentiments against such action. CWA Man Finds Dead Baby in Garbage Pile BY A WORKER CORRESPONDENT DETROIT, Mich.—I am working this week for the Public Welfare and they put me to work shoveling garbage in the incinerator. We must work hard and fast. Tuesday morning a worker said, “There is another baby.” I asked, “Where?” He pointed to it. Sure enough! A boy about three or four pounds wrapped im a small rag, so I calied all of the fellows around and one fellow who was working one of the C.W.A. jobs said, “What do you suppose 2 woman can do when her old man makes only $16 per week, with eight in the family?” “FISH” UNDER WATER Patchogue, N. Y. KEEP Daily Worker, Dear Comrades:— Here is one dollar to keep Mr. “Ham” Fish under water, Signed, Phea A. How many workers willl send s dollar to help build the THE ROOSEVELT PAY-OFF .W.A. WORKERS FIGHT FOR JOBS, WAGES, DECENT CONDITIONS By _Burck While big figures of 170,000 additional men “to be hired next week” were being issued in New York, Rundreds of workers broke down the doors of the Hubert St. C.W.A. headquarters and de- manded their pay, two weeks overdue, The police were called and clubbed the workers. Roosevelt says, “The C.W.A. is working satisfactorily.” get clubs of police instead of pay. The C.W.A. workers (those 12,000 who got jobs in New York) Department Raise | Pay, Build Union Steel Union Builds Its Group in Ambridge Despite Terror STEEL AND METAL WORKER, Dec. 1933, Room 238, 80 Kast lith St., New York City. Reviewed by ©. R. aah ag tin) NEW YORK.—The building of de- partmental committees of the Steel and Metal Workers Industrial Union in the Wickwire steel plant in Buf- falo has consOlidated the gains of the union’s victorious strike and has en- abled the Wickwire workers to suc- cessfully take up grievances. “All grievances between the bosses and the men were thrashed out,” says John Hunter, secretary of Wickwire local 106, S.M.W.L.U,, writing in the December, “Steel and Metal Worker,” Increases from 10 percent to 75 per cent were gained by the Department Committees. Each committee elected one worker to represent their depart- ment on the General Shop Committee which went before the General Man- ager and gained a 10 to 12 1-2 per cent general increase on tonnage and day rate scales.” Committees Enforced Demands ‘The functioning of the department | tion of $3 to the Daily Worker, not | $2 as was incorrectly reported. Daily Worker and to keep “Ham” Fish under the water? Pay | By H. G. William Green, president of the American Federation of Labor, de- votes the bulk of the officlal organ, “American Federationist’” of Decem- ber, trying to buttress the rapidly waning faith of the American work- ers in the N.R.A. Needless to say, Green resorts to the most unabashed lying and distortion in his efforts. But taking his own | words and the doctored facts he uses, | We will show that the N. R. A. has strengthened the power of the cap- Jitalists to oppress the workers and drive down their living standards, Green begins with the core of his theory for class collaboration, the | justification for becoming a part of the Wall Street state bureaucracy in the Roosevelt regime, the apology for his avid strikebreaking. “Mutual Purpose” “Interdependence of concern for the interest of others,” Green argues, “is essential to protecting one’s own interests. This one course is prac- ticable—cooperation for the promo- tion of mutual purpose. This is the sence of the thing we are trying to jo through the N.R.A.—the establish- | ment of a real partnership in industry under the chairmanship of the goy- ernment representing national wel- fare.” We might mention here that this is precisely the labor policy of An- drew Mellon, stated almost in the same words used by Green here. It has been expressed, likewise, on va- rious occasions by such brutal ex- ploiters of labor as Henry Ford, the elder J. P. Morgan, and the late Judge Gary of the United States Steel Cor- poration. The lying principle behind Green's theory is that the Wall Street regime of Roosevelt is impartial as between the classes, and that the interests of Morgan, Ford, Rockefeller, Mellon are |the same as their wage slaves who produce the wealth which the rich appropriate; that in ell acts, the gove ernment moves without interest in any class. Green on the principle of “mutual purpose” drove 14,000 steel workers back into the mills with N.R.A. prom- ises through the idea of the “chair- manship of the Government repre- senting national welfare.” Today the workers find they have been shame- Jessly betrayed by the A. F. of L. bureaucracy, the NRA. and the Roosevelt. regime; while Mr. Weir, president of the company now has been able to build up a company union to drive down wages and in- crease his profits. : In fact, Green himself in his edi- torials is forced to admit the fol- lowing: “The National Recovery Adminis- tration has greatly concentrated power in the hands of the industrial executives.” Here we have from Green himself @ refutation of the balancing of in- terests. The N.R.A. has greatly in- creased the oppressive power of the— not “industrial executives” as Green tries to say—but of the big bankers, capitalists exploiters of labor. How have they used this power? Impartially, under the chairmanship of the government? We do not have to step out of Green’s own editorials to learn that with the help of the N.R.A. the capitalists have used their increased power to slash wages of the workers, Under the heading: “Watch real earnings,” Green writ NBA, Cuts Wi committees of the union enabled the workers to build a stronger union and Committees gain new members, Secretary Hunter writes in the official organ of the union, “The Wickwire steel workers are making tremendous strides toward consolidating their local in prepara- tion for the national convention (in February) of the S.M.W.I.U,,” Hunter says. “The Wickwire local 106 has al- rady laid the basis for a strong local with well functioning depart- ment committees. When we returned to work on August 28. our local had 226 members signed up, with 189 paid up in full, Today we have 349 work- ers paid up.” ‘The departmental committees were able to enforce the demands won in the strike, Hunter points out, and to prevent layoffs of many union mem- bers by securing equal division of work. Hunter concludes, “Unless we have real department committees, to check up on speed-up, incoming orders, amount of work shipped out and weekly production, we will not be able to curb the mass lay-offs of our members.” Ambridge Lessons ‘The lesson of strong departmental committees is also emphasized in the article of John Meldon, secretary of the S3.M.W.LU. in the same issue of the “Steel and Metal Worker.” Mel- don, writing of the calling of the Second National Convention of the union for February, sums up the les- sons of the Ambridge struggle. After the terror in Ambridge, he points out, the union members could not be brought together for a long time be- cause no departmental committees had been formed, or no groups of five. “In short,” writes Meldon, “We went into battle with the Steel Trust with a big unwieldy machine based on loose mass organization, instead of mass locals based on and rooted in the department.” Another article from Ambridge re- ports that now four organizational meetings were held in one week in Ambridge to reorganize the locals there and organize these groups of five in every department, and to organize functioning department com- mittees. The December issue of the “Steel and Metal Worker” contains the new draft preamble and constitution which is to be discussed by the membership jand adopted in final form at the February national convention, Playing Politics With CWA Jobs Is Charge of Former O, Mayor YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio. — Charging “bosses with playing politics in the , distribution of Civil Works Adminis~ tration jobs,” here, former Mayor Joseph L, Hefferman, speaking before the United Labor Congress, urged |that a Federal investigator be sent down. He also charged that veterans were being mistreated in the distribu- tion of C.W.A, jobs, earner is facing the problem which we call real wages. Let us look back on industrial changes since the low mark in March. . . . Wages had in- creased 6.3 cents per hour and weekly earnings were 6 per cent higher. “However, while wages rose 6 pr cent, costs of living rose 8.5 per cent, so the increased number of dollars did not counteract the shrinkage in buying power of wage- earner incomes employed during these six months,” This is precisely what the N.R.A. was designed to achieve, To put it bluntly, something Mr, Green avoids, under the N.R.A,, according to the figures of the A. F. of L, the Amer- ican workers received a wage cut of 23 per cent, “This decline in real buying power of the individual worker,” writes Green, “is particularly serious as we approach winter. . . . Cost of living is still climbing upward... . With winter ahead, when lay-offs usually occur, we cannot count on re-em- ployment at the same rate as in past months to increase mass buying power.” N.R.A, Results Summing up on the basis of the seraps of information Green unwill- ingly hands out, we find that as the result of Green’s policy of class col- lJaboration and support of the A. F. of L. bureaucracy to the Wall Street regime of Roosevelt and its N.RA,, the standard of living of the Amer- ican workers. was drastically cut; they face danger of worse cuts; the “When it takes $5 to buy goods that formerly cost $3.50, the wage possibility of re-employment grows slimmer and slimmer, Green Writes in “American Federationist” for Class Collaboration to Help Bosses Put Over More Pay Cuts What are the workers to do about it? Green ahswered that question from the point of view of the A. F. of L, bureaucracy in the very first part of his article, He urges the workers to depend on the same forces that in six months have succeeded in driving down their standards of living. Furthermore, he tells the workers that if they are fired for joining trade unions nothing can be done about it. Right to Organize “Companies which want to deny employees the right to representation through unions can develop most re- fined methods for eliminating workers active in the union. Though the workers themselves may be absolutely certain why active trade unionists are laid off, it is practically impos- sible to prove the intent of the em- ployer.” When the N.R.A. was first passed Green declared it was “a new charter of labor.” Reams of ballyhoo were spread telling the workers they had the right to organize. Huge strikes developed in coal, steel,.packing, tex- tile, for the right to organize, Now that these strikes have been smashed through the help of the N.R.A. and the A. F. of L. fakers, Green defends the N.R.A. and the bosses by telling the workers “it is ible to prove the intent of the bosses.” Green tells the workers if they vote against the company unions and are fired, noth- can be done about it. low that the bubble of N.R.A. promises is bursting, we must point out that the only one who accurately forecast its deeds and exposed its role Win Pay Jim Crow, Beat Up, Jail,NegroCWA Man EVANSVILLE, Ind. — A Negro C.W.A. worker was beaten up and arrested by foremen here, when he attempted to board a truck on which white workers were being transported to the projects. The Negro waited until all the white men had entered the trucks and when he attempted to board one of them was seized and held by one of the thugs while another beat him over the head with a blackjack. He was then arrested on a charge of creating a disturbance, CCC Boys Sleep in Tents with Weather 15 Deg. Below Zero Snow 2 1-2 feet Breaks Down Tents, Letter Reveals DETROIT, Mich—Boys in Roose- velt's C. C. C., forced labor camps in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan have been forced to sleep in tents with the ‘ temperature 10, 12 and 15 degrees be- low zero. This is revealed in a letter from one of the boys, Narry C. Wright, pub- lished in the Detroit Free Press. The letter was sent from Little Lake, Mich,, and indicates that the same situation prevails in Pennsylvania. “TI see by the United States C. C. C. ‘Happy Days’ paper,” he writes, “that the boys down in Pennsylvania are still sleeping in tents with the tem- perature at 30 degrees above zero. Now that is certainly a crime. The boys in the Upper Peninsula of the 685th Company are also in tents with the temperature at 10, 12 and 15 degrees below zero and with 2% feet of snow. Some of the boys were unfortunate as, the weight of the snow sunk some of the tents to the ground.” This shows the kind of “Happy Days” the Roosevelt government is giving thousands of unemployed youth throughout the country, The boys in all these forced labor camps should organize committees to demand shel- ter in properly heated barracks or cabins during the winter months. Pay for Relief Checks WhileWaitingfor CWA Wages in Lebanon, NH (By a Worker Correspondent) LEBANON, N, H.—The unemployed of Lebanon are experiencing Roose- velt's Welfare Relief for the unem- ployed particularly those on Roose~ yelt’s Civic Works Jobs. They have to wait many weeks for greatly over- due pay and in the meantime have to go to the Welfare Department and pay for relief while the Civil Works officials and their “hangers on” are playing baseball with the payrolls. The Welfare Department is using a new stunt now, which is instead of giving these C. W. A. workers the usual grocery slip paid for by the tax- payers giving them a slip of paper on which is written a notice stating that “this unemployed worker will pay for his slip order as soon as he draws his pay,” or words which mean the same thing. This is called unem- ployment relief from the Welfare De- partment. The unemployed provide their own relief from their own pockets. Send your greetings to the 24- ‘Tenth Anniversary edition of the Daily Worker. Rush them to us before Dec. 30. was the Communist Party. Merit Clause But, Mr. Green, didn’t you say the employer is acting in sweet harmony with the workers, under the chair~ manship of the government?: Mr. Green, wasn’t it you who opened the way for firing militant trade union: ists by granting the auto industry the “merit .clause” which gives the Now you want the worl by helpless while they trying to organize trade unions struggle so they can beat attempts to reduce wages. Whereas previously, other A, F. of L. N.R.A, heiped the “Workers, therefore, have a right to expect the government and society will interpose no difficulties to their efforts to organize.” purpose the workers from be iene It is clear that whole policy of the A, F, of L. official of trying to keep the wor! struggling while their living standards are lowered even further than is ad- mitted by Green, about wage cuts, But he the fact that the A. F. Hogg eed sitting on the National La- casei: ae wants to pratect his position on the N.R.A, to con- Cuts, Rise in Bosses’ Power Make Green Scurry to Bolster Faith in NRA ing deeds, E 3 u i E 5 g $ 3 8 5 E g 5 i i 7 g i 8 : g ll ‘ B i E ze “J #3 Fee Build Opposition Groups Every A. F. of L. member should the facts we here glean from Green’s own article to the attention the rank and file in his union. | reaucracy, if allowed to pursue its own way will continue to the power of “the industrial executives,” and to lower real wages. Only a among the rank and file, basing it- self on a program of a united front with all workers’ bay sone Bed struggle against the at r will be able to breaking policies of the task of protecting their own in- terests by doing all they can to build the opposition. Members of the Communist Party ws}in the A. F. of L. unions have a revolutionary duty to bring before all A. F. of L. workers, the real strike- breaking role of Green and Co, as shown in their decds and in this ar- ticle to use the attack against Green and his open strikebreaking deeds for developing a rank and file opposition in the unions & Detroit C.W.A. Men by Protest Lies Fail to Trick the Hungry Jobless Out of Pay (By a Worker Correspondenta, By s Worker Correspondent DETROIT, Mich, Deo, 15--I aw on one of those C.W.A. projects, ber 6 on Schoolcraft and River We had trouble in getting our week ago Saturday and the came on Dec. 8 that we would to wait for our pay again. This ei to shoulder their tools and march the super’s shack. Scare Officials ‘This movement of a couple of hun- dred men made the officials shake in their boots and they immediately sent out for the cops. We came up to the shack and the super didn’t have guts enough to come out and speak to the men, but had one of his flunkies, bark, bring out a report that the main office was responsible for our pay. And also he stated that if we wanted to go down town to see about our pay, we would have to check out. ‘Thence Stuart, a timekeeper, said if checked out we would lose our jobs. This Stuart struts around like he owned the place. Some of the men stated he was drunk on the job. Go to Main Office We then decided to all go to work and meet at the down town office in the morning. We got about 150 down there and tried to find out who the officials were there. Nobody seemed to know, but we all went up to the 5th floor of the Kerr Bldg. to see a Mr, Stark and he passed the buck to Mr, Haisely on the first floor. Wé got in to see him and he made a pretense of looking over the books and stated that our time wasn’t sent in. We believed this and were ready to raise cane, with the timekeeper (Stuart). The men on the job have no use for him. That is the reason that Haisely’s alibi was so willingly accepted, but as we were going out, we ran into two of the timekeepers and we gave them a piece of our minds, Lie, on Time But they said that the time was turned in on Tuesday. We told them the only way to square themselves was to go in to see Mr, Haisley and tell him that the time was turned in. They went in and at once Haisely ferent department. Well, then some other guy came out and told the men that he’d see to it that we get our checks within an hour and an half. We waited about 3% hours before we finally got the checks, Others See Results There were hundreds of ing in for checks from all city, but were told they would next week, They saw that craft gang got theirs how we did it and they “wait when we get will tell those men how to get results.” don't give a damn how we for the week-end without m A do not stop at this, we are going back and organize for more concessions, Lose Day If Late on Bronx Relief Job (By a Worker Correspondent) i i BS els mt i isfy i id i é on relief work, the men are required to check in at 8 a. m., take half hour for lunch and begin to check out at despite the fact that about will be lost to some out. On many have been allowed to turn and in some cases 10 o'clock, making half day at Echo Park a few you loge an entire day. There is no place shelter from rainy weather. have to run into basements park and in many cases are fore they can find a place to There are many carpenters some on this job, a rough shed could easily thrown up and a few long benches made attached around the shed. The toilet is the most terrible thing one can enter if one is forced to use it he gets enough of it. Every part time worker was paid a day short last week, although he leaves a week behind and none seems to know the reason for this, So is an entire shift of three days behind and a day from four 230, because of this the workers the 9 day’s month were only paid for 8 days last month or $36.00 Moreover, many men made their shift and did not get their 3 week's check, These a | z ei gate 8 g BE Fs 3 i n a8 as 38s and by the time they signed four slips standing in line, they lost at least one-half day. an abuses are part of the new deal. LOWELL WORKERS AID ‘DAILY' LOWELL, Mass —Through the use of collection lisis, workers of this city raised $10.85 for the Daily Worker to help the $49,000 drive ge over the top, and to help the “Daily” meet down payments on the new press, »)