The Daily Worker Newspaper, June 8, 1934, Page 4

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. : Page Four Baltimore Seamen Fight UnhealthyWorking Safety Rules As Speed- Telegraph Bosses Gov't Forced Labor Plan * Their Militant Spirit and Unity Is Unbroken Despite Police Attac . Frame-Ups and Cutting Off of Relief By a Marine Worker Correspondent BALTIMORE ve he long- press has S attack and has made a ted campaign against the marine workers. On Sunday, Ma at a meet- ing of the Unemployed Council, the question of forced labor was make The sovernment’s plan to the seamen work 25 hours fs Was unanimously op- all seamen on the water- forced labor program under way Monday the when the relief fake the busses at 6 a.m. to n to take them out Howard, the buses left empty. The seamen will never take up the forced labor of the government. Baltimore seamen have struggled for months and they will | continue to struggle against any vicious attack on them by the gov- ernment ,the bosses and the relief | fakers. Imagine seamen leaving the | city and swinging picks and digging | ditches for 90 cents a week. It is | common knowledge that seamen be- | long on the waterfront and that it | is only on the waterfront that they | ‘tan contact the ships for jobs. At 8 a.m. Monday the 28th we} (ncrease of wages. ng these docks were all Negro long- | shoremen. waterfront went to the docks to| hélp picket and give their support | to the strikers. Scabs were inside | the gate. The seamen under the} leadership of the Marine Workers In- dustrial Union led by fellow worker s to pull out was at first and let them y that they were scabbing on horemen. The results were abs came out and shook all the picketers. The ile immediately and Ing off the leaders. ing they did was to ff Stack, who was merely the picket line and shaking ands with the w 's, and start beating him up.. anley, only 17 s old, went to the defense of Along with Stanley, Harris, Guadalupe, who also had Howe, to defend themselves from the at- tatck of the police, were beaten up and taken to jail. Trial at lower court was waived and a jury was demanded by all. The arrests are nothing more than a deliberate attempt of the shipowners to break up the organ- ization on the waterfront. On a previous demonstration Stack was openly threatened by the police and in breaking up one meeting a police inspector said to Stack: “You'll be sorry for the day you ever came to Baltimore.” The charges filed show clearly the despicable system of the police courts and their out-and-out meth- ods of frame-up. Stack when | brought before the desk officer in lower court was charged with at- tacking an officer and inciting to riot. The desk clerk also added “attack with stick.” Although Stack did not have a stick in his hand at any time during the morning. He was hit on the head with a black jack by the police, yet the charge is that he attacked the police. As far as “inciting to riot,” it is plain | heard that the longshoremen at the| that they are out to frame Stack | municipal docks were striking for|on whatever charge they can get} The men work-| away with Guadalupe was charged | with “assault.” The police also The seamen from the| charged him with using a stick.| Everything was piled on that was possible. The only sticks that were wielded were the police clubs and the ones that were attacked were the seamen. The others were chargd with disorderly conduct. POTATOES . (IF ANYTHING) FOR. <—OTHE WORKERS— WHO PRODUCED ALL THIS FOR THE BOSSES —— & WHIPPED CREAM, FRuIT, ec = A LA CHAMBORD THE RICH AND THE TRUFFLE- | HOUNDS The sketch shows a salmon dish such as is served in rich estab- lishments: the four little lobsters crowning the creation are kept aloft by silver filigree-topped skew- ers thrust through them and the truffle-inlaid mushrooms beneath them. The black objects alongside | the fish are also truffles, known as | “the black diamonds of the kit-| chen.” | They are a costly, pungent sort of | mushroom, a fungus, that grows beneath the surface of the ground | if France; a delicacy highly prized | by the dollar-nobility. They are/ jet. black and used extensively for | inlaying pretty decorative patterns; into the food of the rich. | * Dogs, sometimes pigs. are trained | to locate them. A pig is fed a few| truffles, muzzled and turned loose to smell out the location of more | truffles. When successful, he is re-| warded with acorns. Shepherd| dogs to be employed (dogs already trained for hunting can’t be used) | are fed a meat dish cooked with | truffles, then starved for a day or| two, after which they have a fine keefi nose for locating the under- ground truffles. Sounds like a fantastic opium- | dream, doesn’t it? But this is the sort of thing the big bosses are up| to, while the workers, who mined | the ore for cook-pans and did all| fhe work that makes this luxury) possible, g0 mad wondering where they can get another bag of beans. | The salmon pictured, of course, | fs not a meal: oh, no, that’s just! the fish course of a meal which| would be rounded out by appetizers, Soup. meat and vegetable dishes, salad, dessert, and so on. Yes, the Thxuries enjoyed by the rich exceed the wildest dreams of heaven of the workers who provide this luxury for parasites which few of the workers ever see. Definite knowl- édge of these delights in which the ruling class wallows, goes far to- ward liquidating any illusions as to Whether or not the boss class will) give up their power without the bit- | terest sort of a struggle. No ruling olass has ever willingy abdicated, said Marx. It’s true. The ruling class will never stand by and see thejr truffles and whipped cream | swept away by mere balloting. | | Stop depending for news and | information on the press that favors the bosses and is against the workers. Subscribe to the Daily Worker, America’s only working-class daily news- paper, 4 coins or stamps for this Anne Adams Pattern. Write capitalist | plainly name, | number, SIZE. Can You Make ’Em Yourself? Patttern 1908 is available in sizes 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44 and 46. Size 36 takes 3% yards 39 inch fabric. Illustrated step-by-step sewing in-| structions included. Send FIFTEEN CENTS (15c) in (coins preferred) address and style BE SURE TO STATE Address orders to Daily Worker Pattern Department, 243 West 17th Street, New York City. DAILY WORKER, NEW YORK, FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 1934 Conditions, But Many Rules on “L” By an “El” Worker Correspondent NEW YORK.—The riding pub- lic seems to think that I. R. T. and B.M.T. employees ha a soft rack that they are well der all conditions, etc. if they only knew the abuse they have to put up with, and certain rules and regulations, which if they violate they are liable to be suspended or discharged. Of course if the company enforced all the rules they have, they would have a new force working every day. No matter how perfect you are, you always violate the rules; it can’t be helped. Take for instance the painting department, where the men may work one day a week up to five days @ weck according to the weather. They have to wash up | on the platforms out of water | buckets; for this they are supposed to have 10 minutes which they | seldom get. If they expose any | part of their bodies while washing | they are liable to be dismissed. Everyone drinks from the same | cup while working. Then depart- | ment heads and __ brotherhoods wonder why we are kicking. After putting overalls on, you | have to put your clothes in the| same box where you. put your overalls. They say they can't supply us with a room or shack where we can report every morn- ing and return to at knocking off time. Why not? Some other de- partments have it They have Plenty of spare rooms that are never used. They claim, because we travel from one place to an- other, that it can’t be done. If we were stationary we probably would have it. When we are work- ing on a station we usually take about 3 to 4 weeks. On the | structure between stations it takes between a month to 2 months or more before we move to the next station. Why can’t we have some special place to go to? During | that time we could easily have some particular room or shack where we would be able to wash up, dress and undress in comfort, without fear of being reported for violations. Some of the foremen and sub- formen seem to think we are nothing but slaves. They drive | us, curse us—anything, in order to | get more work ovt of us. Most of | these foremen and sub-foremen were in the gangs themselves be- fore they were promoted, And from the accounts of most, of the men that were working with them at that time they were always squawking; or else they were suck- | ers, favorites, or stool pigeons for the boss. For instance “Corn | Beef,” now working between 14th St. and 19th St. Second Avenue Line. If it rains, the men working on the structure are sent home. Very seldom do we make a full week. Usually it is anywhere from one day and 4 hours to 4 days. Why can’t we have steady time? There is plenty of work to be done. Yet they still take our 10 percent away when we do make a full week and 7 cents a month for the “vol- untary relief,” and the Brother- hood demands its 25 cents monthly which has to be paid for three months in advance, for which you are allowed no more than $20.00 | @ year if you are sick for a month, and can show a doctor's certifi- cate when you took sick and when discharged. You have to be sick two weeks before you re- | ceive anything, end then you have | to notify the Brotherhood, notify | the “Voluntary Relief,” and after | that you have! to argue and fight | for the small sum that you receive. | Let us get together, all trans- | port workers, unite, throw out this so-called Brotherhood and build a real Rank and File Union con- trolled by and for the transport workers, and demand: 1.—Return of 10 percent cut. 2.—Sanitary conditions. 3.—Safer conditions. 4.—Guarantee of a steady wage, No layoffs, no speed-up. Letters from Our Readers LA GUARDIA IS REAL “YELLOW DOG” New York City. | I wish to say that the name “yel- low dog” which La Guardia so Glibly used to William Gaynor, fits Mr. La Guardia very well, except | that he is a yellow dog in sheep's | clothing, While he was campaigning for his election as Mayor of New York, I sent him a letter by registered mail. In that letter I offered Mr. La Guardia facts about racketeering in the life insurance companies and it. States that all the racketeering about the stock market and bank- ing racket which have been exposed in recent years, would be as noth- ing compared to the racketeering of the industrial insurance companies. My letter was just ignored. The reason it remained unan- swered is that Mr. La Guardia was sent to City Hall to protect those very interests of the racketeers and not the people of New York. He is not here to improve financial and economic conditions of the people, but to get every drop of blood of the starving people and turn it over to the bankers and insurance companies. All economies he has made are at the expense of city employees, To the delegation that LaGuardia called “yellow dogs” I wish to say thet these men are fighters and that every time they aro acting in | of New York. They are tne shining | stars that nature has produced—the | Teal yellow dogs are La Guardia | and his associates. JACOB GOLDBERG. (Signature Authorized) such a delegation they are riskinz; their lives for the destitute people | U Pp Device in Chieago Terminals of Penn. R.R. Save 15 Days’ Pay Monthly on Each Gang by Making Rest of Laid-Off ‘ Men Do Work of ‘Violators” By a Worker Correspondent CHICAGO, Til. The Master | Mechanic of the Chicago terminals of the Penn R. R. has built up a slave driving system by which he |is able to increase production and | cut expenses using safety rule en- |forcement as the club with which | to drive the workers. The foreman of each gang of 40 men is required to revort at least |five safety rule violations each |month. As a matter of so-called |discipline these men are laid off three days without pay. No extra men are employed to take the place of the men laid off, the other workers on the gang close in and perform the duties of the man un- der decipline. This amounts to a | pay roll saving of 15 days per | month per gang and for the entire | divisicn amounts to enough to pay the Master Mechanic’s salary. Since the laborers’ rate is 39c per hour and all work five days a week or less, it means hunger for the worker's family. Open Letter to Workers Of Sunnyside R. R. Yard | Workers who do not work fast | }enough or who incur the displeas- | |ure fo the boss in any way know| |that they will be the ones vic- timized. The safety rules in gen- jeral have nothing to do with actual safety or safe practice. By in- creasing the speed-up they actually prevent sefe practice. Unsafe and worn out tools are furnished, but if the worker is in- jured in using them he is dici- plined for using unsafe tools. To change an electric light bulb is a violation of the safety rules but to stop work and wait for an elec- trician to replace a burned out lamp is cause for dismissal, 2 A leafiet, distributed in the ter- |minals by the Communist Party, jdemands that these abuses be | stepped. No worker to be laid off or fired for violation of safety rules until his case is reviewed by a |shop committee of workers and to} take the power of setting penalties | away from the master mechanic | and that terrorism and speed-up be stopped. Fellow Workers: Do you realize the chance you are missing at this time by not or- ganizing? After we have slaved to make the Pennsylvania R. R. known as the standard R. R. of the world, At- terbury, the president of this com- pany tells us we are all part of this great road. Fellow workers, all we ask is that you compare your pay check with that of Atterbury’s and see the vast difference between the men who do all the work and the man who sits idle. While we make from $2.88 to $3.05 for eight hours slaving, he makes $60,000 a year. Do you realize the nice ticket | many of us will get after the sum- |mer runs out? He will say: “Well done, thou good and faithful serv- ant, but your services are no longer required. I hope that during your lay off you have as good a time as I will on my, vacation.” Fellow workers: this is what will be handed to us soon and we ask you: What are you going to do about it. Are you going to stay “Victory” of AFL. R.R. Union Head Is Lay-Offs for Men By a Railroad Worker Cor- respondent | NEW YORK, N. Y.—On May 19, | F, Freccia, general chairman of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes (A. F, of L.) sent out a | letter to all junior members on the ing them to a meeting on Tuesday, | May 22 at 110 East 125th St. The | letter opened up as follows: | “Dear Sirs and Brothers: | When this letter will be in your hands, you trackmen will already be working in accordance with the new program, i.e., 5 days per week. At the time we approached you, we stated that our efforts were concentrated on getting more time for you. We have fuifilled our prmise and we are satisfied with having done our part.” The following explanation will serve to convince your readers just how these fake union leaders work, We section men had been working 3 and 4 days per’ week. Brother Freccia and his outfit entered into an agreement with the company whereby the company consented to a five-day week provided Mr. Frec- cia would concede the company’s right to lay off the junior man in the gang. The old bargain of “Give me a quarter and I will give you 25 cents!” No provision was made for the man who was kicked out of a job by this treachery. And this is | called a victory by Freccia and his ; gang. The old racket of dividing the men against each other, Paragraph 4 of Freccia’s letter | further states: “Foremen are urged to attend for I have for you a message of the utmost importance which for many good reasons I cannot put on paper.” Brother Freccia, why the secret chatter between you and the fore- man? You state that you want the other men to sign up in your union. If so, for what purpose? Are you playing a confidence racket by brib- ing the foremen so they will support your vicious maneuvers? It is time that the knockout was given to your kind of leader. This can be done by building a united front of all honest railroad men, taking our unions out of the hands of the pres- ent top leadership and placing them under the control of rank and file members. When we do this, we will have made a tremendous step for- ward, not only for honest leader- ship, but also for real conditions on | the job. Let's make our unions serve the interests of the rank and file. In honest rank and file leadership | lies our only hope for decent living conditions, The dictatorship of the prole- tariat must be a State that em- bodies a new kind o& democracy, for the proletarians and the dis- Possessed; and a new kind of dictatorship. against the bour- geoisie—Lenin, Hudson and Harlem divisions call-| asleep or are you going to start working for yourself and your fel- low men? Don’t you see the system the Penn. uses? Suppose you as a me- chanic were told tomorrow that you were to go on ice or car -clean- ing, how would you like that? Would you still favor the “family gathering” better known as the company union, or would you be in favor of a real union, not con- nected with the American Federa- tion of Labor, but a urion composed of all the workers in the yards| which would fight for your rights? | This union is not a matter of |money, the initiation fee and dues jare whatever the workers decide they should be. We realize how we got robbed by the A. F. of L. This is different, this is built and sup- ported by all classes and all colors and all races of workers in the Yard. Fellow workers, this is the fight of all of us. Do not think that be- cause we are here today we will be here tomorrow. Don’t forget that some of us are getting old, that is what the company considers old. Each day we are sveeded up more and more and some of us can't stand the pace much longer. When you read this you will say: “By God. this is right.” But do not go to sleep after you read this. This company union is the bunk. |Leok who got the job of delegate | to represent you in the last one. | Take the case right here in Sunny- side where the delegates of Yes- terday are your bosses of Today. Fellow workers: Join this union | with your fellow workers now and don’t give that bie monster a sec- ond chance to build another com- | pany union, R. R. BROTHERHOOD UNITY COMMITEE Sunnyside Yards For further infermation on how to join this union ask your fel- low workers of the Sunnyside ; Yards Unity Committee, or write to the Raiiroad Brotherhocds Unity Committee, Room 631, 80 E. | lith St. New York City. New Co. Union ‘Trick by Penn RB. By a R. R. Worker Correspondent RICHMOND HILL. L, I—I want to say that on last pay day every worker in the Morris Park Yards received a little booklet by General Atterbury in which the president explains that he is now in favor of the workers choosing our own rep- resentatives to bargain collectively with the management on the basis of “jointly established facts,” I want to warn all the railroad workers that this is a trick to pre- pare the way to draw all of us into a new form of company union that will apparently-not have the open marks of a company union, We must remind Mr. Atterbury of his strikebreaking activities during the 1922 “outlaw” strike, in which, he as president of the company did everything to break our strike. Furthermore I want to ask Atter- bury what he intends to do to the workers who lost their jobs and who have gone through hell since then? The workers of the Penn and L, I, R, R, must not fall into the trap that is being set for us. Yes, we want to be organized and we want collective bargaining, but not through the bosses “yes men” like Charlie Robb. We want to speak in a body of railroad workers, regard- less of craft, through our own elected delegates without any pres- sure from the railroad bosses, I think that the Unity Movement should get busy on this and mobi- lize all railroad workers for united action. 20 YEARS A R. R. WORKER NOTE: We publish letters every Friday from workers in the transporta- tion and communications indus- tries—railroad, marine, surface lines, subway, elevated lines, ex- press companies, truck drivers, taxi drivers, ete., and post office, telephones, telegraph, etc. We urge workers from these in- dustries to write us of their con- ditions of work and their struggles to organize. Please get these letters to us by Tuesday of each week, |it refused to raise our wages or | but anxious to destroy us, consider- jagencies (Bergoff, Bernstein, Sha- Try Everything to! Destroy the TMU, | By a Telegraph Worker Cor- | respondent NEW YORK —wWe messengers | have little experience in trade union | activities. | However, in attempting to get a} Square deal from the companies we discovered many things. First: Although the companies have made several millions in profit | for the year and had paid out nice | fat dividends to their stockholders | improve working conditions. Second: When we attempted to unite in our union, the Telegraph Messenger Union, for the purpose of collective bargaining, the company fired the active leaders, sent stool Pigeons to spy on us, hired thugs and terrorized the messengers. Third: When we expressed our indignation against such tactics, and threatened to strike for our demands, the companies opened a terrific drive on all fronts to break us. Thus, in one short month we have arrived at a position directly op- Posite to the big financial interests which control the companies and their lackeys. In trying to get a square deal from them, we found them not only unwilling to com- promise and arbitrate peacefully, ing us a dangerous enemy. They stopped at no expense or trouble to achieve this end. They used the police, thugs, detective piro, etc.). the capitalist press (N. Y. Evening Journal), company unions (A, W. U. E.), in order to break us. Our demands, presented to the officials by a strike commit- tee, were rejected. This company union (A. W. U. E.) has since shown its true colors by openly protecting the company’s in- terests against the messengers. Thus, when E. S. D. No. 2 office was broken up and the messengers demanded action of the A. W. U. E. representative—he refused to do| anything and the next day gave the company excuses for breaking one of the biggest offices. This of- fice was broken up because of its militancy in fighting the company union and demanding recognition of the T. M. U,. and its demands. This same A. W. U. E. did not send @ representative to the Washington code hearing on May 16, to fight for the messengers’ interests. How could it, since the company was op- Posed to any code, and the A. W. U. E. must do nothing that is “det- rimental to the interests of the company.” These lessons—the open subservi- ence of the A. W. U, E. to the com- pany, the breaking of all the rosy promises the company agents made and the ruthless suppression of any move on the part of the workers to organize into militant unions— have been carved on the minds of the messengers. We have learned that to win our demands it is neces- sary to fight with all our power, and on all fronts. This new knowl- edge will enable us to move forward in our strengthened union to fight for our demands, to smash the com- pany union, and, if a code is to be made, to force the adoption of a decent living wage for messengers. A MEMBER OF THE T.M.U, LI. RR. Prepares To Make Wage Cuts. a Permanent One. By a R.R. Worker Correspondent JAMAICA, L. I—Where are so many “old timers” that have disap- peared from the yards and from the shops? Some have been replaced by “younger blood,” and the L. I. R.R. Company is planning to do away with more old timers, but this time they do not intend to replace anyone. On pay day, Wednesday, we got a ballot which we had to return with our card. They asked us to vote either for the continuation of the five-day week, or for the six- day week. We were taken by sur- prise, and I don’t know what the company will say. This vote will give the company a chance to say that we want the six day week, and it will give them the opportunity to fire more of the “old timers.” At the same time I feel that they will prepare the ground to keep the 714 per cent return on the cut on the ground that we get now more wages than before, if we are made to work six days, More than this, the speed-up put in throughout the country in the railroad industry will still be in- creased. For example, I can say that the coach cleaners are given so many minutes to sweep a coach, no matter how clean or how dirty. Workers are timed when they wash the windows and a standard is set for the whole gang, This “effi- ciency” system forces the workers to speed-up, when we know that to do a good job would equire more time, and this “speed-up leads to “failure to perform duties proper- ly,” a statement to the boss, and the discipline papers which will grant an involuntary vacation of a few days, a few weeks, or a perma- nent lay-off. Any flimsy excuse is sufficient to get old “Harry,” “Hen” or “Pete” off the job. “He's getting old, any- way, and it is not safe for an old man to be working around the ‘third rail,’ but it is too bad that he could not stick it out for his pension. He'd have gotten it in another two years.” This is a common sentence around the yards and in the shops. But the old-timers are out—to stay, and they join the numerous army of unemployed. Compulsory old age pension and Unemployment Insurance would have helped these cases and the many future cases, This is why all workers of the L. I. R. R. should support the bill of the Unemploy- ment Councils now before Congress, H. R. 7598—which will provide for any similar cases, and at the ex- pense of the railroad owners, who have stolen the pofits of our labors, THE BOLT. | | from fire in the basement, and be-| PARTY LIFE Party Hospital Unit Triples In Size After Issuing Paper Shop Paper in Brooklyn Jewish Hospital Raises Question of Organization of Nurses The Communist Party Shop Unit in the Jewish Hospital, Brooklyn, almost tripled in size following pub- lication of The Pulse, the shop paper here. The first issue was printed on May Day. In that issue, we concretely and fearlessly fought against the drastic wage cuts that the Jewish hospital workers received; we pointed out how miserably floor nurses were overworked; we emphasized the dis- “No Smoking,” Not Even in Train Shed By a Railroad Worker Cor- respondent | CHICAGO, Ill.—The workers of} the Chicago & Northwestern Ter- minal here in Chicago have lately been treated to an exhibition of official petty tyranny which most of the workers on the job call “Hit- lerism.” Because of some danger | cause of the fire scare resulting | from the stock yards fire, a bulletin was posted which ruled that “No| Smoking” should take place in the | basement. This was posted up with & postscript making it apply to} other departments; thus making it & blanket rule against smoking in any part of the terminal. One of the punk arguments used to support this petty officialism was that certain classes of workers, in uniform, ticket sellers, etc. have never been allowed to smoke. Which instead of being an argument for the rule, is only a good reason for our grievance committees of the unions to insist that every one be allowed rest period to smoke, when it is not safe to do so on the job. The restriction even was made to apply to the train shed where the locomotives smoke to their hearts | content while puffing around, and where there is nothing inflammable. The local Chicago Northwestern Terminal Unity Committee got to- gether and issued a leaflet calling upon the grievance committees of the unions affected to demand a j tress of the young recent graduate | nurses; we criticized the poor qual« ity of the food that was being fed | to the unskilled workers; we ap- | pealed to the workers to organize and thereby improve their working conditions and their salaries. The paper was electrifying; it took everyone by storm. The workers loved it. They cherished every word. It was grabbed up so fast that there were not enough copies to go around. Each copy passed from hand to hand and was consumed by 10 to 20 eager minds, If the truth hurts, the hospital | authorities were deeply shocked, There was consternation in their ranks. There were hurried tele- phone calls and conferences in an effort to find ways and means of suppressing the paper. Officials snooped around and snatched copies from the hands of anxious readers. We warn the hospital authorities that no amount of intimidation will prevent this paper from being pub- lished. Communists are not weak- kneed. ‘The Communist Party is found in the leadership in every struggle of the working class. The Communist Party is the only party that fights incessantly for the in« terests of the workers. The Com- munist Party never betrays the workers. Jewish hospital workers can depend upon the Communist Party for guidance and support. The demand for The Pulse has been so great and there have been so many letters and articles sent in for publication, that we are com- pelled to double the circulation and increase its size from two to four pages. Join the Communist Party 36 E. 12th STREET, N. Y. ¢. Please send me more informa- tion on the Communist Party. NAME {iss sic jis vcs neds geusdacleeds Street City . sensible interpretation of the rule. Skilled Men Paid As ‘Laborers’ In ‘New Haven By a Railroad Worker Corresp. Bronx, N. Y. I bought the Daily Worker in front of the Van Nest shop on Fri- day and found a lot of news about conditions on the railroads. There was a note asking us to write to the Daily Worker about our shops, so if you want to publish it, here it is. In the Van Nest shops, the com- pany has hired skilled men, pipe fitters, electricians, machinists, etc., as laborers and has them at skilled mechanics’ work. While the scale for these jobs runs from 66 cents to $1 an hour, all we get is 40 cents less the 10 per cent cut. The bosses know that we laborers who were formerly skilled mechan- ics are sore, so they make rules so that we cannot talk with the other shopmen. We have to come in eight minutes earlier, like the others, but we can't knock off eight minutes earlier because they are afraid that we will talk with each other on the street car or on the street what to do about the rotten condition. Even the company union is closed to us laborers to keep us divided and from organizing. Now that the elections for the Railroad’ Shop company union are coming off, Franklin and the rest are throwing the bull around about what the company union has done. A RAILROAD WORKER. Editor’s Note.—This worker is correct about the company union, The New Haven R. R. has it be- cause it keeps the workers tied so they cannot fight for better condi- tions. The reason the company keeps the laborers out is to further divide the men against each other. Only a real union, made up of ALL the workers in the shop and yard, controlled by the men instead of by the company, can win better condi- tions for the men. The workers should talk this over among them- selves and lay plans for organizing all the departments. The workers in the company union should ore ganize themselves in their own dee partments to fight for real griev- ances in their own departments. For further information on how to organize, the workers should write to the Railroad Brotherhoods Unity Committee, 80 East llth St., New York City. HOSPITAL CARE— UNDER CAPITALISM By A. S. (Continued from yesterday) In all honesty, I can say that I am not hyper-sensitive or morbidly im- pressionable. Yet, on the third day, I was impelled to leave regardless of the consequences, and without bene- fit of the “careful diagnosis” for which I had come. Fortunately for me, my circumstances were such as to permit me to leave without cut- ting myself off completely from medical attention. But the majority of patients there are not so for- tunate, and are compelled to take what is given them for lack of any- thing better. Now who is to blame for this? Is it the inherent meanness of hos- pital attendants that is responsible? Or are sick workers just naturally objects of hatred? It is none of these causes. The basic policy of an institution is invariably reflected in the attitude of its attendants. If it were the policy of the hospital officials to supply the facilities and atmosphere ni to genuine treatment of illness, the co-opera- tion of the staff would be its first consideration. It is a notorious fact that hospital workers are compelled to work long hours, at pay which would not be adequate compensa- tion at half the time required. How can underpaid and over-worked at- tendants be expected to feel any good will toward their work? The patient, being the immediate cause of work to be done, naturally be- comes the object of their resent- ment against conditions whose source is the officialdom of the hos- pital. The attendant directs his antagonism against the patient By PAUL LUTTINGER, M.D. —- It is not the patient's fault that the attendant is overworked, or the at- tendant’s fault that the patients suffer. It is the policy of the hose pital management of take-what-we- choose-to-give-you-and-shut-up to- ward both the hospital worker and patient, that is to be blamed. And what does this means to the thousands of workers who by virtue of the economic condition to which they are reduced by capitalism, are compelled to depend upon the Belle- vue type of treatment in times of illness? It means this: That under capitalism, the worker cannot re- ceive adequate treatment for dis- eases which, nine times out of ten are the result of conditions forced upon the worker by the capitalist system. The institutions “provided” for workers, supported by taxes Jevied upon workers, are nothing more than a gesture, a pretense for the benefit of public opinion, on the part of the ruling class who “benev- olently” dispenses what passes for medical care, What is the solution? How can workers obtain adequate medical care? There is only one solution, namely: workers’ insurance against illness, and what is more important, the control of the dispensation of insurance benefits to be in the hands of the only class interested in the workers—the workers themselves. This is one of the provisions of the Workers Insurance bill H. R. 7598. The workers themselves must de- mand their rights. This bill must be supported as an expression of these rights. The “rights” of the workers are much more than benev- olence” or “charity.” Insurance for workers, against unemployment and illness, is no more than what the worker earns by the service of his instead of his employer, who is the real cause of his dissatisfaction. work. Demand your rights by sup- f i t & : ° z

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