Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1912-04-25
aFiNEsa CUT WAGES or
TRUSTS EMPLOYEES

The American Tobacco Company, OF
| the Tobacco Trust, manufacturers Of
"oHnest Scrap" and other non-union
tobacocs, has found a way of paying
the highest wages" and yet Ginning
across to its employees with no more
money than if it had been paying not
the highest bu the lowest wages
This miracle is worked by the To
bacco Trust through a system of fines
The employees of the trust, mostly
young girls and women, are fined for
everything for signing when
they are tired. The system of fines
has been in operation Off consider
able length of time in all of the trust
establishments Recently the limit to
this filming system was reached in one
of the Tobacco Trusts establishments
located in Brooklyn.
1t was occasioned when a number
of the trust employees found thai
their days earnings had been cut
down by approximately 20 cents for
each of them. They were told that
it was a fine. AS is customary in
the trust shops, no questions are
asked. But when the girls were out
side the factory on the sidewalk they
held a little conference, cursed the
foreWoman and a few began to cry.
The word strike" was on every
girls lips. Each, however, was afraid
to utter it. The trust has trained the
girls to suspect each other and none
of them dared to suggest the calling
of strike for fear that she might
be betrayed by the next one to the
foreman and thus lose her job.
The Girls Story.
Several of the trust employees we're
called on and when assured that their
names would not be made public they
consented to tell of some of the hard
ships they endured in the Tobacco
Trusts Brooklyn shop. =.
In that shop cigarettes selling at
five cents a box, are made. And it is
in the packing department of the
shop that the slavery is at its. worst.
One of the girls said:
We are paid seven cents for every
1000 cigarettes we pack. When We
come to work in the morning the fore
woman asks each girl how much she
expects to pack that day. The girl
says 10000, which at the rate of sew
en- cents per thousand, would bring
her earnings to $1.4O for that day.
Before very long, however, the girl
finds herself out of packing boxes
and has to go and get them. This
takes time. Sometimes she has to
wait all of half an hour.
"At the close of the day she finds
that instead of packing 10000 ciga-
rettes she has packed only $4,000.
Because she has not packed the TO-
900 which she promised the forewom-
an in the morning she is fined 1000
In other words, because
she said she would pack 10000 ciga-
rettes and packed only $4,000 the
trust pays her for only 10000. She
is fined IA cents.
Other Fines.
"But this is not ALL" continued the
girl. every. frequently in giving out
work the forewoman will deliberately
put in 1000 or 5000 cigarettes above
the number you asked for and will
not pay you for these extra thousands.
It is plain cheating. You ask for TO-
600 cigarette and you find $4,000.
The forewoman assures you there are
only 10000 there and that you must
have made a mistake in counting. II
you kick too loud you are discharged |
After a short time one learns that it |
IS best to submit to this plain thievery |
and not to notice when a couple OF |
extra thousand cigarettes are thrown |
in for you to pack without pay
."The work of packing cigarettes
may seem easy. But it is not. It is a
most nerve racking Job. To pack. 20
BOO cigarettes in five cent boxes in
wolves the handling of 1000 separate
boxes. The girls's fingers frequently