Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1918-02-09
DIE RIoHMQNp pLANEr, RIQHMoND y1Ra1n1A


man. Each ono Of these claims to
have made from $25 to $50 a week in
the South by contracting. The official
In the office of the Union whom they
approached to ask for membership
unccrcmoniously told them that /.
would take no cOlorcd mon into mem
bcrshfp. The result was that one of
these men was fortunate enough to
llnd work in his own line in a non..-
union shop. receiving twenty dollars
per week Tor eight and onc-half hours
rs compared with $3.50 for an eight
,hour day. the union scale The Sec
ond man. however. was not so fortu-
nate, and unable to find work in his
own line, he is now working as q
common laborcr i'm Il stco' plant max
ing $2,70 for ten hours per day. That
many of the colored skilled people DO
not attempt to join the union because
they know the existing situation IS
obvious Thd brothcr-in-law of one
OF the above men. also n skilled work
or, when asked why he did not try
TO join the Union. enthusiastically
shrugged his shoulders and uttered
the fatalistic "What's the usc?"
Yes, what's the use? And again:
The following case which throws
nSht on the genera. situation, and
illustrates the resultant effects of
this injustice was related by the
head >clcrk Of the State Employ
ment Bureau Of tnis city.
IN the month of June, 1917. a
man giving the name of u. Bobonis a
Porto Rican, came to our office and
asked for work as a carpenter Mr..
Bobonis was Il union carpenter a MON
Der of the Colorado State Union. The
llrst place he was sent they told him
thcy were filled up, and when n call
was made to determine if the com
pany had sufficient carpenters, the
foreman said that ii was impossible
Tor them to employ co ored carpcn
ter as all Of the white men would
walk out, but that they were still
oadly i'll need of carpenters 1t was
then decided TO call upon the differ
eht companies recognizing the union.
TO see II they all felt the same way.
Much TO our amaZcment we FOUND it
to DC the general rulc-thc colored
man cou Il pay his initiation fee AMI
oues III the Union, but after that was
done he was left little hopes For en-
ployment. -Four large companies were
called FOR this man and he could not
DE placed. AS Il last attempt, Il call on
the bravo Contracting Company was
made and as they have some union
and Others non-union men, they en-
ployed the man.
MT. BoDonlS was not n floatcr but n
good man. He is Il graduate of Obcr
I'm CoPege and IS now working to
raise enough money to enable him to
study medicine
Here, then, you have a case where
carpenter must leave his skilled
enjoyment in order to study med
1cine and he must Study medicine"
to make a living. carpenter must
dose the other colored folks with
phys!c, when he should be showing
a jack-plane. This is done on account
OF race prejudice. He says:
Although the attitude OF the recog-
nlZed American Labor movement on
the colored question Is generally
known, the great mass OF people are
easily m:sled and appealed to on race
h"HS. 1t is unfortunate that often Il
race issue is made OF purely labor
question. An episode Of the past win
ter Is Il case in point. The drivers in
one OF our department stores had or
ganiZed themselves into il union and
were locked ont. The department
store immediately substitutehy color
cd non--union drivers. Appeals to I'm.
ION people based on race ISSUES were
then carried to the patrons Of that
store until the department store was
forced to discharge all Of its colorcd
drivers and re-inState the white ones
Th:s was done in spite of the fact
that the Union was not recognized
ana Was broken up, and although the
managcr OF the store is said to have
admitted that almost half Of the col
ored drivers had proved che hundred
percent efficient
the difficulties and slow progress
made In organizing the laboring class
es genera ly Is apparent to anyone
who reflects that in spite Of the long
years Of continued effort, and in spite
or the fact that in many instances
there was no resistance from the EN-
ployers. hardly ten percent Of the work
ing population OF the United States
Is organized in trade and industrial
unions today. The problem is diff.
GU lor the white men, and 1t is eX
cecdlngly more difficult for the
blacks The white Iaborinr
ing classes have to contend only with
the manufacturers. The Negroes. how
ever. have to contend with the white
trade unions as well as with the EN-
ployers.
DR.. Epstein is right when he says:
Until recently, very few colored
! people in the North were working
in trades where the whites were orga
nized. The great mass Of Negroes were
dong work OF the personal service
character, and acted as porters, iani
tors elevator mon atc rrbie olo, Q