The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-06-06

trlc TOOL makers reach that even af-
ter years of service. Most of the I'M
ion tool makers on the other hand are
making more than the minimum union
wage"
This tool maker told the DAILY
WORKER that the men often stay in
this department unwillingly. But
they cannot work at their trade else
where unless they learn the trade all
over again. He declared that there
are many bosses in this department
who are placed in the shop to do
nothing but to keep up production. Il
made a die last week." he said, land
my foreman came around and told me
it had cost As dollars more to make
it than it should have because / was
too slow He told me not to let it
happen again. have worked in the
Western Electric three years"
Transfers, Not Promotion
The young men, for year or two,
are so filled with the success talk
printed in the monthly magazine that
buCJ uO uOJ lCdll1C Judt tACy al -tAO
worst exploited slaves in the city.
They read the cheap jokes, inserted for
the purpose of promoting good fellow
ship between the management and
the employees. They envy the few
promotions, which in many cases are
merely transfers or the change of the
name of the job with a very slight
raise in wages. But they do not think
of looking for the union label on the
neatly composed magazine. They
wouldn't find it. It's not there.
The monthly magazine, the Haw-
thorne Athletic Club, the schools
which are supposed to-but do not
give the employees technical educa-
ton, are served up as an antidote to
the bare hard facts that the wages in
the Western Electric are far below
union wages; that the men are con-
stantly being bounded by hundreds of
bosses and badgered by armed guards.
1t is the young men who have to learn
the lesson that promises made by
business corporations are empty, that
COIpOIdIlOuS dAC run nv IL ehO IL
terests of the employees, but entirely
for the profits of the stockholders.
Over SO per cent of the shares of
common stock of the Western Elec-
trio Company were owned by the
American Telegraph and Telephone
Company on December 81, 1922, we
learn from Moody's Manual of public
utilities for 1928. OF the 100000 shares
of common stock of the Western
Electric Company, the Bell system
owns 491,3S2 shares. President Du
Bots describes the Western Electric
Company as the supply department
of the Bell Telephone Systems"
Conceal Profits to Keep Rates
The above facts are noteworthy
when it is considered that large corpo-
rations have strenuously objected to
showing their books, or revealing the
detailed relations of the telephone
rates to the profits of such companies
when the matter was recently brought
up in Congress. 1t was pointed out
that a subsidiary company would
come in handy in transferring ac-
counts, or in padding expense accounts
on the subsidiary Company so that
the parent corporation would not have
to pay such high tax.
In his annual report to the stock
holders, President Du Bots says, 1T
is the policy Of the company to keep
its prices to the Bell Telephone Com
panies on the lowest basis consistent
with fair return" In the same re-
port it is mentioned that agreements
have been made with other manufac-
turers Of telephone equipment, among
them the Automatic Electric Com
pany of Chicago" 1T can readily be
seen from these statements that the
Western Electric Company has no
excuse whatever for paying its en-
ployes non-union wages. The West,
ern Electric finds 1t profitable to mako
contracts with the Automatic Electric
Company, large Chicago plant which
is unionized and which pays much
higher wages than the Western Elec-
trio
Unionized shops can afford to pay
union wages and still make profit,
and the Western Electric can make
large sub-contracts with union con-
Germs turnout the country and still
make a profit. and allow the union
firm which sells the equipment a
profit.
Last year the Western Electric Com
pany charged s1S,329,356 up to ex-
penses, $2,4O9.S1S up to taxes paid,
and 1926, 751,351 up to cost Of mer-
chandise. and still had a net profit Of
$40, 079,471 left over for dividend pay
ments.
still they claim they cannot afford
10 pay the men decent union wagel
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