The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-03-21

Uf WURSI BUSS
HE WORKED UNDER
To the DAILY WORKER: The
worst boss ever had the displeasure
Of running up against was the most
despicable piece of humanity in the
form OF straw boss-or foreman in
the engraving department Of we'll
known watch case company here in
the middle west with some 80 odd en-
gravers under his control.
Some of the methods used by this
Jealous minded 100 per cent snob, to
break the hearts and minds of the en-
gravers under his control were as fol
lows:
Double-crossine Boss.
All work was done on a piece work
basis on bold--and so-called white
gold cases, the kind that some people
think look so beautiful as they gaze
in the jewelers. window. The engrave
ers at one time received a fair days
pay for their work, UP until this snob,
who has all the ear marks of a rat,
became their foreman. Mr.. Conf, ]
will call him for short, is an expert
on what is known as double crossing.
He pretended to be your best friend,
and that he is doing all he can to help
his men get living wage, but instead
he was using every known method to
cut them down.
obeys Orders.
The engravers at one time made
$1OO to $3.50 per hour, but now they
have all they can do to make half that
much. I realize that Mr.. Conf, being
a straw boss, is product of the sys-
tenn, and has to do what he is told in
order to hold his job. But he goes
way beyond what he is told and in
vents many schemes to make it misl
cradle for those under his control.
He had spy system composed of a
few dirty suckers that worked in other
parts Of the factory, who would report
to him anything they happened to see
or hear in connection with any Of the
men in his department. The late Rus
sian car had nothing on Conf
Workers Strike.
At one time he used the squeeze
process to such an extent that the
workers couldn't stand it any longer,
and some Of the holder ones told him
so, and when they got fired for their
trouble, the rest of the men revolted
then and there and quit their jobs in Q
body, but before the could pack their
tools and get out of the shop the firm
had things all. fixed up again, by re-
Installing the discharged men and rails
ing some of the prices little, and it
seemed like a victory for while at
least. Until Conf began to use some
of the cards he still had up his sleeve.
Sends Work Away.
One of the first was to send all the
work he could away to be done by en-
gravers in New York and Massachu-
sets, and in that way cause a short
age Of work, so the engravers did not
have to work more than or 8 days
week for long time. And when
they did see fit to give them full time
he took good care to cut the price as
fine as possible.
Another Of his dirty stunts was to
promise one thing and hand out an
other, and when the firm hired an en-
graver to come all the way from Mas.
sachusetts, who proved to be an ex.
pert in his line, Conf thru jealousy
invented all kinds OF lies to report to
the superintendent, like a school
teacher to her principal in order to
bring discredit and a cut in wages to
the new man, in which as usual, he
was successful.
Tried to Scare Men.
He also had an idea that he could
scare the men by looking at them
which was quite amusing. The engrav-
ers got so disgusted that they began
to leave one by one to take other and
better Jobs. The man from Massachu-
sets secured what he thot was a good
job with firm making gold cuff links
in a small town in southwestern ILL
nois and felt very happy at the thot
of getting away from Mr.. Conf for
good. 1t was good job and every
body in the shop seemed to be happy
and content until one day news came
that Conf had been hired to come
down there and take charge of en-.
craving.
Caused "Unrest."
The watch case concern had at last
got wise to the fact that he was caus.
ing too much trouble and unrest
among their help who were happy
when he left. On the new job II was
only short time before he began TO
pull Off some Shiny stunts. One of
course was the institution OF a piece
i - H.. ~