The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-07-26

Is that the boot and shoe workers,
like all workers under capitalism, get
too low wages. In addition to low
wages, the workers have been speed
ed up until the average time taken
to make pair Of shoes is only "a
minutes. In 1915 1t took one hour and
AZ minutes Of one mans time to make
a pair Of shoes. The bosses get the
difference in the labor cost. The big
ger profits in the shoe industry that
come from the speeding up in the
boot and shoe making go into the
pockets Of the bosses.
For the workers, the bosses offer
wage cuts, altho we are working al
most twice as fast as We were in
1916.
One pair Of shoes, 1s1e-1o2
minutes.
One pair Of shoes, 1925-54
minutes.
The bosses feel that they are able
to make US take wage cuts because
we are not organized as we'll as they
are. They have powerful and rich
companies and combinations. They
control, along with their class, the
government, and all means Of sway.
ing the public mind. They are strong
and militant.
Too Many Unions-Not Enough
Unlonlsm.
On the other hand, our unions are
weak and demoralized. There are
too many unions in the same industry,
and only a small fraction of the
workers are organized. We must
amalgamate these unions and we
must put on big organization cam
paigns that will sweep the workers
into these unions. These things we
must accomplish if we are to main
tain and advance our wages and to
better our working conditions.
There are 1912 boot and shoe fac
tories in the United States, but IA
per cent of these factories can pro-
duce IS per cent Of all the boots and
shoes needed. This shows how the
bosses have centralized their power.
It also explains why thousands of
shoe workers, willing to work, have
to walk the streets unemployed while
their families hunger in misery.
AmaIgamate or Perish.
If we do not organize the morgan
lied, amalgamate our unions into one
great industrial union, and fight all
wage cuts, the bosses will make us
work for anything they see fit to give
They will close half their factories
and with cheap labor working at
breakneck speed, the rest will make
enough boots and shoes for the ma
ton. The less wages we get the
more money we make for the boss.
The faster we work the larger the
bosses profit.
Resist Wage cutsI
We must resist the threatened
wage cuts. Wherever the bosses at.
tempt to put them into effect, we
must reply with strikes. Organize
shop committees to unite the scat
tered unions and the masses. The
longer we fail to make a fight for
our wages and working conditions
the less we will have left to fight for.
The longer we allow our ranks to be
divided, our unions to be weakened
by differences of opinion and by am
billions of the officials, the sooner will
the iron hand of the boss and the
boss government clamp around
our necks.
Fight all wage cutsl
Instead of wage cuts higher
wages!
Instead Of lot of little unions
one great industrial unionI
Instead of longer hours-shorter
hcursI
Instead of dissension and division
amalgamationl
Instead of isolated action--a united
front of all boot and shoe workersl
No wage cuts for the Boot and
Shoe Industry
international Amalgamation Commit
tee for the Shoe and Leather In
dustry of the Trade Union Edu-
cational League.