The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-08-05

stal, are extremely bad in this city.
But the culinary workers are part;
cularly hard hit. Hours have beet
enlightened wages decreased, the
workers speeded up and, in manr
places. the food, which is part Of the
wages, has been cut down either in
quality or quantity or both
Usually, by this time of the year,
the great influx of migratory workers,
who flock to Los Angeles to escape
the rigors of cold winter east.
north and west, have left, and jobs
are plentiful. The migratory workers
lave left. but jobs are at premium.
Jobs Few and Hard
A dishwasher's, bus-boy's or walters
lob sells at three, four and five dol
| lars. There used to be eight, nine and
ten-hour shifts, now it is ten, eleven
and twelve hours of the worst kind
of slavery.
Wages have been reduced fifty cents
to a dollar a day. Two dollars and a
half for twelve hours work is the stan
heNAu lOA uAon 0onCln Uub-UOyb dntl
yardmen, and three dollar for walters.
At most of the places the shifts are
sDlit up, so that you work most OF
the day.
What is true Of the semi-skilled
workers is also true of the highly-skil-
led ones the cooks. Their hours
have been increased, wages decreased
--from one to two dollars day and
work speeded up.
Union Is Less Than a Joke.
Union men and women are afraid
TO admit that they carry a union card.
The few Union houses" that there
are, mostly in the vicinity OF the
Labor Temple. They display union
cards, in the window as a matter OF
good business policy. Being Union
houses" they can always get a mo-
ment's notice.
There Is No Union Scale.
The Union houses, particularly
the. Leighton group, work the male
help only nine hours day. But in
these nine hours they are compelled 70
: 10 eighteen hours work. And the union
card in the window helps attract
great number of organized workers.
The female workers fare even worse
than the maIe-wor kers. There is q
state law which protects" them.
1hey can only be exploited in eight
hour shift. However in those eight
hours they must make as much profit
for the boss as their more physically
able brother workers, who have more
hours in which to do it.
+, The pay, of course, is for eight
hours. The Standard is sixteen dol
lars a week for forty-eight hours. This
lforty-eight hours is a relative matter.
1t depends on many factors: The
kindness of the boss, the courage of
the workers and the conscience of
the authorities. The forty-eight hour
law for women is violated as often as
| 1t is safe to do SO, which is quite
often.
unjust Attract Trade"
One of the obligations Of a wait
ress or bus-girl is to attract and hold
male trade. Mattresses and bus-girls
must do this If they wish to hold
their jobs. The bosses think that this
is not work at all, rather a pleasure
Diversion. However many sister-slaves
have told me that this is the most
unpleasant and hardest part Of their
slavery.
Imagine married women, mother
of two or more children. who is forced
to slave eight hours a day in order to
keep maintain the small family. The
husband and children have 20 be fed.
the little apartment has to be swept
cleaned. II they are fortunate to have a
bungalow then there's still more clean
ing to be done. Then there is the IA
mily wash. The children tear their
clothes something scsndalous. No
matter how hard one patches and
sews it is impossible to keep them
decently dressed In short there's
work a plenty.
Same Everywhere
When she comes to work she is
ALREADY tired. But now she has to
don a white apron, paint her face and
smile pleasantly at some gay yoke
who is trying to date her up But often
it happens that the yokel is neither
gay nor pleasant, but downright vul-
gar and insulting. However she has
to stand 1t ALL Her job depends upon
it. Besides, what's the difference, it's
the same in all the other places.
The cashier, or head-waiter or
waitress, is the boss's stool-pigeon in
the dining room, the chef in the
kitchen. Workers distrust one another,
grumble, but are afraid to voice their
discomfort. Now and then one, usual
ly a dishwasher, rebels. throws down
his apron and tells them all to 20 to
helli Well fhere arc nIantv NJ oh ~