The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-03-28
BELDON SHOP
WORKERS SEE
NEED OF union
Open Shop Bosses Ride
Employees Hard
az a Worker corresp0ndent.l

In typical WOrklnEsclaSS ne1gnbOr-
hood on the west side OF Chicago
where filthy streets, broken sidewalks
and old-fashioned, time-worn houses
harmonic with the neglected, poverty
stricken children of the district, the
Beldon Manufacturing company has
its plant on the corner of Sibley and
Polk streets. The Beldon Manufacture
ing company are manufacturers of
sheet metal wares. This company
employs between fifty and one hun
bred workers making wash boilers,
pots, cans, pals, automobile head
lights and similar metal goods.
Was Closed Shop.
Four or FIVE years ago this firm was
closed shop. Every worker in the
plant was a member of a union afil-.
lated with the American Federation
of Labor. Wages were relatively high
then and the men worked but eight
hours a day and only half day on
Saturday. Due to the general neg
lect and compromise on the part of
reactionary union officials and slump
in the industry, they swung into the
open-shop column. The union lost all
control.
Today wages are low and conditions
are miserable. Good solderers receive
so to 55 cents an hour at first and
receive as high as 20 cents an hour
after working several years. Moving
drill press operators get so to 55 cents
an hour. Timers receive between IS
and 80 cents an hour, depending on
the length of time they have worked
for the company. Those who receive
so cents an hour have usually been
with the firm anywhere from FIVE to
fifteen years
Very Few Get High Wages.
The highly skilled sheet metal
workers who do special fancy work
that requires years of practice to
learn are paid as high as 80 cents to
81 an hour. The spinners receive
about 81 to $1.25 an hour. These
workers are in small minority in
the plant.
The unskilled workers who work on
the cutting, folding and rolling ma
chimes get only 35 to As cents an hour,
with very little opportunity for ad-
vancement. The janitor who works
in the plant about 10 hours a day re-
ceives but $40 a week. The hours of
the workers are from 1880 in the
morning to 5 in the evening, with half
an hour for lunch. On Saturday the
workers work from 1880 in the morn
| ing until noon.
General conditions in the plant are
extremely bad. The floor is Uttered
with filth, the air heavy with dust and
PARTICLES of tin mixed with the gas
eous fumes of the burners. There are
four narrow toilets with just enough
room to move about in. High on the
walls in these toilets squares have
been cut out. An electric globe placed
in one of the Sits in the walls serves
to light up the four toilets dimly, the
light entering the cut-out squares
from toilet to toilet room.
Filth Covers Floor.
The floors of these small rooms are
covered with mass of dirt arranged
in geological layers and choice col
lection of old newspapers that ap-
pear to have been deposited there
Regularly ever since the place was
built.
There is not a bar Of soap or a
towel in the shop and if one fine day a
towel and bar of soap is discovered
the workers will declare holiday and
hold a banquet to commemorate the
event.
Lunch must be eaten in the filthy
shop as there is no clean room set
aside for that purpose. The machines
are not properly protected and re-
Gently a worker had his fingers
crushed in one.
Need Union Organization.
These conditions are typical of the
open shop: long hours, small wages
and an utter disregard for the health
of the workers. The conditions in
this shop must be improved. More
and more the workers are thinking of
union organization.
If the International Association Of
Machinists and the other unions who
have Jurisdiction over work in this
shop make a serious effort at organi-
cation they can easily organize this
shop, as many Of the workers are con-
WINGED of the necessity Of joining
unions and fighting to improve their
conditions.