The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-10-08

]
To realize the nature and
workers must consider other eve
Of the New York furriers for a
other event is the annual conven
alton of Labor. The furriers' V
the Ford Motor company's f1ve-o
proclamation Immediately prect
1t is not a coincidence that these
this summer and fall-this sum
also the Passaic strike, the Brit
Worker" The Ford Worker"
conscious workers in the Ford
Industrial Army.
When the Ford Motor Co. first en-
tered into major quantity production
several years ago it. was a newcomer
in the automotive fHd. To carry out
the Ford idea of popularizing the auto
mobile meant building more automo-
biles than had even been imagined up
% that time It meant employing
more men than had ever before been
| employed in one factory in the auto
mobile industry. Henry Ford and his
circle had the engine, chassis and
body. They had capital and conf
ldence. What they needed was suit
able organization, that is, an indus
trial army corps for mass production,
built around a mere nucleus of skilled
men.
In those days the automotive indus
TRY was boom industry. 1t was a
field Of high adventure for a new kind
Of captain OF industry" And, as in
Ian boom industries, the TABOR turn
over, or replacement, was excessive
and costly. The Ford circle believed
that to succeed with their plan they
must reduce in their own shops the
prevalent rate of labor turnover. And
they believed they must and could do
lanQther thing. They believed they
must and could avoid the penetration
Of their shops by union organizers.
They solved both problems by a
method never before or since sor dar-
ingly or shrewdly attempted. To use
an auctioneer's phrase, they out-bid
both their competitors and the estab-
ligh~a trade unions.
Trade Unions.
They offered wages and hours not
)nly far in advance of the prevailing
wage but in advance Of wages and
ours unions in other places were de
handing or striking for. Pavement
and sidewalk outside the Ford Motor
Co. employment office became a pa
ade ground for automobile workers
from other automobile factories, who
were looking for work at the Ford
scale. The Ford Motor Co. took its
pick. In a short time men asking for
jobs found themselves on a waiting
list thousands Of names long. To get
Ford job inside of two weeks meant
adrOit politics. If man was in the
good graces Of woman who was in
innate with a Ford executive or a
Ford physician he could arrange" to
have his application card advanced on
the list. These arrangements were
usually made over beer or whisky. 1t
was supposed to be worth H.
Men didn't get So a day for the first
six months on the payroll. Unsta-
bilized workers usually left IN a few
weeks. The expense OF the laksS
turnover to the Ford Motor Co, was
thus at a much lower rate than SIS a
. day The Ford Motor Co. eventually
/ stabilized the automobile worker
, r,...fn nj 90 al -. lt.x
homes to have preference over single
men when a lay-off came. Those were
the days of Fords Sociological In
vestigators."
And the Ford Motor Co. was not
troubled by union organizers. BY out
bidding the established unions and all
competitors in wages and conditions
the Ford Motor Co., unmolested, re-
cruited picked force for mass pro
lduction. feared no shortage Of any
class OF labor and made money at It.
at Sc day minimum.
Ford Policy.
Those tactics In general were per
manently incorporated in the Ford
Motor Co. policy. When railroad shop
b men struck in 1922 the Detroit Toledo
& lronton Railroad, owned and op-
Grated by the Ford Motor Co.. was
immune. The strike demands fell far
short OF the wages and conditions pre-
Ivaiing on the d.. r q. I.
And now, TO return TO October 4
1925. what are the new factsg What
are the events OF the present and re-
n cent past that explain further the ave
J (Continued on page A.