The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-10-10
PITTSBURGH TERMINAL COAL co.
USES PEONAGE TO RUN SCAB MINE

CONSTRUCTION work" When they re-
fused to go down the mine, they were
forced down by Coal and Iron police.
These stories all have the fullest
confederation from hundreds of men.
Even boys below 16 brought in under
some pretext have been forced to go
down into the mines. Men are put on
work in dangerous places, where they
can not be placed under union con-
ditions, and upon insistent refusal,
either forced to work there by the
guards, or put on dead-work, unpaid
in scab mining. There are many
cases of men who said they wanted to
leave, and were sent back down the
mine for their tools by the police
and never seen outside the company
stockade since.
No Real Money.
Pay is in scrip, that can only be
exchanged for goods at the company
store, and the pay statements are
juggled so that large numbers of the
scabs especially inexperienced Ne
groes from the South, are kept eter-
nally in debt to the company. When
they try to escape from the mine
with the rotten working conditions
and police terror and constant acct
dents occurring from green men be-
ing put on unfamiliar jobs, they are
told they will have to stay till the
debt is worked off.
And yet, with all the misrepre-
sentation, and strong arm methods
the Pittsburgh Terminal Coal Com
pany is using in it's attempts to run
its mines on a scab basis and with
all it's huge Coal and Iron police pay
roll, the mines are badly disorganized
and the company is losing heavily.
The Chicago Journal OF Commerce re-
Gently reported that the losses of the
Terminal Company for the first three
months of non-union operation of its
mines during the. present lockout,
amounted to 100000 loss, as against
$4,000 profit for the first quarter of
this year, when the mines were still
under union operation.
At Avella No. 8, with the lockout
commencing April 1, the company did
not succeed in opening up it's mine
till August Land in the two months
since the opening over 1000 scabs
have been shipped in by the company
and out again by the union. The
company cannot succeed in getting
a working force of more than about
200, in a mine when before the lock-
out 700 miners were employed. From
5 to 10 "flats" or railroad cars of
coal day are produced now, the men
say, where around 70 day were be-
ing produced before the lockout.
Injunction to Save Money.
The injunction against picketing
and permitting evictions sought by
het Pittsburgh Terminal Coal Com
pany is sought as measure to cut
short the period of loss which the
company is undergoing, and hasten
the time when it can open up full
blast on a non-union basis, without
the stubborn resistance of the locked
out miners to cripple its efforts. Now
the company is preparing to throw
all its resources into the battle to
break that resistance. Here and
throughout all the locked-out districts
the struggle is sharpening. Coal and
Iron police and Cossack violence
against the miners and their families,
and today, in the seventh month of
the lockout, starvation looms as
potent ally of the coal-operators.
The situation is extremely grave
and only the utmost efforts Of or
ganized labor as whole, particularly
in the crucial matter of providing
adequate relief for the lockout
miners, can assure the victory of the
miners in their struggle against the
destruction of their union.