The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-08-13
SLASH WAGES BY
THREE QUARTER
HOUR time FRAUD
Officials KnowNothing'
of 1t, Absolutely Not
(Bn a Worker Correspondentl

tBB WotheT Co7TeSPoHdeH0/
PHILADELPHIA (By Mail).-
Philadelphia Storage Battery Com
pany has set up a short-change ar
tist, and is now working a devilish
cut racket among its employees. By
means of it state statute forbid
ding women workers from being ex-
plotted for more than eight hours
per day is hoodwinked and, at the
same time the pay envelope of each
woman worker is rifled of half
days wages each week.
The fraud is accomplished by
making factory girls put in eight
and three-quarter hours, but not
counting the fraction in the pay
masters department, so that when
a state examiner comes to look over
the rolls, all, to outward seeming, is
well.
Naturally enough, the company
bigwigs flatly deny any knowledge
of the graft, were they to be ques-
toned about it. There are the books
to show that the women are being
paid at an hourly rate for eight
hours of work. If they are so be-
witched by their work that they
can't bear to wrench themselves
away from it before getting in an
extra hour or so, that is not our
lookout. So the bosses say.
But here are the facts: They be-
gin the grind at 7:15 a. m. and are
unclaimed at 4:45 p. M, having
three-quarters of an hour for lunch.
No rest periods are allowed them
by the foreman, for the speed-up
here will not brook any let-up in
any serf, male or female, during
the work day. Well?
Of late the Philco, as it is called,
has gone in heavily for radio parts.
Little by little the gangs of I'M
skilled men at first used in this
work are being forced out to make
place for girls and women, who, of
course, are given a lower wage for
the identical work. When hired they
are given to understand that they
will be paid an hourly rate, de-
pendent on production, with a slid
ing group bonus thrown in for good
measure-in some cases. Nothing is
said, however, about the extra time
for which nothing will be paid.
Probably the bosses think that the
four extra hours they force them
to work is tribute to their philan-
thropy.
A shop warden was approached
recently by a new hand who had
found a disagreement between the
contents of her first pay-pouch and
her record of hours worked. The
whip passed it over with this ra-
tionalization: "Well, you girls
spend at least three-quarters of an
hour every day powdering your
noses, the company can't foot the
bill for your beauty treatments"
AS matter of fact, if woman
took out that amount Of time fo1
recesses the law provides" her
with, she would be canned without
ado. This was proven conclusively
recently when two young womer
were fired for singing few bars
of a popular song. They had dared
to look up from their work bench.
How much the rake-off brought
in by the short-change racket
amounts to, an outsider cannot say
except to guess it must do the girl:
out of much and necessary money.
The average weekly pay for radio
part workers (females) is $12. But
not satisfied with giving then
"coolie pay" the Philadelphia Stor
age Battery Company unlawful!
forces them to work overtime, an,
then cheats them out of the profit
of that overtime. And, meanwhile
there hangs in the employment of
flee a tastefully framed copy of tn
state statute dealing with sue
cases, its glass cover rejecting tn
purple nose of the slave agent.