The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-10-11
FIRM EXPLOITS
THOUSANDS IN
EUROPE ALSO
35 to AZ Cents an Hour
for Men

confe, MILLTOWN, N. ]. - The Niche
struglin Tire and Tube Works pay starva-
PARTITION wages to the workers here. This
calls concern is known to have large fac
actiortories in the following European.
declalcountries: in France, where their
Headquarters are; in England; in
tailorItaly and in Germany. Several thou
cry asand workers are employed in each
"Siplant.
deleg TLo..,a c,.
in tt A"0u'"i'uS 0ia'e
at Br In the local plant there are about
you 2,20o workers of all description en-
comirployed. There are both young and
"Csadult workers, men and women. The
didatonly difference with the women is
We vim numbers, there being about 600
Iamremployed here,
sop About 80 per cent of this number
~. a.. are French workers, who have been
~ imported to this plant either thru
NJ, agents of the company or thru rela-
- ,,.,, tives from France who came here
:, earlier. This Importation has been
~ going on for years.
+ba These are the dominant sections
Tbevof the workers and the others fol-
Ypftl 1OW III OIuSIs OllSIlt anu
ers i,Greek. The factory is divided into
the rabout 20 different departments &C
Ohio cording to the nature of the work
snjunthat is done.
sity Wages of Death.
have
work Wages for the workers are equi-
land valent to slow starvation. Male
loemoadult and young workers average
lportifrom thirty-five cents (for starters)
icy oto forty-eight cents an hour But
whiclforty- eight cents is only paid to
war workers who have shaved here for
.eWfrom ten to fifteen years past.
learn The company also issues premi-
repuhms to their slaves These paid
tratlpremiums are classified on the basis
judgof the nature Of the work and the
Eagalinumber of pieces a worker produces
have The night premium is practically the
INTO same as the other. Last but not
haveleast, the regularity premium applies
plcketo workers who have been shaving
ana there the longest number of years
possat so much an hour on the premium
for each year he works.
Vicious Premium System.
the LII case q WOEhST CdHuOG account
partfor one or two days absence from
of twork, he either partially or wholly
agenoses his weekly premium. These
"Npremiums are given to workers on
needpiece work and they are paid on the
and basis of from two to ten cents an
parthour. The latter is only given to
lthe longest employed workers. The
the same system is applied to women
the and young girl workers, except that
Ianthe hourly wages are ten cents less
nathan the males. Besides, they work
rtone hour more, that is three hours
ist land steady day shift. In some de-
iehe partments the workers are compelled |
.Sno to work overtime for which the COM
.on pany does not pay extra The only
thing extra is the hours.
soci, This company forces yellow dog
the contracts on the workers, especially
nIieson the French workers who have
who been imported from France Thru |
is tout the entire factory there are about
part1 100 workers of various national |
Cities who are on the payroll of the |
'1company's contract system. OF
of tcourse, the company brings strong
unitpressure to bear on these workers
derlto sign these yellow dog agreements
ditido save the bosses from labor troub-
the les.
g l asked worker, who is himself
are on this contract payroll, whats
UP written on this contract paper ?"
usirAnd he told me that the undersigned
we is not permitted to speak on organi-
natzation of the workers in their de-
Ampartments or participate in any
lor union meeting. In case of strike
era he is not allowed to leave his place
of work.
ma Some Illusions. I
the In this factory the work is divided
mu into various groups. For every five
or ten workers there are two or
tthree foremen. This is true of all
"other departments, too. The speed
oneup is ever increasing because the
MS workers are MORALLY unorganized
and left to shift for themselves
me There are workers at Mchelin's
wiiwho still slave under the bosses il
Wflusions after all the years of hard
SUI work at starvation wages, under
tne the impression that they will be ele-
ga waited to an easier job. Just the
ers contrary is proved in departments
10 where workers become old thru
working here for the past ten or
Fifteen years. They can't produce
w the required" amount of work any
~ more, so the boss simply transfers
u, them to lighter work in other de-
~ partments where they get less pay. |
This is one way the company cuts
- down the wages of IFS 1yorkers and
cr keeps them always in fear.
ARNOLD"