The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-11-22
CONDITIONS OF
SEATTLE CITY
WORKERS VILE
But Higher-ups Find
Graft Plentiful
(By a Worker Correspondent

hired out to the City of Seattle
Municipal Light Department, as a
faller. The crew was hired out from
free employment agency. The head
faller was hired through the Al, and
the high climber through a private
employment agency. Though the
city has free employment agency
it goes to the reactionary organiza-
ton called the L, to hire the boss
for its crew!
After arriving at the camp, 1 de-
cided to take an inventory of the
wages paid to the different classifi-
cations of workers. I, myself, got
Sc day. The laborers that be-
longed to the civil service depart
ment Of Seattle got $3.50 day
They are unorganized. The line men
and mechanics are organized in the
4 L. And the powerhouse men are
altogether unorganized.
As to the conditions in the camp
the sanitary facilities were fair, but
the food was rotten. The menu was
planned after the army and navy
rations. The cook was a big pot
bellied, double-chinned, over-bearing
mu1ligan-mixing stew bum. There
was a great amount Of discomfort
among the workers especially on ac-
count of the cook and the food. They
had appealed to the superintendent
number Of times to remove the
cook. But the cook was a civil SER
vice man and had a certain amount
of political pull with some of the
city executives, and for that reason
the superintendent did not fire him
But, about four days before I left
the super and the cook had an ar.
gument and the super decided to dis
pense with the services of the cook
Laborers in passing the examina-
ton of the civil service department
of Seattle are taken into a basement
by one of the city "wallflowers,
who never shoveled a shovel-full of
dirt in his life. The first test of
thu examination is: "the worker
has to shovel a yard of dirt over a
wall six feet in height while the
wallflower' stands by and times him
with a watch" The next test that
must be passed is that the worker
"is compelled to place three sacks
of cement in a wheelbarrow and
wheel this down an incline and then
up again. Many workers who pass
the shovel test cannot pass this test
in the time given" The city civil
service department forces workers
to pass an examination that no pri-
vate employer even forces workers to
go thru before hiring them.
When went to work l distributed
Daily Workers and some Communist
Party State Platforms. Some work
ers read them, but many would not
even look at them. But there are
many that could be drawn into the
Party without much trouble. After
working % days, the bull-bucker or
dered my partner and me to take our
tools into camp. That meant that
we were fired. And as yet, / have
not been able to find out why we
were fired. But l can guess that,
since | was carrying on some amount
of correspondence, the civil service
department board of censorship had
been examining the mail, and that
was the reason. =.
After getting the statements for
the wages / had coming to me,
was instructed to apply at the City
Light Department in the city hall of
Seattle for my money. l inquired
from one of the clerks there, as to
where / should present my state
ment. She referred me to the city
comptroller. He referred me to the
bond and warrant collector. He
said, ooh He'll, haven't anything
to do with that" He referred me
back to the collection department of
i0SoIIlS ilSut, WItlc L Ildu llISL gone.
There | was pointed out an old bald
headed man to see, and he told me
to go across the street to another
building, another department of
Seattle Light. AS l stepped into
this building / took notice of the
so-called efficiency" that Seattle
lays claim to.
There were % clerks employed on
that floor, some were reading papers
with their feet cooked up on their
desks, and others were talking. The
manager of the office seemed to be
having sweet conversation with a
young woman clerk. This "effi-
cheney" is taking place under the
guardianship of our honorable"
Mayor Edwards who is supposed to
be good business man. COM
menced to smell a rat. Perhaps as
Mayor Edwards is one of the bour-
geoisie, i,u &c patting sv,ne u. TIE
power trust propaganda into action
in Seattle's municipally-owncd util-
tiles. decided that under capt.
olicf c,,st1,xo 80 r,ol,,a4,o.s