The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-05-07
PACKING HOUSE
WORKERS PAID
WIRE TCHED WAGE
Slave in Foulest Condi-
tions
a. a Worker Corresepondemt.l

LOS ANGELES, Cal, (By MaiD.-
A sign, red lettering, on the wall OF
the local branch of Wilson & Co.,
Chicago packers, reads: The Wilson
Label Protects Your Table" 1t might
be that "The Jungle" written years
ago furnished the Inspiration which
caused some of the owners of filthy
slaughterhouses to become almost
poets.
Low Wages, Long Hours.
The majority of the workers en-
pIoyed by Wilson & Co, here, are
Mexicans. They work 8, 9 and 10
hours a day, and the pay is 81 12
cents and Az cents per hour. Butchers,
killers, are the "aristocrats" in the
industry with a wage of so cents per
hour. Women and girls, also MeXi-
cans, are getting $3.50 a week. One
of the foremen said, however, that
some Of the girls don't get over $l4
week. No extra rate for Sunday
work or overtime.
Unsanitary Conditions.
l also have it from good authority
that they are working hell out OF
them''--the underpaid workers. One
can see slave-like workers pulling
wagons, loaded with meat, around on
dirty, wet. muddy ground and broken
up cement floors-just like mules,
minus the kick. Those meat wagons
are always loaded to capacity-with
- l,;c.L 49,, -, FC,. crooJ mao ,,,.a 11yb,Io
pieces drop off right and left. They
were picked up again and, without
any cleaning process whatsoever,
turned over to boy who stamped it
inspected and Passed.
There are two Easements in the
plant. The lower one has a dirt floor,
Uttered with oleomargar barrels
These same barrels serve as screens
for urinals. On the door a sign is in
evidence: Don't Spit on the Floor
Evidently the cuspidors and urinals
are expected to be kept separate,
respectively.
Dirty water is dripping, sometimes
running, from old rusty pipes. So
pools Of water, anything but pure, are
to be seen on the ground as we'll as
on the top of said barrels. Through
cracks, part of the stuff is bound to
come in contact with the imitation
butter and give it a tasty flavor"
The plant had been condemned,
and various kinds of repair work was
going on, and l did my part of it. The
old building is like plastered graves,
1t looks nice on the outside, but the
inside is filled with "worms"-to use
an expression from an old book, freely
quoted.
Warm and Cold Temperature
Some rooms are warm, others are
very cool. Foul air in all of them.
A number of workers are forced to
move around from one room to an
other. Cold and other forms of illness
follow. During period of one week,
water pipes in the lower basement
broke twice, Several workers, in
Guiding myself, were drenched to the
skin. Barrels of oleomargarine pre-
vented our escape quick enough. The
temperature Of the place was nearly
down to freezing.
Literature Handed Out.
Similar conditions exist in other
packing plants here, No organiza-
ton of any kind Plenty of men and
women looking for work at the gate
every morning. Both boys and girls
seemed to like Ell Machete, organ Of
the Mexican Communist Party, but
my work in the place was finished ir
a week. A few who appreciated The
DAILY WORKER were also found
Followers Of Aimee Semp1e McPher-
son held holy ghost services down al
the plant, Lyon and Macy SITS, al
noon one day. But the workers
mostly young, didn't pay much at.
tention to the preaching. The -Four.