The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1928-03-15
SPIES KEPT ON
FROM WALKOUT IN
1914 WATCH men
Restaurant Foul and
Expensive
(By a Worker CORRESPONDENCE

IREN 1OINy N. D., Wy MANI
every rule there is an exception and
also to the unemployment in Trenton
Like an oasis in the desert, stands
forth the De Laval Steam Turbine
plant among the stagnant mills IN
Trenton. The De Laval is noted for
the manufacture of steam turbines,
centrifugal pumps. worm gears, etc.
1t is an almost 100 per cent republican
plant and the workers are coerced
and compelled always to vote the re-
publican ticket. During the presiden-
tial campaigns, the workers must
take part in the industrial (repub-
lican) parade to hold their jobs and
a good excuse must be given the fore
man for failure to take part.
The plant employing several hun
bred men is exceptionally busy at the
present time and is the only one here
not working part time or with de-
pleted force.
Hire Men Out of Town.
Quite a number of new men have
been put on lately. The majority.
however, are out of town men and
with thousands of Trenton workers
seeking employment daily, the COM
pany seeks men thru out of town ad-
vertising. The local workers are left
cold and desperate and the officials
seem to gloat over their unfortunate
circumstances.
Everyone applying for a job gets
hearing in the red tape office, lem
ploying office). These hearings last
from Is to 20 minutes. Beside the
employment prosecutor sits a stool
pigeon making records Of the ques-
lions and answers. After an applicant
gives a full account Of himself, back
to his boyhood days, he is told he is
not needed.
The wages paid are not standard or
according to skill but according to
the bartering ability of the employ
ment manager. Most workers being
hired dare not barter, and take what
is offered to them. Some of the low
est paid are those working for Is to
20 years told strikebreakers) who
never dared ask for more and now
that they are old find a raise is out of
the question.
Speed-up Too Much.
After working 20 years or more.
the men instead of getting pension
are cruelty disposed of. The foremen
are no exceptions to this rule. A fore
man was recently fired, who had
been with the De Laval Company
from its very beginning. The reason
given was that he was no longer
physically fit and that he could not
carry out the speed-up that was re-
quired of him. This was intended as
threat to the other foremen, who
like the men, dread the higher bosses.
The company conducts its own res
taurant and has the employees eat
their meals there The food is of the
lowest grade and had some struggling
Greek worker conducted a restaurant
in like manner, the board of health
would have put him out of business
The De Laval can get away with it.
Corned beef hash, and some sauer-
kraut and doggies are the usual bill
Of fare and sometimes the food is an
advanced state of decay.
Altho the restaurant is supposed to
be run without profit, a course meal
costs more than in a downtown res
taurant A dinner for an ordinary
man amounts to from fifty to sixty
cents. For example, corned beef hash
costs twenty-five cents; soup ter
cents; extra beans ten cents. Two
small slices of bread are allowed and
if an extra slice of bread is taken
it costs five cents more.
A. f. of l.. Betrayal
The men at one time were organized
but due to the treachery of the local
American Federation Of Labor off
cials, the 1914 strike was lost and
the union has been wiped out. A
number Of the old strikebreakers are
still employed and these are used as
stool-pigeons. Every move is report.
ed and men are discharged and placed
on the blacklist for discussing THEN
factory conditions. Altho aware of the
rotten conditions, they stand all abuse
in order to hold their Jobs. Nothing
is done by the A. F. Of L. to organ.
ize them. j.