The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-06-11
DISCRIMINATE
AGAINST NEGRO
MEAT WORKERS
Shop Committees Are
Organized
(By a Worker Correspondent

SIllSAGOs 10y Mail liz WIN
sSs in the stockyards and the pack
ing houses here are beginning to
wake up. The Trade Union Educa-
tional League is taking the iSa3 in
organizing these workers.
Form Shop Committees.
Two shop committees have al
ready been organized in the Armour
plant, another in Swift's. The time
for organization in the packing in
dustry is ripe. The conditions in the
packing plants are such that the
workers, Negro and white, can stand
them no longer.
No Protection Against Fumes.
Many of the workers are Mex
leans. Here are the conditions in
the glue factory of Swift and Co.
In the fertilizing department, where
the fumes and odors are rank and
poisonous, 20 masks are furnished
the workers by the company. They
give the workers just a piece of
flimsy cheese cloth, to cover our
noses, but this does not protect US
at all. The company refuses to fur
nish masks to the workers in the
fertilizer department.
Speed Men Up.
The foremen work the men al
most to death. The first week that
worker starts to work they tell
him that the more lie works the
more money he will make, so the
first week the employee gets about
81 or s. bonus, to start him. After
the first week they cut the bonus to
50 or SO, sometimes less, and work
him harder.
In the tripe shipping department
the foremen mistreat the men, US
ing foul language. You run back
and forth all day long, and still the
foremen are never satisfied with
your work. u- s--5-
You are forced to work so hard
that the sweat runs from you-yet
they send you to the freezers.
The tyranny OF the bosses is bru-
tai. Women workers, if they are not
nice to the boss, are fired.
Long Hours.
Working hours are long, from 8
to IL hours a day. Wages run from
S18 to $40 week, and women work
ers and youth get only from 81 to 50
a week.
Negro, Mexican Slaves.
The most exploited in the pack
ing houses here are the Negro and
Mexican workers, who form about
40 per cent of the total. The bosses
try to bring about race antagon-
isms and play up any little incidents
to this end, to divide the workers
and keep them satisfied with their
slavery.
Discrimination.
Negro workers are paid less for
the same work that others do. In
one instance, two workers, Negro
and white, who pull the same truck,
the white worker gets 81 a day, the
Negro worker $3.50. Sanitary con-
ditions are unbearable in all de-
partments.
Out of this exploitation Armours
and Swifts are making huge profits.
Swift and Co. reported for 1928 a
profit of S14,813,182, and Armours
S11,326,425.
Must Organize.
These rotten conditions exist be-
cause the workers are not organ
lied. To prevent organization, the
bosses are trying to play American
born workers against foreign-born;
white against Negro, Poles against
Lithuanians, etc.
The main groups of workers are
Polish, Lithuanian, Negro and Next
can workers. In the past there were
very few Negro and Mexican work
ers, and then Polish and Lithuanians
started to come into the stockyards.
The bosses then used to try to start
antagonism between these groups.
Now the bosses play up the antagon-
ism against the Mexicans and
Negroes.
T. U. E. L. Active.
The Trade Union Educational
League is the first organization in
the industry with the slogan, COM
mon unity among the workers of all
races and nationalities in the pack
ing houses and stockyards. The T.
U. E. L. has issued call for
united struggle against wage cuts
and the speedup, and against the
fake company insurance plan, from
which the workers not only do not
get any benefit, but are forced to
pay for it.
All stockyards and packing work
ers interested in the organizational
drive should get in touch with the
Stockyards Organizational Commit
tee, of the Trade Union Educational
League, % South Wells ST., Chicago.
Not only Inns the bourgeoisie