The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-10-29
Marine WORKERS
CALL CONFERENCE:
Continued from Page One)

/
League to meet in the Port of San
Francisco at 7 p. M, Saturday, No
vember 9 and to continue on Sun
day, November 10, 1929. The con-
ference will be held at the Port of
San Francisco and the delegates will
be elected from and of ships, dock
and fleet committees of longshore-
men and harbor, boatmen and from
Marine Workers League.
Working conditions in the ma
rine industry, as in other industries,
are steadily being worsened. On the
Pacific Coast, as elsewhere, the pre-
sent conditions aboard the ships are
intolerable. The Seamen's Act is a
dead letter. On the Matson, Lucken-
bach, Oceanic Oriental, and other
lines, two watches are supplanting
the three watch system. On the
steam schooners, seamen are forced
to work the cargo. Not only is the
wage scale far below that paid in
1920, but wage cuts are the order
Of the day. Vessels are put to sea
absolutely undermined and made
quate crews are forced to work over
time, usually with no time off or no
extra compensation.
"On the West Coast, the Fink
Halls, officially known as the Ma
rine Service Bureau of the Pacific
Coast Ship Owners Association rules
supreme, handling practically all
employment.
decentralization.
"The naturalization drive in the
marine industry which has been well
under way since the world war, is
seen in the universal introduction
of oil fuel, the Diesel engine, the
Metal Mike, the automatic chipping
hammer, the paint spraying ma
chine, etc. The introduction of these
labor saving devices has resulted in
terrific speed-up and mass unem-
ployment throwing thousands of
seamen and longshoremen out of
work. We find, for instance, along
the waterfront, that the gangs on
the dock, deck and in the hold aver
age from four to six men, while
formerly there were nine to thirteen
men.
Commercial rivalry between
America and Great Britain has ne
yer been at a more intense stage.
Because the sharpening struggles
( for world markets, fields of invest
ments and raw materials, which in
evitably result in war, both coun-
tries, as are all the ihperialist pow
ers, are making frantic war prepara-
tions under the cover of disarma-
ment schemes and peace pacts. At
the same time the imperialists, in
spite of their differences, are for
ming a united front to attack the
Soviet Union, the first workers and
peasants republic, where the work
ing class has introduced the seven
hour day and is upbuilding Social
| ism.
"The naturalization drive of the
shipowners, accompanied by their
labor-smashing policies, is an in
separable part of the war-program
of the employing class, as is the
Naval Reserve system. This system
has been passed in order to rrovide
trained personnel available i'm
mediately upon the outbreak of war
Already on the coast, the ships of
Matson, Union Oil, L. A. Steamship
Companies, etc., fly the Naval Re-
serve flag. The Naval Reserve will
also be used as a strikebreaking
agency against their fellow workers
on merchant ships in time of strikes.
Hoover and Macdonald may blind a
part of the working class with their
fake peace talks but we seamen and
longshoremen know that soon we
will be called upon to face the SUBJ
marines depth bombs, mines, aerial
attacks, and poison gases in order
to make more millions for Robert
Dollar, U. S. Steel Corporation,
Standard Oil, etc.
1.-THE so-called International Sea-
mems Union, with it's class collabo-
ration policy, is nothing more than
a strikebreaking agency. In this con-
nection, however, we draw sharp
line between the officialdom and the
membership. The rank and file of
the /. S. u, for the most part,
stand for organization, while the
bureaucrats in control are engaged
in misleading the union and in crush
ing all militancy on the part of the