The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1929-07-22
FIRE u MON men
FROM THE MYRTLE
MILL, CASTONIA
Speedup, Double-up in
That Plant
by a Worker Correspondent

Ia otherS who are in Jail. | know
as every mill worker in Gastonia
knows that there is not bit of evi
dence against them, but they are ii
jail for organizing the workers tc
fight the Manville-Jenckes for bet
ter conditions for the workers. The
mill owners simply want to get rio
of them so that they can go on pay
ing starvation wages for long hours
Of back-breaking work under the
stretch-out system.
Worked Without Pay.
The workers are at the mercy OF
I the bosses without a union. know
because I have worked in the mills
for the last II years. I came from
Union, S. c., II years ago, and have
never had as much money as I did
when | left the farm there.
The employment agent told nv
wife and myself that we would get
81 per day each for our work while
we were learning. We worked two
weeks, but got no pay on Saturday
night.
l went to the superintendent and
complained and he told me not to
worry, he would see that we got
cur pay. We worked another week
still no pay. When we had worked
a month-we finally got $11.75 for
our combined 60 days work. Then
l quit and went to work in another
mill at $1.15 a day, for SIS hours
work week.
During the war I came to Gas
tonia, hearing of the high wages
paid by the Manville-Jenckes Com
pany in the Loray mill. During the
war time I got fairly good wages,
S28.48 per week for 60 hours. But
since that things have been getting
worse all the time, wage cuts, the
stretch-out and speed-up systems
and high cost of living. For the
past few years I have made an av-
GRACE Of $13 week and I was bet
ter off than most at that.
Fake Welfare Scheme.
The mill compnies boast Of how
they take care of their employees.
Well, I will give an account of how
they do it. The superintendent at
the Loray mill started fund for
employees welfare" a sort Of sick
ness and accident insurance fund.
We paid 25 cents down and 10 cents
per week, deducted from our wages,
and were promised doctors care and
help in case of sickness or hard
luck.
Ny old father came up from Ten
nessee to stay with me. He took
sick ard I had to stay away from
the mill to take care of him. The
mill refused to send doctor to give
him medical attention and I had no
money as it is impossible to save
anything on the wages they paid me.
My father died. I am sure his life
could have been saved by doctor.
Make Workers Double Up.
We are supposed to work II hours,
but really it is ~. At noon we
double up, one half of the crew goes
out and the other half keeps the
machines going, doing double work
Then they come in and the second
half goes out the same way. But
they refuse to pay for this extra
time when we do double work.
My son worked at the Loray mill
and went on strike. I was working
at the Myrtle mill. Without notice,
my son was evicted one day while
he and his wife were away. They
came home to find their door broken
down and all their furniture gone.
We found it was locked in storage.
He came to live with me. The
foreman of the Myrtle mill came
to me a while later and told me that
he had orders to fire me.
The mill had only been working
three days week then and 1 got
$3.50 week, so started big gar
den. 1 had to in order to gat enough
food to live. When I was evicted
from the company house I lost all
that had put into the garden, seeds,
tools and labor.
The speed-up and stretch-ou sys-
TENS have been put in and they sure
work hardship on the laboring
man. When you finish your days
work you just want to lie down
and die, you are so tired. Too tired
to get any enjoyment out of life.
Also, it is impossible to save any,
thing for rainy day, or for old
age, or to do anything for your
children. There is no extra pay for
overtime or for the extra work done
by the stretck-out.
Betrayed by u. T. w.
In 1921. the United Textile Work
ers Union came to Gastonia and or
ganized us. That was in the Loray
mill. We went out on strike and
tied up the mill completely for five
weeks. We didn't have the trouble
then with the police that we had in
this strike. Then the U. T. w. of
ficials sold us out and left with all
the money we had paid in as dues,
and, ! suppose, taking a stable
sum which the mill owners paid
them to get shut of the union. Then
we went back to worse conditions
than we came out from. In a few
days we got wage cut of 10 cents
on the dollar.
The National Textile Workers
Union Is a different kind of a union.