The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-06-13
Conference of Metal
Workers Plans Fight

Continued from Page One)
ished, then individual piece-work was
introduced and a little later the
group standard system was put into
effect, making it possible to even
eliminate petty straw bosses, as the
workers work in group of IL, re-
ceiving collective price, so natur-
ally the speediest one becomes the
'pusher.' Here wages have also been
reduced almost 40 per cent in the
last six or seven months in many
departments. In the steel mills in
Western Pennsylvania average
wages for common labor are 40 to
As cents an hour and in such mills
as the Jessup Steel in Washington,
Pa, about SO cents an hour.
"In many mills the workers only
average two or three days week.
In the American Steel Foundries
Alliance the entire night turn was
laid off indefinitely. In the Cen
trail Alloy Steel Co. at Canton, Ohio,
the 81 mill is shut down indefinitely,
the 8" mill has been working only
one and a half, two and four days
week.
"The steel trust, the electric trust,
the employers in the shipyards and
metal manufacturing in general,
after making such enormous profits
in the year of 1929 that the Beth
lehem Steel boasted of an increase
in profits over 1928 of 166 per cent.
are facing curtailed profits in 1880
and are determined to make the
workers pay.
an all steel centers in West
Virginia, Western Pennsylvania,
Ohio and the Lake county regions
the same slave conditions exist in
addition to the complete domination
of the steel trust over all public
officials In small towns the Of
flee of the steel corporation is also
the office of the city mayor and the
chief of police, who mete out jus
tice' to the workers. Thus Tom
lima, Milon Resilor and Pete Mu-
selin are serving six years in Blanal
penitentiary because they fought
against the control of Jones and
Laughlin.
Steel Workers at Mercy of Bosses.
"The steel workers, in particular
have been completely at the mercy
of the bosses, due to lack of organ
ization since the 1919 steel strike
The much-advertised S-hour day ap
plies only to a few highly skilled
workers and as per cent of the stee
workers are working II, IL and /;
hours a day. The Amalgamated AS
ISOLATION of Iron, Steel and Tir
Workers, led by the arch faker
Mike Tighe, in spite of the fact tina
the last convention (held in swell
hotel in Youngstown with closet
doors to the steel workers) voted t.
take $4,000 out of the building
fund for organization of the unor
SdllZeu, is iOSlHR iHeiiiuel ohiP lioii
day to day. 1t has been reduced t.
life insurance society and Mix
Tighe agreed to take a wage-cut o.
% per cent at the last convention
which will help to further disin
tegrate that outfit. In the Wash
ington, Pa, Lodge there are onl!
four out of 104 paying dues afte
the officialdom refused to figh
against the company abolishin!
special spell hands (relief crew.
In Warren only about 25 are pay
ing dues out of membership o
1875, according to reliable informa
ton.
ON the metal manufacturing in
dustry the same situation exists
From a membership of $4,000 dur
ing 1921 the machinists' union ha
) gone down to about 10000, of whic
half are on the railroads and tn
rest are either working in sma'
garages and repair shops OF en-.