The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-06-04
METAL WORKERS
CONFERENCE IN
YOU N ST 0 W N
Meets July 14-15 With
Broad Representation

unemployment crisis. Hundreds of
thousands of our fellow workers
have been permanently eliminated
from industry, and it is almost i'm
possible for a worker at the age
of 40 and 45 to secure a job. There
are over 100000 workers in the
United States who are unemployed,
affecting about 20,O00,O0O people at
the point of starvation in the richest
country in the world.
In Steel Mills.
"The introduction of new machin-
cry, the vicious speed-up system,
followed by a whole series of wage
cuts and cuts in tonnage rates, have
placed the need of organization be-
fore the steel workers as the first
order of business.
"The open hearth capacity of the
industry increased from 38,000,00O
gross tons in 1924 to 100000 in
1929. While the Bethlehem Steel
Corporation reports 166 per cent
more profits in 1929 than in 1928,
and the U. S. Steel Corporation re-
ports profits of s258,0OO,OOO, wages
for common labor is as low as zoe
an hour in the South and &c in the
Bethlehem plants of the Eastern
states, and 35c-45c an hour in Penn
| sylvania.
"The 12-hour day and the 2-shift
system is becoming the main objec-
tive of the employers in the indus
try. In many plants the 12-hour
day, 7-day week is still in existence
in such plants as the Illinois Steel,
Otis Steel, Crucible Steel, Republic,
Weirton, and Pittsburgh Steel. The
so-called 8-hour day is in existence
only in few mills, and applies only
to highly skilled workers.
Betrayed by A. F. of L.
"The so-called union of the Anal
gamated Association of Iron, Steel
and Tin Workers, completely doni-
mated by the reactionary bureau
Gratis led by Mike Tighe, and Davis,
has become a tool in the hands of
the bosses to cut wages as evidenced
by the average sheet wage scale
which in 1920 was $685., in 1928
only $500; and in the recent con-
vention of the union in Youngstown.
Mike Tighe again accepted another
wage cut for the sheet and tin divi-
sion. It's actual membership is less
than 5000.
Metal Manufacturing.
"The slashing of piece work rates
! in such plants as the Westinghouse,
the Western Electric, of over 40 per
cent in the last three months; the
cut in wages in the Dover Arsenal
the day after Hoover's announce
ment that wages must remain high
shows the lying propaganda of the
employers and their agents in the
| A. F. of L. Machinists and tool
makers today are working for as
low as Soc and Coo an hour.
Automobile Industry.
"The Auto Workers are especially
suffering under the Hoover pros
perity'. The employers in the auto
industry, facing shrinking market
and increased profits, are prepar-
ing new wage cuts and more speed
up to make the workers bear the
entire burden of the crisis. Over
100000 auto workers are out Of
work in Detroit. The auto workers
produced 210 times as much in 1929
as in 1914, as result of the intro
duction of new machinery (con-
veyor systems) and general speed.
up. These auto workers are an
swering the bosses wage cutting
campaign by building the Auto
Workers Union as a departmental
lied Section of a new revolutionary
Metal Workers Industrial Union in
the United States.
Jewelry Section.
SIN the jewelry section of the in
dustry, wage cuts are in full swing,
and as a result of new production
methods and speed-up, unemploy-
ment is on the increase. Fifty per
cent of the platinum and gold work
ers are out of work, and the rest
work from 20 to 80 hours a week.
Twenty per cent of the watchmakers
and novelty workers are looking in
vain for jobs. Young girls and boys
are gradually taking the place of
skilled mechanics for as low as
$1,000 week. In such places as
Waltham, Elgin and other great
mechanical and modern plants, the
workers are completely morgan
lied, and only recently has the jew
elry Workers Industrial League in
New York been formed.
Women, Youth, Negroes.
In this conference, special atten-
ton will be given to the organiza-
ton of women workers, young work
ers and Negro workers, all of whom
are entering the field in greater and
greater numbers forming a greater
and greater percentage Of the whole
as the boss brings them in with
the idea of using them to cut wages
and worsen conditions. Complete
equality, equal pay for equal work,
is the key to their organization.
The Youngstown conference, out
of which program and methods
of organization on national scale,
to bring the 100000 metal work
ers in U. S. together in a powerful
class union, is to be made up of one