The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-02-22
BY GRACE NJ. BURNHAM,
Labor Research Association.
Continued
Unemployment Insurance.
Employers Schemes.


DERHAPS 10000 workers in the United States
are partially insured against unemployment.
Schemes voluntarily initiated by private en-
ployers cover less than 10000 workers. The
remaining number-about 50,000-are receiving
some form of unemployment benefit through
trade-union schemes or agreements between the
union and the employers
Private insurance schemes arbitrarily con-
trolled by the employers are dangerous wea-
pons held over the heads of a few thousand
workers, by means of which these workers are
kept unorganized, speeded up and used as
shock troops in the employers productlon
drives There will doubtless be an increase IN
this type of insurance in the near future since
the large insurance companies can be counted
on to exploit this field. 1t is therefore M
portant to examine the various schemes OF this
kind now in operation and to see what workers
get out of them
The much heralded Columbia Conserve Com
pany of indianapolis, the first plant to estab-
lish an unemployment insurance plan In this
country confines its beneficiary features to the
office force in return for which they are worked
70 to so hours a week in busy seasons With no
extra pay.
The Duchess Bleachery headed by another
'liberal" employer, established its unemploy-
ment fund in 1919, year of huge profits
The scheme provides that workers have to he
with the company one year before they can
draw benefits and then they receive only half
paw. The fund started with $4,000, and by
October, 1927, had dropped to $1S926
The plan of the Dennison Manufacturing
Company limits the paying Of unemployment
benefits to six days. Workers with dependents
get so per cent of their weekly pay and others
only 60 per cent. Temporary workers are not
eligible for benefits. The Dennison Company
runs an open shop 1t is an ardent advocate Oh
naturalization in industry. Its unemployment
compensation is of no value to the hundreds OF
workers it has laid off in "stabilizing" its prof
it's In this process its force OF composltors
has been permanently cut down from 80 to 10,
Electric trucks and conveyors have replaced
skilled with unskiled labor, and materially
reduced the average number of workers EN-
ployed. The "belt" split operations, and I'M
provements in machinery have already cut me
working force from 20 to 40 per cent.
The United Diamond Works, the only non
union cutting factory in the diamond industry,
! started plan of unemployment relief IN l92L
| To become eligible to benefits workers must be
| with the company six months. In case OF shut
down. factory employees receive 25 per cent
of their average earnings while men in super
| vsory positions get SO, rs, and, in some cases,
| 100 per cent of their wages Women Office
| workers receive so per cent, but factory hands
! get only 20 per cent. Less than 100 workers
! are covered.
| The Croker McElwain Paper Company uses
| unemployment insurance to reward strike
| breakers and weaken the union. In 1920 when
| the skilled workers took the jobs OF the I'M
skilled who were on strike, the company intro
1 ,11axyp ay,f iYc1 a
| Workers must be with the company five years