The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-08-25
Why Striking Miners Forced
Back to Work Will Fight

ton where water is seepng in. Well, the first
day you don't mind it so much, the Bug dust
abSorbs some, but the next day you get down to
find or inches of water. Only man who's
had to work in water knows what a miserable
back-breaking Job it is. You get caked up, the
coal gets full of water, your feet get wet every
thing is damp and soggy, your work is slowed
up. In Covcrdale there's no extra pay for work
ing in water and there are no pumps to drain
it off.
If you tell the inside boss about It, he has
little fun with you. Here you are standing in
water, miserable and sick of the whole business
and the boss takes the occasion to have his
little joke. He says, GO see the Mine Commit
tee!" Who is the mine committee In q. M.
w. A. mine? He knows that none exists, that's
his funny way of first rubbing in that there's
no committee and to go see the superintendent.
There's popular joke around the mine, among
the miners, about the U. M. w. A. It's so con-
spicuously company union that the miners say,
Lets elect the superintendent for chairman, the
mining boss to be the mine committee and sec
ton boss for secretary and checkweighman to
take all the weight" (Of course this means
U. M. w. A. mine or pit committeeman the
representative united front body which the
N. M. U. proposes under the name Of Mine
Committee')
Checkweighman That's more fuel for the
fire that's going to break out and burn itself
into one of the biggest strikes ever witnessed in
the coal fields. miner who has been work.
ing for many years knows how many tons Of
coal he pulls out. He knows that few years
back when he worked two days he mined Is to
27 tons of coal, now with the same amount of
work the company marks him up with 16 to II.
Have the standards of weight changed through
the years? Don't pound weigh a pound any
more? The U. M w. checkweighman is fraud,
who helps the company steal. The N M. q. de-
mands checkweighman elected from and by
the miners.
Now what about dead work, pulling out slate?
Here's something that's written in the union
contract 1t states that all dead work, slate
above one foot, is to pay four cents an inch. A
miner reported the following He had four cuts
of slate, each cut amounted to two yards, total
Of yards or 28s inches which at cents an
inch amounts to $11.52. This nirar got $1.92,
he had to work over day to get the slate out.
Many times you get no pay at all for dead work,
that's a present to the company they need a
present, don't they? II you're working in water
then you're got to clear the slate away nine feet
from the face. Work, work, work, in water,
with slate, with cheating weights, with mine
bosses who only jeer at your grievances; work,
work.. work and at the end Of two weeks you
get statement that reads snake" The boss
finds that he doesn't owe you anything. You
owed for measly food in his company store, you
owed him rent for his shanties, you owed for
doctor that you hardly eyer used, you owed him
for bath house you don't want you owe him
for insurance the boss should be paying and on
top of that you owe the U. M. w. A. union dues
and initiation fees for helping to keep you in
these miserable conditions.
That's why the miners will come out again.
They struck against starvation, they went back
because of starvation and monstrous terror and
will come cut again for the same reason. And
the men who didn't go back the men who knew
that going back meant starvation while working,
are still carrying the fight, now under new
FORMS building the N. M. u, preparing to re-
ceive back into the N. NJ u ranks to reinforce
them for the biggest battle against the yellow
U. M w. A. and the pig-operators, the men
now in the mines in whom the fire Of rebellion
Is rising.