The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-12-01
WILLIAM GREEN
KEEPS HIS EARS
CLOSE TO GROUND
By BILL DUNE
CONTINUED FROM PAGE oNE)

the militant unions Of the Trade
Union Unity League-it is clear that
the employers have anticipated him,
He is talking about forcing"
measure that is already in force on
nation wide scale-with devastat-
ing consequences for the working
class. Here is the situation:
The Facts of Part Time Work
According to an article by William
j. Barrett, a member of Hoover's
committee on unemployment relief,
sent out through the Department Of
Labor in September, the percentage
of part time work-five days or less
! (mOstly less) per week-ranged at
! that time from 20.4 in mercantile
establishments to IS in metal, ma
chinery and rubber industries.
6,551 companies, all with rated
capitalization of 100000 or more (the
big concerns in all branches of in
dustry formerly employing 3,475,000
workers, in reports to the Depart
ment of Labor showed that SIS per
cent were on part time and So per
cent had reduced the numbT OF
work days per employee per week
with corresponding-or proportion
ately Observation-Disclosures in wages.
1857 companies reported that they
| had reduced the number of days
work per week.
1885 concerns reported they had
reduced the number Of work hours
per day. $50 companies reported
continuous operation with shorter
shifts.
1888 companies had alternating
shifts for workers.
Ito firms reported rotation of lay
offs. (The totals of companies in
this list exceeds the number of COM
panies reporting since many Of them
are using two, three or all of the
methods of staggering" workers and
reducing wages)
These 6,551 companies in 1929 en-
ployed 3,475,000 Ground figures)
workers, with a weekly payroll of
S1O4, 46O, 900.
In the payroll week of March Is,
1882, those same companies employed
mostly on part time-2,548,000
workers with a payroll of S60,626, 600.
Part Time Work and Wages
The figures show approximately u
percent total unemployment but a
reduction in wages of AZ per cent.
Here are the irrefutable facts of the
result to the workingclass of the A.
F. of L. approach to the question Of
the shorter work day and work week
and its advocacy of share-the- work
schemes as "a step towards the
shorter work day. and work week.
Without mass organization and strug-
gle against wage cuts, for shorter
hours without any reduction in pay,
this slogan becomes an instrument
in the hands of the capitalists for
reducing the living standard of the
entire working class.
The Standard Oil "share-the-
work" plan is now in force in many
concerns. When this scheme was
launched Green endorsed it as fol-
| lows:
"If the employers throughout the
nation will give the share the work
plan their full and complete support,
increasing employment will be no
ticeable in very short time In the
industrial and economic Situation"
We have seen already how wide
spread we're the various schemes for
sharing work" long before the
Standard Oil plan was launched. The
6,551 companies referred to above
were questioned as to the prospect Of
an increase in their working forces,
Only 10 per cent reported that they
expected to hire additional workers
In the next few months.
What A. r. of l.. Program Means
Share the work" does not enlarge
the market for goods and thereby
increase the amount Of work avail
able. 1t does not increase the pur-
chasing power Of the working class.
1t adds TO It's suffering. 1t puts
more of the burden of the crisis on
the working class
This is what the shorter work day
and shorter work week program of
the A. r. of l.. amounts to. The
speech Of President Green in Gin
cinnati on this subject, with all its
tears and quavers, was simply the
delivery Of the new official benedic-
ton of the A. r. of L. leadership TO
the stagger system and the share
the-work plan of the bankers and
big industrialists.
Some Danger of Demagogy
It is to be noted as additional
evidence of the demagogic treachery
characteristic of the trade union
bureaucracy, that Green said not one
word about the organization of the
millions of unorganized workers in
the basic industries. To have stress
ed this would have been to bring
demagogy to the danger line. Many
A. F. of l.. members have shown
readiness to enter into militant
struggle with the members of the
T. U. U. l.. unions for organization
and mass resistance to wage cuts.
The membership of the railway Bro
therhoods Is stirring. There is dan
ger to his masters even in dema-
gogy on this question.
More Ambitious MANNERS
Green is laying the basis, on the
issue Of unemployment insurance, on
the issue of the shorter work day
and work week, on the question of
some militant union baking the
lead" for the still more complicated
maneuvers required to hold their
radicalized masses Of American work
ers in check. 1t must be said that
Gren's tactics show a fairly good I'M
derstanding of the rank and file con-
ference program.