The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-03-21
By RoBEET L CRUDEN.
.,t go 49,. SEE GCt-N
PART I,

r,eu models of his car Just in the nick Of time,
50 we are told by his epileptiC admirers, to end
the depression. He begins by putting thousands
OF men back to work he will, so he himself
modestly admits, sell his cars practically without
profit as hisc contribution toward saving the
nation. He is, in short, the savior OF America,
the ideal of the age. While the paeans OF his
praise reverberate to the skies, what does II
matter that few Of lis in Detroit who really
know the facts mutter to one another under
cover of the harmony: oh yeah?" Apparently
very little.
Fordg own workers. who ought to know him
best, are almost universally cynical; and they
have good reason 10 be When the t1ve-day
week was introduced in Ford plants, people were
led to believe that the workers were to receive
six days pay when they produced six days work
in five AS late as 1913. Ford himself was making
such assertions as, We will stick to the tive-day
week for employees. That schedule on the old
stx-day basis of pay sWorking out splendidly
At that time the five days production had ez-
ceeded that OF six days before the introduction
of the five-day week-but most Of the workers
did not receive an increase in wages. Those
whose pay was increased found that the raise
was not commensurate with the increase in pro-
duction. AS matter OF fact, at the time Ford
was making such announcements, wages were
being cut in effect, throughout the River Rouge
plant. The f1ve-day week has itself been aoan-
doned as occasion dernanded-in 1929 worked
for many weeks on the six-day basis.
In the fall OF that year Ford stated that
theuceforth day would be the minimum wage
in his plants Immediately the bosses at the
Rouge plant came around saying, Go like hell,
boys. II you're gonna get that raise you gotta
increase productions" On our job production
was raised from fifteen pans Of stock day to
81 sI,f
of our gang was laid Off Down the line from us
one man was given two drill presses to tend
instead of one as formerly The inspector on
our job was taken of and we had to do our own
inspecting and stiIl keep up the new production
rate. This speed-up took place all over the
plant it is significant that, concomitant with the
wage raise nearly 10000 men were laid of from
the Rouge plant.
The claim that wages are never cut in Ford
plants has always been part of the stock in trade
Of Ford publicity agents. But they are cut.
When the plants reopened in 1928 to produce the
Model A, thousands Of older men who had been
making SO to $40 a day when they were laid of
we're hired again as new men at day. An old
machinist who had been with the company ten
years was hired at IS, although he had been
making $40 prior to the shutdown. tool
maker who had been getting $1.1O an hour on
Model T was likewise offered the minimum wage
when he returned. In many cases the older men
were not rehired-younger men had taken their
places at lower wages. This process, still going
on, has been supplemented by another. Men
are transferred" from department to depart
ment, their wages being cut as they move
worked Gin 1920 with men making $6.40 who had
been making s720 and $3.50 before their transfer.
lathe operator Of my acquaintance was recent
~ transferred to washing, and cut from So to
$3.50 a day Even workers in the aristocratic
Lincoln plant are not immune-last spring all
those making more than a dollar an hour were
cut to that figure. AS a result of this process
very few workers in Ford plants now make more
than $3.50 day.
To the outsider, this may seem high wages
but most Ford workers have lately been working
only three days week In 1880 the wages of
the average Ford worker we're less than thou
sand dollars Taking into account the prevailing
three-day week, the seven weeks of enforced
idleness and a daily wage of $3.50, the worker
made $959.2O during that year! In 1881 wages
we're cut and the working week reduced to one
or two days week.
Ford claims not only that there are no wage
cuts IN Ford plants, but there are none in any of
the $500 plants which make parts for him '"To
prevent wage cuts on Ford work. the Ford Motor
Company makes periodical inspections of its SUD-
ply companies" says The Wall Street journal,
quoting Ford officials. Many of these supply
companies are in Detroit, the most prominent of
them being the Briggs Manufacturing Company,
which makes per cent of Ford bodies This
concern gained no little fame in 1880 because its
earnings during the first half Of that year showed
an increase Of 45.78 per cent over the S2,422697
reported for the similar period in 1929 Earnings
lnthe second quarter alone exceeded by S344OOO
the earnings for the entire year of 1929" These
increased earnings are perhaps partly explained
by the Is to so per cent wage cuts which 1t put
through early in 1880 and by the pieceneal cuts.
from TO 80 per cent later in the year. In 1881
1t was offering mskiled Jobs at twenty-five cents
an hour. Besides being locally notorious for It's
low wages, this concern also enjoys an unsavory
reputation among workers because of its lack of
safety devices on machinery and the resulting
high accident rate
The Kelsey-Hayes Wheel Company makers of
Ford wheels has cut wages Of its tool-makers
from Ito an hour to eighty cents, and increased
the hours Of the night shift to fourteen a night.
seven nights week The Detroit Gear Company.
makers OF small Ford parts, took leaf out Of its
masters book--it laid off all men getting ninety
cents an hour and rehired them at seventy-three
cents. At tic same time their working hours
were increased from nine to eleven and a half
Reports from Toledo. Cleveland and New Haven
I'M Cafa hat Izfs De-