The daily worker., 1932-01-23
SEWER TUNNEL
WORKERS WAGES
SLASHED 40 P. c.
Terrific Speed-up On
Most Dangerous Job
in Milwaukee
(By a Worker Correspondent

MILWAUKEE,. - Speed-up and
wage cuts in Milwaukee sewer and
water works construction is now be-
yond human endurance
I will try to describe this situation
by comparing it with "old days." not
because before there was no exploit
tation and Shaving conditions pre-
vailing, but to show to what an ex-
tent the bosses in their greed for
profits are driving the men to ex-
haustion, using present unemploy-
ment as a whip to lash the men at
work.
Cut 40 per cent.
There is more than one way to cut
workers wages, I mean direct slash
per hour. Speed-up and reducing
men all around is just as effective
and profitable for the boss as di-
rect cut which until now has reached
40 per cent. In 1929 miners and
concrete shovelers we're receiving up
to $1.25 per hour which is now cut
to rs cents, the most.
To be a miner requires skill, es-
pecially where there Is quick sand
and water, also clay ground. You
also have to figure on every move
you make for II you do not make
footage enough to suit the boss you
are "out." One miner and one muck
er are required to excavate twelve
feet per day which was formerly the
job Of two miners and one mucker.
The same holds good for concrete
men. Before there was hardly a case
where two or more miners did not
work, now one miner alone has to do
the work of two or more and must
mine out one-third more than before
Formerly one miner and one mucker
excavated 7-8 feet of tunnel now
they must excavate IL feet if they
want to hold a job. In the "old
days" three more men did the
work that two have to do at the
present. The concrete work is
doubled and still men get wage cuts
of 40 to so per cent.
If ground is bad (sand and water)
men must speed-up regardless of the
water conditions, ice cold water
pouring on their backs all day long.
The workers have to buy their own
rain coas and hats which we're for
merely furnished by the bosses.
There is no decent dry room to dry
the mems working clothes. 1t is
hard on them when they have to
dress in wet, ice cold working clothes,
to do their work the next day. Sick
ness, especially rheumatism, prevails
highly among the worker. Because
Of speed-up accidents occur often
badly crippling the men for life-the
death rate is high!
When working for a contractor you
are not treated as a human being.
You are everything but yourself, be-
ing called by all kinds of names but
your own. To remedy the situation
the men will have to organize into
fighting unions against wage cuts,
speed-up and inhunan treatment
and the bosses should furnish the
proper dry houses where men can
change their clothes when going to
or from work. almost forgot to
mention that there are no such ac-
comadations as lavatories and men
must eat their lunches with dirty
hands on the fly. More than half
of the time there is no drinking wat
er. Men have to go without water
for hours doing hard labor at the
same time.
We must demand an increase in
pay and fight against speed-up and
for better working conditions gen.
orally and force the bosses TO employ
the. necessary number of men to do
the work. This can oily be accom-
plished by organizing.