The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1933-07-24
WOOLENWORKERS
GO TO CAPITAL.
TO PUT DEMANDS
Burlak Leads Group to
Expose Bosses
Slave Code

lax together with delegatlon OF
WOODEN and worsted workers from
such important wooden centers as
Lawrence and Providence, will APP
pear in the name of the National
Textile Workers Union and present
the unions proposals as against the
starvation code presented by the tex
tile employers.
The declaration of the National
Textile Workers Union contains the
following statements:
Proposals of the National Textile
Workers Union
presented to the hearings on the
Wooden Code of the National Recov-
cry Act in Washington, D. c., July
a., 1889
"The wooden code proposed by the
textile mill owners, if applied, will
result in greater unemployment and
mass misery.
The proposed minimum wage of
s13 for the South and $14 for the
North is a starvation wage so low
that it is about $40 less than that
rekuired by the conservative U. S.
Department of Labor for a family
budget which is necessary to keep a
family in minimum health and de-
cency."
I'm proposing 40-hour week
without guaranteeing any definite
amount of employment during the
year. or prevention of speed-up and
stretch-out, the road is left clear
for the employers to press as much
and more production out Of their
workers in the shorter hours than
they did in the longer hours.
while the code does prohibit en-
ployment Of children below the age
of is, it does not guarantee jobs for
their parents or provide for the sup
port of these unfortunate children
who will now be fired and deprived
of the pittance they earned to sup
plement their parents meagre in
come, in cases where there was such
an income.
ION the question of the workers
right to organize, the code repeats
the general vague provisions of the
cotton code and the National Re-
covery act, setting up the govern
ment as the final arbitrator in all
labor disputes, but does not guaran-
tee the right to strike whenever the
workers demands are not granted by
the employers.
1--WE submit the following propos-
ais for the wooden code:
II That industry and the govern
{ha acih itxy
one fixed minimum weekly and year.
ly wage for every worker in the in
dustry, North and South. This to be
guaranteed by providing that no
worker shall receive less than 40
weeks work per year, and not less
than 80 hours per week. but in no
case more than maximum of 40
hours per week.
% That wages shall be set at a
minimum of go cents an hour which
would provide, as result Of the
guaranteed working time minimum
yearly wage of $720 for every worker.
Only such a proposal if embodied in
the code would represent minimum
wage provision as against the present
proposals which are a fraud upon the
masses and guarantee nothing.
81 That where industry does not
provide worker with this minimum
of yearly earnings the government
shall pay unemployment insurance
equal to this amount; and for part
time workers the difference between
this amount ($720) and the actual
earnings. Workers who receive more
than the minimum wage at present
shall be paid Unemployment Insur-
ance equal to their present average
wages.
~ That the average wages of
workers at present receiving more
than the proposed minimum, shall
be increased by IS per cent.
50 That wages shall be adjusted
for all workers regularly as prices
rise, SO that there will be no lower
ing Of the living standards of the
workers due to initiation.
g. That women receive the same
wages as men for doing the same
work.
y That the present health wreck
ing working conditions shall be i'm
proved: by 40 per cent cut in
speed and machinery operated per
worker. 2-That piec-work be abol-
ished and replaced by week work. B.
Workers to be paid for lost time
waiting around for work, for sup
plies, repairs, etc. at the regular
hourly rate. A lunch period of one
hour, but in no instance less than
alt an hour be provided for every
by. 6-Proper and sufficient sanita-
ion and health protecting equip
nient to be provided by the en-
ployers.
% That the wooden code provide
for democratically elected shop COM
mittees controlled by the, workers
themselves in all mills. These COM
mittees to be recognized by the en-
ployers, and are to deal with the |
employers in the enforcement Of
wages, hours, discharges. conditions
of labor contained in the above pro-
visions. and any other problems that
may arise. That the workers right |
to belong to any union of their own |
choosing, including Independent I'm
ions not affiliated with the Anne can
Federation OF Labor, the Ma .ional |
Textile Workers Union, etc, shall
ne guaranteed. That the right to
trike whenever the workers de-
lands are not otherwise granted
Ji1all be clearly stated and guaran-
teed In the code.
o. That night work for women