The daily worker., 1933-12-06
The N.R.A. Wage>C,4t Drive

THE NtSA carrying the attacks of the Roosevelt gov
ernment the workers to sharper stage, is in
the midst of campaign Of wage cutting and lay
offs in industry The intensified drive of the NFA. is
characterized by amendments to and interpretations of
the codes, by Johnson and the N.F.A. boards which
abolish nulify the already miserably low minimum
wages and which legaze wholesale layoffs aud part
time work
The squeezing down of the workers living STANDARDS
by the NRA. is proceeding rapidly examped in the
textile industry. johnson this week approved and highly
praised the recommendation Of the Cotton Textile In
sttute, the Code Authority consisting of the textile
employers that the machine hours Of operation allowed
under the code be cut down Is per cent The reason
given for the amendment to the textile code that
slack season. has begun Wholesale 1ayoffs have al
ready begun in textiles and the amendment to the
code legalzes these mass 1ayoffs which nulify even
the minimum wage Con hourly bass) of SIS 3 week.
Textile production has declined sharply and steadily
since July. The silk workers. whose wages have al
ways been higher than cotton, under the cotton
code, which that the government is llan1nering
down the wages of the silk workers to the S1S minimum
The silk workers are also being put on part time
In the dress industry the clause in the dress strike
settlement which automatically became part Of the
code, limiting the number Of contractors allowed to
obber, is being ignored with the knowledge and sup
port of the NRA boards. This clause was supposedly
aimed against sweat shops 1t has been completely side
tracked NOW the dress manufacturers have called in
their employees and told them they must accept wage
cut below the minimum rate set in the code.
In the shoe industry child labor at home continues
(Chelses, Mass. In all industries shoe textile metal
etc. learners" remain indefinitely, getting
saled wages instead of the minimum set in the codes
for experienced workers.
The speed-up is enforced by the NRA. The work
ers are told If they cannot make the minimum wage
piece work rates to get out The minimum wage
becomes the maximum, and the minimum is ham,
mered down in countless ways
THE widespread violations of codes by the employers
4 with protection of the NRA, has become such
common knowledge that johnson Whalen, ETC., in
order to maintain the fiction Of huge wages under
the NF.As publicly speaking of these violation,
while at the same time making sure that the NRA.
boards protect them. Mark Esner, chairman of the
'law" board of the MIRA. in New York, only Monday
spoke OF concerns in various parts Of the country
which fout the NRA while parading the Blue Eagle"
But the NA closes It's eyes to these violations when
1t comes to any action.
The complaints Of workers N.R.A. violations, IN
the thousands remain unanswered or the N.FA. "con-
suits the employers, and decides according to their
dictates This is in the correspondence to the
Daily Worker from the Buffalo Steel and Metal Work
ers Union, printed elsewhere in the Daily Worker,
where workers complaints against backisting
swered by the NRA that after consultation with the
steel company they find violation of the N.R.A.
Thousands of such decisions" of the N.FA. expose
the NA. for what it u.s. government apparatus built
to the interests of the employers against the
workers,
GENERAL JoHNSONs Philadelphia speech this week
again challenged the workers rights to strike and
made plain that the NA aims to outlaw strikes and
will set up machinery to force compliance" from the
workers. The government "mediators" and "concilia
TORS Of the N.FA. busy running around the
try working together with A. F. of L. msleaders to
break strikes Gas in Gallup Paterson, Pittsburgh coal
strike, etc..
In this situation of intensified wage cuts and
ay-offs under the NRA, the development of new
strike waves and unemployed struggles against these
attacks depends the leadership given the workers by
The Communist Party The concentration on the basic
industries and concentration shops should be examined
in the light Of what the Party is doing to concretey
expose the NRA. wage cutting, unemployment drive,
and to develop struggles against the N.F.A. wage cut
ting drive.