The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-01-24
z Months of NRA, With Aid of A F of
Officials, Finds Workers Are Now Much
Worse Off TnanThey EverWere Before

as his friends all are, because he
apparently sees his hope as prac-
tically realized"
Everybody is very happy because
coolie standards for the American
workers are being prepared.
Mr.. Green warns up and becomes
enthusiastic: This proposed legis-
lation marks a very definite step for
ward in industrial sterilization, ra-
tionalizstion, and economic planning.
1t is, in the judgment Of labor,
the most outstanding, advanced. and
ward-looking legislation designed
to promote economic recovery thus
far proposed"
In another instance he declared It
was "a new charter for labor"
On June Is, 1888, Mr.. John L.
Lewis declared. In so far as the
coal industry is concerned, operators
and mine workers alike can hail the
new law (NR.A) as an act Of eco
nomic emancipation
But just seven months later, on
Jan. Is, 1884, Mr.. Green appears be-
fore a hearing on the lumber code
and declares that the A. F. Of L.
has yoluminOu8 evidence that dras-
tic reduction has taken place in the
wages Of skilled workers since the
adoption of the code, and that the
minimum wages tended to become the
maximum wages paid"
Communists Warned OF N.R.A.
This is precisely what the Com
munists had warned the workers
about seven months previously, urg-
ing them to organize to struggle
against the lowering Of their living
standards.
The conditions revealed in the lum-
Der industry under the NR.A. in the
South were particularly vicious, but
not exceptional. In two mills in
Gafney, S. c., Negro workers were
paid only Is cents an hour.
In the current issue Of the Daily
Worker we publish an official order
signed by General Hugh S. johnson,
chief N.R.A. administrators, providing
IA cents an hour Tor laundry workers
Cmainly Negroes) in the South.
How II Works
In Florida lumber mills we have an
example on a small scale precisely
how the MIRA. works nationally to
lower the workers living standards.
Skilled Negro workers are paid the
minimum code wages. But they are
forced TO buy at company stores,
where the prices are raised for both
food and housing in order to slash
the real wages below their former
level.
In some industries, lower paid
workers were given the minimum.
Higher paid workers were reduced to
the minimum Through imitation
prices were shot upward-and are still
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES the standard
Of living OF the entire working class
to lower level than at any period
during the present crisis
It is no longer o question OF "chise,-
ing The "chiseling" argument was
a shield raised by the A. F. of L. bu-
Ireaucracy and the swashbuckling ad-
ministrstor johnson to hide what was
| a general process. The cry was raised
that few "unsportSmanlike" bosses
were chiseling on wages. But the fact
was the MIRA. itself was the chisel
by means Of which the bosses were
slashing the wages Of the entire work
ing class.
The Daily Worker in articles,
stories and workers correspondence
has printed hundreds Of instances of
lowered wages.
Worse OFF Than Before
Nov We have the bald admission
from the American Federation Of La
Dor bureaucracy itself that the en-
pioyed workers are worse off now
than they we're before the N.R.A. was
passed.
In the January issue of the Ameri-
can FederationiSt, official organ OF
the A. F. Of L., we read the following
statement on wages and prices"
"Since the bank crisis, the aver
age workers weekly income has
risen ~ per cent TO October, but
! prices the worker has to pay for his
living expenses have risen much
more than this. Food prices are mp
Is per cent Ito November 2u, prices
of clothing and furnishings are up
1868 per cent Ito November).
Thus the worker who had a job
right along is worse off than he
was when the year began. His pay
envelope may be larger but it buys
less His real wage is smaller
The worler is worse of." But this
doesn't tell the WkC'e story The
ma joIity OF workers finds that this
pay envelope is rot larger. as Nj.
Green now admits the minimum is