The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-03-30
rIllltIl Carpet Mills
Double Work for
The Same Wages
Bpeed Workers Up and
Now Are Laying Them
| Off Again

YONKERS, N. Y-About eight
lonths ago the Alexander Smith
carpet Mills, which is one Of the
hrgesb carpet manufacturing COM
Neaffes in the United States, got
iusy again. They began to hire
iack the old hands, but the first to
pc hired were the bosses friends.
Most Of the carpet mill workers
lave been employed by this COM
oany for many years, some have
given as much as 25 and 80 Of the
pest years Of their life working for
this company, but when the big lay
offs came they were thrown out.
When the mill began to hire, the
relief people began to raise hell with
US They said they could not keep
on giving us relief, and that we
should apply to the carpet shop and
ne would get our Jobs back. But
when applied at the Office they
made me come back many, many
times before they put me back to
work Before the boss took me
back he said would have to work
two looms. When I was laid of
We were working on one loom. Our
department. has the smaller looms.
Before the lay-off we were get
ting six cents a yard for running
one loom, but now with the two
looms they pay us three cents a
yard In other words they made
us do twice as much work for the
six cents. When We ran one loom
We could run so yards in eight hours.
and make So a day. When we were
put on two looms we could not make
100 yards because ons loom was
always getting out of order and we
would have many stops. 1t was very
hard to make SO a day. But the
bosses inists upon yardage. If we
don't produce the minimum num-
Der of yards they call us over and
give us hell.
Now with the two looms we never
have minutes rest. With the one
loom, if the work ran good, We could
sit down for minute. When the
work runs bad we sometimes have
to rip out yards of bad work with
out a cent Of pay, and the boss
gives us he'll.
The Alexander Smith Carpet Shop
signed the MIRA. and got blue
buzzard. The weaving boss came
to US with a big paper and told
us that now the company had signed
the MIRA. and we would work 40
hours a week and get a 20 per cent
increase in pay. But We never saw
the increase.
Most of the workers, especially the
women, have been getting only two
or three days work week. We have
to walk to the factory each morn
ing and bring our lunch, wait around
for an hour, and then we are sent
home because the boss says there
is no work. Many of the workers
live far from the mill and have
to spend car fare each morning for
nothing. The spare hands are
treated even worse, they only get
a days work when some worker
does not come in. The spare hands
are the oldest women, those who
have shaved for about 80 years for
the company.
In the last couple of weeks they
have been laying off most of the
hands again. They say they have
no orders. So the workers again
find themselves without any food,
without any money for rent, and
again applying for charity.
What we need is organization in
our shop. The workers hate the
A. F. of L. because they know all
the betrayers of the United Textile
Workers Union which is affiliated
with the A. F. of L. All the work.
ers should be organized into the
National Textile Workers Union.
NOTE.-Letters from workers in
this carpet shop will appear each
Wednesday in the future. Work
ers in this shop should be on the
lookout for copies every Wednes-
d9v