The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-04-03
Dull Chisels
HandedOu
TOChippers
Forced To Work in Wet
and Muddy Yard
in Youngstown

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio.-I work in
the chipping department of the
Bessemer Works of the Republic
Steel Corporation in which the
working conditions are very bad.
appeal to the other workers in my
department to get together to do
something about these conditions.
Some of us have to report as many
as three times a day to see if we
can get any work and then we get
sent home. If We don't report, they
call our number on purpose and then
lay us off for a week. Others get all
the breaks and work every day.
The clippers yard is all wet and
full of mud. We have to work in it
eight hours a day. But there's a
nice dry place inside where they
won't allow us to chip.
We have to chip with broken
chisels. That's hard work. We want
good sharp chisels to work with!
Tom and Jim are supposed to supply
us with enough chiSels But we
know they aren't there to sharpen
the chisels. Tom and Jim are the
worst and most dangerous stool
pigeons in the chipping department.
Keep away from them!
If we report to drunkard Charley
Sem that we have no chisels, he
sends us up to Frank Roger. We all
know what to expect from that
slavedriver. He will tell us to go
home if we don't like it, or else fire
us right away.
On these cold days our guns
freeze. When we try to melt them
out, the insideS burn out and we
need more grease. But the company
won't supply us with grease, and
the machine won't work. Then the
boss jumps on us to do more work
when he knows very well what the
conditions are.
They try to make us work more by
al sorts of ways The clippers gun
hanging on a chain from our belts
is heavy and drags on the floor
when we stand up. You don't have
chance to roll a cigarette or do
anything. This is a method of
speeding us up, Of making us work
all the time.
Must Organize
Brothers. We all know that the
bosses could change all these con-
ditions with very little effort if they
felt like it; that they do these
things just to subjugate us, so that
we will be afraid to say anything
against them. But we must remem-
Der last September when we were
organized and demanded higher
wages. The demand was turned
down, so on Sept. we struck solid.
Then the company saw how strong
we were as an organized body and
gave us our demands. After the
strike we were treated decently, we
weren't sworn at and inSulted. The
bosses saw that they couldn't do that
to us any more without breaking up
our organization first.
So they took advantage of the
shutdown in the department and a
general reduction of operations to
lock out close to 100 of the most mi
Iitant clippers. When the company
refused to see our clippers commit
tee (Which they'd agree to recog-
nize after the first strike) we made
the mistake of striking too fast
without preparing the strike well
enough inside the department. So
the company was able to turn some
of the employed clippers against the
locked-out and striking clippers,
and, by dividing us, break the strike
and temporarily break up our union
in the chipping department.
But not for long. Many of us are
still strong for the S. M. I. U. and
We know that the only way to i'm
prove our miserable conditions is to
organize and fight. The only union
that sincerely represents our in
terests is the S. M. w. I. U. which
last fall won for us higher wages
and better conditions. Now we must
work quick to rebuild our union
strong. Organize. Become paid-up
members of the Steel and Metal
Workers Industrial Union.
BESSEMER CHIPPPER,