Montana labor news., 1934-12-27
MA Committee
Investigate Cip-Joints
And Dugaloos

WASHINGTON. -(FP)- "Gip-me-
stores" "robbersaries," "pluck-me-
stores" and "gip-joints" are some of
the names which workers give to the
company stores, which have recently
been the subject Of an exhaustive re-
port by special NRA committee ap-
pointed in connection with the retail
trade code. The report covers the BIZ
luminous coal, lumber, textile and
other industries
The committees report, a revised
edition of which has just been made
public, also deals with another indirect
form OF wage-cutting, namely payment
of wages in scrip instead of in cash.
The scrip is commonly and contemptu-
ously referred to by workers as "clack-
ers," "lummes," "jay-flips" "doollums'
and "dugaloos," the scholarly report
discloses.
The open acceptance by the employer
of the company store as a wage cutting
device is evidenced by the complaint of
a dealer in a lumber district that "if
nothing was done to limit the activities
of the company store, a number Of
lumber companies had decided they
would re-establsh commissaries in or
der to offset the increase in wages
which had resulted by the minimum
wage law"
The committee itself states that
through the use of scrip and other
credit devices, in conjunction with
prices established in the company
store, it is possible for the operator to
substantially invalidate wage provisions
and agreements included in the codes"
Some companies get back some of
their workers wages not by outright
ownership of stores, but by arrange
ments with local independent dealers
to redeem scrip from them at a dis
count of S per cent to 10 per cent.
The report states that such stores may
have two prices, one for cash, another
for scrip. In some localities the COM
pany, though operating its own store,
redeems scrip from independent stores
at discount of 5 per cent to 20 per
cent.
Although the committee reports few
cases of direct compulsion to trade at
company stores, it lists numerous fac
tors which leave the workers no other
recourse. The employers find eco
nomic necessity as strong a whip as
! direct compulsion. Workers who got
paid every two weeks, or twice a
month, must resort to the credit al
lowed at company stores while waiting
for their wages. The period between
paydays, the committee states, "is dis
proportionately long relative to the low
wages paid
Another practice which drives the
workers into the clutches of the COM
pany store from the beginning is that
of holding back wages for one day pc
Rod This means that a worker has
to wait four or five weeks for his first
pay. Attention of the committee was
called to three cases where workers
have not received any cash wages in
is years.
In comparison with independent
stores, average prices in company
stores are from 81 per cent to 10 per
cent higher. But "the difference in
prices would have been larger" if the
comparison were made with chain
stores, the committee states. In addi-
ton, many of the workers cannot check
up on their bills, as 81 per cent of the
stores included in the survey reported
that at no time do they supply the
customer with any record of his pur-
chases."
Still higher refunds are paid by work.
ers when they have to convert their
scrip into cash. One company dis
counts 10 per cent for converting the
scrip it pays its workers into cash,
when they need any of it before pay
day (Which is once every two weeks)
In practically every locality covered by
the survey the committee found that
workers who receive their wages in
lscrip are charged by dealers in the
community IS per cent to rs per cent
or more when discounting it for cash.
OF the 961 stores covered in this sur
lvey, 6S.5 per cent are operating in the
bituminous coal industry, l67 per cent
by the lumber industry, o.5 per cent
lby the Southern textile industry. The
rest are in the anthracite coal, copper
mining, and iron and steel industries
The committee estimates that there are
at least 1000 company stores in the
limited States