The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-11-16
Rank and File Unions
Call for Struggle
Against Attack
BY a Telegraph Worker Core
spOndent

spOndent
NEW YORK, N. Y.-The Western
Union Telegraph Company has be
gun q vicious campaign against its
employees involving mass Through
ing Qay-offs) of workers with many
years of service, an Anti-Semitic
program of dismissals against all its
Jewish employees, and discrimination
I in nationalities among its messenger
boys. All this with the objective
in view of firing thousands of
workers from the industry, in order
to lower the standards of living of
all its employees, and for the pur-
pose of economy, to finally set the
stage for the coming merger Of all
communications companies. This
information was disclosed here, by
the United Telegraphers of Amer
lea and the Telegraph Messengers
Union.
In order to reduce the wage
standards of its employees the West
ern Union, even disregarding the
fact that 24,000 telegraphers were
furloughed since the World War,
is carrying on this policy at an I'M
precedented rate today. 1t is sig
nificant to note that their schools
for new and young telegraphers
are filled to overcrowding, and
that their personnel departments
are hiring these workers at lower
schedules Of pay, while their older
employees are forced out of the in
dustry. BY this vicious practice,
and by instituting terrific speed
up in traffic, the Western Union
is masstng its tremendous profits at
the expense of the workers.
The u. T. A. claims that all
employees are being terrorized into
joining the Association Of Western
Union Employees, the Western Union
company union. This terroriZation
is taking the form as direct at
tack on the wages of the telegraph
workers, because, either you sign
up or take the consequences" Par
ticularly is this scheme employed
against the messenger boys, who are
the most exploited in the Geographic
industry.
The Western Union tactics of dis
elimination and terrorism, does not
stop here. They have employed the
use of the Bergoff Agency, notorious
for its strikebreaking and bloody
history. to spy upon and prevent
the membership of two independent
rank and file unions to either grow
or to resist the attacks of the com
pany union
The coming proposal to the next
session of Congress from the Com
munications Commission for a
merger of all Geographic companies,
which will entail added firings of
other thousands OF workers, is be-
ing steadfastly opposed by the U.
T. w. and T. M. U. For the sake
of economy and to increase their
profits the companies are pleading
poverty to the workers, despite the
glaring contradictions in the recent
press reports, which state clearly
the tens of millions that were pooled
by the A. T. and T., the I. T. and T.
and the Western Union A merger
of these monopolies would create
the biggest, and the most gigantic
monopoly that ever existed in the
United States.
Both unions state that they are
preparing to send delegations OF
Geographic workers to the open
hearings of the Communications
Commission in December to protest
against the merger, and to produce
statistics as to why there is no need
for merger and what merger
would mean to all telegraph work
efs. The U. T. A. and T. w. U.
will continue to organize and pre-
pare all telegraph workers through
out the country to effectively stop
these vicious practices of the West
ern Union
Concerning the messenger boys,
the Telegraph Messengers Union
states that sentiment for an or
gained union is ripe. That the
immediate adjustment of the seven
dollar weekly wage must come
about, and that the next point on
the agenda of business for niessen-
ger boys is the SIS week, and the
eight hour day"