The people's voice. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1939-1969, 1941-09-24

In the midst of this negotiation pc
riod, the company's chief western rep
resentative has seen fit to misrepre-
sent the actions and program of our
union, in an apparent attempt to Gre
ate prejudice and division by be-cloud-
| ing the real issue. Speaking in Mis-
soula recently this company official
declared:
(Quote) I'm Butte, we are produc-
| ing great amounts of ore but
we could do much more if we could
secure the labor we need. Union
miners in Butte are working only five
days a week We have offered to
these men time and half should
they work the sixth day, but their
union has compelled them 10 refuse"
END of quote).
According to this statement, it is
made to appear that the miners are
holding up defense production of cop
per necessary for national defense.
Let the record be clear: Our union,
the international Union of Mine, Mill
and Smelter Workers in convention
assembled in August this year,
pledged it's unlimited support to our
national defense program calling for
the crushing of Hitlerism, and en-
dorsed the Murray plan of the CLIO
calling for national council of labor,
industry and government, in our in
dustry to further defense production
The fact is that in our conference
with the company, the union proposed
that no worker should be laid off and
that those experienced miners whom
the company refuses to hire because
they have received compensation
should be reinstated in their jobs
The company not only rejected those
but admitted that a change
to the six-day week would throw hun
dreds of men out of work. They gave
no guarantee that experienced miners
would not be likewise thrown on the
scrap heap.
Since it is necessary to produce
more copper, our union contends that
the company should work every
available man on the hill and not
try to cut down the working force
What the company really has in mind
is the creation of huge reserve army
Of unemployed miners. Long rustling
lines could be used, as in the past, |
as weapon to intimidate the under
ground workers into accepting what |
ever abusive conditions the company |
wishes to impose.
I would suggest in passing, that |
The best means for securing an ample |
supply of labor lies within the COM
able conditions in the mines. Proof |
If the bad conditions is the fact that |
N the month of July approximately
!, 400 miners were hired and rehired
% meet the tremendous turnover
Considering the age-old plea of the
ord to grant the demands of the
that proposals for wage in
,reases and better conditions are "un-
and communistic", it is in
eresting and instructive to examine
he profits of this corporation.
In Al years of the Anaconda Cop ;
,er Mining cOmpany's operations, for
which figures are available, profit
vas recorded for each of 81 years.
Profits were especially high in the
ears 1914-1918 during the first World
var. {
Dealing concretely with the more
ecent period, the company's profits !
n 1910 were 73 percent higher than
n 1889. Now, the latest report states
hat the net earnings of Anaconda {
nd subsidiaries for the first six !,
lonths of 1871 amounted to $22,844,- /,
so. On this basis it is fair to esti- !
late that the profit figure for the !,
ntire year will total at least so