DRASTIC CUT IN WAGES CAUSES STRIKE AMONG PASSAIC MILL WORKERS

The following article was written by Sylvan Groodman '27 and Lincoln Grils, Yale undergraduates, following an investigation of conditions among the textile strikers at Passaic, New Jersey. It is printed by special arangement with the Yale News.

In Passaic, N. J., 10,000 workers are striking for the right to live a decent life. Their strike is specifically the outcome of a ten percent wage out, forced upon their employers by weight of competition. The demands of the workers to return to the old wage were met by curt refusals, on the part of the mill owners. The workers' delegates were summarily discharged. The workers struck and now demand recognition of their union, sanitary working and living conditions, a 44-hour week, and a ten percent increase over the old wage.

A wage cut may not ordinarily be considered unusual, but to this group of workers it meant absolute destitution and starvation wages Even on the old basis the average wage for able-bodied men ranged from $15 to $22 a week. Only a very few highly skilled operators such as the loomfixers received more than $25. Their number is insignificant. The vast majority of workers fell below $20 a week. It must be borne in mind that these workers are heads of families which average about six. Even a smaller family could not be maintained on such a wage.

Women Bear Brunt of Hardship

The obvious result of this insufficient wage is to recruit the aid of all members of the family of working age in the support of the family. Fifty percent of the workers in the mills are women.

It is upon women that the greatest hardship falls. They are forced as a rule to do night work. They are worked from 7.30 o'clock in the evening to 6 o'clock in the morning with 15 minutes off for dinner at midnight. For them the average wage is from $12 to $17 a week, though they do the same work as the men. After they return from the mills they must do housework and try to snatch some rest during the day while caring for their youngest children under school age. They work up to the last months of pregnancy and reenter the mills shortly after childbirth. The effects of this life are stamped upon them indelibly. Their backs are bent from the very nature of the work; their faces are pallid and drawn: their expression is haggard and listless: and they are worn with care and privation.

Not only are the women forced into the mills but also the children of working age are found applying for work. New Jersey law allows employment of children at 14 years of age provide that they attend "continuation school" two half days a week for two years. This rule is invariably followed. Boys and girls at this age enter the mill and do machine work almost equal to that of adult operatives receiving from $8 to $12 for a 48-hour week. They are employed on either day or night shifts. From early childhood these children have little to anticipate except drudgery and hardship. They are undernourished and underschooled, and must contribute to the family income as soon as they attain working age. Their years of adolescence are spent tending machines.

Find Wretched Living Conditions

The strike is led by Albert Weisbord, Phi Beta Kappa, and a graduate of the Harvard Law School. He is exceedingly able both as leader and organizer. He insists on discipline and peaceful tactics most emphatically, despite all rumors of violence. Each picket line is under the leadership of appointed captains who carry out these principles. To insure that he cannot be accused of terrorizing men into leaving work. Weisbord only conducts mass picketing when no one is entering or leaving the mills. Even picket lines of several thousands are handled without difficulty for the strikers simply march slowly two by two shouting and singing songs.

The police of Passaic and its suburbs have adopted two means of handling the strike. In Passaic and Clifton all attempts at mass picketing have met with police opposition. Clubs are wielded, tear bombs are thrown, and fire hoses are trained on the strikers. As a result the slightest spark may ignite the magazine and precipitate serious riots. On the other hand the police of Lodi and Garfield do not oppose the strikers. On the contrary, they march alongside the parades and clear the traffic for them. There has been no violence or ill feeling in these latter towns. What a contrast to the stupid methods of Passaic and Clifton where reporters are assaulted, where strikers are sent to jail for thirty days for swearing, although the police wear no haloes, and where the chief of police should be arrested for assult and battery. There is an obvious lesson there for all peace officers who must deal with strikers.

Non-Union Aid Given

Unfortunately this strike did not have the backing of any established union. Therefore the question of funds is vital and grows more so as the ranks swell. Money is coming in in contributions of all sizes from unions, organizations and individuals all over the country. By means of this each family is given $5 to $10 a week in food and clothing through the relief stores. This pittance is barely enough to keep them alive but their spirit is indomitable. The ranks realize that this struggle means either life or death to them and after eight weeks they show no signs of weakening.

All proposals of arbitration have been refused by the operators. They say that the strike is merely a Communist demonstration, fomented by outside agitators, and refuse to meet with their former employees at all. The papers of March 17 carry the proposal of the Secretary of Labor to mediate between each employer and his own workers. The operators have accepted of course. And why not? Some years ago their workers struck and received all their demands except recognition of their union. Within a year, helpless without a union, all their gains had been taken from them. The employers are united in a local council and operate a joint employment office. There are no valid reasons on which to oppose concerted action by their employees.

Concerning the justifiability of the strike we will not comment. We believe the facts to be self-evident.

A visit to a typical company house will convince one of the wretched conditions in which the workers live. The first family consisted of the two parents, both of whom worked, two children at school, and three others under school age. This family of seven lived in three small rooms, only one of which was lighted by a single gas jet. Most of the heat came from the cook stove. Only one room had windows. For this mite they paid a rental of about $26 a month out of a joint weekly wage of $35.

The second case was that of a widow with two small children living in three rooms, only two of which were heated. She was a weaver, a skilled worker, and received $15 a week out of which she just managed to pay her rent of $17 a month and support her children. She had worked nights but her health had given way and she was forced to change to day work to save her life.

Most of these houses had damp dark halls. The stairs and bannisters could not be trusted. No tollets or baths were to be found. There was a musty, pungent, unhealthy odor permeating the whole atmosphere.

In sharp contrast to the poverty of the houses were the pitiful attempts to beautify them. Most of the rooms were very clean. Cretonnes, colored calendars and holy pictures abounded. Cheap ornaments were common. In one suite was found a canary bird; in others dogs, and pets of every description