Marxists’ Internet Archive: ETOL Home Page: Trotskyist Writers Section: Farrel Dobbs
Source: Socialist Appeal, Vol. IV No. 32, 10 August 1940, p. 2.
Transcription & Mark-up: Einde O’ Callaghan for the Encyclopaedia of Trotskyism On-Line (ETOL).
The stubborn fact remains that 30,000 steel workers have already lost out in the industry and the jobs of thousands more are immediately threatened. Technological change is wreaking havoc among the steel workers. Decisive action by the Steel Workers Organizing Committee is demanded to find a solution.
Last April Phillip Murray, SWOC Chairman, outlined his program before the Monopoly Committee of Congress. He proposed that provisions be made through collective bargaining between the union and the corporations for six month’s advance notice to workers who are to be displaced through technological change. During this period they would receive vocational training for other jobs. He further proposed that job compensation be paid where the new job, if found, is at a reduced rate of pay. A dismissal wage was advocated where a displaced worker is not reabsorbed in another job.
“This practical plan is not offered as the final solution ...”, Murray told- the Monopoly Committee. “... Congressional regulation of the introduction of large technological changes is necessary.” These regulations, he suggested, should make it compulsory for the corporations’ to pay a dismissal wage. The federal government would be required to provide for a vocational training program. Measures would by instituted to have industry immediately absorb the displaced workers.
Six month’s advance notice and a dismissal wage would be a distinct improvement over the present situation. The steel worker today finds himself dismissed or short notice with little or no funds at his disposal. He is soon broke and becomes dependent upon a governmental relief allowance if and when he can get it.
The dismissal wage would, however, not be a retirement fund. The corporation would fight to make it a very small sum. When it had been used up the unemployed steel worker would be right where he is now when discharged – broke and fighting to get relief.
Vocational training for other jobs would have little meaning. The trend is towards a reduction in available jobs. Technological change curtails the number of existing jobs far more than it creates any new jobs. The chances for employment outside the steel industry are equally slim. The latest CIO report on unemployment estimates that there are almost 11 million workers now looking for jobs. A few of the displaced steel workers would find employment under this arrangement, but it is no solution for the many.
The sliding scale of wages and hours is the fundamental, approach to the problem of unemployment. The maximum hours of work should be reduced immediately to a point where jobs would be made available for all steel workers presently unemployed. Thereafter, the hours of work should again be reduced to compensate for any further curtailment of jobs because of new technological changes. The hourly rate of pay should be automatically increased whenever the hours of work are reduced so that the workers will suffer no loss in their total wages. The union should fight also for additional pay increases in order to raise the workers’ standard of living.
Murray timidly touches this point, in his statement to the Monopoly Committee that the maximum work week in the basic mass producing industries should be reduced to the level of approximately 30 hours a week at the prevailing earnings or more. However, Murray has resisted all proposals to fight for this objective.
The slogan of the 6 hour day at 8 hour’s pay has been repeatedly discussed in the SWOC. If put into effect it would be along stride towards a solution of the problem of unemployment in this industry. Almost one-third more jobs would be added.
There was a great deal of sentiment for this program among the delegates at the Chicago convention of the SWOC. The union administration side-stepped the issue by declaring it “impractical at the present time.” They proposed instead a national unemployment conference of leaders of government, industry, labor and farm groups. In other words – no action.
It is not hard to understand how officialdom was able, at the SWOC convention, to veto any action. There were about 200 SWOC organizers present. All but a handful of them were there is delegates. Nearly a third of those participating in the convention were, therefore, hired hands of the administration. Experienced parliamentarians can easily maneuver as they choose with such a powerful bloc.
Nevertheless, the administration’s victory over the union militants was a hollow one. The problem of existing unemployment and, the certainty of additional loss of jobs in the steel industry remains very real. The fight for the 6 hour day at 8 hour’s pay is still the first step toward a fundamental solution. The union officialdom has repeatedly told the workers that the industry must be more completely organized before there can be an effective struggle against the bosses. Such talk is idle. Something much more substantial is needed to convince the unorganized steel workers.
The SWOC lost the 1937 strike in Little Steel by placing its reliance in treacherous employer-loyal politicians. Since then, the leadership has retreated constantly before the pressure of the steel bosses. The workers have been prevented from making a direct struggle against the corporations through trade union action. Instead, the leaders continue to rely upon the political “friends” and the “impartial” governmental boards.
Apathy and lack of confidence among the workers is only a natural result of this policy. They must be shown a fighting union. They must see that the SWOC means business; that it will energetically and intelligently apply its own strength in the fight with the corporations.
The launching of a serious fight for the 6-hour day at 8 hour’s pay will win over the great majority of the steel workers to the support of the SWOC. Such support will in turn assure victory in the struggle.
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Last updated: 23 May 2020