SWEATING THE STOKERS.

NZ Truth, Issue 142, 7 March 1908, Page 5

SWEATING THE STOKERS.

GREED OF THE WELLINGTON GAS CO. How Workers are Cheated and Choused. And Hoodwinked for Their Week's Holiday.

It might be foolish on the part of this paper to bump up against such a capitalistic concern as the Wbllington Gas Company, which cleared £34---000 clear profit last year. Such a monopolistic mob might retaliate and make its power felt by cutting oil "Truth's"' gas supply. However, the risk is going to be taken, and if "Truth" misses fire next issue, if. its typing machines lie idle, if anything at all m the shape of a national : calamity darkens the Dominion, then itcan be attributed to. the tact' that" this huge moripoly has hit back because we dared to throw a stronger light than gas on its awful sweating and slave-driving of its humble employees. The year that has vanished was a very profitable one for the shareholders m this concern and doubtless this year of grace is., ex-, pected v to return still larger dividends ; but there seems to be ho thought of increasing m any way the wages of their slaves, out of whose blood and sweat the dividends of this corpulent corporation of capitalists have been made. However, as that may be, a move is to be shortly made to force^ the gas grabbers into the Arbitration, Court, and then the damnable sweating of employees will be exposed ; then, too, it might be shown what a 'mean mercenary mob the Gas Concern is, and an idea of how £34.000 profits is made will be gathered. Perhaps the sweating crew will do their utmost, to prevent the men getting 'an award. They might offer terms, make all sorts ,of promises of fair treatment, andaf the men are foolish enough 'to listqn to the wiles of the serpent of sweat, then the men deserve to be the sweated slaves they- are.. They have been CHEATED AND CHOUSED at every turn. Some sort of an.explanation is necessary to make this matter plainer to the pu/blic, the consumers of gas, who might be shocked to hear that if a system of slavery exists m Wellington it is among those very arduous toilers, the stokers at the Gas Company's works. Up till February 3 of this year these sweat and coal begrimed toilers worked under an agreement with the Gas' Company, or shindykate, or whatever the monopolistic mob call themselves. The stokers worked 56 hours a week, eight hours a day. Practically speaking they toil 358 days a year. They toil on Sundays and. holidays and receive no over ,or double time for that work. But /the; Company is magnanimous enough to allow the men a week's holiday once a year, providing that they worked ten consecutive months m the retort house. The men work m eight-hour shifts, and receive 9s 3d perdav. the leading stokers or skippers receiving 10s per shift. The agreement under which; the}- worked -having expired, the men, j who have\ formed, a union ami intend to affiliate with the Trades Hall, have made the demand' that the rate of pay for stokers should jw 1 fl's per day, and .lea-ding stokers 10s 9d. They also ask for time and a half for Sunday work and double time for i holidays. These demands the Company refused to concede. They admitted, however, that there was some justice m their claim, as they offered a rise of 5d per shift, but declined to give a "bean" extra for Sunday or holiday work, notwithstanding that the men offered to forego their right to the supposed yearly week's holiday, which, few of the sweated stokers have ever yet enjoyed, for the simple reason that the dirty' boodling crowd generally see to it that, when any of the stokers are reaching their tenth consecutive month m the retort house something else is found for them to do, and the something else generally .takes the shape of yard-work, at the reduced rate of 8s 3d per day. Such dirty trickery, such cowardly shifts to swell up dividends at the expense' of over-worked toilers isn't creditable to the concern. If anything, it is . WORSE THAN WELSHING on a racecourse or any other resort of the spieling take-down fraternity. Why, it is a serious breach of antisweating legislation, and this crbnk crew should be made to sweat for it m the shape of a thumping big pecuniary penalty. . J ■ The individual who is "geeing" hard against ' these sweated stoker slaves is Engineer Birch, and it is not to be wondered at. He's a toady and a tool of the Company. He has trips to "Hinigland" at the company's expense, and though lie has risen from the ranks, v as it were, he is a renegade and a slave-driver and does his damnodsfc to keep the men under the steel screw of 'the cowardly Company, and has, moreover, proffered the advice to the men not to create any rumpus or to force the corrupt crew into the Arbitration Court, because it might turn out that .the men would not get an award and bp. treated so liberally as the sweaters now treat them. The up-start bounder forgets he was once a hard toiler himselt. Perhaps he is cocky because he has his pimps and his crawlers . m themen's ranks, more shame to them. These dirty spies' and tale-tellers are a disgrace to manhood, and by their pimping and' crawling tales they seem to have given Birch the impression that the toilers are. not united m their demands to be treated as men and not serfs'. Birch might find to his cost that the men are determined to stand up for their rights. "Truth" believes that .the Arbitratvon Court will, if petitioned, treat them with sympathy < . AND GIVE THEM JUSTICE. These sweated slaves are mostly married men who cannot afford to quarrel with their bread and butter, and the Gas Company, or Engineer Birch, with the'trueness of a sweater's perception, knows their weak spot and persists m his' endeavor to crush them, but he forgets that the men have a Law to protect them. The fact of the men being, swindled, deliberately cheated out of their week's holiday, is a matter which oupht to engage the attention of the Factcrios Inspector, providing, always providina:, that he is not over-awed by the plutocratic gas push, which can wield such power and influence. These men i are treated as cattle, i:dl human be- I ings, and their demands for increased ■