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Ain't I A Woman? newspapers, June 1970-July 1971
1970-08-21 "Ain't I a Woman?" Page 7
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AN OSCAR MAYER WIENER [beginning of lines are missing words] people living in the Davenport area, mostly Most work in foundries. That's the natural Carrillo live on ADC because they have no al ve on ADC--$300 a month for you and 5 kids. white) are made to spend time going to unem- el manager's doors, being put through meaning- just to get a job. One is immediately struck lores and the irony that she's not qualified o wastes the productive energy of its people? rk for everybody and still maintain a rising just don't understand. That when union/management (they often look ople and only hire 50 of them," they're not the question, why no work for us? When she finger test, the Wunderlich test, the personal ning about that." That when she points out till have to eat, they nod and babble about oes there are white faces so certain of their ption of power. White faces that claim friend o "help" at the same time theyre ordering to run the errands. That's just what happened the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Work- the picket line in Davenport, two weeks after en wanted to talk. The talk with union rep- speaks for itself. Dolores speaks for herself 30 people is picketing with Delores in Dav- picketing of Oscar Mayer and other factories, boycott of Oscar Mayer products. Contact ration in Iowa City. that is hitting blacks, browns, women and poor bdue the third world in Southeast Asia is hav- ber put it well at a rally recently: ] the Time." She was talking about the third e economic or social system of capitalism, ource of cheap labor. We have become aware are working to build a socialist society, e, where day care is provided free and a woman labor just trying to provide for kids, where se, where meaningless bureaucratic jobs are ce for freedom someday because the amount of is not the measure of a person's worth. m one night that we were nothing but little stones alk, laying out in the grass, and once in a while me of these little stones and give them a job, and d up and got a job, never got called in to apply So after I had this dream I said, "I'm going to myself." So since I had that dream I thought I y "the neglected stones." [photo] I was born here—just like my two daughters who graduated from high school. We stuck their applications in the post office, the arsenal, the telephone company, in many different places. They’re not hiring, they say. Well, what’s the use of going to school if you’re not going to get hired? I’ve got three kids left. Do you think they’re going to finish school? They say, what’s the use, they ain’t going to get a job anyway. So I’m going to have to fight after them. My daughters went to school, but they went for nothing. This town just don’t want to hire Mexican-Americans. The way this Oscars is, that’s the way they are all over. [photo[ 1970 YEAR OF THE CHICANO A man from the union came out here and said, “how can we hire these people if they can’t speak English?” Very easy, that’s no excuse. The people in there can teach them the jobs. They’ve got some Mexican-Americans in there who have been working 22, 23 years. They can teach the people out here. You can’t eat if you don’t know English in other words. They say they’ve hired 3 Mexican-Americans in a year. What is 3 in a year, when you can go yourself to the unemployment office and find out how many blacks and how many Mexican-Americans they’ve referred to Oscar Mayer’s. [photo] Don’t Buy Oscars Products I’D LIKE PEOPLE TO BOYCOTT OSCAR MAYER’S WIENERS AND MEATS. THERE’S OTHER BRANDS THEY CAN BUY BESIDES THIS BRAND AND THAT WOULD BE A BIG HELP TO US, IT SURE WOULD. THEN THEY WOULD THINK THE PEOPLE ARE FOR THEM, WE MIGHT AS WELL START HIRING THEM. BUT, AS LONG AS THEY BUY THEIR PRODUCTS THEY AIN’T HELPING US ANY. TALKING UNION: or The Union Makes Us Strong Fingers Following are quotes from the union man: They use a dexterity test on all women, all production women. And as we are told, this I know for a fact, the jobs that the women do require fast hand and finger movement. They give dexterity test to men if they’re going to work in the same area that the women are going to work. . . most of the dexterity tests are given to women, yes. Men do not work on those jobs. The men CAN work on those jobs is they’re in there, they’re allowed to take any job in the plant . . .those gals, uh, people make in excess of $4.00 an hour. . . No, I don’t think a dexterity test is discriminatory. Let me explain why. I can’t say for sure that it’s not discriminatory, maybe my idea of what’s discriminatory is wrong, but I don’t think it is. Almost all of those jobs that women do on the sliced meat line, they are incentive jobs, they’re fast finger jobs. The people do not have fast finger dexterity they can’t keep up on the job. People who have good finger dexterity, it’s not very hard for them at all. . . Women are much better with dexterity than men are. See, very few men can pass that finger dexterity test and they don’t work out well on those jobs. . . They’re NOT women’s jobs, they’re just jobs that women adapt to better than men, because women are more dexterous with their fingers. As I understand it, they are more dexterous with their fingers than what men are. Scaling and bacon, assembling of luncheon meats, most of those jobs are filled by women, because of their dexterity. Stewards? I don’t think there’s one woman steward at this time. Not one. But we have had women stewards. It’s very difficult to keep them. The women feel that “I have a hard time in working with men and taking care of these types of problems.” Because we have no women foremen. Remove the dexterity tests? That is not within our power within the contract. We can’t set hiring practices. . . Well, it’s within our power to negotiate anything that an employer would be agreeable to put into a contract. As long as it does not conflict with the law. We are restricted by the law on many things. We have nothing to do with hiring. The law says—the law, mind you— says we cannot have anything to do with hiring. You say put those people who can’t speak English on the line with Mexican-Americans in the plant. Well, the company can’t do that in some instances. We have a system of seniority and job rights. Seniority is what dictates where someone works. . . Seniority is the foundation of our union and we’re not ashamed of it. We’re proud of it. . . We have nothing to do with hiring. The law says— the law, mind you—says we cannot have anything to do with hiring. . . I just wanted to talk with these people and see if we could help. To answer any questions they might have about the union. (Final Chorus: how to Taft-Hartley created the dictatorship of the proletariat.) We have nothing to do with hiring. When you had a closed shop, the union had something to say about hiring. (Union membership of production workers at Oscar Mayer is 100%.” The Taft-Hartley law eliminates the union power to dictate who shall be hired. We are employees of those 1500 people. (400 women, 91 blacks, 18 Mexican-Americans) We are not free to do what we think in our own minds. We do what the people who hire us dictate us to do. A Woman? August 21, 1970 7
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AN OSCAR MAYER WIENER [beginning of lines are missing words] people living in the Davenport area, mostly Most work in foundries. That's the natural Carrillo live on ADC because they have no al ve on ADC--$300 a month for you and 5 kids. white) are made to spend time going to unem- el manager's doors, being put through meaning- just to get a job. One is immediately struck lores and the irony that she's not qualified o wastes the productive energy of its people? rk for everybody and still maintain a rising just don't understand. That when union/management (they often look ople and only hire 50 of them," they're not the question, why no work for us? When she finger test, the Wunderlich test, the personal ning about that." That when she points out till have to eat, they nod and babble about oes there are white faces so certain of their ption of power. White faces that claim friend o "help" at the same time theyre ordering to run the errands. That's just what happened the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Work- the picket line in Davenport, two weeks after en wanted to talk. The talk with union rep- speaks for itself. Dolores speaks for herself 30 people is picketing with Delores in Dav- picketing of Oscar Mayer and other factories, boycott of Oscar Mayer products. Contact ration in Iowa City. that is hitting blacks, browns, women and poor bdue the third world in Southeast Asia is hav- ber put it well at a rally recently: ] the Time." She was talking about the third e economic or social system of capitalism, ource of cheap labor. We have become aware are working to build a socialist society, e, where day care is provided free and a woman labor just trying to provide for kids, where se, where meaningless bureaucratic jobs are ce for freedom someday because the amount of is not the measure of a person's worth. m one night that we were nothing but little stones alk, laying out in the grass, and once in a while me of these little stones and give them a job, and d up and got a job, never got called in to apply So after I had this dream I said, "I'm going to myself." So since I had that dream I thought I y "the neglected stones." [photo] I was born here—just like my two daughters who graduated from high school. We stuck their applications in the post office, the arsenal, the telephone company, in many different places. They’re not hiring, they say. Well, what’s the use of going to school if you’re not going to get hired? I’ve got three kids left. Do you think they’re going to finish school? They say, what’s the use, they ain’t going to get a job anyway. So I’m going to have to fight after them. My daughters went to school, but they went for nothing. This town just don’t want to hire Mexican-Americans. The way this Oscars is, that’s the way they are all over. [photo[ 1970 YEAR OF THE CHICANO A man from the union came out here and said, “how can we hire these people if they can’t speak English?” Very easy, that’s no excuse. The people in there can teach them the jobs. They’ve got some Mexican-Americans in there who have been working 22, 23 years. They can teach the people out here. You can’t eat if you don’t know English in other words. They say they’ve hired 3 Mexican-Americans in a year. What is 3 in a year, when you can go yourself to the unemployment office and find out how many blacks and how many Mexican-Americans they’ve referred to Oscar Mayer’s. [photo] Don’t Buy Oscars Products I’D LIKE PEOPLE TO BOYCOTT OSCAR MAYER’S WIENERS AND MEATS. THERE’S OTHER BRANDS THEY CAN BUY BESIDES THIS BRAND AND THAT WOULD BE A BIG HELP TO US, IT SURE WOULD. THEN THEY WOULD THINK THE PEOPLE ARE FOR THEM, WE MIGHT AS WELL START HIRING THEM. BUT, AS LONG AS THEY BUY THEIR PRODUCTS THEY AIN’T HELPING US ANY. TALKING UNION: or The Union Makes Us Strong Fingers Following are quotes from the union man: They use a dexterity test on all women, all production women. And as we are told, this I know for a fact, the jobs that the women do require fast hand and finger movement. They give dexterity test to men if they’re going to work in the same area that the women are going to work. . . most of the dexterity tests are given to women, yes. Men do not work on those jobs. The men CAN work on those jobs is they’re in there, they’re allowed to take any job in the plant . . .those gals, uh, people make in excess of $4.00 an hour. . . No, I don’t think a dexterity test is discriminatory. Let me explain why. I can’t say for sure that it’s not discriminatory, maybe my idea of what’s discriminatory is wrong, but I don’t think it is. Almost all of those jobs that women do on the sliced meat line, they are incentive jobs, they’re fast finger jobs. The people do not have fast finger dexterity they can’t keep up on the job. People who have good finger dexterity, it’s not very hard for them at all. . . Women are much better with dexterity than men are. See, very few men can pass that finger dexterity test and they don’t work out well on those jobs. . . They’re NOT women’s jobs, they’re just jobs that women adapt to better than men, because women are more dexterous with their fingers. As I understand it, they are more dexterous with their fingers than what men are. Scaling and bacon, assembling of luncheon meats, most of those jobs are filled by women, because of their dexterity. Stewards? I don’t think there’s one woman steward at this time. Not one. But we have had women stewards. It’s very difficult to keep them. The women feel that “I have a hard time in working with men and taking care of these types of problems.” Because we have no women foremen. Remove the dexterity tests? That is not within our power within the contract. We can’t set hiring practices. . . Well, it’s within our power to negotiate anything that an employer would be agreeable to put into a contract. As long as it does not conflict with the law. We are restricted by the law on many things. We have nothing to do with hiring. The law says—the law, mind you— says we cannot have anything to do with hiring. You say put those people who can’t speak English on the line with Mexican-Americans in the plant. Well, the company can’t do that in some instances. We have a system of seniority and job rights. Seniority is what dictates where someone works. . . Seniority is the foundation of our union and we’re not ashamed of it. We’re proud of it. . . We have nothing to do with hiring. The law says— the law, mind you—says we cannot have anything to do with hiring. . . I just wanted to talk with these people and see if we could help. To answer any questions they might have about the union. (Final Chorus: how to Taft-Hartley created the dictatorship of the proletariat.) We have nothing to do with hiring. When you had a closed shop, the union had something to say about hiring. (Union membership of production workers at Oscar Mayer is 100%.” The Taft-Hartley law eliminates the union power to dictate who shall be hired. We are employees of those 1500 people. (400 women, 91 blacks, 18 Mexican-Americans) We are not free to do what we think in our own minds. We do what the people who hire us dictate us to do. A Woman? August 21, 1970 7
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