Vol. 74/No. 49      December 27, 2010

“This comes from one of the company’s insidious programs,” wrote Helen Meyers, who contributed her bonus, as did Becca Williamson. “The company pays production bonuses so there is always pressure to work faster and reduce the workforce. One supervisor said the more you cut, the more dollars in your pocket.”

Class-conscious workers refer to these types of bonuses as blood money—bribes by the bosses to buy workers’ silence over speedup, low pay, long hours, and unsafe conditions.

From Chicago, Laura Anderson sent in $25 she received from the company as a Thanksgiving holiday bonus. “Coworkers weren’t particularly thankful,” wrote Anderson, “faced with a 150-day probation, short workweeks, and no time-and-a-half for working on the holiday.”

Other workers in New York have sent in the “turkey bonuses” they received. “Enclosed is my check for $68.30,” wrote Sarah Katz. “All employees, including temps, were given a bonus ‘for all our hard work.’” Dan Fein, a pharmaceutical worker, contributed a $15 turkey coupon along with a $77 bonus check.

After receiving a $25 Christmas bonus and a $15 “birthday gift” from bosses at a meat processing plant in the Atlanta area, John Benson sent it in to the Capital Fund. “These are part of the constant little bribes the company hands out to try to convince workers that our wages are a gift from them,” he wrote.

From Seattle, Dean Peoples donated $1,500. “It comes from an annual contractual lump sum payment—like a ‘signing bonus’ between the company and the union to dampen the fight for a better contract and get acceptance of the company proposal,” he wrote. “Let it be used to advance the interests of the working class.”

—BRIAN WILLIAMS