Vol. 77/No. 33      September 23, 2013

“Blood money” contributions to the Socialist Workers Party Capital Fund have totaled $620 over the summer. The ongoing fund helps finance the long-range work of the revolutionary party.

“Blood money” is a term communist workers use to describe one-time payments from bosses — safety, attendance and production bonuses, contract-signing incentives, holiday gifts and other such bribes — intended to pressure workers to accept speedup, wage cuts, concession contracts and dangerous working conditions. Class-conscious workers turn them into contributions to the Capital Fund.

“Enclosed are two ‘blood money’ checks,” wrote John Benson and Janice Lynn, who work at a food preparation facility near Atlanta. Their quarterly bonus checks for $465 are based on the bosses’ tally of “productivity, appearance, on-time delivery, etc.” Their goal with the bonuses “is to try to get workers to work faster,” wrote Benson and Lynn. “The result? More workers with aching backs, wrists, knees, etc.”

United Airlines worker Eric Simpson from San Francisco sent in $90, from three bonuses the company gave him, “‘rewards’ to the workforce for ‘on-time’ takeoffs,” he wrote. “But ‘customer satisfaction’ with the airline is reported to be at 30 percent! Members of our union, the Machinists, weren’t too ‘satisfied’ with the latest contract the company proposed and we turned it down overwhelmingly. Send the companies’ ‘blood money’ bonuses to the working-class movement and get 100 percent ‘worker satisfaction!’”

To make a contribution to the Capital Fund, write to or call the Militant distributor nearest you. The directory is on page 10.

— SUSAN LAMONT  
 
 
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