Vol. 78/No. 17      May 5, 2014

Below is a note recently sent by Chuck Guerra in Des Moines, Iowa, along with a check for $455 from a bonus handed out by the bosses in the book bindery where he works. Guerra donated the money to the Socialist Workers Party Capital Fund, turning a “blood money” bribe into a contribution to build the communist party.

So-called bonuses and other bosses’ bribes are designed to convince us to accept concession contracts, speedup, wage cuts and dangerous working conditions.

“My union local recently accepted a five-year contract that provides for no pay raise and lets the company decide how much it contributes towards each employee’s insurance premiums, among other concessions. In lieu of a raise, every year the bosses hand out a lump sum payment equal to 2 percent of your straight-time wages over the past year (or 2.5 percent for good attendance).

To add insult to injury, shortly after the new contract was signed the company announced a round of layoffs and cutbacks in hours. Fewer will receive the lump sum and the amount will be lower. Premium costs for short-term disability insurance will also be shifted to workers.

By waving a little up-front money in our faces, the bosses hope to take the sting out of their workforce cuts and eating away at our take-home pay. Rather than accept this insulting bribe, I put it to producing books that the working class needs, in contrast to the advertisement-filled publications that this company churns out every day.

The Capital Fund finances long-range work of the party. To make a blood money contribution, contact a Militant distributor near you, listed on page 8.

— EMMA JOHNSON