The Militant (logo)  

Vol. 78/No. 45      December 15, 2014

 
Bosses’ blood money ‘handouts’
go to party Capital Fund
 
Several United Airlines airport workers from San Francisco recently turned over $205 to the Socialist Workers Party Capital Fund from so-called customer satisfaction bonuses. “Of course many air travelers are having an increasingly difficult, unpleasant and more expensive ‘travel experience,’” wrote Carole Lesnick in a note accompanying her check for $97. “The company gives ‘productivity’ bonuses to Machinists-organized workers for ‘safety’ and on-time performance in hopes that these little handouts will discourage us from fighting for real job safety and a better contract.

“United Airlines held a program to celebrate a national safety award given to the San Francisco facility,” she wrote. “Most of the workers in my department consider it a farce and did not attend.”

Another $377.75 was received from Dave Ferguson, a Yamaha worker in Newnan, Georgia, and $29.87 from “profit sharing” from Wendy Banen, a Home Depot worker in New York. Contributions from production, safety and other “bonuses” from the bosses — designed to bribe workers to accept concessions, speedup and wage cuts — are referred to as “blood money” by supporters of the communist movement who turn them over to the party’s Capital Fund. These steady blood money contributions are an important political foundation for the fund, which helps finance the party’s long-range work. To contribute, see page 8 for a Militant distributor near you.

— BRIAN WILLIAMS

 
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home