Enclosed is a check for $35.83 that I discovered on my Walmart check stub,” wrote Anthony Dutrow from Miami, “no doubt some kind of holiday ‘gift’ and no doubt ‘blood money.’
“This was one of the many things they’ve thrown at us,” Dutrow said, “including a catered Thanksgiving dinner, a day which we had to work; green Santa’s caps with ‘Merry Christmas’ on them together with a necklace of flashing red, white and green lights handed out to cashiers by the store manager for Black Friday. Most of us said to each other thanks but how about more money on our check; only a few actually wore them, many of us refused to take them.”
There was one thing that happened that was positive, Dutrow said, and that was workers’ victory in a long-standing fight. “The only thing that brightened our holiday was the black floor mats the bosses finally supplied us after two years, thanks to a lot of pressure from cashiers,” said Dutrow. “It is for this and other fights we will be able to do on the job that does justice to these so-called gifts.”
Communists use the term “blood money” to describe production, attendance, safety and other so-called bonuses bosses offer in an effort to bribe workers to keep quiet about speedup, low pay and unsafe working conditions.
The party got another note and checks from workers at Walmart in Albany, New York. They sent in a total of $429.39. “It’s a pleasure for us to send this blood money to help build the Socialist Workers Party,” Alex Huinil wrote.
By giving this money to the SWP, class-conscious workers turn those bribes into their opposite — funds to build the working-class movement and strengthen the party’s long-term work.
With the holiday season upon us, we encourage others to join in sending in their bosses’ attempted bribes.