The conditions in the Standard Oil refineries of Bayonne under which thousands labor for the pious Fifth Avenue Baptist and serial murderer of striking workers.

‘Men Who Slave for Rockefeller in Bayonne’ by N. Honig from The Daily Worker. Vol. 5 No. 300. December 19, 1928.

Freeze While You Work; More Wage Slashes, More Speed-up, More Lay-offs

Every winter wind that sweeps down from New York Bay freezes the marrow of more than 6,000 oil slaves on the barren 100-acre stretch of land in that section of bleak Bayonne known as Constable Hook. For these men must toil outdoors, where the stills and tanks are located.

The 7 a.m. whistle blows. A long queue of men struggles past the timekeeper’s office, A brass check is doled out to every man. Work is not supposed to start until 7:20, but every man must check in by 7:15. At 7:17 two workers arrive. The gate is slammed in their faces, to be opened a half hour later. For coming to work three minutes early, instead of five minutes early, as the Standard Oil requires of its slaves, they have been docked a half hour’s pay.

An old Polish laborer stops work for half a moment and grumbles about the freezing weather to a fellow-slave. A foreman rushes up to take the worker’s name. “That’s the second time this week, you.” This means two days’ lay-off.

The lunch whistle blows at noon. But no workers come out of the gates. For lunch must be eaten right on the job, and right generous is the Standard in the matter of lunch, for it allows the men an entire half hour.

About ten minutes before the whistle blew, a foreman caught a stillman in the act of nibbling a bite. An oil refinery slave can manage to work up a ravenous appetite in a short time. Two days’ lay-off for this stillman. Wages, $28; fine, two days’ lay-off, or $9; here’s a pay envelope that will be pretty slim on Friday–$20.

Lay-offs Continue.

The Standard Oil, the Tidewater, the Texas Oil, the Gulf and the Vacuum Oil companies manage to hold back quite a tidy sum each week through the multifarious fines handed out to the men.

Last spring 3,000 men worked in the Standard Oil of New Jersey Works; in the spring of 1927, 5,000. In 1926 Rockefeller was able to exploit as many as 7,000 slaves in the Constable Hook Standard refineries alone. In 1926, 2,000 men were laid off. The Standard Oil added 2,000 more in 1927 to the ranks of the unemployed. Since March of this year about 1,000 have been laid off, most of them this summer. Temporary lay-offs were frequent this year. Having refined a huge surplus of oil by its back-breaking speed-up system this spring, the plant practically closed down on two occasions this summer. Wage cuts are again promised by the ever-generous Standard. In the past two years Rockefeller has made up for every dime handed out to a golf-caddy with a wage cut at one of his plants.

Some of the slashes have been as follows: Bricklayers, $1.10, to 60 cents an hour; boilermakers, from $1.25 to 80 cents an hour; carpenters, from $1.10 to 75 cents an hour; machinists, from $1.25 to 80 cents an hour.

Rockefeller “Philanthropy.”

The laborers, forming the majority of the oil slaves, have managed to duck these frequent examples of Rockefeller philanthropy. But, then, they have been getting the same 53 to 57 cents an hour for the past 20 years. Painters average about 70 cents an hour; boilermakers’ helpers, 60 1/2 cents an hour: firemen, 70 cents an hour; coopers. 60 1/2. to 81 cents an hour, and pressers, 71 cents an hour. In connection with the forthcoming wage cuts, it is interesting to note that Standard Oil of New Jersey has just reported that its net profit for 1928 will exceed the 1927 figure of $11,414,837, after all taxes and other expenses are paid.

The speed-up grows daily; nearly every day a new rule is introduced in the Bayonne oil plants, calculated to reduce the oil refinery workers into more abject slavery. Under the no-talking rule, many a worker has lost a day or two days’ wages as a fine. Rockefeller’s highly-paid corps of “efficiency engineers” got an extra bonus the Christmas after they invented the no-eating-anything on the job rule. The workers don’t begin to draw wages until 7:20 a.m., but they must check in by 7:15. The oil bosses hold back a half hour’s wages if a worker checks in even a second after this time. The quitting whistle blows at 4:30 p.m. The same worker happens to work near the check office. Naturally, he turns in his check sooner than a man working acres further off. “What,” cries the timekeeper, “turning in SO soon after the whistle?” That worker couldn’t have been working so hard in the last few minutes. A mark is placed against his name. Ten such marks mean two days’ lay-off–and a $20 pay envelope.

Rockefeller is philanthropic, though, in the matter of vacations. Slave for five years and the Standard and the other Rockefeller plants give you two weeks’ vacation with pay. You’d better rest up while you’re away, for when you get back on the job you’ve got to take on another man’s work besides your own, while the other worker’s getting his vacation.

A gang of workers leaving the Constable Hook oil yards after quitting whistle on a winter’s day look and feel like something dragged out of a refrigerator. No fires are, of course, allowed, on account of the inflammable products handled. But the men are not allowed a second off from 7:20 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. to warm themselves in the boiler room.

Getting Rid of An Old Slave.

Here are some of the refinements of the oil speed-up system. Old Standard Oil slaves, Standard employes for 25 years or more, cannot stand the Standard Oil pace any more. Out they go, says Standard Oil.

They are not laid off outright. You see, after 25 years of service, a 65-year-old slave of Standard Oil is supposed to be retired on half pay. But Rockefeller wants to save that pension. So the old worker is transferred to a harder, dirtier job, where the pace is twice as fast. The work proves far beyond the little strength left to the aged worker; he either drops dead on the job or quits of his own accord. Thus he loses his pension.

The Works Council.

Every time another year has ended in the life of the old pirate Rockefeller a swarm of capitalist newspaper men flock to get a birthday interview. As usual, Rockefeller charms the reporters with golden words on the opportunity of every American worker to rise under our system of democracy. Practicing what he preaches, the old exploiter has introduced a system of “democracy” in the Bayonne works. The workers in each department are allowed each April to “elect” from their midst a delegate for the purpose of presenting the men’s grievances to the company superintendents. The delegates are paid 3 cents an hour extra. One worker and one company official are supposed to count the votes. This laborer is forced to accept a bribe and let the officials do the counting. Either he takes the bribe or he is fired. The actual counting is done by the superintendent behind closed doors. The workers thus have never had an honest delegate on the Works Council, as the oil companies call these examples of “democracy.”

The betrayal of the Tidewater Oil strike by the delegates on the Works Council last May convinced the men once and for all as to what the purpose of the Works Council really is.

Stool Pigeons.

The delegate to the Works Council is usually a stool pigeon. If the men present any grievances as to wages or conditions, the delegate goes to the superintendent, and, returning, tells the workers of the many “advantages” of working for such a big company as the Standard Oil or the Tidewater, whichever Rockefeller subsidiary it may be. He explains to the men how great the operating expenses are, etc. Then the matter is dropped, but a “ringleader” is picked out and fired as a “trouble-maker.” These delegates obtain all the graft jobs in connection with the various company schemes to blind the workers.

These company lackeys somehow manage to be the managers of the oil company baseball team or basketball team; they always manage to run the annual summer outings for the company. Of course, the real purpose of these “recreational and social activities,” as the oil bosses call them, is to keep the oil slaves docile.

Gruesome accidents are hourly occurrences, due to the inhuman speed-up. The commonest of these are acid burns and the inhalation of poisonous fumes.

The Ethyl Death Room.

The tetra-ethyl lead used in the new, cheap Standard gasoline, “Esso,” is one of the most deadly of all known chemicals. Increased sales of the poisonous fuel have resulted in the enlargement of the ethyl department. In a Standard Oil laboratory plant a few years back ten workers died in horrible agony, accompanied by violent insanity, through working on the tetra-ethyl lead. Notable scientists stated that if the ethyl fuel were widely adopted, the result would be slow poisoning of the public. Several workers have been killed outright in the ethyl room of the Standard; many have been incapacitated for life. All of the workers in this room of death are ill at all times, suffering from headaches and dizziness.

Stock Scheme.

The old scheme of allowing the workers to purchase a few shares of stock is practiced throughout the Bayonne oil plants. Each man is allowed a small amount of oil stock. When any strike talk arises, the men are kept cowed with the spiel, joined in by the Works Council, “If you strike, the value of your stock will go down. The prosperity of the Standard Oil Company is your prosperity.” This scheme was used in the strike at the Tidewater Oil plant last May. But the workers are beginning to realize that the small dividends from the stock amount to nothing, compared to a living wage, as is evident the decline in the amount of stock they now own.

Gold Service Buttons.

A little item from the Bayonne Times, one of the local sheets depending lock, stock and barrel on the oil bosses:

“Twenty Standard Oil Company employes yesterday received their rewards for their faithful services to the company when gold service buttons were awarded to them. Michael Kazaciewicz, John Timko, etc., received gold buttons for ten years’ service; Michael Savinko received a gold button with one diamond, for 20 years of service, and Anton Strelzik received the 25-year gold button with two diamonds.”

The Daily Worker began in 1924 and was published in New York City by the Communist Party US and its predecessor organizations. Among the most long-lasting and important left publications in US history, it had a circulation of 35,000 at its peak. The Daily Worker came from The Ohio Socialist, published by the Left Wing-dominated Socialist Party of Ohio in Cleveland from 1917 to November 1919, when it became became The Toiler, paper of the Communist Labor Party. In December 1921 the above-ground Workers Party of America merged the Toiler with the paper Workers Council to found The Worker, which became The Daily Worker beginning January 13, 1924.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/dailyworker/1928/1928-ny/v05-n300-NY-dec-19-1928-DW-LOC.pdf