Letter to the Editor: Americans or turkeys?

By Sun Advocate

Editor:
In “Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow” a history of Black Women, Jaqueline Jones related the migration of a sharecropper’s son who moved to the city and a set wage. “William Pickens believed that town life afforded a measure of financial independence for the family, compared to his experience on a tenant farm where ‘My father worked and another man reckoned.”‘
The CW Mining Co. personnel manager responded to his workers complaint of $5.25 to $7.00 wages with, “The Company has incentive pay in addition to the actual base pay. The combined pay ranges from $5.50 to $20 per hour.”
These workers who want to achieve some financial independence for their families realize that while they work another man reckons. These CW workers are aware of what is being done to them even if the community is not.
It is true, “If we fail to learn the lessons of history, we are doomed to repeat it.”
Anyone even slightly familiar with our economic history is aware of the danger to their own economic security and America’s standard of living. There is a ripple effect when production and productivity is not shared with those who produce. The decline spreads through the entire economy.
Our frustrated ancestors murdered Chinese workers imported to build the railroads, oppressed Eastern European recruits in our factories and mines and the Japanese and Filipino farm workers. While global corporations are regressing to our darkest age of business morality, let’s remain on the high ground of civilization and prevent division among workers. Let’s help these exploited workers gain the respect and security all workers deserve.
These courageous CW workers need you to understand their circumstances and need the support of the entire community. Please don’t shortchange yourself.