A Matter of Pride

A Matter of Pride Los Angeles' rubber-tire industry had come to life again. Absenteeism, which had made the Firestone, Goodyear, U.S. Rubber and Goodrich tire plants production disappointments, was reported cut in one month from 12% to 3%. Production was up 50%. The apparent reasons: P: Tire workers had gone to work on a seven-day instead of a six-day-week (as part of a War Department-sponsored, four-month drive which began Jan. 1). P: The Germans' December breakthrough had revitalized complacent workers. P: The emergency furlough of 600 soldiers to fill in gaps in the tire plants over a month ago seemed to have touched civilian workers' pride. The presence of uniforms made them work harder and faster than ever before. (Another 900 soldiers were proving equally successful production boosters in other rubber plants.)

When the soldiers reported for work Dec. 27, the civilian workers ran out no red carpets for them. Most of the soldiers were grass-green. They had to be taught tire-building work, but they received the prevailing wage scale for experienced workers in addition to their Army pay. Most of the civilians belonged to C.I.O.'s United Rubber Workers of America, while the soldiers were nonunion.

To make matters more difficult, the soldiers worked with unabashed fervor to make good (and possibly win furlough extensions), and to make as much as $100 a week, with overtime. They worked as if they had never heard of anything but a seven-day week.

While the plant managers and the Army waited to see what would happen, the civilian workers decided that they liked their soldier helpers. The C.I.O. voted soldiers honorary memberships in U.R.W.A., which meant they could attend meetings without paying dues. Union members taught them trade tricks in the plants, formed special housing committees to find the new workers rooms.

At Goodrich, the civilians promised not to shave until the drive was over, shaved absentee civilians on their return to work and cut their trousers off at the knee--signifying an ignominious return to boy status. Workers at the U.S. Rubber plant chipped in to form a $10,000 pool, to be divided among workers in departments with the highest "presenteeism" rate.

At week's end, nobody would predict how long this unexpected good-fellowship would last, or how far it could be extended over the rest of the country. But the production bottleneck was broken.

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