Call the next witness. Mr. KENNEDY. Gus Richardson. The CHAIRMAN. Do you solemnly swear the evidence you shall give before this Senate select committee shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God? Mr. RICHARDSON. I do. TESTIMONY OF GUS RICHARDSON The CHAIRMAN. What is your name? Mr. RICHARDSON. Detroit, Mich. The CHAIRMAN. Detroit, Mich. Give your street address. Mr. KENNEDY. 143 Vernor Highway; is that right? Mr. RICHARDSON. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. What kind of work do you do? Mr. RICHARDSON. I work in an auto wash. The CHAIRMAN. You don't care for a lawyer to represent you here, do you? Mr. RICHARDSON. No, I don't. The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. Proceed, Mr. Kennedy. Mr. KENNEDY. You are presently employed as a driver on a wash rack at Tony's Five-Minute Auto Wash, is that right, Detroit, Mich.? Mr. RICHARDSON. That is right, sir. Mr. KENNEDY. And you have worked there off and on for the past 7 years? Mr. RICHARDSON. That is right. Mr. KENNEDY. Is this a union car wash? Mr. RICHARDSON. It is supposed to be a union car wash; yes. Mr. RICHARDSON. I am making $25 a week right now. Mr. KENNEDY. $25 a week? Mr. RICHARDSON. Yes, sir. Mr. KENNEDY. How many days a week do you work? Mr. RICHARDSON. Seven days a week. Mr. KENNEDY. How many hours do you work? Mr. RICHARDSON. Seventy hours. Mr. KENNEDY. Seventy hours a week? Mr. RICHARDSON. Yes. Mr. KENNEDY. When you first went to work, you were guaranteed a weekly wage of $30 a week; is that right? Mr. RICHARDSON. That is when I first went to work. Mr. KENNEDY. That is for seven days, a 10-hour day? Mr. RICHARDSON. Right. Mr. KENNEDY. So your salary scale has gone down, as well as Mrs. Anderson? Mr. RICHARDSON. Yes, sir. Mr. KENNEDY. This was back in 1953, is that right, when you first went to work? Mr. RICHARDSON. Yes, sir. Mr. KENNEDY. Then around Easter of 1953 you were told by your employer that he would have to cut your salary to $25 a week? Mr. RICHARDSON. That is right. Mr. KENNEDY. Then in the winter of 1954 did two representatives of local 985 come by your car wash? Mr. RICHARDSON. Yes, they did. Mr. RICHARDSON. They was Newman and Shaw. Mr. KENNEDY. Did they promise more money to you at that time? Mr. RICHARDSON. Well, they say if we would join the union, that they would see that we get better working conditions and get us more money. But at that time we wasn't in no union. There was no union there. Mr. KENNEDY. Did they return the next day or return with a picket line? Mr. RICHARDSON. Yes, they did. Mr. KENNEDY. And did the employees at the car wash continue to work? Mr. RICHARDSON. They continued on to work that day because it was on a Saturday. Mr. KENNEDY. Why didn't you join the union at that time? Mr. RICHARDSON. Well, we wouldn't join, that union because they wouldn't give us no consideration right then because they wanted to take us and give us-well, I wouldn't know how to phrase that in a way. Mr. KENNEDY. Well, anyway, you didn't want to join the union? Mr. RICHARDSON. We did not want no part of that union. Mr. KENNEDY. And they established the picket line. Did you have any conversation with Mr. Shaw? Mr. RICHARDSON. Well, when they came out there that morning, they brought about three carloads with them, and they established a picket line, which Mr. Bufalino also was out there on that morning, and Mr. Shaw, he had a sign on him walking up and down the sidewalk. We had a little conversation about him flagging the cars past the driveway. The CHAIRMAN. Speak a little louder, please. Mr. KENNEDY. He was what you thought flagging the cars away from coming into the car wash? Mr. RICHARDSON. Yes. driveway. He was flagging cars away from the Mr. KENNEDY. So you had some conversations with him? Mr. RICHARDSON. I told him, "You are not supposed to flag the cars away from the driveway. You are supposed to walk up and down the driveway." I said, He said, "I am not flagging the cars past the driveway." "I am looking right at you, and I can see." About that time a police walked by, and he asked what the trouble was, and I told him. He told Mr. Shaw, "You walk on the sidewalk and leave the cars alone." Mr. Shaw said he was not bothering the people, he wasn't doing that at all. I told him he was telling a story because I was looking right at him. He told me I was one of those things. Mr. KENNEDY. What did Shaw say? 36751-59-pt. 48-21 Mr. RICHARDSON. Shaw told me I was telling Mr. KENNEDY. He swore at you? Mr. RICHARDSON. He swore at me. Mr. KENNEDY. And that was the end of the conversation? Mr. RICHARDSON. Right then and there. Mr. KENNEDY. So then you were off for a few days and you came back to work the following week; is that right? Mr. RICHARDSON. That is right. Mr. KENNEDY. And by that time Mr. RICHARDSON. When I came back to work, it was on a Wednesday morning, there was a union sign on the front door and the back door. I asked the fellows what happened, and they said, "Well, we belongs to the union." Mr. KENNEDY. So what did you do? Mr. RICHARDSON. So I continued on to work there that week, and the following Monday I signed up for the union, too. Mr. KENNEDY. You signed up for the union. Then you got 10 cents a day deducted from your salary; is that right? Mr. RICHARDSON. That is right. Mr. KENNEDY. And you would get a regular salary of $30 a week; is that right? Mr. RICHARDSON. That is right. Mr. KENNEDY. Then you left in the summer of 1955? Mr. RICHARDSON. Yes. I got a construction job and worked all that summer. Mr. KENNEDY. And you returned in the winter of 1955; is that right? Mr. RICHARDSON. Yes, sir. Mr. KENNEDY. And again with your 10 cents, you were making $30 a week and the 10 cents was being deducted? Mr. RICHARDSON. That is right. Mr. KENNEDY. Then the representatives of the committee were out in Detroit in 1957, and you had some conversations with them at that time; is that correct? You went down to the Federal Building? Mr. RICHARDSON. Yes. I did. Mr. KENNEDY. So you went down to the Federal Building in 1957 and complained about the treatment that you were receiving; is that right? Mr. RICHARDSON. Yes, I did. Mr. KENNEDY. And the fact that you had to pay this 10 cents a day and that you were not receiving any benefits from the union? Mr. RICHARDSON. That is right. Senator MUNDT. To whom did you make your complaints? Mr. RICHARDSON. Well, when I went down to the Federal Building, I seen some man down there. He belongs to this committee, but I don't remember his name. The CHAIRMAN. He belongs to this committee? Mr. KENNEDY. A staff member. Senator MUNDT. Yes, I know. You went down to the Federal Building and met there some member of our committee? Mr. RICHARDSON. Yes, sir. Senator MUNDT. I thought you meant some representative of the Federal Government in the Labor Department, maybe to enforce the minimum wage law. Mr. RICHARDSON. No, sir. I was very tired of how they was doing us out at the place that day, and I asked around and got information and was told to go down to the Federal Building. So I goes down to the Federal Building and I talked to a fellow down there and he told me, "You go back and go to work, like nothing never happened." He said, "We will have somebody out there to see you in a few days." So I went back to work and I didn't say anything at all. Sure enough, the next couple of days or so someone was out there to see us. Senator MUNDT. To see you? Mr. RICHARDSON. To see everybody who was working out there. Mr. RICHARDSON. To see the workers on the job out there. Senator MUNDT. You have three children? Mr. RICHARDSON. Yes, sir. Senator MUNDT. How can you support a family of three children in Detroit at $100 a month, even if they did not deduct your union dues? Do you have much difficulty there? Mr. RICHARDSON. Well, that don't help very much, sir, because my wife she does a little extra work, too, on the side. Senator MUNDT. As far as you know, the union to which you belong has never protested these sweatshop wages that you are paid in the carwash business in Detroit? Mr. RICHARDSON. No, sir. I never protested to them or nothing like that. Senator MUNDT. You never protested to a union leader? Mr. RICHARDSON. Not about the deduction from my money or nothing like that. Senator MUNDT. No, but did you ever protest about the fact that you are working at only $100 a month for 7 days a week? Mr. RICHARDSON. No, sir; I never have. Senator MUNDT. Where does all this 40-hour-a-week business that we hear so much about come in? Mr. RICHARDSON. Well, that wasn't in the contract when I got hired. That was something extra that they was going to pay me for the work I did, extra work in the wash rack. Senator MUNDT. Do you get paid extra for overtime? Mr. RICHARDSON. No, sir; that wasn't for overtime work. Senator MUNDT. What does 7 days mean? Does that mean that you work more than 40 hours a week or that you divide up the 40 hours into certain shifts on seven days? Mr. RICHARDSON. No, sir; we had to work the 70 hours a week. Mr. RICHARDSON. Yes, sir. Senator MUNDT. Seventy, 10 hours a day, for seven days? Senator MUNDT. Ten hours a day? Mr. RICHARDSON. Yes, sir. Senator MUNDT. Seven days a week? Mr. RICHARDSON. Yes, sir. Senator MUNDT. Total pay $100 a month less your union dues? Mr. RICHARDSON. Less your union dues. Senator MUNDT. This is Detroit, Mich.? Mr. RICHARDSON. That is Detroit, Mich. Senator MUNDT. Where we have all of these great international labor leaders trying to come out and tell us farm folks in South Dakota we are not paying the people enough. I think that they have a little homework to do. Maybe Walter Reuther has a little work to do around his own hometown and leave everybody alone down in Arkansas and South Dakota. It is the same way with Mr. Hoffa. He lives in Detroit. They come down here to Washington and say that we ought to take care of somebody someplace else. You are positive of what you are telling us, that you work 10 hours a day, 70 hours a week and you get $100 a month? That is all? Mr. RICHARDSON. That is right. Senator MUNDT. Less your union dues? Mr. RICHARDSON. Less the union dues. Senator MUNDT. This is in the great city of Detroit, the union capital of the world? Mr. RICHARDSON. Yes, sir; that is right. Senator MUNDT. The showplace. Did you ever talk to the Governor about that? Did you ever write the Governor a letter and say, "Mr. Williams, how about this?" Does he know about this? Mr. RICHARDSON. No, sir. Senator MUNDT. All you did was go down to the Federal building and talk to one of our investigators. How did you know that our investigators were in the Federal building? Did you read it in the paper? Mr. RICHARDSON. No, sir. I got that information next door to our wash rack. The CHAIRMAN. You got it how? Mr. KENNEDY. Next door. Senator MUNDT. Somebody on a neighboring wash rack? Mr. RICHARDSON. Yes, sir. Senator MUNDT. I certainly hope that if we can't pass legislation out of these hearings, which I hope we can do, we can do something to improve the labor conditions in the city of Detroit. It seems to me that the top chiefs there have been busy in the other fellow's gardens. They have some weeds at home to take care of. It is pretty bad. You look like a good, honest fellow. Mr. RICHARDSON. I am telling the truth, sir. Senator MUNDT. This is the kind of sweatshop business you used to read about in the old days. Maybe they ought to charge a little more for washing the car. What do they charge for washing the car? Mr. RICHARDSON. It depends. If it is on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday, it is $1. On weekdays it is 85 cents. Senator MUNDT. It is a dollar and a half in South Dakota. We have a little higher standard of living, maybe. Maybe if they wanted to charge that in Detroit for washing the car they could pay you a little more. Eighty-five cents isn't too much to split up. Do you get a commission out of the 85 cents? |