Document text
Accession Tio,• \ti
W 3622
Date received
10/10 /40
Consignment no.
1
Shipped front
Wash, Office
Label
Amount
bp
WPA L. C. PROJECT ritero.' UNIT
Form -4
olirl ore Collection (or Type)
TitleAmerian 1jvoe,Pttgking.h.Qmit..itukark
Place of origin Chicacq,
Illinois Date..00 9
Project worker Betty Burke
Project editor
Remarks
Forms to be Filled out for Each Interview
FORM A
Circumstances of Interview
STATE
NAME OF WORKER Betty Burke
ADDRESS 1339 8. Troy
DATE June 20, 1939
SUBJECT American Lives
Packinghouse worker's job
1. Date and time of interview Jume 20, 8:30 p.m.
2. Place of interview 4768 8. Marshfield
3. Name and address of informant Jean &Ater
4. Name and address of person, if any,
who put you in touch with informant. Mona
5. Name and address of person, if any, accompanying ycu
None
6. Description of room,house, surroundings, etc.
Union Headquarters
FOLKLORE
CHICAGO
(Use as many additional sheets as neoessary, for any of the forms, each bearing
the proper heading and the number to which the material refers.)
W3622
FORM B
Personal History of Informant
STATE
NAME OF ViORKER
ADDRESS
DATE
SUBJECT
NAME OF INFORMANT
1. Ancestry
2. Place and date of birth
3. Family
4. Places lived in, with dates
5. Education, with dates
Betty Burke
1339 S. Troy
June 20, 1939
Packinghouse workers job
Jean Bolter
Irish parents
Amerioan born
Chicago, 23 years old
Married, no children
Chicago only
Grammar school, 1 year high
6. Occupations and accomplishments, with dates
FOLKLORE
CHICAGO
7. Special skills and interests Active in her union, and the auxiliary
8. Community and religious activities Attends church, Irish Catholic one, admires
the priest because he calls on the members to stick to the union and not to be
afraid to be called 'red'. This priest was once against the CIO, now he preaches
that the only menace to America is the spreading of fascistic ideas. So she goes
9. Description of informant to church without fail, to hear the priest
stand up for 'them', meaning yards workers,
and it makes her feel good the rest of the
week.
10. Other Points gained in interview
STATE
NAME OF WORKER
ADDRESS
DATE
SUBJECT
NAME OF INFORMANT
FORIC
Text of Interview (Unedited)
Betty Burke
1339 S. Troy St.
June 20, 1939
Packinghouse worker's job
Jean Bolter
FOLKLORE
CHICAGO
I carry away finished pork hooks. That is, when my table
finishes the trimming of them, they box the hocks and I take it
away to another table farther up. These boxes are heavy, they
weigh a good thirty pounds apiece. The floor is greasy and
that makes it easy to slip and fall all over the plaoe. I
almost broke my neck from one of the flops I took there.
My
arm was sore for three weeks after that. I remember I went
over to the 'butcher shop' a couple hours after I fell that
time, and I wanted the doctor to take a look at my arm. It was
swelled up like a ham, and hurt so I mould hardly work. Well,
the way he fixed me upl Like they always do in the 'butcher
shop'. Feinted merouroohrome on my arm, gave me a pill and
said I could go back to work.
The doctors are lousy in that place. They don't give a
hang about you. The girls always joke about the 'treatments'
they give you. Got a headache? Here you are. Mite pill.
Dizzy spell? Take a pink pill. Cold? Take an aspirin. Sore
throat? Take an aspirin. Infection? Paint it with =moll. or
iodine, and let it go at that. Cut deep? Tape it. Katie
Sullivan out herselv across the first joints of her three middle
FORM D
Extra Comment
STATE
NAME OF WOREER Betty Burke
ADDRESS 1539 S. Troy St.
DATE June 20, 1939
SUBJECT Packinghouse worker's job
NAME OF INFORMANT Jean Solter
FOLKLORE
CHICAGO
fingers. Doctor said it wasn't bad, just needed taping. Her
fingers are deformed now. All crooked up. She ain't unbend
them. Those dirty company doctoral
A lot of women keep at work until their fifth or sixth
month of pregaanoy. Couple of months after they came right
back. Pregaant woman gets sick at work she won't go see the
doctor. He'll just tell her to go home or shut up, she isn't
supposed to be working there according to oompany rules and
if she does, why, let her take the consequences. If she gets
sore, he sends in a report and she gets laid off right away.
Once there was a committee got up of people who were
willing to pay a doctor to set up a clinioh8; yards
workers. You know, to find out just how many had t.b. and
heart diseases and all that. Armour's wouldn't let him do it.
All he asked for was a little space for the clinic in the yards.
He was going to furnish it with hospital equipment through the
committee that was backing him. But they wouldn't give him a
chance. They said that 'unfortunately' there was no available
spave in the yards for a clinic. We were all for it, got
signatures from the girls and all, but they wouldn't budge. That
Jean bolter
Text of Interview
was before the union's tine. If we had this contract signed and
off our minds, we could start the ball really rolling for a
yards clinic, sure.