Bartlebee Rules For Factory Workers
In previous articles we have alluded to the poor conditions experienced by workers at Bartlebee Brands factories. In this article I would like to show you these factory rules to help you get a better idea of just exactly what it was like working at these establishments. It will also help add further context to our articles on unionization efforts throughout the company's history.
A dirty poster labeled “Rules To Be Observed In The Factory.” Listed below are nine rules employees were expected to follow.
An even dirtier poster labeled “Rules To Be Observed In Factory Nine.” Listed below are twelve rules employees were expected to follow.
Reading these rules can be a bit of a shock, especially considering just how far our country has come in terms of labor rights since the days of Bartlebee Brands. I would like to point out that at the time these rules were not that uncommon, in fact they were pretty much the industry standard across most companies. The rules speak for themselves on just how unfair life was for these employees, even being a minute late for your shift could result in severe penalties. The rules are also very vague as an intentional bit of design. Insolent language could apply to anything from a worker complaining about his day to their tone being read as hostile from unsympathetic and overbearing factory managers. Sometimes, according to the former workers, managers would make up rules on the fly and employees had no means of protecting themselves from these sudden changes. It was either comply with these ridiculous unlisted rules, or suffer more severe fines or even termination of employment. Once Mr. Elcott of Bartlebee Factory Number Nine relayed to me his story of having a perfect track record, before being abruptly fired one day for wearing the wrong type of belt to work. Another contact, Miss Barrows, told me of being fired because she was ”unpleasant to look at after her pregnancy”.
Several other rules also existed in regards to the area of race; it was established quite firmly at the time that companies reserved the right to keep white and black workers segregated. Bartlebee Brands was one such company and their rules were so extensive on this subject that it was an entirely different list, not hung up in the factories but written into employee contracts, and it was so intensely expected that no reminders needed to be hung in the factories. Although the rules already forbade workers from making conversation (to prevent them from making attempts at unionizing) there were even more severe penalties designated for instances where black and white employees talked to one another. Black workers were more likely to be fired on the spot than their white coworkers, to be held to the letter of the rules, and often no reason was provided for their termination at all.
The final of our personal accounts is the story of Eric Miller, a man who was forced to relocate to another section of the factory when it was discovered that he was mixed race. As he tells it, his father was white and his mother black. He himself had very European features that allowed him to pass as a white man and this tended to get him in trouble when people realized his heritage. From his own words the day he was discovered, a member of higher management accompanied by two factory overseers dragged him out of his workstation and beat him black and blue. The next day he was told he could either relocate or have charges filed against him.
With this list of rules, stated and unstated, you can understand just how miserable it was to be a worker at these factories. Life was difficult and unfair, filled with contradictory guidelines and intentionally vague wording that could see you punished at a moment's notice. Of course this is just a portion of what made the company so terrible; we still have much more to discuss in other articles, such as the dangers associated with working at Bartlebee Brands and the way in which the company dealt with people trying to gain protections and rights.
Factory Number Nine – Bartlebee's biggest factory – had a similar set of rules but notably featured four additional guidelines. This was presumably due to the accident-filled history of the location, as well as the sheer scale of the factory. In our factory tour package article we mentioned the workers of Factory Nine complaining of a constant hum (possibly due to faulty machinery or rogue bee colonies). As seen in the above rules the factory management chose to enforce penalties for the complaints rather than take any steps to resolve them.