OCR Text |
Show 3 MULTIPLEX CIS I LOSE IB POSITIONS Western Union Official Denies De-nies That Any Changes Have Been Made. Three girl multiples operators were discharged by the Western Uniou Telegraph Tele-graph company yesterday because they .had affiliated with the local union which was organized here recently, according to II. J. Easton, president of the union organization. They are Melba Timpson, S46 West South Temple street; Katherinc Goodman, Good-man, 426 Fifth East street, and Elizabeth Eliza-beth Davidson, 1255 East Twenty -first South street. "Officials of the telegraph company had seen these girls talking to members mem-bers of the union organizatipn, " Mr. Easton said, "and shortly afterward asked them to withdraw from the union or they would be discharged. The girls refused to withdraw their membership and they were accordingly locked out. "The girls have dependents and thu loss of their position means much to them. However, at a special meeting yesterday the members of the union voted to take care of the discharged girls and their salaries will be paid them just the same, until the trouble with the company is over or they are reinstated." Telegraph union officials took up the matter yesterday following the discharge dis-charge of the young women with William Wil-liam Knerr, state labor commissioner, who wired Secretary of Labor William B. Wilson regarding it. Mr. Wilson replied re-plied that his department was already considering the situation, but stated no details. Information of the discharge of the girls was also wired to S. J. Konen-kamp, Konen-kamp, president of the telegraphers' union, who was due to arrive in Chicago last night from the conference with the war board at Washington. Asked as to whether any discharges were made at the Western Union offices of-fices yesterday, U. G. Life, superintendent superintend-ent of the local office, denied tht any were made or that any complaint had been found with the employees. L. P. Grover, chief operator, who, Mr. Life said, had authority to employ and discharge, said he had no such authority, author-ity, knew nothing of any discharges being be-ing made and added that S. W. Atkinson, Atkin-son, district supervisor, who came to Salt Lake yesterday from Cheyenne, had the matter in hand. Mr. Atkinson said only one girl was dismissed and it was because her work was unsatisfactory and not for any reason rea-son of membership in a local union. Charges that the telegraph offices of Seattle were controlled by pro-Germans and that the commercial telegraph systems sys-tems of the country are wide open to German spies were made yesterday by J. F. Campbell, international vice president presi-dent of the Commercial Telegraphers' union, according to dispatches received here. Representatives of telephone employees em-ployees from Oregon and Washington yesterday, it is said, voted to ask the government to take over the Pacific Telephone & Telegraph company on the alleged grounds that the company had violated its pledges made when a government gov-ernment mediation commission settled a threatened strike several months ago. Local union men said three Morse operators were sent from the city Wednesday to fill vacancies in Seattle and that other operators from other cities are being sent here to take their places. |