Salt Lake Tribune | 1903-01-18 | Page 5 | Union's Side of Story

UNIONS SIDE OF STORY Officer of Organization Says Harpers Suit Will Be Vigorously Fought There is another side to l the story related re-lated by Robert 1 Harper in his complaint com-plaint against the Plumbers union wherein he asks for 035 damages Mr Harper alleges that I the union at Butte City fined him 500 and has been keeping l keep-ing him from getting work because the fine was unpaid The local union has secured the services ser-vices of Powers Straup Lippman and I will vigorously resist Harpers claim The answer has not yet been prepared but an Idea of its tenor can be gathered from the statement made yesterday by Shop Steward Stanford of the union The facts arc said Mr Stanford that Harper went to Butte last year knowing that there was a strike on and had been on for a year and a half and scabbed It He was not fined He was expelled from the union and his Initiation fee for reinstatement fixed at SiiOO Harper used to be president of the union here and he was always ready enough then to Impose fines on other fellows for scabbing We thought the penalty was rather severe and when I went to the annual meeting of the union at Omaha last year I was instructed to try and get it reduced say to 100 But when T got there and heard the case against him I saw that it would be a waste of time to ask for any favors Harper went up from Salt Lake at the request of the unfair plumbers When he got to Butte the union offered him his expenses and a ticket back to Salt Lake as well as an overcoat If he would quit work but ho refused and continued to work as a scab It was then that he was expelled and his reinstatement fee fixed at 500 We have done nothing to keep him from working On the contrary we have given him money to feed his family fam-ily and found jobs for him on condition that he would pay his assessment out of his wages His wages have been 52750 and hit asucssniunt amounted to only 760 Until two weeks ago he was working In Doyles shop and he quit I of his own accord l