| OCR Text |
Show HUTCHESON WANTS TO DISCUSS PLAN WITH PRESIDENT NTTU YOKK, Ken. irt. Insisting that he wM iiM.ihlo to t;ill off Ihf strike of sliip-j sliip-j hnililiMK e)irpnter-s. U.iK0 of whom Hie I hi to hnvc r'allo.l to ii'port Tor ori( l-l:iy l-l:iy hi plants tihuiK the At hint 1c roast. N 111 lam I.. I lut'hr.son. prt-snhut of t lie 1'niteil brotherhood of 'n rpcii i itm mul Joiners of Arm-iieu. toni-lit s-ul tel.--graphic appeals to l'r'slU-nt Wilson ruin Secretary of the Navy J 'mhI-Mh. asking for u confer em e. Me epresseil tli-' helief I hat t he president a Mil the sect e.t a t y of the navy eould settle the trotjhle ijni'.klv If he were allowed to Mute tho nuns' case to them. This action was taken after receipt hy the l.ihor leaders of iitl Ices from Vasli-lnmon Vasli-lnmon aninHin.-mj; that the Tinted States shl ppln hoa itt's lahor uil.in.sl uu-nl coui-ntitiee coui-ntitiee has agreed to Increase vaes. dcli-nilo dcli-nilo worklnn condltlnns ami overtinin pny ft)i" all shipyard carpenters in the so-called so-called Delaware yards, comprising about till per cent of the workeis on the Aliunde Al-iunde coast. ; Telegram to President. ' The telegram to president Wilson follows; fol-lows; i "The hi l nation now exist In; hi the shipyards Is of a nam re thai requires immediate nt ten lion, 1, as president of i the United Krotherhood of t Carpenters and I Joiners of America, endeavored to reach an understanding wlih the ofneers of the I'n tied States shipping hoarti, but was unnhle to do wo. "I feel that II" given the opportunity to lay the matter hrfore you a solution could ie uulckiy arrived nt. "1 desire to Inform yon. mv dear Mr. President, that 1. as a patriotic citizen, am desirous of rendering every assistance to you and our cvuiutry to carry on the work necessary to brim: aioui a successful success-ful conclusion of the world war In which we are encased. Yours very respectfully and aincerelv. "WILLIAM U UL'TCnKSON."' Message (o Daniels. In his telegram lo tfecrolary Panlels. Mr. Hutcheson said: "The situation now existing in the shtp-yardB shtp-yardB is of a nut tire that feu u ires ini-tuedialu ini-tuedialu action and solution, Hud iny reason rea-son for addressing this message to you is because of tho experience we have had with the department ot the tfoverimient which you represent, which has been very satisfactory to our organization, and, .1udt;inK fiom results obtained, heVeve in equally sat is factory to yourself a nd your department. "I am addressing a te teg rani to President Presi-dent Wilson In re le re nee to the matter, and the thought occurs to me that it nilht be of inn t-rial assistance for you to ivc the president the results of experiences ex-periences jour department lias had with our oi rianlza tion. as 1 feel that ou will asree with me that every possible effort should be made at once to teach a solution solu-tion of the matter." Leaders Hold Conference. Hutcheson's plan of settling the con-tnnersy con-tnnersy was decided upon at a conference confer-ence attended by himsrli, T. M. nueriu, member of the executive com mi ttee: James Ketherston nud other union leaders, lead-ers, who. without reference to the Delaware Dela-ware yards adjustment, said they were I encouraged by the f'teps that were le-! le-! ported betm.; taken In Wnshington. These Include. the conference between Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt, Roose-velt, Chairman Hurley and other shipping ship-ping board officials. liutcheson and Gucrtn said tonight t hey were prepared to go to the capi tal on a moment's notice no-tice and were conl ident that In view of the seriousness of the situation such a conference might be held tomorrow. Mediation in 1917. It was pointed out by t ho leaders that through the mediation of Se.-rot.uv Daniels Dan-iels and Assistant Secretary Koosevelt on October r.MT, what threatened to be a widespread strike among the union carpenters car-penters employed in die Xortolk. Vs., navy yard, was adjudicated to the satisfaction satis-faction of both shies in three hours and that the agreement then signed would not expire until November. This, it was remarked, re-marked, was accomplished after tho government gov-ernment labor mediators had tried to effect ef-fect a settlement in . vain for three months. Tho union officials said that "IS" wood-en wood-en vessels now were building in various Atlantic coast shipyards and that im- 1 mediately Chairman Hurley recognized the carceui'errt' organization and Would agree to a nation-wide minimum wage for the craft, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America could furnish more than enough labor to finish all these ships on time." It was said that 51,000 carpenters, released by completion of the army cantonments and who now are idle, would bo utilized in the' shipyard ship-yard a. No Closed Shop. President Hutheon denied that Ms organization stood for the "closed shop." which is said to be Hurley's contention, or that thai feature would figure at all In any of tho ddthoration he mav be summoned to participate in al Washington. Washing-ton. The main desire of the carpenters organization, it was said, -was solely to obtain a tentative agreement with the government as to a minimum wace, for this would enable, Jlutcheson to call the men back to their jobs with a concrete proposition. Later, It was said, the terms could bo discussed and. if just, mutual concessions might result. Such a tentative tenta-tive agreement was effected in the case of the Norfolk carpenters. It provided for a wairo of $-l.JS for an eight-hour dav. with a 5 per cent bonus and two weeks1 vacation each year on pay, the equivalent of NV.Hi a day. "If the I'nited States shipping hoard could see Its way clear to offer us such a proposition we would accept it at once," said Mr. Uuerin, "and tho trouble would be ended. We want to do all we can to help the government, but to do this and prevent demoralization of the trade a minimum wage Is essential. We do not oppose the open shop, thai is, we are willing to work alongside non-union men provided the government will establish estab-lish a reasonable and living wage for us." |
