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Show HE CHIEF READY IB STflRTSTRIKE Konenkamp in Chicago to j Take Charge of Battle j Opening Wednesday. i " 'Chicago Tribune Special Service. 1 CHICAGO. June S. Charging that the Western Union already has begun wholesale whole-sale discharging of union telegraphers in -cw York. Chicago, Lenvcr, Galveston and Little Rock, S. J. Konenkamp, international inter-national p:es:dent of Lhe Commercial Telegraphers' Union of .America, returned to tiie city today, lie came in from Pittsburg Pitts-burg to take charge of the nation-wide telegraphers' strike that will start Wednesday Wed-nesday morn lrg and will direr t it from the union headquarters tn tho Transportation Transporta-tion building. "The Western Union has discharged oypr 3j0 of our operators who refused to sign the loyalty pledge serf out hv them,"' said Konenkamp today. "That leaves us only 4H) operators with them, according to tne figures of President Carlton. Why. in the southeastern portion of the country, - '.'j union uperalors htu already on strike against tho Wet.ern l"n:on." President Carlton has Issued a statement state-ment in which he said that tlioc operators operat-ors who go on a strike will be discharged, and it is believed that the comoanv is a 'ting now against all the tcicgraohers tiiyt refused to Eland by their jobs. ixcal officials are refusing to comment on the proDosd strike set for h a. m. eastern time, Wednesday morning. A meeting of District Council No. 1. of the telegraphers was held this afternoon after-noon in the Masonic temple, at which the telegraphers demanded that the brokers, leased wires, and press telegraphers be allowed al-lowed to go out at the same time, and i President Konenkamp said tonight that he , is considering It. He said that President Noonan of tho Electrical Workers" International union assured him that the Llectrlral Workers would go out on a strike on June 16, and perhaps before then. dejp!te reports that their strike has been called off. Deputy President Percy Tlioma. of the telegraphers, telegra-phers, whose home is in Nw York, has been sent to report the proposed strike to the American Federation of Labor convention con-vention at Atlantic City. N. J. LOS A NOEL-ESS Cal.. June 8. Three thousand employees of the Western Union, Postal and Federal Telegraph companies west of Denver will obey th1 call for a strike Wednesday morning, according to (Continued on Page 2. Column 2. HE CHIEF 11? ID START STRIKE (Continued from Pago One.) announcement made here tonight by B. I. Marshall first international vico-prei- , dent of the C. T. V. A. j SAN' FRAXCISCO. Cab, June S. "If ! any of our men go out in response to a strike order they will be in such -small numbers their absence scarcely will be noticed." declared M. T. Cook, general manager of the Pacific division of the Western Union Telegraph company, to- j night, in comment ir. on the telegraphers' telegra-phers' strike situation. WASHINGTON. June 8. Responsibility j for the impending nation-wide, strike of i union wire workers rests with congress and not with the owners of the wire sys- ! terns or the employees. S. J. Small, a former international officer of the Commercial Com-mercial Telegraphers' Union of America, told a meeting here tonight of members of the local union. Mr. Small charged that since the transfer trans-fer of political power in comrress from the Democrats to the Republicans the question of government ownership of the wire systems has been thrown into the "political arena," activities of the various vari-ous wage boards have ceased and the interests of the employees have been given giv-en no consideration. The government's guarantee of the interest in-terest on stocks and bonds of the Western West-ern Union Telegraph company, the speaker speak-er said, meant that the taxpayer must ! bear the burden of tny losses sustained by the company as a result of the strike. Final details for the strike of local commercial com-mercial telegraphers at 6 a. m. Wednes-1 Wednes-1 dav, will be arranged at a meeting of I union kevmen to be held at headquarters in the Atlas building at S o'clock tomorrow evening, according to George K. Simmons, director of publicity for the Sail Lake chapter of Commercial Telegraphers' I n-ion n-ion of America. The executive committee of the local organization or-ganization met yesterday, and decided that preparations for the walkout ordered by S. J. Konenkamp, president of the Commercial Telegraphers' Union of America, Amer-ica, should be made tomorrow evening. |
