OCR Text |
Show ffEEL WORKERS READY TO WALK OUT MONDAY; LEADERS DECLINE TO ABANDON THEIR PLANS: IK TO j . ' Conference at Pittsburg Adjourns and Union Heads Prepare to Make Struggle Effective One. Statement in Reply to j Chairman Gary Made Public; Confidence in Outcome Is Professed. PITTSBURG, Sept. IS. The r.a;:o;.-U j committee for organizing iron and steel f workers late today voted down a motion j to rescind the action taken at Washing-j Washing-j ton calling a strike of ail workers In iron j and steel mills not operating under union agreements next Monday. I The committee followed this by adopt-l adopt-l ing a motion to affirm the action taken j at Washington. Final adjournment was , taken and the representatives of the twenty-four unions included in the na-j na-j tional committee left for their homes to put the strike into effect, j The motion to postpone the strike' uuM j after the industrial conference at Wash- j ington. beginning October 6. was offered, it was announced, out of deference to President Wilson, who had requested Samuel Gompers, president of the American Amer-ican Federation of Labor, to use his in-i in-i fluence to have the walkout deferred, j There was considerable discussion o. j the motion both yesterday and today, i Emphatic speeches were made against ! any postponement. It was declared that ; neither President Wilson nor others who favored a postponement was cogniza.r.1 1 of the actual conditions surrounding iron and steel mills. WORKMEN EAGER FOR BIG STRIKE. I It was claimed that workers ere eager for the strike; that they were discriminated discrim-inated against for union activities, and that the organized workers would losa confidence in theirleaders if they turne t back and deserted the men at this time Some of the committeemen said tha " organizers who had helped build up tho unions at steel plants throughout the country would not dare go back and facu the men if the strike were called oft'. The request cf President Wilson to M . Gompers and the latter" s communication submitting the president's proposal were read to the committee when the question of postponement came up. Those who favored putting off the strike real ize( that the effort to u'efer would fail before the motion was made, as they had sounded sound-ed the sentiment of the committee men and found it strong against such action John Kitzpa trick of Chicago, chairman of the national committee, after the meeting, meet-ing, said plans had been formula t ed for making the strike effective Monday morning. DECLARES PLANTS ARE WELL ORGANIZED. He said there was nothing further to do now but to let the men walk out. H added that the mills throughout the country coun-try were well organized, and said he was confident the United States Stc-.-l corporation, the principal point of attach, will have to recede from its position o: declining to receive union leaders representing repre-senting "organized men in its plants. Much of the time of two long session" of" the committee today was taken up with consideration of plans for the walkout. walk-out. It was agreed that the nattonu1 committee had wide powers to conduce the strike, and plans were dismissed for bringing aoout unity of action among th twenty-four unions. Th questions of assessments as-sessments P n d t:,:ia.:i',lri'.r w-re (itscusse 'I. too. It was alo agreed to send to a ! iron and steel plants in the country t ;c twelve demar.us formulate, i by the workers. work-ers. It is said the national committee-wi'.i committee-wi'.i endeavor to re. ten agreements with individual and so-cnlled irub-pendei.t concerns, con-cerns, and, if successful, have the strik-.-'-H return to such nulls where settlement is renched. It was pointe-3 out that this wou -i strengthen the unions in their tight ani help to bring" about agreements with larger concerns. The strike circular, whi'-h has already been distributed amoug steel workers throughout the country, reads, in part: "The workers on the iron and st '. mills ann blast furnaces, not working under union agreements, are requvste-not requvste-not to go to work on September -- ard to refuse to resume their em ploy men until r-uch time as the demaniis ni t -organizations have been conceded by the. eteel corporations." The committee, before polnsr into session ses-sion today, issued a statement in repiv to the letter sent to the Presidents of t'-.-subsid'.ary companies of the United S;ate-i Steel corporation by K. H. Gary, rbairmn of the botird of the arerit org;inlz;tti"n. The statement said that Ju-lce Gary's reasons that the national comnii'tee wa' not author .zed to speak for the large r.'imVr of employees of The steel co--pnrat;nn and that a conference wo.i'd have been treated as o : '''cognition o:' (Continued on Pag' 8, Column 2.) IJOTMEB EAGER TO BEGIN FIGHT (Continued Frc-Ji Paso One.) "c'osed shop" principle are not si:f:"icienl. if real, "to p'.v.ncc th.e industry into t I prea: labor comV.it. ' The statement added add-ed that the "one and on'.y ouest-.on at I issue" is th.e quest. on of a conierence. DECLARE ATTEMPTS ! ARE MISGUIDED. ! Members of the e o n u r. u : iv after the ! adjournment, said that th.ey "ere of the j or in ion that suggestions for a postrono- incut did net come from friends of the ' workers, but, if th.ey were friends of the workers, t'.'.ev were iv.isiu.deih Th.- com-mit; com-mit; ei-.v.cn iv.ihred. they said, the s:r:ko won'.,: he a hard one. and expressed the opinion that the ofheers of .-teel com-1 com-1 pames w..i he surprised hy the lare num-1 num-1 her of men w..o will fa.l to rovort tor I work next Vonday. j Anions tho-e w ho expressed eon:".nenc ' of a successful onteom.e for th.e workers 1 was YV U. K.'.bin of New York, formerly I of Milwaukee, teneral counsel for the Icommr.t.e. lie lemi-uied newspaper men j that in 1" the forefat h.ers fought aiiainst t tcixat. on without representation, and aod-1 aod-1 ed ilia.: in the sink th.e slogan would he "So labor without representation." J The following- unions were siv.d to have been represented at the meeting' of the national committee: j Kaeksmitks, boilermakers and iron j shipbuilders, brick' and clay workers. 1 bricklayers, plasterers and masons, bridge and structural it coworkers, coopers, eiec-1 eiec-1 t rieal w orkers, foundry emp.o ees; iron, i steel and tin workers, machinists, metal j polishers: mine, mid and sme.ter w ork-i ork-i ers, mokievs, pattern make rs. pcc.Tu hers j and steamti: tors. Quarry workers, railway j earmom seamen, sheet metal workers, j stationary uremen. steam and operating ' engineers, steam shovel and uredga men I and switclimen. Text of Statement. The statement follows: "In his letter of September 1 to the j presidents of the subsidiary companies of 1 the Vuited States Stee; corporation. Judge ! uary avers ih. t lie had t wo reasons in i! mind when ho refused to meet with the American Federation of ahor committee which called, upon him recently requesting a oonfertv-.ee for th.e purpose of presenting I "First, ho did not be.iee tVat the committee com-mittee was authonred to speak for large r.umbets of the employee. I "Seoord. a conference with th.e rommit-! rommit-! tee w ould have been treated by them as a j recocnition of th.e 'closed shop' ir.ei.nod of 1 employment. I "if these a'"e the real reasons actuating .In dee .!ar, surely they are not sufticient j to plunge the industry into great labor 1 conflict. J idee Cary presents a f;i:e premise and. then d o c 1 a r e s 1 1 1 a t he will stand or tali upon tins f.h.se ground. "The committee that watted, upon Judge i"ary were tho selected represer tat : t-s of j th.e employees. Ar.d they ree,ues:fd a cou-1 cou-1 ference for th.e purpose of rt:ib ish.ng t!io principle of collective bargaining and some practical meih.od of redressing gr:e-,-nces. ".tudge vlary denied their authority to represtut the empliics and re;ued to met t th.em m cor. ; i-rc ucc. Th.e enly way left for the rmploees to eo-:;r.oe .Iud:ge (I.iry that the committee does represent th.e srrest body of the employees of the i I'mted States Steel eorfora 1 io?i is to cease worK until tlie corn-oration agrees to m et 1 their representatives in coruerer.ee. This, the employees have decided to no on Monday Mon-day mcrnmc. September nil. "It is uuicrtuu.ae :ka: the employees are compelled to report to a strike m order to ft eve the- author. :y c' t! ir se '--feJ renrese ntat iv es to pi .-(:,: t;n :r sr.ev -arces. Hut as there :s 10 Cher wa. th.e proof, in the form of a .-trik-. v h. eff.-.u-. n.il'.v rire.ove at doubt :n Jui;e il.irv's mmd. j "Pi th.e second pla -e. .Inc.e Oary s-ts up I've c.ufsT'.on cf t;ie 'clo-i-, sh.o;' whe h 'has a. solut.lv :.. I.ls: he.vv, m t-prcs- nt eonteoversv. It is simply drafted i-i lie:e 1 y .Indite ;.iry as a buKaieu io leclo-.d tee re.u isu.. " 1 ho re is one an i only o,rt iu-'-t'on t i-s-ie. and th.at is the e.;c-:;on of a conference. con-ference. Th.e ,y.v i-...e exhau.l-d ; .0:1 for th.e p. rpc.-e of s , iriuc a con. ferevce. an" iwry avenue !:., be-n closed ;o ihem. Tl'.eir ia.-t .ii.d o:..y ho-.e ;s t -i str t e . and now th.e emp,o r -s ar-that ar-that th.ey h: cease o; k on IVt M. nd.iV :v, u n : . 1 s u h tune as the co p t .ou w .1' me--: their r-u resertativ ;n I " 1 c : : h ' ) . , r : : i ) ; . ' . . : ' . . .1 1 .. t tlu-ir 1:m 5. th- :r !:.:.. '. : ( ir.-. (S .;:-odl ! i N 1"T TATV.l.'K. ': V I A I ,S. w: - i x. U . 1. T.- :'. It wis .1:! t!;,. 1 iT'". TV. 1 1 1 . ' :r:Vr-to :r:Vr-to .1 to a.! 1 1 - i h.o f. 1 ::) i-.; -rtt. j th.il ti-.t t: - ' ' ! to 1 . I t ,th thrs .if...- v !.. r , r .: :.: 1 M to l .- ' f r..-t Mot. i... co 1 t I . :,.,r:.,l. |