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Saturday April 8, 1905
Chicago, Illinois - Teamsters Strike in Solidarity with United Garment Workers
to go out on strike in support of the United Garment Workers who have been on strike since last November.
TEAMSTERS ON STRIKE;
GREAT BATTLE BEGINS
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Union Drivers Employed by Montgomery Ward & Co.
Stop Work and Both Sides Prepare for
Bitter Struggle for Supremacy.
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EXPRESS WAGONS MAY STOP TODAY
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Federal Injunction May Be Sought to Prevent
Interference With Delivery of Goods,
While Railroad Companies Show Disposition
to Join Employers in Testing
Strength of Union Haulers.
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Promptly at 6 o'clock last night teamsters hauling for the firm of Montgomery Ward & Co. were ordered to cease work by officers of their respective unions. The gage of battle thrown down by the unions was picked up by the firm, and what presages to be one of the most serious conflicts between employers and employes in Chicago was begun.
That the leaders of organized labor in Chicago realize the seriousness of the situation was evidenced by a special call sent out last night for a meeting of the officers of all unions in Chicago to be held Sunday afternoon at Bricklayers' hall, Monroe and Peoria streets.
While the labor leaders were taking this step the employers were not idle. Some of them believe that the time has arrived when a test of strength must be made with the organized teamsters of the city, and the present occasion may furnish that test.
Lays in Coal Supply.
Knowing that its coal supply would be shut off, Montgomery Ward & Co. put about 200 tons of coal into its cellars yesterday. The bins were filled to overflowing, and every available space utilized to store away coal. The supply will last for about two weeks by which time other arrangements may be made either to get gas or electric power.
As the railway express companies will be more seriously involved in the conflict than any other employers of teamsters, they took steps yesterday to meet the issue. A meeting of the general agents of the six big express companies and the general managers of the railroads was held in the afternoon in the rooms of the Union League club, and it was decided that they should all act as a unit.
Should any union express driver refuse to deliver goods to the Montgomery Ward company this morning, it will be taken by the express companies to mean a violation of their agreement with the teamsters and every union man will be discharged. The express companies say that in such an event they will make no more contracts with the teamsters.
The express drivers, however, have changed their plan of campaign to some extent, and they will make an effort to deliver goods to the firm this morning as usual. If there are pickets around the house, however, or police in large numbers, the drivers will refuse to deliver their loads on the ground that their lives are in danger. Under any circumstances they will not work under police protection. In this way the teamsters are to leave it to the employers to spread the strike.
Railroads Ready for Fight.
That it will spread to other lines of teaming, and perhaps to the railroads, is now the general belief, and the railroad managers are ready to take up the fight. At the meeting in the Union League club rooms yesterday the railroad managers agreed to discharge the first freight handler who would discriminate against any kind of freight received.
The railway express companies take the ground that they are public carriers and cannot afford to refuse to deliver freight without being subject to damages. They are said to have a number of men on hand ready to man their wagons this morning, should it become necessary and they do not propose to shut down their business for an hour if they can help it.
A federal injunction is also hinted at among the agents of the express companies, and it is quite probable that this will be resorted to before the strike is three days old.
President Rickert and Sec Larger of United Garment Workers
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The union leaders aim to confine the strike to Montgomery Ward & Co. for the present, but they admit that it will be almost impossible to do so. Should the express companies carry out their present plan and lock out all their teamsters, that in itself would be enough to spread the fight to all branches of teaming in the city. Most of the goods now being received in South Water street are sent here by express. They are hauled from the freighthouses by members of the Commission Wagon Drivers' union, and that organization would be compelled to take up the fight against the express companies if the railway express drivers are locked out andNonunion men employed in their places.
Expect Spread of Trouble.
Most of the teaming done for Montgomery Ward & Co. is done under contract. The Chicago Team Owners' association has taken a more lenient view of the strike than the express companies, and it will not insist on the truck drivers delivering goods to the proscribed firm. But the teaming industry is so extensive in its ramifications that it is almost impossible to have a strike in one branch without affecting all, and both the employers and the union leaders expect to see the trouble spread.
An effort to avert the strike was made yesterday morning when the committee, representing the teamsters and the Chicago Federation of Labor, waited on Robert J. Thorne of Montgomery Ward & Co. Mr. Thorne told the committee that he was willing to discuss the question of a sympathetic strike of the teamsters, but that the strike of the garment workers was a closed incident.
Mr. Thorne gave the committee his side of the original strike of the garment workers, which was a direct contradiction of the statements made by the officers of the United Garment Workers. President Dold of the Chicago Federation of Labor asked Mr. Thorne if he was willing to allow any impartial committee to take the two conflicting statements and make a decision on the evidence presented. Mr. Thorne declined to discuss the question of arbitrating the strike of the garment workers in any way, as he said that offer had been made before the strike was called and had been ignored by the union leaders. He declared he did not see the good in taking the subject up at this late date, as his clothing shop had been filled for the past three months. He was willing, he said, and even anxious, to meet the officers of the United Garment Workers in the presence of the teamsters' committee, as he had a few things to tell those officers that he would like other union men to hear.
Strike Is Ordered.
The union committee concluded that as it was in possession of conflicting statements from both sides to the controversy, and as the firm had refused to arbitrate the question of which of the statements was true, there was nothing left but to give the strikers the benefit of the doubt and call the strike.
In a statement issued by Mr. Thorne after the conference he gave the firm's side of the controversy as follows:
On the 15th day of September the leader of the union, whose name is affixed to the contract, called and demanded that we either stop buying from a New York concern or cease sending work to a local house which was upon their black list. This, not being provided for in the contract, was, of course, refused, whereupon the leader declared that he would call the men out.
We at once met this by demanding arbitration, called for by the terms of the contract, and the union men ceased work that night. Now here comes the remarkable facts: The men were absolutely deserted by their leaders, for not one of them ever took the trouble to call at our establishment in an attempt to effect a settlement. Just think of the large number of men, many of them married, happily at work at good wages, well satisfied, being suddenly called from their positions by this labor leader, not only in the middle of winter but during the dull season of business, when hundreds of garment workers were idle, and them being betrayed by this leader in this manner.
The leaders of the United Garment Workers tell a different story of the cause of the trouble from that told by Mr. Thorne. They had a union shop agreement with the firm, and they assert that in violation of that contract the firm hired some nonunion men and kept them at work after numerous complaints had been made.
Claims Agreement Was Violated.
The clothing shop of Montgomery Ward & Co. is but a small item in the general trade of the firm. It employs only about twenty cutters, and sends the garments out to be made up. The union shop contract was made only with the cutters, but it carries with it the understanding that all garments must be made in union shops. The union leaders say that this provision of the contract was being constantly violated by the company, which sent some of its work to nonunion shops to be made up, and that after several attempts had been made to remedy this the strike was called.
At the time their strike was called the firm was independent of any association of clothing manufacturers, but joined the Wholesale Tailors' association later, and is at present connected with that body. So many elements have entered into the strike now that the original issue has been lost sight of.
The trouble really had its inception at a convention of clothiers held last July in Philadelphia. At that convention resolutions were adopted declaring for the open shop throughout the country in the clothing trade and against the use of the union label. The first trouble over this issue occurred in the East, and for a time it was believed that it would not reach Chicago. However, in November the Chicago manufacturers adopted practically the policy of the clothiers' exchange and declared for the open shop and no agreements with the union.
Trouble Began in November.
At first the manufacturers began by sending out their work to nonunion shops, and then they posted notices declaring for the open shop. The workers took up the fight and went out Nov. 19 on strike. About 6,000 persons were involved at the time, a majority of whom were women. The manufacturers claim that many of the strikers returned to work in the first few weeks of the trouble, and that they soon had their shops filled. The union men, on the other hand, contend that few of the strikers deserted, and that the cutters are standing as solidly together today as they were the first week the strike was called.
It is pretty generally conceded, however, that at the present time the shops are fairly well filled with employes, and that, alone, the garment workers could not hope to win their battle. For that reason they have enlisted the sympathy of the teamsters, and it is that phase of the situation that makes it appear so serious to the employers.
In giving his seasons last night for refusing to arbitrate the garment workers' strike Mr. Thorne said:
I have refused to arbitrate the matter for the following reasons:
1. Arbitration is intended to settle live disputes, and not dead ones.
2. Before the strike occurred we suggested arbitration, according to the written promises made in the contract. This was refused by the union.
3. A position with Montgomery Ward & Co. is permanent. We have no moral right to let out nineteen or twenty men, or even a single man, woman, or boy, to make room for a person placed to work by a union. The establishment of this principle would, in my opinion, be worse than a general teamsters' strike.
4. Any organization that waits nearly three months before arranging for a settlement has been negligent so as to deserve no consideration whatsoever.
5. They are contract breakers.
Ready to Meet Committee.
Attorney Martin J. Isaacs, acting for the Wholesale Tailors' association, said last night that he was ready to meet with any committee of labor men, including the officers of the United Garment Workers, to discuss the situation. Hitherto he has refused to meet the representatives of the strikers.
Mr. Isaacs says he is ready to place the whole situation before a committee and include reporters in the conference or any citizens interested in the controversy. He said that there was a difference, however, between discussing an issue and arbitrating it, and he takes the position that there is nothing to arbitrate, as the strike of garment workers was over months ago so far as the employers are concerned. He also said that the manufacturers were willing to take back as many of the strikers as they had places for at any time, but that under no circumstances would they again make any written agreement with the union.
The written agreement is really at the bottom of the entire issue, according to the labor men, as they say if they give up the principle of collective bargaining they might as well not have any organization at all. They declare they will not return to work as individuals if they have to keep up the fight all summer.
The officers of other unions in the city regard the strike as a direct attack upon organized labor generally, and say if the manufacturers are successful in disrupting the garment workers' organization some other union will be attacked later. For that reason they say they will center their strength on one or two firms, and if they are successful the others will give up the fight.
[Photographs and emphasis added.]
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