Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-07-21
NEW YORK GOSSIP THE DAY BEFORE THE
STRIKE.


The officers of the Brotherhood IN New
York say that the statement maze Dy 0eh;
Fckert in reference to the interference OF
the Brotherhood operators with the non
union men. and that the men were LED INTO
the organization by the false pretenses
! that il was merely a charitable lnstltu-
| ton. are not true. No man, they say, mas
/ ever become a member by compulslon,
and not one has gone into the organlIa-
! ton who did not fully understand its
scope and its purposes. They declare
/ that the statement made BY Mr.. Dealey,
/ the Manager of the New York operating
room. that nine operators out OF twenty
/ one spoken to there had agreed 10 stand
/ bv the company, is pure moonshlne, ana
! intended only to brighten weak-kneed
members from their allegiance to the
/ Brotherhood.
The Western Union COmpany's bust
ness demands the services of say l1,OO0
I skilled operators, and finds itself snort
/ 1000 of them tomorrow. What is TO be
| come of the business which these 1000
men were required to do? In givlng them
/ such a proportion as 1000 operators out
| of IL 900, 1 do not mean that they Will IN
reality have so many. l do not thlnk they
would have 200 out of 1000. tell you
the Western Union people know that they
cannot get along if the men strike.
An official, who is a good practical OPP
orator. and who is thoroughly CONVEX
SAINT with the movements of the Brother
hood. said: 'Tne operators are pretty
LEVEL-HEADED LOT OF FELLOWS
and they are not going to do anything
rash. They have GOT to make stand
sometime, and it might as well be now as
when the business has become bigger. /
was all through the strike OF 1870, but
that wasn't huckleberry to what gem
eral strike would be now. The operators
generally know no more about what is
going on than YOU do. Their affairs are
wholly in the hands of their Executive
Committee
ssHOw large a proportion of the 15,0OO
operators belong to the Brotherhood?
Il should think about eighty-fge per
cent. They are stronger than the West
ern Union suppose"
s'Haye they not demanded a great deal
more than they expect i'll the way of con-
cessiOns?"
Undoubtedly they have. They will be
satisfied with a return to the old seven
hour basis, the granting of their Sundays
and an advance on their pay. what they
ask only puts them back to what they
were getting in 1915, when the business
did not pay so large profits as now and
when the work was not half as hard,
Then the first-class operators were PAID
9IVV Il IiOhtu, anu cuiuas > ,iu "ii W
seven hours for over time. At present it
is the
POLICY OF THE WESTERN UNION
to scale down prices to the lowest posi-
BILE point, filling first-class places with
second and third-class operators. There
is Justice behind the demands of the
Brotherhood, and the companies can well
afford to pay an advance over present
rates. 1t was only the other day that the
Western Union announced that it was
earning dividend of Is per cent. on $780,
100000. If it were to make the advance
| in wages asked for it would only knock
off about 100000 year from the profits.
1t has made all this out of the operators,
and now they think it is their turn to have
a chance for at least respectable wages"