Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-07-05
THE IRON.wORKERs.
Reply to the Recent Letter from the
Union Iron Works Company.

1Tdue , SouHcH Vi WolklnSinen nave nov
made the following reply but which i
not addressed, as will be seen, to the Uniol
Iron Works Company
SAN FRANCISCO, July ., 1886.
To the WageWorkers Of San francisco
FRIENDS AND FELLOW CITIZENS The work
men at the Union Iron Works are agail
in trouble. After twenty-five wears of th
Governments so-cailed protection. the me
chanics of our land have been convince,
that they have been systematically robbed
by manufacturers and EMPLOYERS, VIII,
Through free immigration and their i'm
portation of contract laborers from all part
of the earth) have forced down the price o
labor in Eastern States until there seems t,
be no limit to its degradation, and thereb,
have pocketed the entire profits of the tariff
which was intended to benefit all alike
AS consequence of this knowledge anC
sad experience, the wageworkers of ou
land are now making an effort to protec
themselves by organization, which, wher
ever tried, has proved to be the best anC
only true protection that labor can obtain
The workmen of San Francisco, REALIZING
the fact that what has been done by manu-
facturers in Massachusetts and Pennsvl
vania will also be done here if some effor
is not made to put q check upon theil
greed, have formed themselves into Trade:
Unions for mutual aid and protection
Many of these new societies, being com.
posed of men who are inexperienced, have
made mistakes, which they will no doub
profit by in the future. 1t is not necessary
Tor us TO worry you with lengthy account
of the causes which have led up to the
present troubles at the Union Iron Works
You have been made acquainted with the
subject through the daily press, and by
some it has been highly colored in favor OF
the firm and against the workman. In
substance it is as follows:
Some time ago a certain person came to
this coast from abroad, and was admitted
TO membership in the Shipwrights' Union
Instead of being grateful to its members
and contributing his mite to the peace and
of those who had made him
welcome, he at once set to work to give
them trouble. The first offense, it is stated
was to.take sub contracts, a system that q
few years ago had reduced the cabinet
makers of this city to such condition that
many of them could not make more than
So per week, and they had to furnish theiI
own tools. His society called him to ac
count for it, and he employed a lawyer
and took the case into Court, causing the
society considerable loss of time and
Still they did not suspend him.
On another occasion he promised some Of
the shipwrights who were at work at night
on some important job that the Union
Iron Works Company would pay them
their usual prices for night work, and when
they were paid for their labor they did not
receive the amount agreed upon. In this
Il ha Il, -
their brother members, who had charge OF
the work On still another occasion, it is
stated that after working faithfully on a
contract for the Union Iron Works Com
pany. he had not made mechanics wages,
and that one of the firm had presented him
with S25 to reimburse him for his loss.
This circumstance he related in the Ship
wrights' Union. This man, with a few
others. seeing, as they thought, an oppor-
tunity to better their condition, temporarily
at least, if they would break away from
the restraint of the Union to which they
belonged, sent i'll their designations, and
with few handy men, have formed a So
ciety of their own and are doing the work
formerly done by boilermakers. They also
work ten hours per day instead of nine,
which is the standard of the Shipwrights'
Union. All this they claim to have done
in the interest Of iron shipbuilding on this
coast
After calling the attention of the Fedora
ton to the trouble, and that body having
failed to effect settlement, the boilermak-
ers refused to work with these men, and
struck work about one month ago. The
other trades in the Federation, after max
ing an effort to arrange settlement of the
trouble which resulted in failure, Or
dered their men out also. a few days after
the men were out, it was thought that if a
Committee on Arbitration was appointed
there might be settlement of the trouble
that would satisfy both parties. The sug-
gestion was acted upon and the committee
was appointed and instructed to send a
to the managers of the
Union Iron Works, notifying them that
they were willing to abitrate the matter in
dispute. The answer to our communities
ton came on last Tuesday and was pub
lished in the evening and morning papers.
At present the case stands in this condi-
ton: The Federation, knowing that the
present strike is unpopular, and knowing
that any fair minded man would be most
likely 10 decide some important point
against it, yet, for the sake OF settlement
it was willing to present its case in the best
form that committee of five humble me-
chanics could present it. and submit to the
decision of any fair minded man that might
be agreed upon. Under existing cireum-
those who knew how the case
stood felt sure that it was practically a sur
of many important points, which
they did not hope to have decided in their
favor. and yet Mr.. Dickie, on behalf of the
firm, has spurned the offer in whole and
in part, and hurled his reply broadcast to
the world through the press.
We now appeal to the same public opin-
ion and through the same medium-the
press-which, with few exceptions, has
treated us well. Many of our best and
most experienced mem ers are willing to
admit that the boilermakers acted I'M
wisely in striking without the authority OF
the Federation, and that later the Fedora
ton itself did not act with becoming wis
dom and prudence. However this may be,
the reply of Mr.. Dickie should, and it has
all comment on the wisdom of our
past action This firm thinks more OF
these few rebellious workmen that have
left their former societies and set up shop
for themselves than it does for all the other
men in its employ that are faithful to their
pledges and true 10 their society. We
iitNtI hutN lDG iAill III lucotlOli W oaSiiuSc
so much for principle before. Verify, our
world is growing better. BY the way, fell
low workmen. if our memory serves us
right, some years ago number of the
States in the American Union believing
that they had the constitutional right to
secede, set up a Government of their own.
Many ofour good people then called the sc
ceders rebels, and plunged the nation into
a four years war for the preservation of
the Union. We expect to settle this little
in less than half the time and
propose that it will not cost one drop of
blood We will also remind the Union
Iron Works Company that certain
nation, at the time of the late
above referred to, had to
pay something like $15,000,000 for its sym
pathy with secession.
The question of the hour is: Shall IT,
unions of this city be crushed out of exist
ence and every vestige of protection to
labor cease? The reply of this firm does
not even give the assurance that if the
men are willing to return in a body they
would be re-employed. Such surrender
as they propose cannot be thought of even
for moment. Things i'll begun make
strong themselves by iils' Our Arbitra-
ton Committee has been discharged. and a
Committee on Conference appointed in
stead. Each Union in the Iron Trades
Federation is requested to levy an assess
ment on members that are at work, and an.
point committee to distribute the money
so collected among those of their members
affected By the strike. and also those that
might through want of bread be induced
to go to work in the shops. All the unions
represented in the general Federation of
Trades are also hereby called upon to levy
email ,yeeklv assessments md tur, 10