Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-13
QUE MAIL POUCH.
Leveling up the AmaIgnmated Wages
Readjustmeuts Mt Home Also.

LevelinE up the AmaIgnmated Wages
Readjustmeuts mt Home Also.
To the Editor OF The Dispatch:
Anent The DIsPATcH;editorial of this date.
headed "Leveling them up" referring TO the
action OF the Amalgamated Association in es-
tablishing Lodges in the Eastern mills. and
their efforts to bring Eastern prices up to the
prices paid here, it is certainly to be hoped
they may succeed; they have been engaged in
these efforts for the past twelve years and so
far nave but little to show Last weeks LABOR
Tribune INDUCED in congratulations on the
successful result Of a strike in the mill in Dan
Vile, Pa. which ended in fixing the price for
boiling at $500 per ton; in Pittsburg the price
is $3.50 per ton; both these are Amalgamated
prices. All practical men, think, will agree
with me In saying that the facilities are better
in Pittsburg for doing this work than they are
in Danville.
While the Amalgamated Association Is en-
gagged in this laudable work In the East, 1t is to
be hoped that it will not allow these outrageous
Determinations to take root and grow up right
here at home. 1t is fact well known to many
manufacturers and workmen that, for several
years past the scale Of prices in many i'm
portant respects in some Pittsburg mills has
been dead letter, to the advantage of some
employers and to the disadvantage of others
by the scale. A short time since large order
was distributed among several Pittsburg mills.
Our company received portion of it. and for
tne rolling OF the part that we made We
paid Just 300 per cent more than some of our
competitors paid for the same work. This
LOOK place here in Pittsburg in Amalgamated
mills, and has been going on for years, and
there are several such mills here. can name
in degree, and 1 am ready to furnish the de-
talis to anyone who may call on me and who
may have the right to know them.
These Determinations cover large part of
the product Of some of our largest mills. To
say they are unjust is no description. They
are dishonest, and they must be remedied.
am not overstating the case when say that
for several years past the Amalgamated Asso-
citation has been discriminating heavily
and directly against the business OF
mango valleys in its treatment of the
wages question; it has abolished the advance
that formerly existed in Western prices over
Pittsburg and the valleys; it has totally failed
IN n, its efforts to raise the Eastern prices to
Pittsburg rates; 1t has held Pittsburg prices so
high as to make the manufacture of iron here
unremunerative. This is proven by the fact
that some of our old and well-managed estab-
lishments have failed and their mills are now
idle, and few of the others are working to ad-
vantage. Four years ago the officers of the
Amalgamated Association saw what was Just
and necessary, and proposed and carried re-
ductlon (but it was recalled next year,, and
Tor this they were nearly thrown overheard.
The rapid and increasing use of steel makes
reduction in the rates of wages more neces-
sary now than ever before. 1tis no answer to
say that as long as manufacturers show, by
keeping their mills in operation, that they are
willing and not able to pay the present prices;
that is neither an intelligent nor an equita-
BILE way of settling the question. Manufact-
urers have undergone great deal Of twitting
ana misrepresentation in consequence Of their
unwillingness to undergo the heavy losses in
oident to strike and stoppage of their busi-
ness and its transfer to otherldlstricts not
affected, and an intelligent and fair association
should not require it.
/ am firmly of the opinion, in which am
Joined by many intelligent workmen, that the
very best thing the convention Of the Amalga-
mated Association can do for itself and the
business interests of the employers would be
to calmly investigate the whole situation and
propose readjustment By so doing they will
show their capacity for appreciating the needs
Of business, and prevent the enlarging of the
list of non-union mills. DAVID B. OLIVER.
PITTsBURG, June II. 1889