The morning news., 1889-05-06
THE CARPENTERS SIDE OF IT.
The Nine-Eour Movement to be Dis
cussed at Mass Meeting.

The Carpenters and Joiners' Union will
meet at Turner's hall, at o'clock tonight,
and the nine-hour question will be the topic
of the hour. There are three lodges-two
white and one colored-of the United
Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners in
Savannah, all of which will be represented
at the meeting tonight.
Interviews yesterday with J. H. Adams
and T. P. Roddey, the presidents of the two
white local unions, indicate that the nine
hour movement is not to be wh!stled down
the wind as some Of the opponents of the
movement would have the people believe
The two leaders say that it is the advance
movement which is sweeping over the
country looking to the eght-bour system in
1890 The union, they claim, is 1000
Grafton of Labor $4,000 strong and in mar
mony with the Knights of Labor.
All carpenters and Joiners in the brother
hood they say must stand out except those
in the employ Of the railroad corporations,
which appear to be too powerful to antag
onize at present.
Messrs. Adams and Roddey say that the
contractors generally are desirous of seeing
the nine-hour system adopted, and that
notice was given three months ago by the
local unions that the rule would be enforced
May l, and contractors have based their es
Inmates on all work taken subsequent to
that date on nine hours as a DAVIS work
They deny that the carpenters in the union
are out of town mon, or unskilled mechan-
les, or are in minority among the carpen
ters Of the CITY, On the contrary they
claim that nine-tenths of the union carpen-
ters are citizens of Savannah, and that a
very small proportion Of the non-unIon
carpenters are citizens, and that they are
small in numbers compared with the mem
bers of the local union.
The officers of the two white unions say
that there are not to exceed 100 carpenters
and joiners in the city who did not stand
out for the nine-hour system last Wednes-
day; that about forty new members were
initiated Saturday and yesterday, and that
not union man in Savannah will go to
work to-day who does not go with the eK-
pict understanding that nine-hours is a
days work, beginning at z o'clock a. m. ,
and quitting at O'clock p. m.
Mr.. Adams was asked what contractors
have refused to concede the demand of the
union, and how many mon are employed
by the antagonistic contractors, and after
consulting with MIR. Roddey, the following
were given as fair summing up of the op-
position:
Wilcox & Gibbs first promised the con-
cesslon, alter ward reconsidered it, and five
men quit their employ Saturday night.
Goode Il Manning are willing to concede
nine hours as days work, but to grade
down the pay on the same scale. They en-
ploy fifteen tc twenty men, about a dozen
of whom have knocked off.
d. L. Cohen employs about six men, had
five quit Saturday night.
John A. Sullivan employs twenty-five to
thirty men. Seven quit last Thursday
Lewman & Co., the new hotel con-
tractors, employ about seveaty-fye men
the brotherhood claims, principally from
Charleston and other towns. Two men
stopped work last Wednesday night.
J. J. McDonough g. Co., who have not
yielded to the demand, paid off five union
carpenters Wednesday night and told them
they could quit