Omaha daily bee., 1889-02-18
The Master Plumbers Side OF the
Present Controversy.

Present Controversy.
A strike OF the iourneymcnIpl seems
imminent. Trouble between them and the
master plumbers has been brewing for the
last week 1t is said by the master plumbers
that the journeymen have become so unrea-
sonable in their demands that the master
plumbers will not adhere to what they term
domncering and unjust eXaction any longer.
The plumbers have not as yet called a
strike nor have they ordered one, but from
the way in which the master plumbers talk,
and if they take such action as they think
they will at a meeting which will be
held to-day the plumbers will have nothing
else to do but to abandon their work, if they
stick to the PRINCIPLES of their union.
The dissatisfaction arose some time ago.
1t was all on account of wages of course.
The workmcn wanted to better their condi-
ton, and on Monday, February H. William
Thompson, secretary of the plumbers union,
notified the master plumbers that the organi
zation had decided that no plumber should
work for less than 81 per diem. The com
pensation of gas and steam filter should
not be less than $3.50. This came, it
is said, in too much of q die
tatorial way to suit the employers.
Had the notification stated grievance, re-
queSting u conference to remedy matters,
instead of urging such "A peremptory charge,
the master plumbers say they would nave
tried to arbitrate.
This arbitrary demand on the part of the
plumbers is not necessarily u kick for higher
wages, for some of them are receiving as
much as $50 aud So day at the present
time They simply demand that each jour
neyman shall receive as much as 81, and
those who are worth more than that amount
may receive what the master plumber and
such elnploye may determine upon. The
plumbers now getting $3.50 and So day
are, af course, -, superior class
of mechanics. The ones receiving
only $3.50 want the scale Of
fixed at not less than "a. This Is what the
master plumbers, it is affirmed, will object
to, or to which they have already taken ex-
ceptions. They do not think that all men
are equal, nor do they believe that one man
is as capable and as competent to perform
the work pertaining &C. the plumbing business
as another. They say that they have enough
restrictions now, and they are compelled to
pay inefficient man not less than $3.50,
when perhaps they might not be worth 81
This is only in cases of emergency when
plumbers are scarce and business brisk, for
inferior WOrlSmen of such a graue are soon
dispensed with. The master plumbers claim
that they want to pay their employees
what they are worth, and that
do 1t for the -, reason that
some are paid s. day. They also allege
that the demand means higher wages for
those who are now getting 81 and upwards,
for as soon as the inferior grade of workmen
can demand that amount the better class
Will say Iudu IL II WOrIu lTOul ~ ceHJS 10 81 ~
day more than the ones now requesting the
increase. ..'
A meeting of the master plumbers was
held in the Paxton hotel Saturday night to
determine what course to pursue on the
unions last demand, but as the association
had various matters to consider action was
deferred until to-day, when another meeting
will be called by f. b. Hussey, president.
The secretary of the Hussey-Day company
told BEE reporter yesterday afternoon that
the master plumbers would not submit to the
demands of the plumbers, and that the out
come of to-day's meeting would probably be
that they would not pay more than last years
wages. He said this would mean strike
with the plumbers, but work was dull and
the former could stand astrke better than
the woriimen. Mr. Hussey also stated that
it was pretty generally conceded that the
present strife was agtated by the inferior
class of plumbers as the better element was
not dissatisfied with what it is earning.
The master plumbers of the state will have
Il banquet at the Murray hotel Friday night.
The plumbers have also another grievance.
A wallkout was ordered in the shop of Dennis
Fitzpatrick Saturday night. 1t is claimed he
refused to tolerate a steward" a man who
is delegated by the union to see that gas and
steam filters are not put onto the work be-
longing TO the plumbers, and vice versa. The
duty of steward" is tnat of running the
shop in which the union gives him charge in
such manner as to see that the principles
of the union are lived up to. This sort OF a
man. it is said, did not suit Fitzpatrick, and
he declined to permit one to remain in his
employ. Consequently the walking delegate,
or the one authorized by the plumbers or
ganzation for such duty, instructed the men
engaged for Fitzpatrick TO walk out.