Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-02-18
THEY DEFIED WEIHE.
The Strikers at ShOenberger's Mill
Refuse to 90 Back to Work.
FURNACE MEN WILL now COME OUT
Trouble Among Members of the General
Boycott Committee,
MUTUAL COKE PLANT RE-ORGAEIzED

President William Weihe, of the Anal
gamated Association, Iron and Steel
Workers, returned home yesterday from
Birmingham, Ala. Before he was comfort
ably seated in his Office, he was confronted
with another labor trouble, which from
present indications will cause him more un-
easineS than the difficulty in the South.
Mr.. Weihe went to Shoenberger's mill to
investigate the trouble in the converting de-
partment. Alter a hasty examination of
the case, he ordered tie strikers back to
work. pending full investigation. The
strikers refused to go back. and by SO doing
showed their, determination to win the
strike. A special meeting of the Amalga-
mated men was held in knights of St.
George Hall, on Penn avenue, and it was
decided not to recognize the authority of
President Weihe.
ORIGIN OF THE STRIKE.
A DISPATCH reporter encountered COM
mittee of the strikers, from whom the follow
ing history OF the strike was obtained. The
men stated that the trouble really
began about one year ago last September,
bush. was appointed in the converting mill.
The man had never been foreman before,
and had worked in Carnegie's Homestead
mill during the strike of 'S2. After coming
to Shoenberger's mill, the strikers say he
showed disposition to get rid of all the
Amalgamsted men, as soon as he could.
This spirit was made more manifest during
the past three months, and the men decided
to resist it. In one year the foreman dis
charged about 10 of the 60 men in the con-
Verting department, aud the union men
came to the conclusion that they would all
be discharged in time.
The feeling against the foreman continued
to grow more determined each week, and
this was the cause of the strike One of
the men in the mill complained to the Presi-
dent of the Amalgamated lodge. that he
was doing work for which he received no
pay. The President went to the foreman
about the matter, and it is said the foreman
discharged him for his interference in be-
half of the employe. The Mill Committee
consulted and decided that the President
was discharged without cause. They there
fore declared the job vacant" and that
no union man would be allowed to fill it.
The matter was then reported to the Vice
President Of the district, who could not
settle it. The men struck in the meantime,
and the Vice President decided to await the
return OF President Weihe, of the national
association.
WOULDN'T GO BACK.
When the latter investigated the case, he
ordered the men to go to work, and they re-
fused. He said the trouble would be ami
cably settled in a few days, if they would
start the mill, but there was such decided
opposition to the foreman that the men
would not 60 back. "A special meeting was
held, late in the afternoon, and it was unan-
imously resolved 10 stick out.
The strike in the converting mill necessi-
tates the stoppage of the blooming mill, and
the employees Of that department are also
idle. The men working around the blast
furnaces will also come out, as they are
members of the same lodge.
The union men in the other departments
of the plant cannot be called out, as the
strike was not made legal by the associa-
ton. The men, however, are in sympathy
with the strikers, and may come out OF their
own accord.
The firm made the claim, Yesterday, that
there had been nobody discharged, and that
the President Of the lodge had only been
suspended. The strikers say this is untrue.
They were given to understand that the
man had been permanently dismissed from
the employ of the firm.
President Weihe did not come to any un-
derstanding with the Birmingham firm, and
the trouble there is still unsettled.