The morning times., 1896-07-29
MAY END IN 4 BIC STRIKE
Bricklayers on the New Union
Depot GO Out.
QUESTION OF WORKMANSHIP
Contractor Cowsili DOcked Three Men
for Alleged Faulty WOrk-Unfon.
Takes 1t UP and Insists Upon a
Restoration of the Amount With
held-Statements From Both Sides.

The trouble hetw cen the bricklayers,
members of Union No. 1, employed on the
new union depot in Georgeto wn. and Con-
tractor Arthur Cowsill. has not yet been
settled and from the present outlook will
not he unless the dema nds of the men are
acceded to. The men, about twenty in
all. knocked off yesterday.
The trouble arose over the building of
one of the inside walls which. it is claimed
by Mr.. Cowsill, was done in a very un-
workmahiike manner. When he discovered
the defect on last Thursday he ordered
the wall pulled down and had it rebuilt.
The cost OF rebuilding. $19.4O, and the
cost OF extra material. 81 SO, on pay day
he neutrality-suspicious. from the weekly
salary of the three men whom he consid-
cred responsible for the alleged bad work.
The matter was reported by the work
men to the executive committee, one Of
which, in company with the men whose
wages were docked. called on Mr.. Cowsill
and demanded that the balance of the
weeks salary be paid the men. This Mr..
Cowsiil refused to do. The three men
whose wa eesh ad been cut then ha nded back
the money they had received and said
they would have all or none. The members
of the executive committee called Off the
dissatisfied men and all other employees on
the work.
MR.. COWsILL'S SIDE.
Mr. Cowsili was seen by The Times last
night at his residence No. 634 / street
northeast. and asked for statement in
reference to the trouble He said that he
employed eighteen or twenty men at
the union depot. and had always. except
in this Instance, found them first-class
wOrkmen. and easy to get along with.
The work to which he objected and for
which he refused to pay was on fifty
foot wall on which were several buttresses
OF pilasters Only a part OF this wall. that
n which the three men whose pay wars
cut. was badly built He tested ii and
r.vc-eIsn,ns or an incn out OF i.-uri.,'. and
lie had TO have 1T tore down and rebuilt.
He did not think he should pay for doing the
same work twice, 80 he deducted the cost
from the wages OF tie men who had been
engaged in building it. He told the men
when they started in to work that IL they
only laid ten bricks day they had to be
property placed, and this he claims, goes
to show that he was not asking too much
OF them.
He was under the impression, from what
he was told by some of the men yesterday,
that the trouble was over, and that they
would go back this morning. Before going
to him, he said, the men told him thatthey
had agreed among themselves to chip in
n dollar apiece and pay the three men for
the lost time. Mr.. Cowsill claims that as
the men all had working cards from the
union, they should Ice competent to dofirst-
class work, and consequently that either
the men or the union should be responsible
for his loss.
MR.. M'GAHN's STATEMENT.
President William Mccain of the Brick
layers Union takes an entirely different
view of hematter and said Ia st night when
seen at his home that none of th,S,nen could
go to work until the last dollar was paid
the three men whose wages had been cut
Farther than this, he said the trouble
would extend to all work in which Mr..
Cowsill was interested.
In reference to the circumstances con-
cernng the trouble at the union depot, he
said, such treatment of latorers was un-
heard of, and the men or the union would
Dot tolerate it. Mr.. Cowsill was superin-
tending the work himself, and if 1t was
being done in an unworkmaniike manner
he had business to stop it at once. And
again his remedy was to discharge the
men instead of having them to do the work
over again without notifying them that it
was being done at their own expense.
At first he said that Mr.. Cowsill had
agreed to submit the matter to arbitration,
but when the time came he would not
consent to this. The men and the union
would be willing to submit the ma tier
to arbitration, but In the meantime il
he wanted the men. one or all, to go back
1t would only be done upon the pa yment
of the full amount due to the three men
who had been docked. He told Mr..
COwsill. he said, that the money could be
paid under protest and if the men were
found to be wrong the union would return
him every cent.
Mr.. Mccain will wait upon Mr.. Cowsill
this morning for the purpose OF amcably
arranging the matter II possible.
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