Evening star., 1898-08-02
DISCHARGE oNoT JUSTIFIED
Opinion of Centrab Labor Union Respecting
Case Of Gsugs Il. Elliott
suggestion of - Anneal to the Courts
-Perfecsns Iithe Labor
DaeProxram.


Central Labor Uhiona held last evening.
President H. W. szegedy occupied the
chair and Mr.. ]. M. Kreiter was secretary.
The committee appointed by the c. L. U.
to consider the matter of the discharge of
Mr. George H. Elliott, q member of the
bflcklayers' Onion, from work on two pub
lfc scnooi buildings submitted letter
from Dr w. Tindall, secretary, stating
that he was directed by the District Com
miss1oners Ito state that the Commission
ers are unanimously of the opinion that
the discharge of Mr.. Elliott from work On
the Toner building was justified by his
misconduct.
His discharge from the Peabody build
ing was In pursuance of rule which has
prevailed 1mhlcmorially in tha-engineer de-
partment, which is TO the effect that 10
empleye of contractor who is discharged
for cause, may be. transferred to other
work then In progress under the same con-
tractor, as such transfer, permitted,
would deprive the discharge of all the dis
clpilnary effect for which it is intended.
AS there " as nothing in the action of
the Commissioners preventing Mr. Elliott
from obtaining work with any other cor.-
tractor for the District, it is not believed
that Mr.. Elliott has reason to complain of
Discrimination -.
The Committees Report.
Accompanying the letter was the report
OF the committee, which was unanimously
adopted, and was follows:
The misconduct of Elliott, while enl-
ployed on the Toner building. for which he
was discharged, was provoked by the sub
inspector, Philip Gormley, who in response
t. remark made by Elliott retorted in
pro1ane and ungentlemanly manner which
was more disrespectful than was the re-
mark made by Elliott. No special objec-
lens were made to Elliott's discharge
from the Toner building, though we do not
believe 1t to have been justifiable. The
&C Cmmittee claims the order removing him
1rcm employment on another building
Wnere there was NO charge Of misconduct
was an outrageous breach of authority,
breach OF justice, an infringement upon
the right of a citizen and an unlawful act
winch requires the attention of the court.
1T is to be regretted that a rule should
be permitted to prevail with force of
law In department of civil government
which subjects the citizens to the same
conditions imposed upon them in the army
and naval service Of the government. I'm
der the rule referred to any citizen en-
pioyed by another on work paid for and
belonging to the public must consent to the
arbitrary disciplinary punishment imposed
by so-called superior even to the extent of
depriVlng the WCrkingman of labor
other work. This rule is iniQuitous; it is
a license 30 blacklist; 1t deprives the citi-
zen of means of support, simply to crafty
the personal animesiies of subordinate
OF the engineers department who may con-
Stfue an unintentiotnaf remark to be dsre-
spectful. In this case the workman, hav-
ing family dependent upon him, because
OF his discharge suffered loss of wages,
ana mad he not beer liable to procure en-
ploynent from another contractor he would
have been forced to idIeness. Fully aware
of all the details of the case. we are con-
Vlnced that the discharge of Elliott in the
filst instance was not justifable, and we
regard the action of those responsible as
highly rcprehensthle, and advise that legal
means be employed to compel these Off
Gals to respect the rights and lawful
privilege of others.
Labor. Day Excursion.
The committee on Labor day excursion
reported that at the last meeting of the
joint committee the entertainment commit
tee submitted it's program for the occasion,
which was approved by the former. The
committee further reported that many use
full articles. have been donated by mer-
chants of the city, which will be awarded
to successful contestants.
1t was announced that 1000 tickets have
been distributed among the various organ
izatons allied with the Central Labor
Union and Building Trades Council
The chair announced the appointment of
the following committees to serve for the
ensuing six months:
Legislative-Milford Spohn, J. M. Kreitar
Norman c. Sprague, C. f. Smith and M. j.
Mccarthy.
Contract-William Silver, J. D. McEav
NJ. r. Canty, Robert L. Frost and F. L.
Neal.
Credentials-W E. Thompson John Will
lis and Edward Powell
Label J. Crowley, J. c. O'Conneu and
w. E. Roache.
Organization-William Silver, j. M. Heis-
ley. Henry Lewis, o. P. Cox and Evan
Welsh. Nii
Grievance-W. H. Maghan, Samuel King
Hugh Reed, c. l.. Dodson and Charles J.
Heater. -
Statistics-Milford Spohn, A. L. yialle
and ]. d. Wilson.