The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1899-08-30
Labor Troubles.

pahy eheu nave Deen ordered 10 quit
W ork, and Monday they went out. Thus
some twenty skilled workmen, able to earn
good wages, are debarred from working at
their trade in this shed, or in fact any other,
for no member Of the Manufacturers AS
sociation, of which T. W. Eagan, the man.
ager of the Capital Granite Company is q
member, will hire these men who are or.
dered out,
The trouble arose over one man, who,
some time last June, hired to Mr. Esgan az
frstclass cutter. After he had been at
work few days, Mr. Eagan became con-
vlnced that he was not an average cutter.
lie said az much to the man and intimated
TO him that he should have to discharge
him, as he could not afford to pay him even
the minimum Union schedule price of
twenty-nine cents per hour. The man beg
ged the privilege OF working, stating that
he had not worked at his trade for the past
ten months, at the same time displaying
the palms OF bis hands which were badly
blistered. He offered to work for twenty
five cents per hour II Mr.. Eagan would give
him work. Mr.. Esgan consented and time
rolled on, the man accepting his pay at the
rate named and appeared contented. But
about the latter part Of July. the man noti-
fed Mr.. Eagan that he should demand
twenty-Dine cents per hour at the next pay
day. When offered his check on the basis
OF twenty-five cents per hour he refused to
take it and Mr.. Eagan declined to pay him
fcers of the Union and the matter was re-
ferred to the grievance committee, which is
made up of an equal number from the
Union and the Manufacturers Association.
The committee waited on Mr.. Eagan who
informed the members that he was willing
to abide by their arbitration in the matter,
this being the usual course in such differ
ences.
But the Union half of the committee was
unable to come to an agreement with the
Association half and finally informed Mr..
Eagan that he must grant the dissenting
cutters request, or his force OF cutters
would be ordered out. Mr.. Esgan said he
was willing to abide by decision OF the
committee as whole but would not sub
init to the dictation of divided committee,
and as a result his men are out and his
business crippled. His only remedy ap
pears to be to submit or to get the Associa-
tion to declare general lockout until his
men are sent back to work; and it is said
that this latter course Is being advocated
among the manufacturers.
The men ordered out are loud in their de-
nunciations Of the men on the Union COM
mittee who brought this thing to pass.
They say the man over whom all this
trouble is being made is not a first class
workman, never Joined the Union until af-
ter he had started this trouble and that Mr..
Eagan has acted honorably with this man
and all others in his employ. They say
branch of the Union last Saturday night
and tried to explain the situation to the
members present but were not permitted to
be heard.
They declare the Union is being run by
ring which abuse its power to further its
spite and selfish ends while they, the lay
members, are poweress tools, and should
this boycott last they will have to shovel in
order to support their families.
When asked why they didn't bolt in this
instance against the order of the Union,
the men stated that for various reasons this
would be Of no avail.
The situation is one to be regretted by
both parties involved and it is hoped that
an amicable settlement may be arrived at
at an early date.
The grievance committee comprised of
Chairman William Alexander, A. e. Bruce
and James Brown OF Barre from the Manu-
facturer's Association and Chairman p f.
Glynn M. j. Doyle and W. III. Mccormick
OF the local branch of the Stonecutters'
Union met on Tuesday at the office of the
Capital Granite Company for the purpose
OF arbitrating the difficulty between the
company and David Moyle, the workman,
on whose account the cutters in that shed
were ordered out Monday afternoon.
L. w. Eagan threw open the company's
books for the inspection of the committee
and from them it was shown that Mr..
Eagan had allowed the man four hours
JlHo uOrb lHdu u6 nhu Claimed 10 nave
worked. Mr.. Eagan also called the atten-
ton of the Unions committee to the record
in his books where this man and another
had performed the same piece of work. he
paying Moyle at the rate of twenty-five
cents per hour and the latter twenty-nine
and one half cents per hour, and that the
latter performed his work at a cost of some
two dollars less than the cheaper paid man.
The committee when asked If the higher
paid man was not the cheaper man to hire
argued that this man had done too much
work for his money The committees ar
gued Moyles case pro and con until after
l o'clock Tuesday afternoon before final
agreement was reached which was as fol-
lows:
"The decision of the committee in the
case OF L. w. Eagan v. David Moyle is that
he be paid according to the bill of prices on
what work is covered by the bill Of prices
which amounts to twenty-eight cents per
hour Tor the time he worked as shown by
Mr.. Esgan's books which is 180 hours.
Signed,