The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-10-03
PLUMBERS ON STRIKE
UNION NO. 81 CALLED OUT THE Or
CANNED MEMBERS YESTER-
DAY MORNING
BREAKING OF AGREEMENT

1t Is Charged by the Men Against
Three Members of the Master
Plumbers and Gas Filters Assoc
ciatiOn-One of the EMPLOYING
Plumbers Makes Statement In
Regard to the Situation.
Yesterday morning the 100 journeymen
bumpers afhl1ated with local union No.
"a laid down their tools, quit work and
adjourned to Room No. 1, Assembly halls.
where meetings were held at Il O'Clock
a. m. and again at o'clock in the even
ing. Inc meeting held in the morning
was the result of the action taken at a
special meeting held Sunday afternoon.
at which time it was decided to call out
all members employed in the forty-three
plumbing establishments of the civ. The
olrect cause of the calling out of the men
was owing to violation of an agree
ment entered into by the master plumb
efs association and No. 81 on the first
Gay OF May last, in which both organiza-
lons agreed to stand by each other. first
last and all the time. The agreement en-
was concurred in by the master plumbers,
association on April rs, 1899, and was to
go into effect and be in operation from
and after May 1. The clause which the
Journeymen plumbers union claims has
heen violated by the Master Plumbers
association is rule No. of the agree
ments, which is in the following words;
"Rule No. 6-That the members of To-
cal union No. "a will work only for mas
ter plumber members of the ST. Paul as
soclatlon, and that we Ghe master plumb
ers' association will employ only mem
bers of the United Association of Jour
neymen Plumbers and GaSf1tterS of the
United States of America"
L one of the first to break the agreement.
it is stated by the executive BOARD. was
ID. j. Harrington, doing business at Isl
University avenue, who, in spite of the
repeated protests of committees from No
"a, persisted in employing an unfair
T. plumber, and still continues to do So
Another cause of the walk-out was the
employment Of a plumber by the Dwyer
Heating and Plumbing company who was
an expelled member of local No 10, Salt
Lake City, and has a fine of $50 standing
against him for unfair methods When
notified by the local plumbers union of
the action taken by No. IA of Salt Lake
City, the firm in question, instead of dis
charging him, as the union expected
would be the case, sent him out of the
city to do certain work, which No. "a
claims was direct violation Of Rule No.
6.
1t is also claimed that T. j. Clark,
doing plumbing business On Prior ave-
nue., Merriam Park, and also a member
of the master plumbers association, had
violated Rules Nos. and 6, which dis
tinguish between junior and journeymen
plumbers by having him do the work of
a journeyman, who is entitled to $3.50 a
day for his services, whereas, according
to the agreement the junior can receive
but ST. 1t is also claimed that the Junior
employed by Mr.. Clark is a non-union
man, aud, further, that no junior can
be employed in a shop which has not
at least one journeyman at work.
Members Of the press committee and
the executive board stated last evening
that every possible effort had been made
to adjust the difficulty between the two
organizations; that the reason all men,
bers of he union had been called out was
on account of violation of contract by
one party to the agreement, and that
the breaking of the agreement by indi-
Vidual firms was matter for the master
plumbers association to adjust.
One of the members said: '"To show
that we have lived up to our agreement
with the master plumbers association, we
would ask the Globe to inform the pub
lie that No. 81, since the agreement be-
tween the master plumbers association
and it:elf went into effect LAST
May, levied fines against four of it's men,
bers who attempted to violate the agree
nent amounting to $50.
JOIN J. DHyer, president of the Uwver
Plumbing and Heating company, 947 Min
nesota street, one of the firms against
which the union claims to have griev
ance, says the position taken by the union
regarding his firm is ridiculous. The
claim of the union is that the firm ,vio-
lated the agreement by employing nom
union workman, who was sent out of the
city to do work for the firm. Speaking
of the matter, yesterday, Mr.. DWyer said:
81 do not yet know officially that there
is a strike. No word or notification mas
been received from the union but the
men employed by our firm have quit work
so it is evident that something is wrong
somewhere, in fact, that there is a strike.
The claim of the union, however, that
we have violated our agreement is ridicu-
lous. We have conscientiously lived up
to the agreement concerning work done
in st. Paul, but it is folly for the union
to undertake to control work to be done
in other places. For instance in the case
complained Of, the work was done in
Montana, nearly LOCO miles away. This
firm did hire an outside man to do the
work, but the local union must not
think 1T can control the entire labor mar
ket Prices rule lower where this work
was to be done than here and as the work
was not local. we do not feel that we
committed any breach OF trust in employ
ing a non-union workman. If st. Paul
business men are to compete for outside
. business, as this firm is doing, and In
tends to do, it is folly for the plumbers
union to undertake to control the labor
incidents to such contracts. To permit
this simply means that FOCAL firms must
not undertake outside contracts, which
is wholly unreasonable.
rr1o 1ondino hnttars sell them because