Waterbury Democrat., 1900-12-10
M0ULDERS STRIKE
Quit Work at Manufacturers P Foundry To-Day.
THEY WANT HIGHER WAGES.

Strikers Claim Wages Have Rean Svs-
 'elilatlcally Cut-President Beach. of
 the Company, Says He is Willing to
 Fay Men What They Are Vortln-Je
 Does Not Think an Incompetent
 Man Should Receive as Much Naoes ss
 as One Who Is Competent
 T, lie moulderS at the Manufacturers, foulthE company on Benedict straar "'nl on strike this morning and fn-
 Nu 'o Eehlaln out until the concany
 "'e Nith them more fairly than they ,tn m Said to have been doing in inc nast ht S"ilcefn started about nine or ten hlohthS ago and at that time SD ina ilitI who went out state paid moulders H-.'' a day, but they have been decre:rs- iliS II until they got it down to q point where many were being paid only s2 per uaN. and to make things worse i'll'erN who receive but $1.50 were do- iiiS hiouiderS work and naturally this caused considerable trouble which had 10 come to d head some time or other. winch 1t did last Friday. when the inoulderS submitted a statement at the ofhce asking for the following scale of wages: Bench work SoJO a day: side i hoof work. S2.II a day; big work. S3 Il da! ant upwards. This was accom- l;thled Hy T demand that they be paid of in full Saturday night in case the schedule of wages asked for should not he paid. The company did not comply with the request in either case and the men quit work this morning. They tnld q reporter of this paper that when they were paid Saturday two days wages were kept back and that l'reSdent Beach had since informed them that the matter of wages would be adjusted provided they should agree to make it' an "oppn shop" that is. q place where non-union men as we'll as union mon could find employment when help would he wanted. The men refused to stand for this and went out in q body. twenty in all. fine. strap ping locking fellows. each of whom ap- pears able and willing to do a good days work. The action of the men has been endorsed by the Iron Mould- CTS Union of North America. so that unless q settlement is made satisfac- tory to all parties the fight promises 10 be Il bitter one, The company en- ] ployS about forty or fifty men.
 ''Thore is no strike here. said Pres 1 iden Reach to a Democrat reporter wilo
 
 have discharged nobody. The men simply took their coats and walked out We are paying fair wages and thaVe work for these men if they care | to attend to it. Their jobs are open 1 to them now if they want them. but i if they don't we'll have to fill their places. no matter where the men come from. We have no objection to the Iunon and we are not aware that the organization has anything againstsns- l What about the schedule of prices asked for by the men. Mr Beach?' in uuired the reporter. Why" he said. ''we'rp paying that now to men who are worth it. and we do not propose to give money to men for nothing Ask the etlitor of the Democrat if he thinks l il would he fair to compel him to pay a man who cannot set over ..ONb or COCO ems in q day as much as he gives to a man who can put up S.U0o or 1o- ON ems. and sec what hell say about | it. We are paying men according 10 what they are worth. and we consider l that a very fair way of dealing With | labor.
 Mir Beach denied that he told the men that he would give them the ln- crcaSe asked for provided they Would consent to make it an open shop and stated that it is an open shop now. They do not care whether men Wno ap- ulv for work belong to the union OF not. He said that he was on the best of terms with the help and wculd have no objection to seeing every man Wno went out to-day go to work there to- mCrrow morning. Where the relauohs between employers and employees ap- parently are as pleasant as they ap- pear to he at the Manufacturers fouh- dry comDanv ii would seem as if the 1 differences hefween them could be set tied without much trouble.