Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1901-07-04
STATEMENT OF EMPLOYERS.

lite position and the iseuss II Ia defend
ing in the present machinists' strike to
be as follows:
l. No farther back than March,. 1900,
an agreement was made in Chicago
between our association and accredited
officers of the international Association
of Machinists declaring that arbitration
should for good and all be adhered to as
the primary principle for deciding dis
putes between employers and employees,
and that two months later joint COM
mittee from the two international as
sociations entered into formal com
tract binding themselves aud each other
to follow peaceful arbitration of dis.
putes through all possible phases and
officially condemning strikes and lock.
outs.
Within one year, at the first test to
which this contract was subjected, tbs
president OF the international Associa.
tion OF Machinists ignured the direct
request of the National Metal Trades
Association for an arbitration COM
mittee TO interpret disputed clauses of
the contract and to take up any matter
of dispute between the two associations,
and he, James O'Connell. president of
tho International Association OF Ma
chinists, without attempt to arbitrate,
officially called strike against shops
of our members which did not aceede
to certain arbitrary demands by a speoi-
fed date, Wp declare that We urged
President O'Connell to arbitrate any
and all matters of dispute. and reiter-
nted our willingness to abide by arbi-
tration, and used our best efforts to
avoid strike. We deplure the fact
that the general officers OF the Inter
national Association OF Maehiniss have
seen At to violate thoir contract and
thrown dishonor on the ASSOCIATION for
which they stand and SO make 1t inn
possible for our association to place any
faith in the responsibility of the Ma.
ohinists' Union.
2. The clause in the agreement
secondary only to that Of arbitration
bound the machinists to-
Place no restrictions upon the
management or production OF the
shop, and 10 exchange for the above
the employers granted 54.hour week,
beginning May goth. 1901, SO that every
member OF our association was com
PEELED and bound to run his shop on a
schedule OF 81 hours after that date.
We therefore declare that the 54-hour
week was rot an issue for the ma
chinists to strike upon.
We assert in addition emphatioafly
that the Machinists' Union, through
their accredited general and local
officers, did not keep faith with us in
our unqnestioned right to run our shops
without restriction, but that they from
the start violated the spirit and the
letter OF their agreement Immediately
N aetsx if.r. ..4
of May 18th, 1900, the International
Association Of Machinists Issued 4
document purporting to be the agroe.
natiunal Association of Machinists and
the National Metal Trades Association,
which document was sent to the Local
lodges of the union throughout the
United States and Canada and by their
walking delegates, business agents @,
shop committees was broadly presented
to the machinery manufacturers fol-
their signature, and further that THE
document vas published in the Official
journal of the international A association
Of Machinists. This document left out
every point which might be construed
In favor of the employer and 80 was
entirely misleading to the individual
union Woraman and the manufacturers
not members of this association The
principal points omitted in this garbled
statement are verbatim as follows:
Employment and Honrs-No discrimina.
tion shall be made against union men and
every workman shall be free to belong to a
trade union, should he see fit. Every eth.
ployer shall be tree to employ any man,
whether he belong or not to a trade union.
Every workman who elects to work In a
Pa / NJ n
tremendously With all tellow-employes,
whether he or they belong to trade union
or not. He shall also be free to leave such
employment, but no collective action shall
be taken until any matter In dispute has
been dealt with under the provisions fol
avoiding disputes as per the Chicago agree
ment. dated March 18th, 1900, signed March
3lst, 1900. The National Metal Trades Asso,
| citation does not advise Its members to OBJ
| ject to union workmen or give preference tt
non-union wurkrnen.
| In consideration of this concession II
working hours, the International Associa
| ton of Machinists will place no restriction,
\ upon the management or production of the
| shop and will give a fair days work for
fair days wage.
Moreover, in numerous cases ano
through wildly separated localities The
union machinists have fiagrantly re-
stricted the production OF the shops
denied fatty the right OF the employer
to govern his own affairs, and have
interferred with the management anc
methods of our shops, and it is this
point which we declare to be the issut
which We defend in this contest
3. AS regards wages. this association
has from the start declined to take AMI
nationa! action and has made no agree
ments, actual or implied, with the In
ternational Association of Machinistl
on this point, reports to the contrary
notwithstanding We believe that thu
| question of wages Is commercial ont
between the individual employer ant
his employee, governed only by natura
economic laws and varying with con
ditions and localities and subjee
which it is not proper nor possible tina
an association such as ours should dea
with. ~ The question Of wages was dis
cussed at great length when the con
tract of May, 1900, between out asso
citation and the International Associa
tion Of Machinists was made, and th
| verdict as given above was conourret
in unanimously by both parties to tn,
agreement, as the records OF said meet
ing and the joint agreement shows. W,
therefore decline to admit wages as
national issue and deolareiit q looa
question.
| 4. Our position. therefore, is as fol
lows. We declare that the Machinists
Union has through its national AMI
local officers broken faith with us AM
proven themselves to be an ilresponsi
bic body. with whom We can make nj
contracts that will be binding upol
them. We recognize the right of an,