Waterbury Democrat., 1902-07-02
WORK IS TED UP
No Agreement Arrived at Be-
 tween Bosses and Men.
CONTRACTORS WILL SUFFER.

As They are Liable to Owners for Com- pletion of Work Within a Certain
 Time or Pay Considerable Talk To- day About the Size of the Hods Used Bosses Talk About Rigging Up Hoisting Machines
 There is nothing new in the local strike situation to-day and it is not likely that there will be until after the Fourth of July Both sides are firm
 and unless one gives in altogether or
 each yields little, there will not be
 much building done in Waterbury this summer. One of the labor men told representative of this paper to-day that the committee appointed at the meeting held in Congress hall expected to meet the contractors and. talk matters over with them. He said all the men want is twenty-two and one-ha1f cents an hour, time and a half for over time and double time for work done on Sundays He said there was some talk of asking double pay for extra hours worked on week days, but it was final ly decided to let it go at time and a half. He said there was no truth that the size of some of the hods used had | anything to do with the trouble. 1t was said yesterday that some hods hold twenty bricks, others eighteen and all you can get into more of them are six teen. The average building brick weighs four pounds so that while the size of the bod may not have entered | into this snarl, still 1t is plain that it might easily cause much diSsatisfac- tion. A difference of sixteen pounds in the weight of load means some- thing to man who Is ascending lad- der to the fourth or fifth story of a building. To be sure elevators are used now and then, but we don't see
 much of them in this town It looks as if the union should insist upon a
 regulation hod. If sixteen bricks are enough that's all the bod should hold, | but if man can carry more than that without being overloaded it might be l all right to put them on. Of course a man would find no troublt in carrying q load onto the first floor of build | ing that would be too much for him up several ladders after the building grows tall No doubt men regulate the number of bricks and quantity of mortar they put into their hods by the | distance they have to carry the load. | One of the builders said to-day that if l the hod carriers persist in having their own way the builders may be obliged l to rig mp holsters and get along with out the men. 1t is thought that some of them would be doing business that l way to-day, but they fear that the ! bricklayers might kick and then they'd 1 be in q worse box than ever.
 | It was stated to-day that the men
 may possibly decide to return to work
 on the conditions offered by the bosses, | lf ,Ix,v,r Isx,er l that the terms asked for by the hodr 1 carriers will go into effect on all other 1 work The objection raised to this by l the laborers is that most of the build- l CTS have contracts signed for the sea- l sons work and that such an arrange l ment would leave them practically where they have been at for another year They also claim that they noti- l fled the builders long ago that they should make demand for an increase 1 of two and a half cents an hour on July 1, and such other conditions as are mentioned in the form which they desire to have their employers sign. I The strike has opened up other possibilities that may work greater
 hardship upon some merchants than l did the fire which consumed theirf goods and reduced their buildings to- ashes. Some of them are now doing l business in stores which they will be obliged to vacate this fall and if the buildings they had planned to move | into are not ready by that time great trouble will ensue. A prominent busi- ness man told Democrat reporter ] this afternoon that if operations on his I block should be delayed any length of l time he is sure to get into troubles
 He will have to vacate his present l quarters and he knows he cannot nnd | any other suitable place to conduct hls ] business in until the first floor Of his own building is finished, Most of the contractors are liable to a per diem ] forfeit for every day the work is un- ! finished after certain date and If the owners try to collect this there will be 1 n row between the contractors and the 1 owners. Tn some instances the per diem is pretty high and if building 1 should run month or so over the time | limit the bill would amount to cons 1 siderable. Usually some difficulty lS | experienced in collecting such moneys l for the contractors generally can show where they had to make some slighd | changes or had been hindercd m some manner on account of the owner and un. l less such things are provided Tor Ill an | additional clause in the original con- tract the builder has the upper hand on l .he owner.
 1 No matter what way one views the l situotion it looks like bad mess all around. All parties concerned should
 get together and fix things up go thau fhe men will return to work. Every idle day means the loss of vast sum 1 of money to everybody, the laborer as well as others. The public IS inter- ested too and as the questions involved do not amount to a great deal, those who are trying to look at it from ah impartial standpoint say they see no reason why 1t cannot be adJusteu pes | fore if leads to anything serious. Things are practically at standstil in the building business about the ce1 l fer and very little in that line IS beiIz done anywhere about town. Abouf l dozen men are at work in the cellar inc old Masonic temple. Some