The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-02-05
HOPES OF UNION
MEN SHATTERED
Electrical Workers Thought They
Had Won Fight.
FENT0N CHAN ID HIS MIND
REFUSED TO GRANT DEMANDS
OF THE STRIKERS.
:ENTON CHAN % HIS MIND

Tho strikers from the electrical SUN
,-v houses. were jubilaut Yesterday
lrsrng0n. in the anticipation of an
.ssiIv gained victory, when Manager
sgmue. Fenton of the Intermount3in
rIsctri.s company announced his in
-s1ti0l of agreeing to the union con-
--7t lur their hopes were severely
s5gk,n last night when Mr.. FentOT
cain announced that he had recon
.i5ered the matter, and would stand
e-mly Jy the Contractors association.
Mr.. FentOn was induced to look ia
yoraby upon the union contract by a
.r9ieu influx of work which reouiref
skilled labor, but when his attention
has called 20 certain portions Of the
.artract which he had overlooked he
.rmpdi7tely -"turnec to the position
he took upon the matter at first. Last
night the contractors met. and all ex-
,.-sssed their determination to stand by
.5e- position as taken at the first
meeting.
Contractors Were Alarmed.
When it became known yesterday
afternoon that Mr.. FentOn mad agreed
20 meet the demands of the union
there Has a decided stir among the
contractors who looked upon II as an
Indication that they would either have
10 come 20 terms, too. or wage a ham
deaDped battle. Some of the contrac-
tors were considerably surprised. ana
Efforts were mad 20 get Mr.. Fenton TO
reconsider the matter. Mr. FentOn.
when seen about the stand he had
akeu. said.
yes ! had to weaken. The fact is.
f0urd myself IN 2 sudden rush OF
work. and my patrJns, who were in
hurry for their work to be done. were
Jumping on me and refusing TO accept
work not done by skilled men. As a
consequence I had to do something.
and ] just notified the boys who left
here that Z would meet the demands of
she union, and told them to come back
60 work tomorrow.
The word soon spread among she
mi0n men and they were greatly
pleased. expressing themselves as con
slant that the battle was almost won,
arguing that if one big firm signed
the contract, the others would have to
lose their trade 10 the house that did.
VIII Stand Firm.
Nothing daunted by the sudden
change of things. the contractors Gained
a meeting for last night. and in the
meantime some of the members of the
institution called the attention of Mr.
FentCn 10 portions of the contract that
are even more Objectionable to the
proprietors than the wage matter.
After recons' iering the matter. Mr..
Fenton stated that under the press of
circumstances he had overlooked these
portions Of the contract which he could
not and would not agree to. He then
announced his intention Of standing by
the association and against the strIk-
ers.
iast night the meeting called by the
contractors was held in the office of the
salt Lake Electrical Supply company,
snd al present announced their inten-
ton Of remaining firm by the stand
they had taken.
Despite Mr.. FentOn's reconsideration
OF his favorable attitude towards the
union, the strikers are sill confident of
Sliccess in the end. The union men were
thoroughly aroused over the claim OF
some contractors that the union WAS
made up largely Of ''6cabs." The union
men declare that there is not a scaD
100 the union, and thew are willing to
show the records Of every man to prove
H. The most Of the members, they
claim, have been here only a year or
more. and none of them have learned
inelr trades working in the place of
striker.