The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1903-07-25
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Cincinnati, Ohio is one Of the very


few cities Of the country where the
trades unionist work hardd and INTEL
1igently to secure the cooperation Of
the employers by making the union
label on products something Of value
to the manufacturer as we'll as to the
factory employee. The shirt waist and
laundry workers are among the most
persistent workers along this line, and
they are now embarking on a cam
paign which promises a good deal,
both for the trades unions and the
factories in which the unionists are
employed. The shirt waist and laun-
dry workers are nearly all young wo-
men, and they have a union Of about
$50 members. Miss Nora Combs is the
president Of the organization, and Miss
Mary Reynolds, a very capable young
woman, is State organizer, much Of
the progress attributed to the union
in this city and stateabeing due to- her
organizing: ability and clear common
ons 81 the Obstacles Il Whtch the ui1 81 81
has to overcome Iii this city IL the
competition in shirt waist making by
various charitable and II philanthropic
institutions. In these institutions shirt
waists for women are made for IS
cents a dozen, which Is about one
half the scale paid by employers Of
union labor, says the Times Star. OF
course, this places the union employer
at serious disadvantage, as he must
compete with the employer who puts
his work out in the institution fac
tories at prices greatly below those
which the union employer must pay.
There are nearly three hundred wo-
men and young girls thus employed
about the city, this, number bling
equal to the entire number of women
shirt visit and laundry workers in
town. A committee Of the union re-
Gently visited one Of these institutions
to make Enquiries about the business.
They were kindly received and the
answers to their inquiriese were such
as to indicate that the managers Of the
institutions had no idea of the injury
they were working to the hundreds
of girls and women in this city who
must depend for tl1tetr own sustenance
upon shirt waist. making at prices
which furnish them only a bare sus-
tenance.
In one Of the institutions it was
| learned that contract had been made
which had five years to run, and al
prices for each garment which not
even the hardest working employe
| could hope to compete with. AS an
| instance Of the hardship worked, in
these cases, it is related of one man
| ufacturer that he cut the price of max
ing cuffs - cents per dozen pairs, Just
| one-half, saying that he could have
| the work done in the institutions al
| that price, and that he could not com
! pete wit the other manufacturers who
were having work done in them
| To overcome thdse conditions thu
| girls Of thte union (for nearly all OF
them are such) propose to begin com
paign in which the demand for thu
union label shall be the object sought
Said Miss Reynolds: If we can &c,
| the women Of Cincinnati awakened t
the conditions which govern the max
ing Of shirt waists here, I am sure
we will be able to get better wages
and SO give self-supporting wages an6
| self-reliant lives to the girls in the
| business, The most that is being paiG
| anywhere in the town 10 at two union
shops, where STA day is the scale.
| This is the best these factories seen
to be able to do under the conditions
they have to meet in the competition
Of the: Institution contract work. W.
| are going to visit influential groups o
women and tell them the condition
under which we work, and see II the,
| won't help us by spreading the ide
Of asking for, and insisting upon hav
ing, shirt waists with union labels at
tached to them. In the East the wa
ges are much better thanrere, and es
where $12 g week is the scale in gen
eraI eUect.a If $".,> ::> : = IT,: I
Then in the Eastern factories tn
impro vements and "a ilities are sue
that much faster work can: BE & don
there than can be done here The en-
i ployers make It hard both for them
] selves ana sfor III AZ our END eavors I
zzIIsssecure Twins ~ B by tho attitud
5IIIthey0 dopt 81 zls. ~
Ss|fspends rYer shop
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