Waterbury Democrat., 1903-01-10
Gives Reason for Discharge or
 Employees of Trolley Co:
THE UNION ACTS QUICKLY.

Document Presented to Company
 Men Want 1t Signed-It Calls for
 Reinstatement of Discharged Men
 William Barrett, One of the Dis charged Men, Makes Statement The difficulty between the local management of the Connecticut Rail- way and Lighting Co and their eln- ployes looks more serious to-day than lit did yesterday. At the meeting jheld by the men yesterday morning at |2 o'clock they appointed q committee to present their side of the case to General Manager Sewell, but he was not in town and not until late yester- Iday afternoon did they get a chance 1 to present their communication. By that time AIr Sewell had written the board of directors of the company and he declined to see the committee. Had he not written the directors, he would have seen the committee. But having done so he considered that further ac- tion rested with the directors; the whole situation as it was then was before them and the ship was in their hands.
 The communication which the men had for MT Sewell is as follows: 1. Recognition of the union. 2. The reinstatement of Will liam Barrett, John Kelly, Edward Ma 1oney and A. w. Light, discharged men.
 3. A ten-hour day at 221s cents per hour for all regular and extra men. 4. Snow blow work 30 cents per hour; car barn men 20 cents per hour. 5. All extra men shall be paid reg ular scale of wages for reporting at car barns until released.
 G. All men failing to report to barn to take out their cars shall report for duty at central office at 9:3O a. m. and at D. m, to be paid only for work done.
 '. All men employed by this com pany shall become members of our un- ion within 30 days.
 8. In all cases where men are dis charged sthezsupe tendent shall al low conference with the grievance committee.
 From the above it is to be seen that the breach has been widened; tl~t more is involved than the reinstate- ment of the discharged men, William Barrett, president of the union, John ID. Kelly, Edward Maloney, minor of Ificers of the union, and A. w. Light MT Sewell, who by the way is very popular with the men, is quoted as saying that the men were not dis loI,o oP fhniYs accaoiQfiOYl with the union, but because they dis Iobeyed the rules of the company by going into "a saloon during working hours and while they were in uni form He said that few evenings ago he was called up by telephone and Ia complaint made to him that three men in uniform were drinking in a certain saloon and that one man left his car, joined them in drink and then returned to his car. He investi- gated this report and found it to be true. Two of the men are among those discharged. MT Sewell intend led giving the men going over," but they did not show up, whereupon he sent an inspector around to their houses. The inspector found that one man had not returned. Both men, he claimed, had been warned ire quently before. MT Sewell denies en- phaticalIy that because the men be- long to the union wast the reason of their being discharged. He favors the union and feels confident that men are made better workmen by such organizations. He said that he was informed that of the 142 union men only B attended the meeting at which the above communication was drawn up.
 As for the provisions of the commun- ication, MT Sewell said he had no ob- jection to the men being in the union He did not favor the sixth paragraph, because he said if such was allowed men could report at the barn at all hours.
 At meeting of the Central Labor union last evening William Barrett was present and 1t was voted to stand by the trolley men and the above communication. A committee was appointed to cndeavor to effect q set clement, consisting of John Daly, Will liam Doucette, John F. Hackett, WIT liam Donahue and A. B. Cross
 Some time ago the company adver- tised in tLa New York Sun the most bitter enemy in the country to organ ized labor, for twenty-five men. This is looked upon as an attempt to grad ually undermine the four years men, that is, those who have reached the highest grade in pay, twenty one cents an hour. The men say that the com pany is ''breaking in' new men every day, men who never saw a trolley car Tor a piece of machinery until they came here, not au of them. of course, but most of them, so that the average man on the company's pay roll re- ceives only eighteen cents an hour, the lowest grade.
 W. J. Barrett, one of the discharged men, who is also president of the To- cal branch of the ,Amalgamated Asso- citation of Street Railway Employes, was asked to-day if he had anything to offer with reference to what Gen eral Manager J. E. SeIKell had been quoted as saying about this matter. He said: T have not much to say at this time in answer to General Man.