Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-05-26
A TIE-UP PROMISED.
Government and Union Labor at Odds
 Over Battleship.

Over Battleship.
 There promises to be a tie-up on
 the battleship Connecticut, now under ] construction at the Brooklyn navy l yard, on account of the. refusal of me- chanics and others to accept the piece work scheme recently put into force by the navy department. The officials at Washington are somewhat provoked at the frequent troubles they have had with labor organizations in Brook. lyn, writes correspondent at the cap
 ital, and are not inclined to yield to the present controversy, while the la- Dor unions appear to be equally de- termined on carrying their point. Admiral Bowles, chief of the bur- eau of construction and repair, has been in scraps with labor unions be- fore and he has made up his mind that the only way to deal with them is to lay down policy and stick to it to the bitter end He has made up his mind that the interests of the govern
 ment will be best served by having some of the work in Brooklyn done by the piece system. The department formally approved his proposition and it was put into operation. Admiral Bowles is prepared to submit to some inconvenience, if necessary, in order to carry out his plans. Instructions have already been sent to Constructor Capps to exhaust the eligible list in getting substitutes for those who refuse to accept piece work, and then advertise for outside men if necessary.
 Acting Secretary Darling was at first not very favorably inclined to- ward the piece work system, but he was finally convinced that it was a good thing, and he now proposes to give it a fair trial. It is certain that the department will not abolish the piece work system until after full trial. For some time being the depart ment proposes to go ahead regardless of the displeasure of the labor unions, so it will probably be some little time before a crisis is reached.
 One of the officials of the navy de
 partment made the following state- ment to the correspondent regarding the present and recent troubles at the Brooklyn yard: "The labor unions he said, are apparently blind to the fact that they are gradually getting into disrepute with the department, and that this has already had an effect in the distribution of work by which the Brooklyn yard has suffered materially. The department has re- gently adopted the practice of sending warships to private yards for repair work. Ignoring the navy yards. This was done with the battleship Maine and also with the Olympia, both of which were sent to the Newport News Shipbuilding Co.'s plant for some i'm. portant repair work that was needed in hurry. It was formerly the cus tom to have all work of this character done at the navy yards, and Brooklyn has heretofore been looked upon as one of the best stations available for this purpose.
 "But the fights over there in con- nection with the employment of non- union men in the installation of the travelling crane for the battleship Con- necticut created bad impression at the department. This was augmented by the more recent trouble over the rejection of the piece work system If this thing Is carried along much further it will only be a question of time before the navy yard will have to cut down on its force on account of lack of work. The men at the yard should take notice of these warnings and come to some sort of an agreement with the department"
 Officers who helped frame the wage scale for the men on piece work on the Connecticut say that it is as liberal as any in effect at private plants. They declare that an energetic laborer can earn double his pay and that it is just in every respect. The officers of the Boiler Makers and Iron Ship Build CTS of America who called on Assistant Secretary Darling in regard to the piece work.