The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1903-08-15
LABOR TROUBLES
IN MINNEAPOLIS
UNION LABORERS ARE OUT FOR
INCREASE IN WAGES.
Attempt Made to Put Non. union Men
to Work With Poor Success-Un-
ion Controls Situation.

Minneapolis, Aug. 13-(special to the
Labor .World)-The strike Of the build
ing laborers is still on, and, with the
exception Of a few buildings, little
change is as yet noticeable in the sit
uation.
The greatest change noticeable any
where is at the federal building, where
work, early yesterday morning, was
going briskly on. The contractors ad
vertised in the newspapers for men as
soon as the union men quit work, and
twenty-five non-union laborers are re-
ported to have been employed yester-
day morning.
Union men continue as determined
and as full Of hope as ever. They
mustered strong yesterday at Alexan-
der's hail. where the work of initiation
of new members continues. The total
initiation yesterday is reported as
sixty. The officers estimate the pres
ent strength of the union at between
$50 and 700, with about 600 Of these
at present in the city.
Union men generally remain non
committal as to what action other
unions will take. President Davis of
the Building Laborers' union said, how
ever: "We will try it by ourselves first.
I am not saying what will happen if
that fails. 1t will be time enough to
cross that bridge when we come to it.
We have the strong sympathy of all
the other unions. Our union is
strong international organization, and
we have got good financial backing"
Union men all talk hopefully, point
iYp To 1o 80
the laborers in New York early in the
year, and their complete success.
Two contractors are reported at union
headquarters to have signed the agree
ment. They are S. M. Klarquist and
Joseph Knoblaugh. Another is said to
have expressed his intention of sign
ing.
The men express themselves as very
well satisfied with the general situa-
tion. The building at which conditions
are least satisfactory to them is the
East Side power house, where a crew
somewhere near the normal is at work.
The men claim that between 500 and
600 men are out, and the contractors
say that they will have no trouble in
securing men at the wages they pay
s. day. .sss;.<&> T.: -. ..:.;..: =; .r&::
The reals1s cause OF thestrikes is..sonree
81 the 1abo men ins stlle
city generally, ana was stated concisely
by one of the striking workmen yester-
day.
I'VE are striking" he said "because
we are not now getting what is a. fair
living wage. We have been getting
$3.50 a day, and this will not 20 very
far when a man has a family to SUD-
port.
Men in our trade cannot work as
many days in the year as those in most
of the others, and when all of the Sum
days, holidays, rainy days and those
on which the cold weather makes it Inn
possible to work at our trade are taken
out of the 365, you will find that about
ESQ working days are left. This at 81. 80
per day makes just $3.50, and in these
days it is pretty hard to keep a family
on that amount.
"A man cannot rent four good rooms
for his family for less than 50 per
month and this makes $1OS for the wear.
With a wife and a family of three
children. which is about the average for
| a 1aboring man, it is hard to keep the
grocery bill under $40 month and this
amounts to- s24o for the year, making
for rent and groceries total of s34S
out of the $3.50.
"This leaves $102 out of which to nav
meat bills, wood and coal bills, shoe
bills, clothing bills, school book bills
and the hundred little incidental ex-
penses which are always staring man
in the face.
1T keeps mans nose to the grind
stone all of the while, and it gives him
little time to cultivate any love for
home, God or country while he is work