Milford chronicle., 1903-09-18
DISCUSSED
Mine DISPUTES
BOARD Of Cancellation Resumes SeS
sions in Philadelphia
ONLY ONE DECISION RENDERED

-. -.a...-.-.-...-. -. Na-.=A= saas'.-.
philadelphia, Sept 16.-The Mine
Conrsliation Board met in this city
and took up the grievances submitted
10 them. r. C. Luther, representative
of oHerators, was unable to attend
owing to the critical illness of his aged
mother. ..
The board took up the grievances
of the mine workers in the Schuylklh
district. the principal one beinS re-
duction in working hours on Saturday.
Prior to the award Of the strike com
mission the men in the lower or
Sobuylkill region enjoyed hall hoir
dsv on the last workday OF the week
but since the award the operators nave
refused to make any distinction, with
the result that their employees nave
been OBLIGED to labor as long on sat
urdav as on other days OF the week.
It is regarded by the mine workers as
a most important question before the
hoard and their representatives
Drassed it with great vigor and will
Dress for a decision favorable to the
kmen during the session to be held to-
Ssy and tomorrow.
Y Another question which was dis
cussed is whether or not the 10 per
cent. awarded by the Strike Commits
sion shall be applied to the net or
gross earnings. While the men in
this region are not affected by these
changes. yet should a decision be
against the miners the application OF
the change will be general. In many
places IS hours constituted a weeks
work before the settlement of the late
strike, and naturally the employees
thought in the future they would work
but So hours They were surprised.
however. when notices were posted
saying that 81 hours would be consid-
cred a weeks work.
In addition to the above questions
there are many other minor coillery
disputes demanding consideration.
The board held two sessions, but
only one case was finally disposed OF.
This case related to TIE men employed
by w. B. GuntOn. owner and operator
of the Lykens Drift, at Bernice, Pa.
The employees assert that Mr.. Gunton
made a verbal promise during the
strike that if they would continue at
work he would grant them whatever
increase was gained through the strike
commission. This, they assert he has
-fnled to do. Mr Gunton denied that
so had ever made such a promise, and
the case was disposed of by the board
adopting the following resolution:
"That inasmuch as Mr.. GuntOn de-
MED that he has agreed to abide by
the decision of the anthracite strike
commission, the board Of conciliation
has no Jurisdiction"
A representative Of the miners said
that the commissions award had been
satisfactorily lived up to by the opera
tors in the main. He said:
"We are not surprised that the
operators have shown willingness to
abide by the award. We expected that
they would do So 1t is unfortunate
that the commission did not sit to in
terpret for the conciliation board some
of the disputed provisions of its find
ings, but as an umpire has been named
and accepted it is now too late for that.
Of course we cannot agree on all
points. but the miners union proposes
70 see to it that any decision that is
reached is lived up to. 1t would be a
poor organization that will not live up
to the obligations it has assumed, and
the United Mine Workers Of America
propose to prove to the country that
it is worthy Of confidence and entitled
to act directly in a representative ca
pacity for the $4,000 mine workers Of
the three anthracite districts. There
is no reason for anticipating any wide
spread trouble in the region during the
lifetime of the award at least"