Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1904-09-08
THE PROCTOR SIDE.
Circular To Trade Defends Marble
Company's Action Toward EN-


poyes.
The Vermont Marble Co. has issued
a statement to the trade relative to the
labor troubles at its works and re-
tuting some Of the charges made as to
the treatment accorded its employees.
The circular says that il employs
in Vermont about $500 men, Of whom
probably four-ffths were non-union
men in June last. 1t says there was
no complaint against wage scale or
conditions.
Some time in June stranger from
New York city called on the company
and demanded that it ''unionizea its
works, that is. employ only union men,
The company refused. A strike was
ordered July 18th and some of the
nnion employees obeyed. The largest
number who have been out any one
time is 225-93 per cent have contin-
ded at work. Now there are about
Us who have not returned to work,
a part of whom have left the vicinity
and gone to work elsewhere. All OF
the strikers who were renting houses
OF the company are still occupying
them with the company's consent.
The company claims that many OF the
strikers have said they wanted to re-
turn but dared not for tear of being
blaeklsted by the union. Aside from
10 Italian stone cutters who struck,
the trouble would not have affected
the company at all. These men were
well paid, some earning over "a day
and the average of &c in one shop who
struck was over 50 a day. These
men are kept out by fear.
Concerning the mueh-mooted ques-
ton OF the company store, the COM
pany tenement, the company accident
policy, the company hospital, etc, the
circular says -
lit is the claim of these outside man
ipulators that the men who went out
were compelled to strike because they
were only paid starvation wages, and
that their wages were all taken by the
company for rent and store accounts.
The average rent of our houses occu-
pied by the men who went out was
S5.07 per month. The tyranny of the
company's stores has been especially
dwelt upon. IL amounts to simply
this Neither the Vermont Marble
company nor its managers and own
ers have one cent OF interest in the
profits of its stores. They are run on
a cooperative basis, solely for the
convenience and profit of the employees
themselves. Their prices are reason
able and their outside sales to custom
ers, in no way connected with the
company, amount to over one hundred
thousand dollars per year. At the end
OF the year the business of each store
is settled under the supervision of a
committee of the employees. In that
settlement the company is allowed
four per cent interest on the money ii
advances Tor the conduct of the store /
and also receives an agreed |
rental for the store building, and be-
yond that 1t receives nothing either |
for general superintendent or other |
wise, but the entire profits OF the sales
both to employees and TO non-employes |
are then divided among the trading
in proportion to their trade. |
At the end OF last year there was paid |
back to the trading employees in cash
at our Proctor store 10 per cent on the |
amount of their purchases; at our
West Rutland store per cent, and at
our Center Rutland store per cent. |
This company has not one cent of
interest in whether its employees trade |
at its store OF not and is absolutely |
Indifferent thereto. Instead of the |
mems wages being eaten up by their
rent and store accounts. the tact is
that during the year ending June 30th
last, less than 3 per cent of the entire
wages of all our employees was retained |
by the company for rent. less than %
per cent of 1t went to these co-opera- |
tive stores. and over IS per cent was
paid in actual cash to our employees.
AS to the general conditions OF en-
ployment and scale OF wages of our |
employees, they are satisfactory enough |
to our men themselves to have attract |
ed to us as good and as faithful a set
of men as can be found anywhere. /
On the average our skilled employees
have been with us for many years, and
to say that they are not able or indie
pendent enough to leave if they want
to is greater SANDER to them than to
us. There are some necessary differ
ences between employment in the