Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury [Connecticut]) 1903-1917, 1904-05-09

The strike Of the carpenters and join
ers and h0dcarriers is still on with no
prospect OF a settlement in the near
future. The rain interfered with out
of door work to such an extent that
practically nothing was done to-day
and no idea could be had of what
there might have been doing under ia
vorable conditions. The bricklayers
and masons say they are not on strike
and have no quarrel with their en-
ployers. To be sure, some of them
want to throw down the gauntlet to
the bosses on account OF their attitude
towards the hodcarriers but others
look at the question differently and
from all accounts most OF them will
not remain away from work IL they
cap help it. Some of the hodcarriers
claim that they are not getting a
square show In the published state
ments regarding their position and one
OF them comes forward with the fol-
lowing announcement:
1T Is not true that the hodcarriers
do not know why they are on strike
and 1t also does MS an injustice to say
that w0 went out without passing a
vote to that effect at a regularly warm
ed meeting. 1t is not true, either,
that the president is not aware OF why
We refused to work and it is libel to
charge us with demanding $2.25. Three
months ago We notified the Master
Masons' association Of what we want
ed after May / OF this year. They
say they did not receive the contract,
but if this be true some Of us would
like to have them tell us how they
kDeW long ago what it contained.
There was nothing new in our prop0-
sition. All the pay we asked was
what we had last year, So a day, or
twenty live cents an hour for work
day Of eight hours. They would sign.
agree to work with non-union men,
bricklayers. We refused to do this,
and after talking the matter over at a
big meeting with John Tracy in the
chair, voted unanimously to quit. The
bosses claim that we have asked lot
OF new things this year. This is not
So We were satisfied with the old
conditions. They are putting it around
that they cannot discuss anything with
us because Of our ignorance of the
English language. This is a gross
Misrepresentation There are men in
our society who can talk the English
language just as good as any of the
bosses, but they wouldn't give them a
hearing They are also trying to turn
public sentiment against us by calling
us q band of Italians. What il we
are. Ii they carry their point with
us the next move viii be to down the
bricklayers and they won't hesitate to
push them aside for love of their race.
When the hodcarriers go down ana
out it will be short time before you
hear something drop among the brick
layers and masons.'
This is practically all the man had
to say and his side of the case would
have been printed before dc it could
have been found. 1t may be true for
all the reporter who gathered 1t in
knows, but 1t is certain that the bosses
deny good deal OF 1T, so it remains
for readers to draw their own conclu-
sions. The hodcarriers are very con-
fident of winning and claim that the
contractors will grow weary training
men, even though they succeed in get
ting them at anywhere from so cents
to S1.25 per day. The bricklayers
gave the shodcarriers big lift a
couple OF years ago when they re-
mained out long enough to enable
them to win their fight with the boss
es, but itNseems that they were allied
forces at that time. while to-day
neither is under obligation to do any
thing for the other, the old contract
having expired
The Bricklayers' and Masons' union
will hold special meeting tonight to
consider the strike situation. An Of
fetal from out of town is here and
much interest Is centered in the out
come of to-night's session.
The carpenters and joiners don't
seem to be worrying over the outcome
They find no trouble in securing posi-
tions elsewhere and it is thought that
it will be difficult to get men TO come
here to fill their places. A few days
more and people will know more
about this matter. eft is not a ques-