The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-06-20
BENCH MEN'S
 SIDE OF STRIKE

(Continued from First Page)  ing attention to the schedule and ask ing that the employers grant their re- quests, and naming date when they would quit work if the same were not granted.
 At the time named in the circular the men quit work, no response having been received from their employers, and they are still out.
 The schedule and circular, before be- ing printed and sent out, were modified and approved by the district council, without the approval of which no ac- tion can be taken, and is considered by this council 10 be just and moderate in their demand
 Five firms of employers signed the schedule, but the firms SO signing are chiefly engaged in cabinet work, and not in making of regular housetrim.
 No reply having come from the em- ployers (with above exceptions) to the |schedule and circular, the district coun- ell called 0, meeting for June 9, at which the question was to be discussed and decided whether the Carpenters land Joiners' union, local 70, should quit work if the demands of the Bench and Mill Mems union, local Gil, were not met
 In the meantime it had been suggest ed to the business agent of the district council, J. F. Plunkett, that, as the, employers had paid no attention to thel schedule and circular sent them, 1t would be in the interest of peaceful settlement to send committee of the men to see them and ask what they proposed to do.
 This suggestion or plan was approv- led on June at large meeting and such a committee appointed Three men from the Carpenters and Joiners union, local 79, were appointed to see the employers and ask for reply to the schedule and circular, and for a conference committee of employers to meet committee of the district asso- citation and try to settle the matter Men from local 70 were put on this committee because that union had, through committees, dealt frequently and successfully with the employers.
 The committee spent three days go- ing from shop to shop and could get no satisfactory response from employers, but were referred by each of them to- the executive committee of the Inter- state Association of Master Builders, etc, of which James A. Fogarty, of New Haven, is chairman.
 The executive committees response to the committee waiting on them in behalf of the men was flat refusal to deal with the district council or 10 rec ognize in any way the Bench and Mill Mems union, local 611
 The district council has now called upon their International society to send representative to New Haven, to whom the whole matter will be submit- ted
 A strike of the 700 men of the Car penters and Joiners union is likely to result if satisfactory adjustment can not be reached, with all the resultant tie-up of the building trades, the in- convenience and loss to the public and the loss and distress to the working men and their families.
 More than half of the striking bench and mill men have found work out of New Haven, and the rest are idle and being maintained by the strike fund
 A strike is greatly deprecated by the Carpenters and Joiners' union, and the spirit of concilfation on their part and on the part of the district council in- dicates that if the employers or their committee would consent to a conference with a committee of the district council the matter might be amicabIy adjusted,
 The circular and schedule from the men deserved at least an answer. Their request for a conference is entirely req sonable and proper apparently, and their district council is their natural and proper representative, as the ex- eeutlve committee of the interstate as- sociation is the representative of the employers.
 The thinking public ought not to stand for such an attitude on the part of employers, and should hold them responsible for resulting harm to ins dustries here.
 The fact that the interstate associa- ton of employers declines to meet a committee of the district council or to recognize in any way the Bench and Mill Mems union. but docs recognize and has for a long time recognized and dealt with the Carpenters and Joiners' union, seems inconsistent.