Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1907-08-09
OPERATORS STRIKE
GETTING SERIOUS
All Western Union Chicago Men
Quit Work and Business is
Tied Up
RESULT OF LOS ANGELES ROW
Strike Expected to Spread to All Large
Offices Of the country-operators
Refused to Handle Los Angeles Bus-
ness, Were Discharged and Walk Out
Followed.

Chicago, Aug. 9.--A strike that may
spread to all the large Western Un-
business for a time, was inaugurated
in Chicago at midnight. when 965 tele-
graph operators in the Chicago office
of the Western Union were ordered out
by the executive council of the Com
mereial Telegraphers' Union of Amer
lea.
Seventy overland operators had gone
out on strike at ii O'Clock following
the adoption of resolutions passed at a
meeting of the union in Chicago in
sympathy with the operators who are
now on strike at Los Angeles, Cal.
ators in the city will abandon their
keys before night, and the strike which
was recently averted will be on In full
force.
The action of the meeting in passing
the resolution. and the determination
of the men to leave their work, We're
brought about by repeated demands
which had been made on the men dur
ing the evening to transmit messages
to The. office of Los Angeles, where
the strike is in effect.
One by one they refused, and one
by one they were sent home by their
oh i,,t bn tato IN WhaY,
the resolutions were read and passed
at the meeting last night immense en-
thusiasm spread thru the gathering
and thirty-tive operators Of overland
wires, who had not yet been called
upon by their bosses to take a stand.
arose and declared their intention of
quitting.
At 1880 O'Clock last night an ulti-
matum was sent to Acting Chief Oper-
ator Price by the local executive COM
mittee giving him until midnight to
reinstate all men discharged or a gen.
eral strike would be ordered in the
city.
Resolutions Cause Of Trouble.
The resolutions which caused the
trouble follow:
whereas, Our Western Union broth
ers in Los Angeles, Cal, are out on
strike for their rights; therefore, be it
Resolved, by the executive board of
Chicago local, No. 1, c. T. U. A, the
Western Union grievance committee
That it is the sense of these
bodies that no member of this union,
any friend of union labor, or any self
respecting telegrapher should work
.har CT
and be 1t further
Resolved, That the widest possible
publicity be given these resolutions
thru the press and by such other means
as may be available"
AS a result of the action Of the oper-
ators and their dismissal by the chief
operator, it will be impossible to get
a wire thru to any point on the. coast.
Not only will Los Angeles be tied up,
but San Francisco, Seattle, Portland,
and all points on the coast will be cut
off from communication by wire.
1t is believed by the men that the
strike will rapidly become general. The
men never have been satisfied with the
settlement reached when trouble
a few weeks ago. They felt
that they got the worst of the bargain
at that time, and have been fretting at
their keys ever since.
The stand taken by the company last
night in insisting that the key men
take messages for the office where the
ment and aroused a bitter spirit of
fight in the ranks. The men are eager
to make an issue with the companies
and cannot be deferred by any inter-
ference as trivial as they consider the
last Intervention between them and
their purposes.
Caused by Woman.
The trouble at Los Angeles. which
in the local walk-out and bids
fair to involve the entire wire system
Of the country, was caused by wom-
an employed by the company as a
strike breaker at a time when trouble
was imminent.
The woman was a nonunion operator.
She was in charge of one of the bonus
wires from Los Angeles to San Fran
cisco. The men allege that they had
trouble with her from the first They
say that she was incompetenteand dis
lgreeable.
"A cOIllpldlIl WIS uIdWH up dSdlllSL
the woman by union telegraphers
working in Los Angeles and San Fran
cisco. Her part was taken by nonun-
ion employees of the company in San
Francisco In a dispute which fol-
lowed the word of the woman was ac
,epted as against the word of Paddy
Ryan, one of the operators and he was
discharged without hearing, it is
charged.
meeting was held by the indignant
union men. and the reinstatement of
Ryan was demanded.
The operators in every newspaper
office in the city left their keys at
midnight.
T;e.IIn ia CoponIete