Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1907-08-17
SYMPATHETIC STRIKE.
Wrong In Principle and lnef-
feCtuaI In Practice.
OPPOSED BY THINKING MEN.
Weakens Cause of Organized Labor by
Accusing Hostile Public Sentiment.
Position of the Typographical Union
on This Subject.

! Position of the Typographical Union
on This Subject.
| The cause of union labor is always
weakened by calling into play the
sympathetic strike. In Birmingham,
Ala, early last month the street car
employees were locked out, and in or
der TO show its sympathy the central
labor body ordered a strike of all the
union men in the city. This call was
not responded to very literally, and
the Jackson (NIiss.) Daily News de-
clareS the union men exhibited their
good sense and theories as follows
by taking the methods pursued by the
International Typographical union as
an example:
/ "As the News sees it, the sympathetic
strike is weak dependence, for it
does more to array sentiment against
it than any other thing. 1t this con-
nectiOn it is we'll to note the advanced
position taken on this subject by the
! International Typographical union.
This body of highly intelligent men
have come to the conclusion that there
is no justice in the sympathetic strike,
and there has been none in this organi-
zation since the printers struck in New
Orleans out of sympathy for the team
sters about sixteen years ago. The
newspapers are immune from sympa-
thetic strikes.
''Take the case of the Daily News.
| 1t has a contract direct with the local
| union which is signed by the officers
Of the union and the management of
the paper. This contract guarantees to
the men that they shall receive so much
pay for so many hours work and no
one except a member of the typograph-
zeal union shall be employed in the
mechanical department Of the News.
1t would be manifestly unjust for the
| News employees to go on q strike be-
cause, say, for instance, the car men
could not get what they wanted.
1.-THE International Typographical
union has always stood for the sacred
ness of its contracts, and to this may
be attributed in large measure the
great success that has attended this
union. The publishers know that the
union is going to live up to its con-
tracts no matter what troubles other
employers may have with other unions
Printers are opposed to sympathetic
strikes, not because they do not SYM
pathize with their fellow workers in
their troubles, but because they are
wrong. They infiict hardships on
others They make one man bear the
burdens of another's shortcomings.
'The fiasco at Birmingham will prob
ably put the sympathetic strike out OF
business. The sympathetic strike SIM
ply means that contracts are to be
| violated at will, and union leaders rec
ognize that if they are to inspire conf
dence for their organization it is in
cumbent on them to live up to their
contracts. There is probably no more
intelligent or better conducted labor
organization in the world than the In
ternational Typographical union. 1t
conducts it's strikes without riOting or
bloodshed. All the great newspapers
of the country have contracts with the
union, and any differences that may
arise are arbitrated. 1t is the rareSt
thing in the world for big newspaper
to have a strike on its hands, and this
is in no small measure due to the fact
that the publishers recognize that the
International Typographical union Of
hcers will call down local union if it
is wrong and insist on the performance
of any lawful contract made.
"Those who are opposed to unions
have not read Alright the signs of the
times. The unions have come to stay.
They have done great work for their
members, and they are not crude, as
they once were. There have come to
the union leaders recognition Of the
rights of others and a desire to live
I'D to any contracts made in the name
Of the union. In all the advanced
movement made by labor leaders the
tprinters have really been the pioneers.
They have but recently won great
victory against the United TypOthetae
OF America, which is composed of the
leading Job printing offices in the coun-
try. One by one these offices have been
unionlzed and the eight hour day es-
tablished, and this without any exhibit
ton OF brutality on the part of the
union men. The sympathetic strike
will have to go because it is un-Ameri-
can. 1t makes innocent parties suffer
for sins they have never committed
1 and violates the great principle OF
square deal
'sThe News has always been friendly
to union labor, employs nothing but
union men in its plant and is always
glad to record the triumphs Of unionism
along right lines. 1t is glad to know
that only a few union men in Birming-
ham responded to the strike call"
Seamen and Lonqshoremen Agree.