Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1908-09-10
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A new union of carpenters has been
formed at Firgues, Porto Rico.
Scottish blacksmiths are taking a vote
Of the members as to afiliation with the
English Labor party.
The Governor of Porto Rico has recon-
! mended to the Legislature law creating
labor bureau on the island
The membership of the British Pro-
vincial Association of Cotton Spinners is
is, 143, an increase of 1,641 on the year.
The Marine, 'Longshoremen and Trans
port Workers Association has decided TO
increase its per capita tax from 5 to 10
cents.
The German ironmasters threaten to
close down all iron works because of
| in wages.
San Francisco (Cal) Iron Trades
| Council will vote on proposition to Join
| the recently formed International Metal
Trades Association.
The recent Scottish Trade Union Con-
gress passed resolutions in favor of old
age pensions and in favor of compulsory
| intervention in labor disputes
The Scotch Shipbuilding Employers
| Federation and the mems union are ar
ranging for a joint agreement, and the
mems union has appointed seven we'll
known Representatives to draft a consti-
| tuition.
During June the average number en-
ployed daily at the docks and principal
| -bor ,ouIor, do
crease of 81 per cent. as compared with
a month ago, and of % per cent, as
compared with June, 1907.
The eight-hour demonstration in Bris-
| bane, Australia, recently was marked by
| the participation for the first time in the
| history of the day of organized women
workers. The new recruits represented
the Clothing Trade Female Employees
| Union.
| The officials of the International Brass
| Molders' Union. which was organized Oc
| toher, 1904, report that their member
ship has now reached 10000 in this coun-
| try. The union has established a sick
| benefit fund, and also a death and burial
| fund.
In Wheeling, w. Va, there are over
| forty stogie factories. All of them are
union shops. In them over 800 stogie
makers, all union men, are employed, and
in addition to these between 400 and 600
apprentices, not to mention the several
| hundred tobacco workers employed in
| Wheeling as result of the stogie indus
| try.
By referendum vote the various photo
engravers' unions have agreed to levy an
assessment of 50 on each member to raise
a fund that shall be used to maintain an
establishment in which members of the
trade who may be affected with tubercu-
losis may be treated. How this place is
to be established and kept up is to be de-
cided by the international body.
The United Railway Mems organiza-
| ton of the State of New York, which is
a legislative body made up of members of
| the five railroad brotherhoods, will hold
special meeting at which a resolution will
be passed demanding an amendment to
| the law creating the State and city public
service boards, providing for the appoint
| ment of a representative of labor on both
boards.
| At New Bedford, Mass, three unions
of carpenters and joiners have appointed
| committee to examine applications for
| admission into either union. The appli-
| cant must demonstrate by working out
fifteen or twenty problems with his tools,
and if he can do that he is admitted 9th
| erwise rejected. This rule has been
! adopted because of many complaints that
| membership in a union is not absolute
proof of competency.
Shoemakers were among the first of the
| trades to organize a union in this coun-
| try; also among the first to engage in
strikes. In the fall of 1892 the pioneer
| union of the shoe workers was organ
lied in Philadelphia. 1t grew to be con-
sidered power, and in 1896 a strike in
| all the shops of the city was ordered to
! enforce a demand for an increase of
| wages. 1t lasted but a few days, the
employers recognizing the demand.
The Bureau of Labor has made public
| figures gathered by an investigation of
| the principal wage working occupations
in 4,169 establishments, representing the
principal manufacturing and mechanical
| industries of the country. The data col
lCNlcus II 10 dSSCIISu. uculOuSlIdIeS uudI
| the average wages an hour in 1907 were
| 81 per cent higher than in 1906 the
| regular hours of labor a week were a
per cent lower than in 1906, and the
number of employees in the establishments
| investigated was 1 per cent greater than
| in 1906.
| A league of carpenters known as the
| Gran Liga de Carpentros has been or
ganized in the City of Mexico for pur-
poses of mutual protection The bylaws
| of the association provide that all mem
bers work to obtain full remuneration for
their services and to prevent the mem
| bers from being unfairly treated The as
| ISOLATION aims at temperance and moral
| ity among the workmen and will start a
campaign for shorter hours of work An
| important feature is that strong opposi-
ton is to be made to any difference in
| salary between foreign and native work
men. Aid will be extended to members
| and their families in cases of sickness or
death. In addition to the regular fees
| the members will, whenever necessary,
| pay strike fee for the aid and benefit
of strikers.
The movement for perfecting an ANAL
gamation of the various branches of the
| photographers unions into one central
| body will mean the merging of over 1OO,-
| 600 members of the telegraph trades into
one organization, which will have great
strength throughout the United States.
Hebrew painters of Cambridge, Mass,
have presented a signed request to the
painters district council of eastern Mas
sachusetts for a Hebrew union charter
| for that city. The question has been sub
mitted to a referendum vote of the afil-
| lated locals under the international broth
erhood law to that effect.
A resolution was adopted at the Uni
versal Peace Congress in London, Eng
| land, to invite representatives of trade
organizations to attend future peace CO..
| crosses, on the ground that the cou
of peace lay largely in the hands of the
| Lob r.rirp