The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1909-04-26
BY PETER POWER

tween labor and capital on the
Great Lakes is now under way.
The Lake Carriers association
composed of all the large vessel
owning interests, headed by the
Pittsburg Steamship Co., a subsi.
diary concern of the United States
Steel corporation, has delivered it's
ultimatum that no association of
labor will be recognized or dealt
with, that employees will be dealt
with as individuals and that they
must sign a document pledging
them to refrain from acting col
lectively or in sympathy with one
another to adjust grievances.
In other words, the open shop
has been made the issue in this
contest.
The spokesman for the Lake Car
riers' association deny that they
are attempting to destroy the
unions, but the men point out that
| the establishing of so called
welfare plan" is meant to serve
as a substitute for the union bene-
| fits. Thus the vessel owners pro-
pose to pay employees a small in
surance in case of death or total
| disability, while in the service,
ranging from SIS to seaman or
his beneficiaries, to $500 to 4 chief
engineer. In case of shipwreck
and loss of their personal property
seamen are to receive $50 and Of
ficers $50.
Assembly or club rooms are be-
ing established at all principal
ports to take the place of the pres
ent union rooms, where employees
may loaf while waiting for jobs.
These club rooms will be provided
with soap and towels, newspapers,
assessed s 1-3 cents per month and
officers somewhat more for these
| benefits.
But the men of the lakes and
along shore are defiant. They de-
clare that under no circumstances
will they work under the conditions
| imposed by the vessel owners: that
to do so would be signing the
death warrant of their unions,
which have required years of eff
fort to build up, and through which
many improvements in their liveli,
hood have been obtained.
In all probability some 10000
men will be directly involved in
this contest by the time the naviga.
ton season is in full swing. AS
many more employed on and along
the rivers and oceans who are aftil.
lated with the men of the lakes will
also be affected in the matter of
extending moral and financial sup
port. 1t is not at all improbable
that upward of $4,000 transfers,
railway freight handlers and others
may be drawn into this struggle, II
neither side recedes, and finally
that the entire machinery of the
American Federation of Labor
numbering 100000 workers, viii!
be set in motion.
For several months the Lake
Carriers association has been di
recting it's batteries against the
Marine Engineers Beneficial asso
citation, numerically the smallest OF
the lake unions, but the most com
pactly organized, and it's members
are the most skilled and best paid
of the workers who sail Several
weeks ago the Pittsburg Steamship
Co. and several other large inter
ests succeeded in creating break
in the ranks of the engineers, a
hundred odd withdrawing from the
union and signing the open shoE
contract However, quite few
have since repudiated their con
tracts and returned to the union
fold, and it is now claimed that the
vessel owners have less than IL
per cent of engineers signed up
and therefore are nearly helpless
The firemen, oilers and water
tenders, credited with being the
most militant of the marine organ
izations, have followed the engi
neers, declaring a general strike
against the contract system. Other
affiliated unions are on the point
of throwing their forces into the
fight.
That this war between labor and
capital will prove costly one is
undoubted, but many of the union
officials, while sincerely anxious to
avoid it, believe it will not prove
an unmixed evil. For a number OF
years the marine unions have been
at loggerheads. Now with a com
mon enemy to fight they argue that
they must get together and present
a solid front, and that is what is
happening. #
| Another feature that the labor
officials believe is in their favor Is
the object lesson that will be
taught the public relative to the
entertainments of the United
States Steel corporation, which not
only seeks to domineer in iron and