United labor bulletin., 1910-04-15
BANNER CITY FOR
UNION BARRIERS
More Than 100 Places Display
the Shop Gard of Journey
men BARRIERS Union.
by Frank J. Pulver)


small charter list to membership
of nearly 400.
More than 100 of the best barber
shops in Denver now display the
shop card of the Journeymen BARRIERS
International Union of North Amer
lea and employ only members of
No. 2o5.
Former General Secretary w. E.
kIapetzky of the BARRIERS Interna-
tionaI, at the time of the Denver
convention of the American Fedora
ton of Labor, informed the writer
that Denver was the best "Shop
Card town of its size in the United
States. When asked how he ac-
counted for this happy condition of
affairs in his craft in this city, the
gentleman replied: "Our Denver
local is one of the largest and best
in the entire jurisdiction; its mem
bership has always been conserva-
tive and business-iike-they believe
in fair play; that the man who meets
the payroll has certain rights that
should be respected-hence, amicabIe
relations have existed and grown be-
tween the employers and Journey
men, until today the best shops in
the city employ our men and display
our shop card"
Mr.. Klapetzky paid compliment to
the rank and file of the trades unionists
of Denver, and declared their loyalty to
the various union labels and shop cards
had also been a great help to the BARRIERS
of this city.
The growth of the Denver local has
only been in keeping with the growth of
the BARRIERS International. Eight years
ago the International had a total MEM
Dership of 1900. in about 500 locals To-
day the organization has over 10000
more than GOO locals and $780,
600 in its treasury.
The Denver local was organized March
"a, 1900. by that old war-horse in the
Colorado labor movement, Ed Anderson,
at that time of Cripple Creek, now assist
ant superintendent of the Colorado free
employment office in Pueblo.
Previous to the organization of No. 205,
BARRIERS in Denver were working exclu-
sfvefy under the percentage pfan-6o- per
cent.-and practically every shop had
more journeymen than it had work for,
because, under the percentage plan. no
guaranty of any stated salary had to be
nation, a journeymen barber in Denver
prior to the organization of the union
was considered fortunate if his end of
the percentage plan footed up SO per
week. Now the BARRIERS have a reason
able guaranty from their employers and
a liberal percentage on all work done
over certain amount, which makes
them among the better paid trades union
lists of the city.
1t is not in the matter of wages alone
that the BARRIERS have benefited since the
of No. POS. BARRIERS of Denver
worked all sorts of hours-any-
where from IL to 16 per day. and seven
days per week. They now enjoy a 10
hour day and Sunday closing
The Sunday closing law, however, was
not gained without a struggle. The jour-
neymen, assisted by some of the fair
employers, secured the passage of city
ordinance prohibiting barber shops from
remaining open on Sunday Litigation
Immediately followed. Test cases were
made, the BARRIERS union fighting the
case through all the judicial branches
from police court to the supreme court
of Colorado. In each instance the consti-
tutionality of the law was upheld and
the journeymen were finally victorious
in the highest court OF the state. Thus
the BARRIERS of Denver-union and nom
union-were emancipated from Sunday
labor in the shops, the union men, as
usual, paving the way for better condi-
tions for the nonunionists of their craft
the union men bearing the expense.
and the nonunionists. drone-like hanging
back, SO as to be free and Independent"
and profiting at the expense of the more
progressive.
To the aggressive members of the Dem
yer local is largely due the passage OF
the so-called BARRIERS license law. and
the securing of the signature of the gov
ernor thereto. The law is principally a
sanitary measure, and was entitled to the
support at all times of those interested
in healthful conditions in the common
wealth. For nine years the members OF
No. POS worked increasingly for this law.
At first they were alone; later the bar
bers' union of the state and many fair
employers came to their assistance. In
the Fifteenth General Assembly the bill
was successfully piloted through both
branches of the state Legislature, oniy
to be vetoed by that matchless friend OF
the Mine Owners association. Governor
Peabody. Nothing daunted, the plucisy
BARRIERS tried Il again in the Sixteenth
General Assembly. and It was one OF the
few so-called labor measures that got
by the bunch OF union-haters that made
up a considerable portion OF the member
ship OF the two houses of the aptiy
termed "snly sixteenth" But the ami
able preacher-goyernor Chancellor Buch-
81 al l,.fs Iah ri nm