The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1913-04-10
BIG GRANITE STRIKE
IN ABERDEEN, SCOT.
goo Cutters Employed by 65 Firms Quit
Work April /, 1t Being the First
Strike in Over Thirty
Years.

! Word has been received of biz
strike in the granite-cutting industry
Aberdeen, Scotland, it being the ~
strike there in over thirty We ~ y
therefore, causing very gre ~ .est
| Ii will also be of marked - lest tc
granite cutters in Barre and other gran
| ite centers, because many cutters here
| learned their trade in the shops of Aber'
deem, and others have relatives employed
there
About 900 cutters quit work on April
|, they having been employed by sixty
five firms. The contention is over hours
of employment aud wages, the cutters
asking an increase of three cents an
hour and an S-hour day instead of nine
hours, as at present. 1t is understood
that the employers offered them an III
crease of one cent an hour. The wages
in Aberdeen are less than one.half the
wages in Barre, which is one reason, in
addition to the strike, why many of the
900 cutters are reported to have left
Aberdeen for Barre and other granite
centers in the United States. Still 9TH
ers are reported to have gone to Corn
wall, England, where granite cutting is
carried on. Both sides in Aberdeen are
reported in the newspapers there to be
determined to stand their ground. In
addition, 400 polishers have gone out in
sympathy.
At the present time, the granite-cut-
ting industry in Barre is such that it
can employ a considerable number of
the Aberdonians as soon as they can
come.
Employers Take Gloomy View.
The employers take very gloomy
view of the situation as revealed in the
following from the Aberdeen Evening
Express:
''The employers intend to resist the
demand Of the men for all they are
worth. There was firm agreement be-
tween the two associations that, should
there be dispute, it should be settled
by arbitration and not by strike, and
that agreement has been honorabIy mp
held for years. This time last year
the men made a demand for rise. The
masters would not agree to it, but both
sides agreed to arbitration, and the men
got I'D of arise instead of the Id they
In January this year the oper-
atives put i'm a demand for an increase
of l1ad per hour. We refused and they
then modified their demand to Id to
take effect on LIST April. We offered to
have the matter settled by arbitration,
but the men would not agree, and init |
mated that ii they did not get Id of an
by lst April they would strike !
"The state of trade does not Justify |
the increase demanded. Meantime we
are in competition with other places, |
Cornwall. where the rate |
If wages is lower and the stones can /
De supplied at a lower rate for the I
English market than we can touch i'll /
he meantime. Another thing is that /
hey are beginning to make monuments /
n Sweden and send them over here at I
,rices we cannot look at. In the Amer
can trade there is very narrow mar
sin OF profit, because we have a heavy
luty to pay, and if prices are raised in
he American market it would simply
hut MS out of that market entirely 1t
S really for the good of the trade that
We are resisting this demand. If we
we're able to pay the men Id more. we
hould be delighted to do it. but with
he competition that we have to meet
I II hILCIiN lHiposstuip- IL Ihe ubnaHU
5 persisted in, Aberdeen will lose the
ranite trade. because seven -eighths of
he granite worked in Aberdeen comes
rom Norway and Sweden, and Swedish
tone is now being imported at Corn
rail- and manufactured there 1t is not
ecessary to have the headquarters of
in Aberdeen. Most of our
,cal quarries have shut down because
eople prefer the foreign stone, which
as better variety of color.
"Off to Oldmill."
"It is over 80 years since we had
trike in the monumental trade, and it '
a pity that the agreement as to arbi-
ration should now fall through ! I'M
erstand that the poiishers are also to
e called out, but we do not much care \
,r that, as in any case it would be 5
npossible for the polishers to continue 5
ng at work if the granite-cutters were c
n strike, and we might Just as well y
nut shop and go off to Oldmill" a
MONTPELIER NATURALIZATION v