The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1914-03-03

occupied much time tie witness pro-
ducing an interesting table pertaining
To the subject. -Four hundred an.
three employees began To work for tho
{. Il III. Mining company between hf-
teen and twenty years ago, and thej
have thirty-onc sons now employed b,
the companies; 427 began between
twenty and twenty-five years ago and
: they have siXty-three son on the pay
} roll; 49, who have been employed
from twenty-five To thirty years have
ninety sons now employed by the com
panies, and IA who We're employed
from thirty to thirty five years have
ffty-nine sons in the companys EN-
ploye; jl2 employees who have been
on the Company's pay roll from thirty
five 10 forty years have forty-four
sons working i'm the mines of the com
pany; and III men whose term OF
service is more than forty years have
tfty-seven sons at work, making a
total of 1860 who have been with the
company between fifteen and forty
five years have 344 sons who are work
ing for the company. OF the employees
at the resent time, or Of those who
have previously worked For the COM
pany. 1889 sons are now working. fif 9.
tp-six grandsons. twenty-five daugh-
ters and three granddlughters are on
the pay roll.
No "BIack List" Maintained.
Relative 10 the attitude OF the com
pany toward the ". =. Of NJ. and its
members the witness said that no one
had ever been Disseminated against
| previous To the strike because he was
a member of the federation. and no
man was ever asked If he was n union
man. MIR MacNaughton said that a
number Of moulders, carpenters. ma
chinists. engineers and others in the
company's empl0ye are union men
| He said that he never heard, rs long
as he had been connected with the
| mine. of q ''back list" He lefcrrcd
10 the much mooted subject of a com
| bination of mine operators. Hc said
! that previous to the strike the mine
managers Of the district had never
| met, and that there was no general
meeting To his knowledge of the OPP
orators until after the strike had been
declared. He added that there never
had been any concerted action along
any lines previous To July %. He told
about the first meeting of the mine
managers. which was called by Gen.
Abbey after the troops arrived. The
purpose of this meeting, he explained.
was TO give the military officials III
idea of topography of the district.
incidentally it was brought out that
If any employe quit his position in
one Of the subsidiaries ii would not
initiate against his employment i'm any
other of the mines and that ii was not
the business Of the superintendent to
inquire as To the previous employment
Of the man. The same, he said APP
piled to the branches of the c. & II.
company.
Hours of Work.
Mr.. MacNaughton said he did not
think the men had worked more than
eight hours i'm the Calumet & Hecla.
and under the new system the men
are underground a shorter time than
formerly. Part of the going and COM
ing time comes out of the eight hour
shift, and an equal part of il comes
out of the mems time. Some of the
men complained that they would rath-
er work a half shift on Saturday
and retain the old system hut tho |
trammers felt that they ought to come
up ut the sane time as the miners |
and they considered it discrimination !
In Montana, until recently, and I
think i'm Arizona they work every day |
in the year Sundays included" ne
said. The system of working shift |
on Saturdays has never been i'm force |
in the country except i'm the local |
mines. The general manager stated |
that he had never heard of any diff |
ficulty being experienced by the men
In getting their pay. The company, he
said, has no interest in any store and |
the men were free to cash their checks |
wherever they wished without loss ~
discount. The company has never di-
recty or indirectly received any profiS |
from any store, and Mr.. MacNaugh- !
ton also stated the company had nor !
issued script since the early sixties |
The system of paying in cash was
abandoned six or eight years ago and |
checks were used thereafter because
Of the greater risk and expense OF
handling the cash.
Hearing Of Grievances.
During the early part of the after
noon session Mr. MacNaughton told Of
the method of hearing grievances
from the men. This method has been
described previously Mr.. Casey show
ed a great interest in this phase of
the examination. He put this qucs-
tion:
"Do the men feel that they are i'm
tie proper atmosphere when they are
in the general managers office in maxi
ing complaint To- the man who has the
power To discharge them"
II am very democratic i'm my office"
said Mr.. MacNaughton.
Suppose" suggested Congressman
Casey, that a man with large fami-
ly, eight, ten or twelve children.
4 hnl 10 at la at. ]