The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-01-31
LOCAL BUILDING
 REV0L UTIONIzED
 BY LONG STRIKE
Demand of 60 Cents Hour by Masons Discloses Inter-
 esting History.
UNION MEN HELD
 OUT SEVEN YEARS
Old Bridgeport Firms Under mined by Non-Residents
 With Union Help.

II
 mined by Non-Residents With Union Help.
 With the formulation of a demand for 60 cents an hour by Local No. ? of the Bricklayers, Masons and PIas- l terers' International Union of Amer ! ica, at it's meeting last Monday night, I there is recalled to Bridgeporters who I have followed the labor movement closely, the history of5sa strike that I has lasted seven years and is now about drawing to a close in the victory l of the strikers.
 This strike has worked arevo1ution l in the local building trade. for it has brought about condition under (which practically all the big bui1d- ling of the city is done by concerns from outside the city. Many Bridge port builders had fought the demands fof the bricklayers for all these years. and while they have been fighting, non-resident builders had undermined ftheir trade. To-day about DO percent. | of the construction work calling for the employment of members of these allied crafts is done by out of town eoncerns, while seven years ago the instance of a nonresident contractor doing local building work was rare l indeed.
 | The strike that was called seven
 
 builders to grant the union demand for 9, $5 day of eight working hours. | A committee had arbitrated the de- mands of the strikers, and settle ment was reached with a scale of ,,$4.30 per eight hour day. The de- 1nands of the hod-carrters, an allied craft, were rejected, however, and the ibrickIayers and plasterers who at that time were affiliated with the hod-s carriers, refused to go to work. For
  cfa1ly in progress. There were about t150 men who vent on strike. In the seven years only 10 deserted the, un- lion,s and all these have now paid fines land secured reinstateme ent. Besides tE1s, men who have come here from out of town have joined the ranks of the union so that the present mem Ibership is close to 200.
 I When the builders steadily refused 1 to meet the demands of the labor un- l ion. nonresident construction com panies forged to the front, paying the l union scale, securing the cream of the crafts and steadily. undermining lthe trade of the local builders. Seven Lines Co., J. w. Davis, Tprringt l Building Co, R. H. Howes Construc- l ton Co, and the GiIlett Construct . Itien Co.,. .sweEe practieally unknown in this Ascity.s But the revolution brought, abollt st74ro rough the protract-
 
 Tout of town concerns more familiar to Bridgeporters# than the names of ithe old established Bridgeport enter Iprises. 5z5
 Few of the men who had gone on: fstrike had difficulty in securing steady emp pIoyrnent steady as the nature .their craft permits with these builders new to Bridgeport, and the result has been disastrous to several of the older Bridgeport builders. Men f-~ 1-~-c c7 k 4E-1 firms for years forsook them for the tunfon wages paid by the newcomers and the success of the out of town bidders on local contracts brought them plenty of work. ss8ss E The demands now formulated by the nlasons, brickIayers and pIasterers arenot beyond what are already met l by several builders They want 60 cents an hour. This scale is paid by such we'll known builders as the H. Wales Lines Go. J. W. Davis. Tor, rington Building Co. R. H. Howes. and the Gillette Construction Co., and lthese concerts have voluntarily estab-a lished this rate, gradually eliminating the men in their employ whom they. regarded as not up to the standard
 In this connection union mason disclosed an interesting story of the methods pursued by one o- the build CTS who is objecting to the proposi- l ton to make the so cents an hour. lt He said that this builder, seeking to stimulate the men In his employ to I greater effort, had singled out half a dozen men to whom he confdentiaIly paid rate of 50 cents an hour, with l the understanding that they were to l work at top speed. The other ma sons, not familiar with the arrange ments, were shamed into speeding up by the accomp1ishnlents Of their fel-s 1 lows who were receiving the higher rate. The arrangement proved high 1 ly profitable, until the secret was un- folded, and then there was much hue and cry about the discrimination sin the wage rate.
 The union men claim that they have given the builders a notice of three months to give them chance to figure their contracts on future work with the new scale of wages in mind and that with practically few excep- tions the builders will be able to re- adjust themselves to the changed con ditions.s They are confident, said one of the leading members of the union that the new scale will meet with the approval of the builders in general, for several of the older Bridgeport concerns, after nearly seven years of g losing fight Nlready have assured the union men that they will look with 4