The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-09-16
o,,or Leader Who Affectec First Settlement Here, At the Remington Arms Plants, Tells Story of Disagreement From Viewpoint of Man at the Helm.

From Viewpoint of Man at
 the Helm.
 The report of J. J. Kepp1er, vice president of the International Asso- citation of Machinists, to his superior officers, telling in his own words the settlement of the strike at the Rem ington Arms & Ammunition Co.,, has been made public.
 MT. Keppler attributes the success of his negotiations to the support of, the building trades, which, he notes is an unusual thing. In part the re- port follows:
 several long distance phones and telegrans reached me to proceed to Bridgeport, Conn, as there was a jur- isdictiona1 controversy on between structural iron workers, carpenters and machinists, relative to mill wrtghts
 Vice President J. A. Johnston, of the iron workers, was on the ground. and after talking matters over with our business agent and iron workers, securing the work belonging to us. We also agreed that if machinists would become involved in a strike, all would demand an eight-hour day.
 tfAt our meeting July g this mat ter was threshed out and an eight
 
 apply to the Remington Arms & Ann intuition Go, the Union Metallic Cart ridge Co, and all sub-contractors. This, with a poor organization, looked like a mighty big job, but we went to it, and on July 10 the iron workers withdrew about 300 men who were working on new buildings that were under way of construction on the 102 acres of ground owned by these conn panies.
 6eT ton was necessary, so a letter was sent to the grand lodge with partic- u1ars. President Johnston author1z- ed me to use my best Judgment and call a strike if necessary So prepara- tions were made accordingly After failing to secure a conference a strike was declared on the Remington Arms and U. M. c. Co.'S and four sub-con- tractors on July 20. In the meantime much pressure was brought to bear upon the iron workers to drop the machinists and settle for themselves, building trades organization stood by us to finish, and much credit is due to Vice President Johnston of the iron workers, for the stand he took.
 When nachinists began to strike, propositions were forthcoming granting the eight-hour day. also for the adjustment of the jurisdictional matter"
 MT. KeppIer here detailed the agreement effected between the conn pany and the empIoyes, which. was published in The Farmer. Il | The report of George J. Bowen. business agent locally, follows:
 Since my last report some very great changes have taken place all through the east, and especially in New England. The agitation for an eight-hour day came to 8 fever heat in Bridgeport about the first of July and when a strike was threatened in the Remington Arms Cd, they at once posted notice that they would oper-1 ate on the eight-llour basis after Aug ust 1.
 This affects about 10000 people, and was the starting of what looks like a universal eight-ho1lr day. Since this trouble in Bridgeport at least 20] large shops in the East have granted the eight-hour day to their employees. Most of these are manufacturers that we never could meet even on the nine-l hour day. The Bullard Machine Tool Go. followed the procession very close to the Remington Arms. We consider this a great victory, as this was one of the worst shops in town. But we were working on the Hungarian men employed in this factory and as a re- suit the company granted the eight hour day and saved both our organi- zation and the company considerable trouble.
 s'The next one we went after was the Locomobile Go. of America, and we must give, credit to the manager and the city officials for helping to organize this plant. We started to circulate literature in this shop and the company saw fit to discharge some Of our active members. which was the first step of the company to help us organize the plant. We put these men in front of the factory at noon hour and they were we'll received by the men. Then more were discharged and the more they discharged the more men we had to heeIp in the or ganizing campaign. The crisis came when the city officials took it upon themselves to stop our noon hour meetings. So we hired a lot and were to have our meetings in this lot, but the mayor ordered the chief of police to place the speakers under arrest if they undertook to speak either on public or private property. I hap pened to be the first one on the list to speak and the chief of police told me while I was on the box that if I spoke would be placid under arrest. continued to speak and was arrested and charged with breach of the peace. This put the final touches on the or were not interested in the union at once care to our office, put in their applications and have become very active in the movement. Now we have a solid organization and the eight-hour day in this plant. We con features of the present eight-f1our movement. as it is the second largest machine shop in town, having about 2.500 men employed. This also opens the way in the automobile industry"