The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-08-25
Even Trolley Conductors
and Motormen Join Work
ers ON War Supplies.
Unions ARE REAPING
HARVEST OF RECRUITS
Situation So Tangled That
Gompers Is Called to
Settle Matters.

pprpcrpopr. Conn. Aug. 2i.-The Sc
c,e, of Bridgenort's labor troubles Is
nrospeiity. 1t is the paradise OF the
I.boring man. Almost anything he asks
hs can have
Labor chiefs. focking here, send calls
N their confreres to come and help
muck the choicest plum that ever teh
INFO the lap of unionism-and all De-
c.use the rush OF war orders has made
. city of factories. recently pulling
through hard times on sheer nerve into
thA likeness of mining camp where
labor is so scarce that 1t has to be
codded
xo factory owner going to his Office
IN the morning can he sure that MS
examination is still intact or that II
will remain 80 until noon. There nave
b.en strikes and strikes. so many that
even the perspiring labor officials refuse
,c try and count them No one knows
how many are out at any one time
Men go to work on gaining desired
point, only to strike a day later ior
something else. And they are In fair
way to get all they want, for every
hrge employer of skilled labor is so
ted up with war contracts that ne
cannot afford to let his plant remain
idle day.
The girl strikers. who just now are
in the majority. parade the streets AT
lxl
pounding on dishpans. They are hSs-
terical with JOY at the thought oil rais-
Ing their small pay to figure that theS
,hnk respectable, and shortening the
hours of their labor--in a Fever. as
On, bright eyed little worker In her best
dress put II. They walk out OF shops
laughing and joking at leaving WORK.
secure in the belief that they need not
s;ay idle long unless they wish. II they
ar. not taken back with their demands
lranted some other needy employer VIII
srab them. They jam the theatres al
night, all seeming to have more money
tan they ever had before.
I,,ops Flooded with Recruits.
Tn. union organizers who, seeming
Their npportunity. rushed here to turn
What had been hopelessly open shol
town into closed shop town, cannon
enroll their legions, draw up agresmehts
and form committees fast enough. They
are overwhelmed by the rush 10 cIliht
eooard the union band wagon, they oee
girls to stay at work until they rouho
out the organizations they already nave
in hand. Meetings are being held al
over the city, in the morning afternoon
and far into the night.
The strike fever has so firmly seize'
the city and the walkouts come ~
rapidly that many of the men do no
seem to be at all sure what they arr
striking for. The phrase better con
ditions' covers all their thoughts Oh
the subject, and the employers simpi.
wait a day or two. find out what the!
want and then generally give 1t u
them, unless. as has occurred. the ne
mands seem foolishly trivial Dan!
the situation becomes more tangled
until it was said yesterday that Samue
Gompers expects to pay another N'S'
TO the city TO attempt to straighten ou
the union affairs.
Probably the most amazing and per
picking labor situation that ever con
fronted large city came 30 rapidl!
10 head that even the men VIII
have been able to sit back and stud
It from an outside perspective canno
explain all its ramifications. Bridge
port has always been an open sho
town and labor troubles were few an
far between. Fair minded men nav
considered the wage scale fair and III
sanitary conditions good.
War Orders Transform Town.
Then last fall came the first of tn
great war orders. The Remingto
Arms and Ammunition Company an
the Remington Union Metallic Cart
ridge Company got contracts for rifle
and ammunition that are SAID TO D
worth hundreds of millions, enough l
keep the tremendous factory they ar
building busy for the next ten year,
Aud with these orders in hand the
began the first of twenty-three bi
structures that are turning sectio
Of wilderness outside the city into IN
ste OF the largest Industry OF It's Kin
In the country.
For this work they had to impor
structural workers and millwrights. an
then the trouble began. The millwrighl
Nere not union men and both the cai
rcuters and machinsts on the job II
sisted on adopting them or holding u
the work FINALLY the ironworker
walked out because the mllwrigh'
chose the carpenters union, The que'
'lon OF Jurisdiction was patched up an
then the millwrights quit. Taking n
bun by the horns. the Remington con
panies announced an eight hour day an
Eridgeport's era of strikes was on. TIE
thousand persons had been affected /
this order and the other city worker
became festive
What made the matter more compl
Gated was the peculiar interviewer bus
ness relations between the various plan
o. the city. The principal factories Uni
turned out machinery, tools, hardwar
automobiles were plants that are mo
easily turned into munitions producer
concerns. Sub-contracts were let out
nham and factories that had been
half time during the preceding lean da!
h,Isn to roar under tho racing OF shra
nel and bullet producing machinery,
The machines with which the Remin
ton companies began to equip their hul
plant as II went up unit by unit al
were made within the city limits. al
Bridgeport labored and brought forth 1
output that its most sanguine busine