The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-08-21

ment made the week before, the 1 management of the Remington plant closed its doors against them. The l striking millwriglts and ironworkers | had gone to work. The latter prompt 1 ly quit when they learned that the
 machinists had not been taken back. They. returned July 28, when the ma l chindsts trouble was settled. 1 The, Stewart Construction Go, the | builders of the Remington plants. an nounced July 80 the eight hour schedule for all it's employees. This l affected several hundred employees, in , cluding bricklayers, iron workers and | carpenters.
 On Saturday, July 31, employees of. l the Iocomobile Go. of America de- i naanded an eight hour day. The company replied by offering a, profit sharing plan, which was at first ac-
 cepted by the employees and was later l abandoned because it was believed ! to have a joker in it.
 One of the most unpleasant fea.- l lures of the campaign for better con 1 ditions occurred August 5, when Geo. J. Bowen. business agent of the Ma 1 chinists, Frederick Cederho1n, former i alderman, and Louis J. Nelson were 1 arrested for attempting to address a
 mass meeting of Locomobile employees near the plant at noon.
 This was, one of the most signif1- cant incidents of the. campaign in 1 that it sealed the fate of Mayor Will l son ass a. candidate for labor votes ! Despite the fact that the men were
 on private property, they were ar
 rested by his order, which was prov l ed later to be invalid.
 The employees of, the R. P K | Pressed Metal Go. struck the day be- fore, when their grievance commit
 tee was discharged.
 The men arrested on the order of 1 Mayor Wilson were arraigned August
 6 in the city court and their cases I were continued until the following
 Tuesday. The same day the Locomo- 1 bile Co. announced its willingness to
 discuss with the worknen the ques-
 tion of installing an eight-hour work
 ing day instead of the proposed bonus l system.
 On August s. Curtis & Curtis co, (which has 35 men, all machinists,
 working 12 hours a day. announced
 a proht-sharing plan that would I amount to an increase of 10 per cent in each mans wages.
 That night the men of the Locomo-
 bile Go. gathered to discuss plans for l a. strike. l International Association of Machin- 1 ists had prepared list of Bridgeport munitions supplies factories, in which ! machinists worked and planned to attack each one of them in turn Later developments showed that this plan was a, successful one.
 At a meeting of the Locomobile employees on the night of Saturday, 1 August 2, it was voted to turn down the bonus plan of the company. | 1On Tuesday, August 10, in the city
 court, Judge F. L. Wilder found Ce- derhOlm, Bowen and Nelson guilty of E breach of the peace, and suspended
 Judgment.
 The night before the Central Labor I union officials sent a protest to the
 common council protesting against the action of Mayor Wilson in causing ! the arrests. No notice was taken of Il it, and Mayor Wilson ordered it to the miscellaneous committee.
 At the Lake Torpedo Boat Co.,, TO
 ma chinists and helpers went on strike 1 for more wages. This followed a l strike, of the patfernmakers which | was settled July 31, after the pat hernmal1ing building had been closed
 seven days, and the men received an Increase in wages.
 f The Lake strike is not yet settled. E However, 70 of their employees have been benefited by the campaign. I On Wednesday, August 12, the R.
 who were on strike, were granted the eight-hour day and an improvem ent
 in general conditions
 1s Burns & Bassick Co. on August 12 l oHfreQ US Aemp1oyeS a 50-hour week. The company went one better this l week when it granted the eight-hour day to its 200 employees
 | Wednesday, August 12, employees of the Standard Manufacturing Co land the American & British Manufac- 1 turing Go. demanded the eight hour. day. The Standard trouble was set tied Friday, August 20, by a grant of Ideal conditions and the American &
 British officials granted the improved
 scale of wages Thursday, August 1e The men had walked out of the
 American & British Go. Thursday These concessions benefited nearly | 500 men, of whom 500 are with the American & British Co.
 l On Thursday, August 12, the Loco
 mobile Go. of America, granted to it's | 1,620 employees, the eight-hour day
 had been offered, and refused
 ft A grand stand' play to forestan further pettering of conditions was
 made by the Manufacturers associa5
 ton, August 14, when it was an
 nounced that 9 general 50 hour week
 would go into effect in Bridgeport
 shops. This was to go into effect
 the following Monday. The manu-
 facturers of the city didn't observe l it closely.
 Monday, August 16, marked the
 beginning, of new era for the girl
 factory workers of Bridgeport when
 the Warner Bros Co. girls, strug-
 gling against systems that had been 1 complained of in vain for years, sud
 denly rose in their might, and 1900
 strong, quit work, demanding an eight
 hour day and better working coudi-