The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-08-18

meeting held at 2 this afternoon l on the strike,
 According, to the action at a mass
 meeting last night the girls should return to work tomorrow.
 The strikers 5000 of them, gath cred last night at Eagles hall for their third meeting The convention l was called for the purpose of passing on the agreement entered into during the afternoon between MT. Warner and the strikers committee.
 The strikers committee, led by Miss
 Mary Scully, general organizer, ana
 Miss Lillian Cox, an employe or the company, called on MT Warner in the Iaft99rnoson. They were met with ev- cry courtesy and MT Warner heard ftIeir. grievances and their demands. 1 The girls first asked for a 20 per cent increase in wages, It was unA. lderstood the eight hour day had been
 granted. Abolition of the charge system was urged.
 MT. Warner-r reasoned with the girls. They were there. from 2:30 o'clock un-.
 til nearly six. He couldn't grant the l 26 per. cent. increase and 121a was
 finally fixed upon. After the three 1 hours and a half work was done, MT ] Warner granted great concessions. 1 Here is the statement of the agree-
 ment between the employees and MT.
 Warner, as drawn up later by John
 Roach, general organizer of the l American Federation of Labor. Agreement between the. employers and employees of the Warner Bros. CO of Bridgeport, Conn:
 Part 14The system of cIarges for defective work. shall be discontinued but the company reserves the right to establish a demerit record, the same 1 to be shown to the shop committee to pass upon before the discharge of workers, charged with defective worl<s
 becomes effective. saa
 Part 2---Present piece prices shall. prevail, with advance of 12 F per cent. 1 on present piece prices. All. new. work shall be priced in comparison with ex- isting piece prices. After the adjust 1 fnent both parties at interest shall
 have the right to present comparisons.
 The company agrees to furnish a copy Of the piece prices to the shop com
 mittee.
 Part s.AThe company agrees to dis
 continue the charge for needles, and further agrees to furnish thread at
 wholesale cost.
 Part 4APiece workers will have the privilege to goshome when there is no work but the workers desiring to
 go home must notify the foreman or
 foreIady. Sufficient number of spray CTS shall be employed to prevent delay in furnishing the irorers work.
 Part 6.=We will guarantee to make the prices for 4s hours equal to the 55-hour basis
 Part 7.-The company agrees to en-
 deavor to adjust all grievances with the shop committee. Failing to suc- ceed in adjusting grievances with the
 shop committee, the workers will have to call in a representativee the An1- erican Federation of Labor.
 Part 5 is left out because it contains l a clause affecting the metal, trade workers and they have, not passed on the agreement yet.
 This agreement was read to the girls at the mass meeting last night and vote was taken item by item. The
 girls approved vociferously, shouting, cheering and waving their hands. The
 Hungarian girls, however, when the agreement was read in their language, objected to paying at all for thread,un- i til it was explained to them the great concessfonf they have obtained Some general agitation was apparent for 15. per cent increase but Miss Seul1y convinced the girls that they had re- Eeeived more than she had hoped.
 NaGirIs, know more about these things than you do. I'm the one that has to go to jail for helping you. I'rD
 the one that is called graftsr and in suited And I tell you girls that you have got more in these two days than we could get in New York in ten years.
 .Oh. it's ali right for you girls out there to be holding out and saying: T
 won't go back won't go back I've seen ypia before. You'll go back
 You'll follow the leader and the girls who made the most noise about it will be the first ones in.t You can't draw
 blood out of stone, so be reasonable'' This salutary advice had a geod ef-
 feet. The girls agreed that the pro- visions were good ones and that later other concessions might be obtained. 4 One unpleasant incident narred the evening when an inf1a1nnatorys yoUrth was asked to tell the Hun ngarian girls that MT. Warner offered to sell thread at wholesale and p ask them if they would accept the offer. This mis- guided person neglected that part, and
 according to a girl who translated 5ex- cerpts for Miss Scully, he Issued a wild harangue, urging the girls not to accept the advice of the commit tee not to go back, and in general op- pose any effort to get them anywhere. He was interrupted and .shunted to the back ground. He gave his name as Emil Steiner. He has addressed
 several labor audiences. The agreement was tentatively ac- Icepted. It will be iron bound It
 is no half way measure, thanks to the overseership of Miss Scul1y and Mir.
 Roche of the American Federation of
 Labor. These drew up a schedule that incorporates accessions to most l of the demands. much bettering of
 working conditions and makes fmpos- sibIef what has frequently happened
 after other strikes have been settled the firing of girls who have acted on committees or branding them as | ssgrafters."