The labor world., 1916-05-20
USE INJUNCTION TO
8 $$&S[lT TRADE UNIONS
Twin cit<" = 'oyers Unite In
Conspiracy e. ,troy Power =,
Of +. 1ons. (
NATIONAL ERECTORS .
ARE PRIME FACTORS
Opponents Of Sympathetic Strikes
Start One Against Organized
Labor.

The st. Paul building trades unions
and all their officers and members
may be enjoined from declaring a
strike on the State Historical Library
building now being constructed by the
George J. Grant Construction COM
pany.
The attorneys for the Minnesota
Employers association last week made
application to the district court Of
Ramsay county for a restraining order
in which large number Of allegations
are made against St. Paul building
trades unions. The Minnesota EN-
ployers' association is assisted by WAL
ter Gordon Merritt, attorney for the
National Erectors association. The
non-union employers back of this pro-
position, who declare against sympa-
thetic strikers and secondary boycotts,
are united in a sympathetic effort to
destroy the influence and power Of Or
ganized labor in st. Paul.
They believe in United action and in
sympathetic action to protect their in
terests as employers, and they would
deny the same right to the unions of
workingmen.
All of the forces that are against
union labor in the United States are
bending their efforts to destroy Or
.ganized labor in st. Paul. If they can
win in their issue in Ramsey county,
they believe they will be able to stem
the tide of organization in Minnesota.
In their allegation the employers
claim that the st. Paul Labor unions
are engaged in an unlawful conspiracy
in restraint of trade and are particu-
larly violating the provisions of the
Minnesota antitrust law. They could
not bring action under the federal law
now since the passage of the Clayton
Act. and they are hopeful that the
Minnesota courts will hold contrary to
the letter and spirit Of the federal
law, which declares that the labor
of human beings is not a. commodity
or article
Organized labor in Minnesota is pre-
pairing to introduce a bill in the next
legislature embodying the. chief, feat
ures of the labor clause Of the Clayton
antitrust law. There is no doubt but
that the employers Of Minnesota, in
anticipation of organized labor's pro-
gram, have gone into the Ramsay
county court for the purpose Of weak
ening the influence of labor in this
state. If the case is brought to: an
Issue it will do more to call the atten-
ton of the people of this state to the
necessity of relieving organizations of
labor and farmers from the provisions
Of the antitrust laws, which were only
intended to prevent corporations from
monopoliZing the products of labor,
although in this respect such laws
have been dismal failures up to this
time.
The lawyers for the Minnesota Em-
ployers' association, acting for |the
George J. Grant Constructions Com
pany, are seeking damages from the
st. Paul building trades council, its
affiliated unions and all their men,
bers, in the sum of $4,000. They
further ask that the unions be pernna-
nently enjoined from boycotting or
threatening to boycott, calling sympa-
thetic strikes or inducing others to do
so and making, uttering or communi.
eating any statement announcing that
the plaintiff in the action is unfair to
organized labor.
1t is the most drastic and WIDE
sweeping claim ever presented in a
Minnesota court against organized
labor. The labor unions have en-
gagged Daniel w. LSwler, the we'll
known st. Paul attorney, to handle
their case. -