The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1917-07-07
NEW DEMANDS MEET
COMPANY OVERTURES
Ask Higher Pay for Five
Towns Near Missoula.
Continued From Page One)


themselves, but l believe they have
been badly advised throughout the
whole affair. sincerely hope and |
truly believe that the strike will be
settled as soon as Mr.. McNulty ar
rives."
According to j. b. Croll, actin !,
secretary of the local electrical work
ers union. the offer was considered
by the telephone girls and they turned
it down without dissenting voice.
The offer starts the girls a, :be
same miserable pay of $35 a month
that they are getting now, and then
they've got to fight out through an ar
duration whether they shall have any
raise at all or not"
Mr.. Croll gave out a copy of the
scale offered by the company ami the
scale demanded by the girls These
are printed in parallel columns in this
issue of The Muscular
Two conferences were scheduled for
Friday but the first brought no result
and the second was not even called to
order. decision being taken that there
would be no more efforts to end the
strike until Mr.. McNulty's arrival.
The first meeting occurred in the
morning at 10 o'clock. Mr.. McAfee and
f. =. Ogden, division traffic superiu-
tendent, were the representatives of
the company present. The mem be rs
OF the Business Mems association ex-
ecutlVe committee attended, togethtr.
with representatives of the two unions
now striking. The proposition which
Mr.. McAfec had made at the mcetin :
the night before was to be discussed
he expected However. it was not even
mentioned, he said
When the proposition | had made
was not brought up at ALL" said Mr..
McAfee. i assumed that IL had been
rejected by the opera tors. though moth
ing was said to the effect that it had
been Therefore l made no further
mention of it.
What | offered was just this:
I'VE will recognize tho union
permanently; and we offer a scale
Of wages approximately ten per
cent higher than those received
by the girls when they struck.
This scale shall be in effect until
August I. In the meantime the
question Of salaries shall be ad-
Indicated and settlement reached.
Ny purpose in making the offer
was to give immediate telephone
service to Missoula."
The girls turned down the offer of
Mr.. McAfee fatty" said Mr. Croll.
We have been informed that he
wished to confer with us and for two
days we waited at Union hall to meet
with him. He never came. The only
time that We have seen him was yes
terday morning in the meeting where
all the interests in the strike We're
present. We have never seen him
alone and he has shown no disposition
to hear our requests"
Mr.. McAfee insists that he has given
the union opportunity to talk with him
through the proposal he made and that
they would not consider II at all. Fur
thermore. he says, at a session earlier
in the week when the executive COM
mittee of the Business Mems associa.
ton called upon the strikers at union
hail they were informed by Mr.. Croll
after an hours conference that the
matter had all been settled" before
the conference began. This statement
was backed up by Miss Clara MCGEE,
secretary of the girls organization. ac-
cording to one of the business men s
committee.
There has been no effort at all on
the part of the strikers to conciliate"
said Mr.. McAfee. for our proposition
has given them a fair chance to do so
and they turned us down fatty"
Mayor at Conference.
At the morning session beside Mr.
McAfee and the business mems ex-
ecutive committee were Miss Lucy
Goodman as spokesman for the strik-
ing girls: and f. c. Wilkins and c. l..
Anderson, represented the electrical
workers who are out on a sympathetic
strike. Mayor Wilkinson was preser,
in the interests of the city. After
some discussion. the session was ad-
journed without taking any action to
meet again at 8 O'Clock in the after
noon
Before that hour however, accord
ing to Mr.. McAfee, word was sent
round to the conferees that there
would be no necessity for the session
as no action would be possible until
the arrival of Mr.. McNulty. A second
postponemcnt therefore resulted and
the next meeting is set for this morn
ing.
No Fight In Union.
The resignation of Mrs. Lena Bris-
bin. president, and Miss Ida Minister
vice president of the striking telephone
operators was not caused by a fight
in the union. according to Miss Clara
McGec, secretary. Miss MCGEE says
that the two officers wanted a sepa-
rate union, affiliated Directly with
the trades and labor council. The
other members wanted to affiliate with
the electrical workers. When a vote
decided the matter the officers re-
signed, but did not withdraw from the
union. Miss MCticc says.