New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-07-02
Unions Demands

They will be:
New working conditions.
Continuation of increased wages and
minor revisions in proposed wage scale.
Complete recognition OF the associa-
tion by the company.
Fridiger, Fitzgerald and other union
leaders who were in consultation yes
terday at the Continental Hotel averred
that employees Of the Third Avenue line
who were members Of the association
were Disseminated against by the COM
pany, being laid off few at time at
short intervals.
Says Union Men Lost Jobs
An advance in wages, announced Sat
urday by the company, was character
lied by Fridiger as "a contemplate eff
fort to influence the men from joining
the organization" Employees active in
the union had been discharged, he said.
Superintendent and starters of the
Third Avenue system, Mr.. Fridiger
said, had employed intimidating tao
tics, in which they were assisted by the
police, at q union meeting at Eagle
Hall, 142d Street and Third Avenue, on
Saturday evening. This meeting, the
lawyer said, was called at the request
of the men, and there had been others.
Complaints concerning the company's
alleged actions in regard to union men
had been filed, Mr.. Fridiger said, with
"a city department"-presumably the
Public Service Commission.
Samuel Gompers was at the hotel
while the leaders we're in conference,
and there was report that his advice
Gompers would say nothing on the sub
ject.
Leaders Sure Strike Would Be Won
Labor leaders were Of the opinion
that if a strike should be declared il
would be successful, as labor was
scarce and the war had made it diff
cult to find strike breakers. They in
terpreted the attempt of the companies
70 charge for transfers as evidence Of
loss sustained by the companies in
last years strike would incline them
TO surrender.
Edward A. Maher, jr., vice-presidert
of the Third Avenue, said that only
twenty-one men attended the meeting
in Eagle Hall, which was "an abortive
attempt to cause trouble on our lines
None of those at the meeting were en-
ployes of the company, he said. Third
Avenue men, he declared, had torn
Up announcements CT the meeting in
the faces of those who distributed
them.
"These agitators kept our men out
of work for seventeen weeks last sum-
mer." he said, "and only paid SO dur
ing that period. | am pretty sure that
they DO not propose 70 be misled
again"
Deny Men Are Disseminated
He and other officials of the com
many denied that there was any dis
content among the men. The new wage
scale had been promulgated, he said,
in recognition Of the advanced cost
of necessities. The advance Is from
27 cents an hour to 30 for motormen
and conductors who have been with
the company for more than six months;
80 cents for those employed more than
a wear. and "a cents for those of more
than fifteen years service.
at is not our intention to make i'm
mediate trouble" said Mr.. Fridiger,
"but the men wanted to strike month
ago. They complained that they
worked from seventeen to eighteen
hours a day. In Detroit railway men
are paid 30 cents an hour and the CON-
many sells seven tickets for 25 cents,
so their request was a just one"
"The strike Of last year settled moth
ing" Fitzgerald said ain fact, it was
never settled Officially, it is still in
force. The men who went back are dis
satisfied and so are the strike breakers.
whether or not there will be a strike
depends or many things, among others
the attitude of the companies. The
companies may force trouble by dis
charging men who are known to be in
the union or attending our meetings.
conditions speak for themselves
when the men, despite the fact that
they are subject to discharge for at
tending a union meeting, are doing so
openly