Omaha daily bee., 1918-12-04
STREET RAILWAY
CARMEN STRIKE
At ) THIS A. N.

NCOntlnued from rage One.t
the Street Railway Employees
union:
1--WE have been turned down fiat.
ly. We have used every means and
effort to bring about a fair settle.
ment. We have offered to meet
the company at any hour. at any
time or place, if they would only SIT
down at the table and talk with US
We have been refused.
Tried to Avoid Strike.
1--WE have used every means pos
sible to get a settlement whereby
we could keep the work going on
as it is, but the men on the works
have labored under these excessive
hours while the war was going on
and they feel that this is inhuman
and unjust. Now that arms are
laid down, we feel ourselves free
to 60 ahead and work for better
working conditions.
"The committee has met and con-
ferred with Mr.. Wattles, met and
pleaded with Mayor Smith and has
exhausted every means that it has
of bringing about a settlement with
out a walk-out.
Mayor Smith said he would have
the street railway officials meet the
men in his Office and see if he could
not bring about a fair settlement,
but the street car company officials
did not show up. That meeting was
to be Tuesday afternoon.
Mayor Sees Wattles.
Further, Mayor Smith left the
committee of employees at his Office.
went and had a conference with Mr..
Wattles for more than an hour, re-
turned to his Office and informed us
that he had arranged a meeting with
Mr. Wattles for Wednesday at 10
o'clock.
"He said that in his opinion Mr..
Wattles would give the men a fair
settlement, but that he did not be-
lieve that Mr.. Wattles would give
us CLOSED shop contract, but that
he thought that all other demands
would be met with.
"We left Mayor Smiths office,
went down the sidewalk. met Mr..
Wattles coming out of the United
States National bank. We stopped
him and asked if Mayor Smith had
arranged meeting for 10 o'clock
Wednesday. He said, Yes We
asked him Why not have the meet
ing now?'
Gives Pleasant Smile.
"He said, We'll, l don't know as
there is anything to talk about and
gave us a pleasant smile. We asked
Mr.. Wattles, When we meet to-
morrow, is there any possibility of
entering into a contract or a modi-
fed one?' He informed US that he
had not promised anyone that he
would enter into a contract and that
he did not think that he would sign
any written agreement as he had
never entered into a contract with
labor and did not in
tend to.
GAS we cannot better our con-
dition that now exists, we are sus-
pending work until such time as
the company will sit down at table
with us, discuss our grievances and
enter into an agreement with us.
In Effect at 8 A. M.
Suspension goes into effect at
; a. M, Wednesday morning.
1--WE do not wish to discontinue
the mail service. Any soldiers to
be moved by the government, if the
commanding officer at the forts will
notify any of the executive board of
the street railway employees, We will
furnish the crews to operate such
cars for the transportation of troops
for military purposes.
1--WE have arranged a meeting
with Mr.. Wattles for 10 o'clock
Wednesday and we will be there
Mayor Smiths Efforts.
Mayor Smith yesterday afternoon
succeeded in arranging a conference
between the committee of the street
car mems union and the officers of
the street railway company, to be
held at 10 o'clock this morning, in
the effort to avert the threatened
strike
The company yesterday refused
all the demands of the men. The
committee, which is clothed with
power to order a strike, then called
on the mayor, complaining that they
had been met by the company off,
Gals with a curt refusal of their de-
mands.
Would you men be willing to
meet with the company oficials?"
asked the mayor.
They said they would. The mayor
then went to the office of Gurdon