Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1918-02-08
WARD EMPLOYEES QUIT WORK

Engineers at the Ward shipyards
refused to go to work Thursday
morning, pending settlement of wage
differences on the basis of an agree
ment signed by Manager Ward of the
Olympia Shipbuilding company in
July last.
Later in the day an agreement was
reached and the engineers returned
to work. The company reconsidered
it's stand and accepted the claim of
the men that the back pay should
date back to August list.
The company offered to meet the
adjusted scale of wages retroactive
to December Is, while the written
agreement provides for back-pay to
August /.
At the time Of the trouble at the
Ward yards last summer the manager
of the company signed an agreement
to accept the wage scale finally ac-
cepted generally in the shipyards of
the Puget Sound district, to be ef-
fective as Of August /, 1917.
The scale of wage as adjusted by
the federal labor adjustment board
is now being paid by Puget Sound
yards, with one exception-the Ward
plant. Likewise, employees Of all the
other plants have received back-pay
covering the difference between the
variable scales paid since August !
and the final award.
Manager Mcdowell Of the Olympia
Shipbuilding plant has procrastinated
to such an extent that an ultimatum
was finally served upon him. 1t was
agreed that the back-pay should be
forthcoming February s. The hitch
which occurred on that date was due
to the fact that the employees consid-
cred that the company refused to
carry out the agreement in good
faith. The men have not been prop
erly classified nor paid in accord with
the award of the adjustment board
The company also has refused tc
make the scale award the basis OF
adjustment of the amount of past
due wages.
The Ward concern went into the
hands of a receiver some months age
and was out of commission for some
weeks, final agreement resulting In
dismissal of receivership proceedings
and the taking over of the task Of
completion Of the three vessels then
on the ways by the owners with
whom the Wards held contracts tc
build. These owners have repudiated
the Ward agreement with the en-
ployes, signed in July.
The three ships are the ones upon
which work was suspended in July
and which the agreement of settle
ment covered. Two of them have
been launched and the consensus OF
opinion seems to be that the com
pany sought to postpone payment OF
WAKES uuc WILL tiC thAiu ~hN Ae~o'
ship could be put into the water
when the employees would be left
holding the sack"
The unions involved have given
conditions in the Ward yard almost
constant attention for n long time
and have patiently borne the dila'
tory tactics of the company. The
time finally came when the manager
assumed a defiant attitude and de-
clared that he would adjust the back
pay as he pleased, and has attempt
ed to make individual settlements
with employees, to the advantage Of
the company. These attempts have
met with failure, and a settlement
demanded by the unions identica
with that accepted by other Puget
Sound shipbuilding plants.
The action of the company in re
fusing to equitably adjust the &C
counts of employees entitled to back
Continued on Page Five