Denver labor bulletin., 1918-09-21
FIXED WAGES WITHOUT
REFERENCE TO SKILLED
WORKERS EMPLOYED.
Fear of Boss Control in Electing
Shop Committeeman Cause of
Real Trouble, and Men Re
turn When Assured of
Square Deal by Pres
ident Wilson.
by LAURENCE TODD
Especial Representative The Denver Labor
BuIletfn.l


WASHINGTON, Sept 14.-Presi-
dent Johnston of the international As
soeiation Of Machinists gives this ex-
PLANTATION of the strike Of the 5000
members of his organization in Bridge
port, which has been ended by the
announcement by President Wilson
that they must return to work under
the terms of the Eidlitz award or be
outlawed from all war industries for
n year:
Bridgeport is the home of between
sixty-five and seventy-hve plants that
are doing war work The only con-
siderable body Of union men in the
town are the Machinists. These union
men are skilled. They want TO deal
with the shop bosses thru their own
committees Of skilled men who under
stand their needs. They do not want
70 give their interests into the care
Of committees Of morEanised and un-
skilled workers.
The award against which they went
on strike was made by Otto N. Ed
litz. a New York architect, whose
name was accepted BY the labor MEM
bers Of the national war labor board
~ one OF the umpires. at the recon-
mendation Of the Carpenters spokes-
man in the board. When the war labor
board failed to agree on the Bridge
port case. they drew lots to choose
one Of the ten men on their list of
umpires. and Eidlitz was drawn.
When he made his inward. which both
sides were bound in advance TO ac-
cept, he applied to the entire Bridge
port district the same plan Of shop
committees and central board Of ap-
pcals that had been applied to the
plant Of the General Electric Company
at Pittsfield, Mass. He also fxed
wage increases on n sliding scale,
without reference to the ordinary
classificstions Of skilled mechanics.
Fear Of Boss Control.
This award, the Bridgeport menu
bcrs of the Machinists Union believed,
would put the control Of the labor sit
uation in the hands Of the bosses, since
the shops where there were only a
handful of union men would probably
be SO handled" in the election of shop
committees that the favorites Of the
management would be chosen as rep
resentatives of the workers. The same
thing. they declared, would happen in
the case of the central board Of ap-
peals: non-union men, popular for rea-
sons quite foreign TO Industrial issues,
would win the elections. Then the
fruits Of years of trade union orHani-
ration and sacrifice would be lost, thru
the failure of the workers commit
tees to fight for the highest possible
standard Of living for the workers.
1t was this fear that the bosses
would capture the elections inside the
majority Of the plants that brought
on the strike. The union men saw no
hope Of an early readjustment Of
wages, which war labor board officials
believed would be secured thru the
new system Of elected committees.
The international officers Of the Ma
chinists shared the anxiety Of their
members in Bridgeport, but they urged
the men to stay ut work, and to wait
and see whether their fears Of re-
dictionary set Of committees were JUS
titled. The men refused to wait and
SEQ. They declared that Eidlitz had
been unfricndly to union labor, and
had violated the spirit Of the Presi-
dents proclamation Of April 8. They
pointed. to the fact that Eidlitz had
lobbied at Albany against work
ingmen's compensation law They de-
cided that no good could come out
Of his award. So they went out.
President's Ultmatum.
President Wilson did not issue his
ultimatum until tho general executive
board Of the Machinists had given the
Bridgeport strikers forty-eight hours
In which to go back to work or stand
suspended. They did not 60 back with
In the forty-cight hours, but the Pres
idcnt's letter was published within that
time, and the strikers had agreed that
they would go back II the President
asked them to do 30.
Johnston and the other international
officers agree with their members at