New-York tribune., 1919-10-07

Refuse to Obey
Big g. Orders
$50 Join Those Con Vaca-
tion,'' and More Than
1000 Are Out of Book
and Job Printing Plants
Employers Ask Showdown
S'Collier's Weekly'' and
''Centrlry'' Among Mag.
azines Delayed by Strike

azines Delayed by Strike
Defying the order Of Typographical
Union No. 6, 1900 compositors who
quit work during last week in more
than thirty book and job printing
plants failed to report yesterday.
Their ranks were augmented by the
walkout of $50 additional compositors
in twenty-five plants.
The men demand the immediate
introduction of the 44-hour week and
%l4 increase in wages. The total
2,000, comprising two -fifths of the
membership of "Big 6" employed in
book and job printing plants in New
York.
At the office of the Printers League,
IN the Flatiron Building, it was said
that if the walkout Of compositors
continues unchecked the entire print
paralyzed within a week Many en-
ployers asserted that despite the lock-
out of the pressmen and feeders,
which has been in progress for more
than a week, they are able to keep
compositors at work for moro than a
month, within which period, it is ex-
pected, the pressmen's lockout will be
adjusted
Leon II. Rouse, president, and other
officials of "Big g." said they were
powerless to halt the walkout, which is
STIMULATED by the systematic canvas of
all plants by committees of compositors
urging the men to "take vacation"
Called a Stampede
helm, chairman of the publicity com
mttee of the "Big g." The men are
going out in droves, ana we can't stop
them"
Many of the compositors who quit
work visited the Office of ''Big 6" yes
tercay to ascertain their status with
the union. When told they must re-
turn to work the great majority re-
fused to do So
"The vacation will do us good" said
a group of compositors.
At the office Of the Printers League
the walkout was characterized as "a
subversive strike" 1t was intimated
that big g." while not daring to de-
clare strike openly for fear Of violat-
ing the laws of the international Typo
graphical Union and suffering expul-
sion as a result, Dis really countenanc-
ing the walkout with the idea Of fore
ing the employers to grant the
forty hour week and to lift
the lockout against the four insurgent
unions.
either the men are engaged in a
subversive strike or Big G. has lost
control of its men," said William
Green, chairman of the labor COM
mittee of the Printers League. "I1
the men 90 not obey the orders of
their officers, the officers apparently
no longer represent the men, and some
radical action may be necessary to re-
store the equilibrium in the printing
trades of this city"
A case which will receive particular
attention is that of the Publishers
Printing Company, which prints ''Thc
Literary Digest" There the compost
tors walked out several days ago.
The employers point out that since
the plant is not affected by the lock-
out of pressmen, the compositors can
not be said to be acting in sympathy
with the pressmen, and must bear the
responsibility cf having quit their posts
in direct defiance Of the stand Of the
international that any demands for the
Introduction Of the forty y-four-hour week
made at this time are violation of the
agreement between the employers and
the international, providing for the
introduction cf the forty four hour
week by May /, 1921.
There was a strike Of pressmcn at
the plant four weeks ago under direc-
ton Of Franklin Union 23, one of the
insurgent organizations locked out by
the Printers League, but the strike
was broken by the international
Pressmens Union supplying a new
staff of pressmcn.
Rumor That Is Denied
At the local Offices of the lnterna-
tional Pressmens Union, $50 Nassau
Street, It was SAID yesterday that Vice
President McHugh is seeking to get the
employers to agree to a contract pro-
viding for a forty -four-hour week. This
statement was regarded at the Office of
Big 6" as the first sign of a break on
the part of the international officials in
their stand against the local unions
There was meeting of the labor COM
mittee Of the Printers League yesterday
afternoon, but officials of the league de-
MED that any proposal for a forty-four-
hour week from Mr.. McHugh was dis
cussed.
Following are the plants affected by
the walkout Of compositors yesterday:
Braunworth E. Co., So Broadway;
Gotham Press, 225 West Thirty-ninth
Street; Butterick Publishing Company
223 Spring Street; Pictorial Review
| \OHPdHy, GLL west lnlrLy-A1nCn
Street; A. T. Delamare Company, 43S
West Thirty seventh Street; Mail and
Express Job Print Company, 9 Murray
Street; Industrial Press, Fourteenth
and Lafayette streets; Guide Printing
and Publishing Company, 1858 Jay
Street, Brooklyn; Lipshitz Press, &C
Lafayette Street; Mcconnell Printing
Company, 230 William Street; Arcc
Press, 225 West Thirty ninth Street;
Globe Press, 1856 West Fourth Street;
William Siegust, 8 Murray Street;
George A. Powers, 106 Seventh Avenue;
Brooklyn Eagle Job Print, 307 Wash
ington Street, Brooklyn; Clarence S
Nathan, 241 West Thirty
Street; Goldman e. Stenberg Company
400 Pearl Street; Continental Printing
Company, 344 West Thirty eighth
street; Benjamin II. Tyrrel, 2O6 Fultor
Street; Evening Post Job Print De-
partment, 1856 Fulton Street; Schoen
Printing Company, II Vandewatel