The Tomahawk., 1919-06-26
WINNIPEG. 7 |! | ! IN GR|P
OF GENERAL \ RI [. STRIKE
Workers in Metal and Building
Trades Joined by All
- Others.
MAY INCLUDE ALL CANADA
Labor Demands Union Recognition
and Living Wages-War Prot1teer.
ing in Food Back Of Agitation
Government Ultimatum Ignored.

Winnipeg, May PA direct
uItinnatum to government employ.
es by the Dominion authorities,
has been unable to shake the de-
termination Of the workers to
:, refuse swork until their demands
are granted. the ultimatum OK.
pired at noon on May 26, but only
about so Of the postal employees
returned to work. =, -
On the other hand, labor In oth-
Or cities Of western Canada Is
taking an active interest In the
strike and Is ready to 40 out 10
the opponents Of Winnipeg labor
appear to be getting too strong.
Strike votes throughout the prov
inee Of Manitoba, In which Winni.
peg 10 situated, have been taken.
The Representatives Of the rail.
road workers are also taking an
active part In the Winnipeg strike,
although they are not called out,
because they wish it settled right
and to avoid general strike thru
out Canada.
=. y. '-t@ A Small Beginning.
+ The walkout started several weeks
ago in the building and metal trades.
The building trades workers demanded
an increase of 20 cents an hour and
recognition of their unions. The metal
trades workers demanded new sched-
ule of wages similar to. what railroad
shop workers got for the same kinds
of work and they also wanted recogni.
tion. Cancellation attempts failed.
The managers of the three big iron
works combined forces, declared for
the open shop and refused to meet
with the men whom the unions chose
as their representatives. In this stand
they had the support of employees in
general and probably that of govern
ment officials.
-. The other union men of the city
then decided to call a general strike
to aid the other workers whose
strength was not enough for the COM
bined opposition. Thirty-fve thou
sand workers in this. city of over 200,-
900 have been on strike for two weeks,
and all industry and distribution has
stopped except that permitted by the
strike committee to prevent suffer
ing and hardship to the aged, the
young and the sick.
Public Employees Join.
Not only those employed by private
enterprise, but the general municipal
the postal employees, the fire.
men and the city policemen voted to
Join the sympathetic strike. The po-
lice voted 149 to II fof the strike;
the city firemen, 149 to 6; the general
city employees by 173 to 86. The pos
tai workers vote was 250 for to 19
against. The only exception in the
whole city was the typographical
union, oficials Of which refused to
allow vote to be taken because Of
the locals contract with the newspa-
per publishers. @.,.,,s.s.,.. ~ -. ..
The strike has thus gotten far be-
yond the simple trade dispute In which
It started. and has led to general AZ
well. as specific demands. Most i'm.
portant in these is the demand for
general living wage. Even more than
in the United States the prohteers
have had free hand In Canada, and
the burden of this wholly unnecessary
of the war has fallen upon
the poor of the cities and the farm.
ers. The employers of Winnipeg are
now freely admitting that the govern.
ment, which their class controlled,
made a great mistake in allowing food
with higher wages or in
creasing as the only alternatives Tor
the city producers. .s..
No Violence A. Vet. .
Like the recent general strike In
Seattle, Wash, the workers in Winni-
peg have been strong enough to pre-
vent violence of any kind. For one
thing the policemen are on the side of
the workers and consequently are not
violence as has 10 often
been done to discredit striking work
men. There are monster strike meet
ings every day but no parades. The
only suggestions Of violence one hears,
in fact, come from impatient employ
ers of the shoot 'em at sunrise" kind.
Employers United.
The employing class has formed
what is called the committee of 1000
to represent It in the controversy, and
It has evidently been given authority
to represent the individual employers,
for certain employers have declared
that the matter is entirely out Of their
hands. e-
The committee Of 1000 has taken.
the general strike N its issue prob
ahlv hocAuao n n now and therefore