The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-07-18
WESTERN UNION WON'T GIVE BACK SOL LDIERS' JOBS Wounded Mems Wages Cut Discharged For Part
 in Strike. ALLEGE BAD FAITH ON COMPANY'S PART Maj. Bigelow Says Grave Injustice Is Being
 Done.

New York, July 1S.-ChargeS that the Western Union Telegraph Go. is acting in bad faith toward the late strikers, and especially toward the re- turned soldiers and sailors, were made by spokeSmen of the union yesterday
 The workers say that the old sliding scale has been restored and the time and-a half pay for Sunday work abol- lshed. The men say that returned soldiers find that ther cannot get back their old jobs at their former pay, and that in many cases the old wage Is reduced.
 The union cites the cases of several of the workers, making grave charges against the officials of the company.
 In the case of Morris J. Lane an eX- soldier, his salary was reduced, and when he protested the superintendent told him that if he was not satisfied with the wages they were giving him he might resign from the Western Union, as they could procure young ladies to take his place for a lower wage than he was receiving. In an- swer to this Lane retorted: "Yes, MT. IIaig (the supcrintendenD, then l don't see why any young lady cannot take your place for less wa ges than you are receiving" Thereupon Haig requested him to leave the office, and told him that he was through with him forever.
 In the case of Harry Wilson, an ex-soldier, who was wounded several times and carries the croix de guerre, the Western Union refused to deal with him on the grounds that he aid ed an outside" organization in the recent strike.
 H. B. ITaig, general superintendent
 
 to Wilson's request for his old job:
 Ut matters not whether you
 were wounded a hundred times,
 or if you wear a thousand croiX
 de guerres. we are simply
 through with you for all time. We
 cannot employ anybody who
 strikes against the Western
 J-nion.''
 Wilson retorted:
 "The Presidents proclamation dur ing the war stated that all workers have the right to organize and bar gain collectively; and the telegraph workers were justified in going ou. on strike, since the company did not abide by the principles of collective bargaining as laid down by the Presi- dent of the United States
 When Major Bigelow of the Re employment Bureau of the United States government was informed of the Western Unions refusal to take back ex-soldiers who struck with an "outside" organization, he said in a letter to Haig:
 "The company in refusing to re- | employ ex-soldiers and sailors, re- | gardless of whether they were strik- | CTS not, is doing a grave injustice l to the returned soldier by not return | ing hin to his pre-war occupation. | After the soldier has fought in | France, and bled, so that America | can be made for democracy, it is a disgrace for any company to refuse 1 them their old jobs back
 There are hundreds of ex-soldiers and sailors all over thme country who i have been blacElisted for no other | reason than that they were members of an organization that believed in | the workers right to organize and | bargain collectively. The many locke out telegra ph workers, which | about 5000 all over the country, have pledged themselves to keep up the fight.