The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-06-27
FOOD TRUCKERS
GIVE UP STRIKE
Commission Merchants and
Teamsters Reach Wage
Agreement.
MEN TO GET $50 WEEKLY
Workers Accuse Police of Pro-
tecting Gunmen Who
Took Places.

A cltywide food tieup was averted
last night when commission mer-
| chants, boss truckmen and teamsters
agreed upon the settlement Of the
strike which since Sunday night had
virtually paralyzed the fresh fruit and
vegetable market.
Had differences not been adjusted II
was the threat Of the international
Brotherhood OF Transfers, A. F. L., to
call a general sympathetic strike. Ac-
cording to members Of the union 1000
drivers employed by tho butter and egg
merchants were to have quit their jobs
to-day to aid the fruit and vegetable
drivers. The union also was endeavor-
Ing to stage a sympathetic walkout Of
10000 lonsshorenen.
The settlement was made last night
In the rooms OF "rhe Boosters Club"
| which Is made up Of the leading fruit
and vegetable commission merchants
in this city. Concessions were made
=. by the three factions interested, the
merchants, the truck owners. and the
| employees.
' The drivers return at a weekly wage
| OF s2S for drivers OF single trucks and
$50 for drivers OF double trucks and an
eleven hour day. PorterS who simply
load and unlosd the produce. are to
receive $50 per week. with a ten hour
day.
! Agreement Reached.
The agreement by which the men were
| to return to work this morning was
| signed at 10 o'clock last night by Jo-
seph B. Popp, secretary and treasurer
OF Local 202, the teamsters' union; L.
J. Lippman. representing the commits
sion merchants. and several other rep
resentatives of the factions interested.
II Is supposed to run until May 1. 1920.
and carries a clause by which the union
| agrees to call no more strikes without
seventy-two hour notice.
| The willingness of the truckmen to
make concessions was due largely to
the fact that the dealers sent large
motor trucks into the fruit districts.
both here and in Jersey City. yestei-
day under heavy guard Of police and
succeeded In removing large quantities
OF produce.
The strikers charged last night that
certain of the parties opposing their
interests had hired the Jack Slrocco
and Jimmy Kelly gangs to intimidate
them, and that It was merely the pres
ence OF gunmen at the market places
that permitted the carting to go on with
out serious interference
One OF the union men declared that
! "Ris Jack" Sirocco had entered the DIS
| trict at an early hour seated on large
truck. Strikers protested that the gang
| sters had full protection from the police.
| Gunmen, they declared. went about with
out molestation. while strikers were
stopped at street corners and searched
for guns. No weapons were found on
| the union men.
Thirteen trucks that carted fruit from
| Jersey City early in the day passed
through a stone and brickbat barrage
laid by strikers and sympathizera. The
strikers declared that no gangsters were
| employed against them in Jersey City
because Of the announced opposition OF
Mayor Frank Hague TO the injecting Of
such personages into labor disturbances.
Police Guard Trucks.
The mercantile district here resembled
town under martial law throughout the
! day Policemen thronEed all Of the
| streets, and all trucks loaded with stun
upon which the strikers had placed their
ban were obliged to leave by prescribed
routes which were heavily guarded. As
fast as a truck was loaded mounted
policeman was detailed to ride behind II
as special guard until II should be safely
| out OF the district.
! Automobiles nlled with policemen and
| detectives roved about the piers and
hterminals and large forces were held
in readiness at points where the loading
OF wagons was going on. Despite all
| Of these precautions one heavily loaded
wagon was overturned on West street to
the intense delight of several hundred
strikers who saw the produce roll into
the gutter.
| These measures resulted in getting a
| large part OF the accumulated food prod