The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1919-06-20
WINNIPEG IN GRIP
OF GENERAL STRIKE
Workers in Metal and Building
Trades Joined by All
Others.
MAY INCLUDE ALL CANADA
Labor Demands Union Recognition
and Living Waaes-War Profiteer-
Ing In Food Back of Agitation
Government UItimatum Ignored.

Winnipeg, May RIA direct
ultImatum to government employ
es by the Dominion authorities,
has been unable to shake the de-
termination of the workers to
refuse work until their demands
are granted. The ultimatum ex-
pIred at noon on May 26, but only
| about 60 of the postal employees
returned to work.
On the other hand, labor in 9TH
er cities of western Canada is
taking an active interest In the
strike and is ready to 60 out il
the opponents of Winnipeg labor
appear to be getting too strong.
Strike votes throughout the prov
Ince Of Manitoba, In which Winni-
peg is 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 II settled right.
and to avoid q general strike thru
out Canada.
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 a new sched-
ule of wages similar to what railroad
shop workers got for the same Kinds
OF work and they also wanted recogni.
ton. 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 general strike
| to aid the other workers whose
bined opposition. Thirty-five 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
employees, the postal employees, the fire.
men and the city policemen voted to
join the sympathetic strike. The po-
Nee voted 149 to II for the strike;
the city firemen, 14s to 6; the general
city employees by 173 to S6. The pos
| tai workers vote was ESQ for to 10
against The only exception in the
whole city was the Typographical
union, officials Of which refused to
| allow a vote to be taken because OF
the locals contract with the newspa.
per pubhsheIR:S. :.
The strike has thus gotten far be-
yond the simple trade dispute in which
1t started, and has led to general as
well as specific demands. Most i'm
| portant in these is the demand for a
general living wage. Even more than
| In the United States the profiteers
have had a free hand in Canada, and
| the burden of this wholly unnecessary
| by-product 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
profiteering with higher wages or in
| creasing as the only alternatives for
the city producers.
No Violence AS 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
provoking violence as has so 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. @
The committee OF 1000 has taken
the general strike as its issue prob
ably because it Is new and therefore
fairly easily misinterpreted to the gen
eral public. 1t claims that it knows
nothing of the merits of the original
controversies, but that 1t is definitely
against the general strike and that the
general strike must be called off be
fore any approach to compromise
can be attempted.
This stand puts them in the posi-
ton of demanding an unconditional
surrender from the workers, and the
] strikers are in no mood to admit de
feat or to end their strike and rely or
mere promises of interests which pro
duced the conditions Of which they