New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-09-11
General Tiie-Up
Of Building Is
Due Monday
Committee of House Wreck
ers' Union Threatens TO
Call Out Is, 900 Laborers
i'm Trades Controversy
Will Appeal to Wilson
Secretary of Labor Will Be
Asked to Intervene i'm
Question of Recognition

question Oh Recognition
New York City faces an almost com
, plete tie-up of building operations, be-
ginning probably Monday
This will be brought about by gem
eral walk-out of $4,000 house wreckers,
hod carriers and building laborers, if
the executive committee of the House
Wreckers' Union fulfills its threat
made yesterday to call the strike at a
meeting to-day.
A complete suspension of all house
wrecking on the sites of proposed
buildings and the practical cessation
OF all new building are threatened as a
means of effectlng settlement of a
quarrel within the building trades.
This dispute is between abe organiza-
tions of the house wreckers and hod
carriers and the United Building
Trades Council, the central organiza
ton of unions concerned in building
operations.
The only chance or averting the
uel Gompers of the American Fedora
ton of Labor or an immediate investi-
cation by the United States Depart
ment Of Labor, it was apparent yester-
day
The situation regarding strikes of
painters, moving men and plumbers
remained unchanged yesterday, so far
as a settlement is concerned.
Ask Secretary Wilson to Intervene
Samuel Gompers, president, and
Hugh Frayne, general organizer, OF the
American Federation of Labor here,
have been appealed to by the House
Wreckers' Union, and announcement
was made last night that Secretary of
Labor Wilson will be- asked to inter
vene in an effort to settle the differ
ences of the two factions in the build
ing trades.
A telegram was sent last night to
Dominick D'Allessandro, International
President of the Hold Carriers and
Common Laborers' Union of America,
asking him to come here to take charge
of the situation.
Nr. Gompers was too interested in
the B. R. T. strike last night to nav
any attention to the building trades,
his secretary said. 1t was said by
house wreckers' officials that Mr..
Frayne has sub. Tilted their position
to President Gompers.
House Wreckers Ask Representation
The House Wreckers' Union has been
making fight for representation in the
Building Trades Council for the last
TOUR months. The Building Trades
Council is willing to receive house
Wreckers, also members of the Hold
CARRIERS and Laborers' Union, individ-
ually, dues for this membership priyi
legc to be 800. This would amount to
$4,000 annually for the 1900 house
wreckers alone, and most of the men
of this trade have not Joined. The
House Wrcckers' Union has sought to
join as such, at a blanket sum much
less than that figure, and bitter feud
has ensued.
That is the explanation of the stu
alton given by Pincus Hockstein, sec
rotary of the wreckers' union, which
led up to lockouts several weeks ago.
when contractors turned away mem
bers of the wreckers' union. Accord
ing to Hockstein, Robert p Brindell,
director of the Building Trades Coun-
ell, directed certain contractors to
lockout wreckers, with the alternative
of being boycotted by workers in the
United Building Trades.
Contractors Appeal to A. +. of l..
All of the organizations concerned
are affiliated with the American Fed
Grafton of Labor, and several con-
tractors have appealed to the local
T. l.,
lowed to deal with the House Wreck
ers' Union.
Jacob Nolk, contractor, who locked
out sixty-two men Thursday, appealed
to the local organizer of the A. +. of
l.. yesterday to effect settlement Of
the trouble so that his men could re-
turn to their work OF wrecking twenty
buildings between Broadway and Co.
lumbus Avenue, on West Scventy-third
Street.
Tie strike Of members of the Broth
erhood of Painters, Decorators and
Paperhangers continued deadlocked
yesterday, with no settlement in sight.
Independents Grant Painters Dema nds
Most of the independent master paint
ers and decorators have agreed to the
painters demands for $40 q day, but
the joint committee of the Society of
Interior Decorators, the Master Paint
ers and Cabinet Makers Association,
whose membership comprises some of
the largest firms, issued q statement to
the effect that they will continue firm
IN their refusal to pay the higher wage.
The statement calls attention to the
fact that painters have been increased
80 per cent since August, 1919. They
were then paid Sc day. The state
ment asserts: "The painters are one
of the highest paid branches in all in
dustry. At the same time they are one
of the least efficient. 1t has been again
and again admitted by union members
that less than 20 per cent of the $4,000
membership in the union can handle a
brush capably. Less than 20 per cent
Of the men, according to any fair
standard, are actually worth even 50
a day
The statement also complains Of the
union ruling which permits painters to
work only five days each week. "What
the union insists upon,' it says, ais
that employers maintain their men in
idleness for one working day each
week, at the same time paying them an
ever-increasing wage"
$500 Painters Remain Out
Only $500 of che painters remain
out of work. and these are being pro
vided for out of the unions full treas
ury, said a union official last night. He
declared the men could remain out in
definitely and not suffer. Only forty
seven decorators and forty-one boss
painters have not acceded to the
unions demand for 81 a day increase,
he said. These are large firms, how
ever, he admitted.
Nothing was plished yesterday
IN the way of settling differences be-
tween striking moving men and their
mployers. Each side said it would
not confer with the other.
The Van Owners Association off
cIally denied that it started to break