New Britain herald., 1922-02-14

hoars were made which the bakers claim were favorable to the employ CTS.
 Editor, Herald;
 aAa 1t may he Of interest to the rnhlie at large. nm asking you 10 print tho following communication witch was sent 10 us recently. January s7. lasc Bakery and Confectionery Workers Union.
 Local No. i0T,
 New Britain, Conn.
 Gentlemen,
 You are hereby notified that at ih. meeting of the New England Takers Association, Division No. C. held on Wednesday, January 18th, comprising bakers of Hartford and Holland coun. ties, it was unanimously voted 10 re- ducc the present scale of wages s5 o0 per week, per man. for foremen. bench men, the same to take cffec, thirty Nays from date.
 Very truly yours.
 New England Bakers Association.
 The facts in the matter are as fol- lows' Local No. lo7 B, and C, W. |. entered into an agreement with the local master bakers on May l. 1891 which was 10 run until May 1, 1929. This agreement covered hours Of labor and wages. There was also clause In the agreement that any dispute was to be settled by arhitra- tion between committees chosen from the Master Bakers Association and the Local Bokere Union. Several meetings were hold during the year to discuss changes in the hours which were desired by our em- ployers. In two instances, hours were changed to suit the ideas of the Mas ter Bakers. although these changes were not in the workers favor.
 As will be seen by the communica- ton above. an attempt Is now being made 10 disregard the agreement which was to last until May 1, 1922. A cut of s5 per week in each mans wages has been declared without any consultation with the men.
 II may interest your readers 10 learn that bakers now start work be- tween the hours of ? and a. m In one shop the last shift starts at 3 o'clock fin the afternoon and finishes at midnight. It will be readily seen that these working hours are not very convenient for family life. The bakers are satisfied with the present scale of wages which are not however more than a fair living wage. That the wages are not too large is best proven by the fact that over 95 per cent Of the workers here are of foreign birth, and while many young Americans gave the business trial during the past years. the hard work and un- timely working hours have discourag- ed them, until at present, there is not an apprentice on our lists. The young man of the present day simply will not enter the business. Those who entered in the past did not stay long at the work. AS will be noted in the above letter. no reason for the cut in wages is given, and we cannot under stand the necessity for such a cut as materials used in baking have dropped in price from 30 per cent to 50 per cent since last May when the present agreement was written.
 Our union has never had a strike or serious disagreement with our em- ployers during the more than 30 years of its existence in New Britain, and we can further state that our union is responsible for the present sanitary condition of the bakeries. At the cost Of much time, labor and money we fought the battle for clean bakeries through three legislative sessions un- til success was won. cellar bakeries were wiped out. and the public was assured of clean bread
 We feel that the contemplated cut in wages is an unjust one under the circumstances. and we believe that the people will back us up in resist ing any attempt by the Master Bakers Association to break the existing agreement.