The Washington herald., 1922-01-09
10000 TO STRIKE
TODAY NCMCACO
BUILDING TRADES
Citizens Committee Has
$1,000, 900 War Chest
To Fight Unions.

CHICAGO. Jan. s.-After two
years of bitter and costly strife. the
building trades war here today
reached an impasse that is to be
Followed by what Is perhaps the
most unusual situation that has
has ever come out of lobor con-
troversy anywhere in the United
States
A general strike of $4,000 build
ing trades workers. who have been
working under a temporary truce,
Is scheduled to start tomorrow to
tie up completely S100.0O0.00o
worth of construction by Tuesday.
Arrayed against these unions is
citizens committee with a s2.000.000
war chsst which will attempt to
break the strike and the 100 per
cent power Of the construction
unions over home and Industrial
building and to institute the open
shop.
Apartment DwelIers Help.
This $4,000 900 pot represents
200 contributions of business lead
ers. desperate over inability to get
needed factories and business
buildings put up. and thousands OF
contributions down to 81 by apart
ment jewellers. who believe that
construction is the only means of
lower rent
The committee was formed after
every other medium Of'settlement
Of disastrous labor war. failed.
Hundreds of Federal and state in
dictments have been returned
against the building trade chiefs
and contractors and builders al
legged to be allied with them in the
s&-called building trust" Scores
OF indictments charging graft run
ming into millions of dollars have
been voted. There are. in addition.
large number of criminal cases.
including murder. riot. and all man.
ner OF violence as a result OF the
war on the criminal court calendar.
None Of these cases have been
brought to trial.
BaIk at Award.
Thomas S. Kearney. president Of
the Chicago Building Trades Coun-
ell. is under indictment on charge
of perjury, growing out of the muir
der of Adolph George, one OF the
best known cafe owners in the city.
who was killed, IL was charged. by
another labor leader.
Some Of the labor leaders have
as many as five indictments voted
against them.
With hardly a building under
construction last summer, Judge h.
NJ. Lands was chosen as arbitrator
and handed down a wage award
which reduced building trade sched-
uIes from top to bottom. The
unions were bound by the agree
ment to accept the verdict. but when
some Of the unions who had not en-
tered the agreement refused to do
so. the organizations affected by the
cut began to balk.
Sunday completion OF referen-
fims by practically all Of the
%nding trades showed that they
ave voted to strike with the car
benters. plumbers, sheet metal
orkers. and hosting engineers, al
eady out.
Decide on Open shop.
4 When contractors and builders
Econtinued to pay the old wage scale
of sI.25 per hour, despite the Ian
dis cut, the citizens committee was
formed and contributions for It's
support began to pour in. and
1000. 600 was collected within a
few days. Another s1.000.00 has
been added. and now another s1,000,-
900 is asked.
The citizens committee will un-
derwrite contractors operating on
an open shop basis and the Middle
West is being flooded with appeals
for workers on this basis. The COM
mittee had pledged itself to support
every union that agreed to work
under the lands award, but when
the Building Trades Council voted
today to support the unions now on
strike by a sympathy walkout, the
open shop basis was started in fifty
Middle West cities.