The Connecticut labor news., 1923-06-29
GARMENT WORKERS STRIKE SPRINGFIELD
 SHOP, TIE IT UP
Scabs Try to Start Trouble By Brickbats Thrown From
 Factory Windows.

Springfield, Mass, June 29.-The striking garment workers at the plant of the Asinof & Sons Manufacturing Company are conducting very peace full strike. Tickets are out in front, but there has been no trouble reported from the strikers
 The union officials and strikers de- clare that the plant Is crippled, stating that more than 250 have joined their ranks and 150 others have refused to work. The men and women held meet ing at the Central Labor Union hall, and many who had not previously joined the union did so at that time.
 The only unwarranted act IS said to have come from the side of the strike breakers, and while not authorized by the company, caused much i'll feeling among the strikers. About 10 o'clock Wednesday, when Broadway was lined with pickets, a number of bobbins came
 hurtling into the street, followed moment later by huge piece of cement which fell with a crash near a group. One of the police officers on duty inn
 mediately went into the building and
 endeavored to learn the identity of the thrower, but without success However,
 he issued a warning to the officials of
 the company that the workers must
 conduct themselves in proper manner, as the strikers were doing nothing to
 offend
 When the employees came out from
 work they were spoken to by the pickets. However, the officers kept the crowd on the move and no violence materalized. although 1t was evident that the feeling was bitter. Words were flung back and forth and a number of would-be fighters were invited into the alley to settle their differences, but no clashes occurred The pickets were out in force. Walk ing back and forth on both the Worth lngton and Broadway sides of the build
 ing, no workers entered or left without
 passing under their gaze Each picket
 wore band around his hat or sleeve, which reads: "Asinof & Sons on strike"
 Moe Asinof member of the firm, re- fused to make any statement, merely de- claring that the shop would continue to operate. He would not state what wages he was paying for the various kinds of help, and declined to state whether or not he would employ strike breakers. The union officials declared that the strike was not so much a question of
 money as the abolition of the individual
 contract system. One official said that | the strikers would be willing to arbitrate l the wage disagreement, if the company | would agree to collective bargaining.
 Hope were expressed that, with the ar- | rival of Fred M. Knight, of the state board of arbitration, to whom Mayor
 Edwin F. Leonard has sent report on
 the strike, an agreement would be reached
 RRegarding the wage question, the strikers contend that the money paid
 here is far below the wages paid in
 other cities. They state that the wages
 range from $o to SIS week, the latter
 figure being paid to the foremen In
 New York 1t IS said that pocket makers
 receive as high as $51 week
 That the strike is success and that I the plant cannot continue to operate, is
 the contention of the strikers who de- clare that they have in their ranks more | than two-thirds of the normal force. Further, these are cutters, pressers and mechanics whose work, 1t Is said, is es-
 sential to the operation of the plant. The l employees who remain at work may be able to continue for few days, but at | the end of that time the material which | has been prepared for them will have run
 out and 1t will be necessary to shut
 down the shop, so the strikers say.