The Connecticut labor news., 1924-05-24

Washington, D. C., May 24-For the first time 1t is possible to tell the com plete story of the strike of oil work
 CTS employed by Fl Aguila Petroleum
 Co. Ltd, at Tampico, Mexico, which American labor has been asked to sup port. | Information now in possession of
 the Pan American Federation of La bor indicates two main facts: l The employment policy of Fl Aguila, British concern usually known as the
 Cowdray property, is dominated iron,
 New York by the American officials of the American Association of Petroleum l Producers.
 The company, apparently upon the advice of this organization, has de- c1ined to negotiate with the workers. No Strike Against Other Oil Companies.
 Certain other facts, less striking, but
 perhaps of equal importance are these E: The company objected to negotiat- ing with representatives of the Mexi-
 can Federation of Labor, but refused
 to withdraw petroleum association
 representatives from their own dele
 gation.
 There Is no strike against any other company in Tampico and no
 other strike is contemplated.
 There are indications that the American companies in the petro- 1eum association want the strike to continue against Fl Agui1a and urge Fl Aguila to resist the demands, so that Fl Aguila may be forced finally to abandon production, to the advant- age of the other companies.
 Granting of the demands would
 place Fl Aguila on par with other companies regarding terms of em- p1oyment.
 Union Tried Vainly to Make Agree ment. Two months of negotiation preceded the strike, which went into effect on March }. After the union failed to succeed in the effort to negotiate with the company, the mediation of the governor of the state of Tamaulipas was accepted. This effort failed. The resort to the strike is sanctioned by the Mexican constitution. l The workmen, however, took pos session of the refinery, not in order to hold and operate the property, but to protect 1t. There also. was the fear that disorders might ensue which would be attributed to the union and | this the union wanted to prevent. This action gave rise to lurid reports ! about the seizure of the property. The procedure, however, was unlaw-
 fu1 and President Obregon at once 1 ordered that the property be returned and the union guard disarmed The union, as we'll as Fl Aguilo
 company then requested the mediation of the Department of Industry, Com l merce of Labor. Due to the fact that 1 Manager Jacobson of Fl Agui1a com-
 pany was absent from the city at that | time, the conferences did not begin
 until March II. They were held in the City of Mexico. The project previ- | ously presented by the government of
 Tamaufipas was adopted as basis for the conferences. Fl Aguila's represen- tatives assured the niediators that l they were ready to accept these prin- ciples and were In accord with the U6rkmeu'c re0ueSfS. hy,f that @bex,
 could not accept them due to the fact that the American Association of l Petroleum Producers presided over in
 New York by Guy Stevens, and of
 which Fl Aguila Is member, pre-
 vented the company from taking into consideration some of the workmen' S
 demands.
 Outsiders Among Firms Represents tives.
 l The company was represented at
 the conferences by Manager Jacobson l MT. Van Zollen, manager of the Dutch
 company, La Corona" and by Mir 1 Tompkins, of the American Associa- ton of Petroleum Producers of New York. The workers were represented Iby their fellow-workmen of the refn-
 cry and by Reynaldo Cervantes Tor res, secretary of the Mexican Fedora l ton of Labor
 While the conference was in har-
 monious progress the representatives
 of Fl Aguila stated that they could ] not continue the negotiations while Secretary Torres, who is not employed
 by the company, continued as repre- sentative of the workmen, pursuant to