Montana labor news., 1933-05-18
COUNCIL NOTES

Out of town visitors were James D..
Graham, president of State Fedora
ton of Labor, Secretary of State,
Sam Mitchell, and International rep
resentative Connors of the Meat Cut
tiers and Butcher Workmen's Union.
Brother Connors has been doing or
~ganization work for the Meat Cut
ters' Union and had a meeting with
some of the proprietors last week
for the purpose Of planning a cam
paign for an agreement on closing
hours. While at the session of the
council, he spoke briefly about his
activities and received assurance of
the aid and support of the Central
Council in this %endeavor.
Sam Mitchell explained to the dele
gates the manner in which the Re-
construction Finance Loans for Fed
eral relief work was secured and how
it will be repaid.
A committee from the Central
Council was appointed to interview
Governor Cooney, while he was on a
visit to his home here, and this COM
mittee reported to the session later.
Many complaints have come to the
attention of the Council about the
manner the relief workers have been
paid off by being denied the privilege
Of selecting the class Of merchandise
which they were in need Of and have
had others substituted which were
not what they wanted. Considering
that they have had but a very limit
ed amount allotted to their use it
was very urgent such supplies should
be bought to the very best advan-
tage.
In this connection we know and
everyone else knows that the class Of
people who have been given this re-
lief work are people who in the past
have been self supporting but who
always have had to plan carefully in
order to make their earnings stretch
as far as possible. Through hard
work and meager opportunities they
have long since learned the true value
of a dollar and no other class of
people have been better trained to
buy adyantageously with the small
amount of money at their command.
These people are not paupers or
beggars in any sense of such words.
They are upright, capable citizens
who ask nothing more than an OPP
portunity to earn an honest living.
Being given such opportunity they
are not in need of guardianship, or
dictatorship as to what they may buy
with their earnings or what merch-
ants they may buy from.
The committee came back and re-
that they had assurance that
some of these alleged abuses would
be and had already been Investigated
and that such abuses would not be
tolerated in the future.
Another matter in connection with
the handling Of this relief work is the
price paid for such labor. Locally,
the price has been reduced from 81
to So per day. This has been taken
up with the proper authorities and
will no doubt be clarified within a
near future.
The building trades committee re-
ported upon their interview with the
management of Missoula Gas and
Coke Co. that this company had ex-
pressed willingness to increase the
from $500 per day to $4. The
committee could not consider accept
ing any such offer as it would be
to a drastic cut below the
established scale for such work and
which is entirely unjustified. They
lad pointed out to the management
If the Gas Co. that the work was
them more the way they were
about it than if men experien-
in such work were employed at a
air pay. This was not denied by the
management but they took the po-
iition that their object in paying low
wages was to make the work stretch
'mong more people as a relief meas
ire.
So here we have a Public Utility Co..
allegedly have gone in for re- !
ief work, not for their own benefit
oh no-but as a benevolent act in
distressed community. It was, =
mong other things, claimed that re-
aging of more mains was not really
eeded that the more important part
f that work had already been done,
tc. Considering the number of ex- |
losions there have been in Missoula !
aused by leaking gas, this argument I