Montana labor news., 1936-12-03
ATTEMPT MADE TO
PREVENT INDIANS
FROM ORGANIZING

In a letter addressed to the Silver
Bow Trades and Labor Council by
Sylvester Graham, organizer for the
Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, he
explained that a local of the union
had been formed at Poison, Montana,
and that this new union had author
lied him to communicate with all
unions and trade assemblies and to
forward a copy of the following res
olution which had been passed by
the union.
The letter then went on to say that
about 400 men are employed on the
Poison dam construction, about half
of which are Indians. The Indians
are given preferential treatment in
respect to jobs. From the letter
written by Mr.. Graham it appears
that the Phoenix Engineering Cor
poration is chiseling or the Indians.
Wages are only 40c an hour for
common labor, and around Csc for
skilled work. The men r required
to work 7 days a week and safety
precautions are very lax. 1t was
also stated that men who had left
w. P. A. to work on the dam are
worse off now than they were be-
fore. The Indians are very dissat-
isfied and have expressed a desire
and determination to organize into
a union.
The organizer for the union, Mr..
Graham, states that the low wages
paid can be laid to the door of the
Flathead agency and the Indian Irri-
CATION Service. The Reclamation
Service is paying a wage as low as
SOC an hour, and both of these gov
eminent services protested the pay
ment of 40c an hour at the Poison
Dam, even trying to persuade the
officials there to pay Doc, according
to the letter.
1t appears that the company who
has the contract to construct the dam
is not opposing the organization Of
the union but that the Indian Agency
is opposing it strenuously. The letter
states that they have lied, threatened
and coerced the Indians in the effort
to keep them from organizing.
The Silver Bow Trades and Labor
Council protested to the govern
ment. All labor organizations in
Montana and elsewhere are request
ed to protest to the national admin
istration the interference by the gov
eminent agency in the attempt of
the Indians to organize.
Copy
Poison, Montana,
November 20, 1886.
Harold l.. Ickes,
Secretary of the Interior,
Washington, D. c.
Dear Sir:
AT a regular meeting of Flathead
Local No. 265, International Union
of Mine, Mill & Smelter Workers,
on November 10th, 1886, the follow
ing resolution was passed by the
members of the local:
WHEREAS, in a letter from the
Department of Interior, Bureau of
Indian Affairs, Washington, D. c.,
under the date of October 81, 1886,
and addressed to Mr.. Sylvester Ora
ham, International Union of Mine,
Mill and Shelter Workers, signed
by William Zimmerman, Jr., As
sistant Commissioner of Indian AT
fairs and approved by the Acting
Secretary of the Interior, it was
stated that
"The matter of the Indians en-
ployed by the Rocky Mountain Pow
er Company joining a union for the
purpose of collective bargaining was
for the Indians themselves to decide;
WHEREAS, it was stated that the
Department does not, as a matter of
policy, interfere with any such effort
and that any such effort to interfere
on the part of an employee would
not be countenanced;
WHEREAS, this local has in its
possession a copy Of the minutes of
a meeting of the Indians held Sep
TENDER "a, 1885, at St. Ignatius, at
which L. W. Shotwell, Superintend-
ent of the Flathead Reservation did
try to discourage, lie to and coerce
the Indians from organizing into a
labor union;
WHEREAS, this local has in its
possession affidavits from Indians
who were present at the aforesaid
meeting, testifying to the m~isstate-
ments, discouraging remarks and CO.
ercions uttered by the aforesaid l..
W. Shotwell;
WHEREAS, L. w. Shotwell is not
only u%nfriendly to organized labor
to the extent of exceeding his au-
thority and going beyond the poll
cies of his department, but is the
cause of much dissatisfaction among
the Indians on the reservation in the
dictatorial manner he has of hand
ling their affairs;
WHEREAS, rumors have been
put out by L. w. Shotwell and his
Continued to Page s.