Montana labor news., 1936-03-19
Transfers Demand JUS
lice From Oil Companies
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alton is a little bit different than in
other places.
Here the operators of the gas sta
tons belong to the Teamsters' and
Clerks unions. The Transfers and
Clerks, after a thorough investigation,
and after months OF attempts to make
a satisfactory adjustment Of this stu
alton have decided that the compensa-
ton received by the operators of the
gas stations is thoroughly inadequate.
In n case a lessee operated a sta
ton with the help OF his wife for TWEEN
ty-four hours a day and then was only
able to scrape together a net profit of
$1,000 for the months work.
The unions have submitted two alter
natives to the oil companies; one of
which is to increase the spread be-
tween the wholesale and retail price
from ~ to 4 cents a gallon on gaso-
line and the other n is for the oil
companies to pay the regular transfers
and clerks wages. The oil companies
have refused to agree to either n of
these alternatives.
Should the @lessees or union repre-
sentatives agree to the propositions of
the oil companies in placing the bur
den Of increasing the price of gas to
the consumer, in order to make a liv-
ing, all Of the unpopularity that might
arise from such an act would rest solely
upon the ~lessees and the unions and
the companies, by a slick maneuver of
this kind, would escape the %unfavorable
notoriety. When this proposition was
preached by the company representa-
tives the unions baked and the meet
ing ended. 1t is contended by the
unions that those companies should
pay the union scale of wages and re-
lease the operators from the contracts
with which they are burdened.
On Monday, March 10, the oil com
panies called up every individual
lessee and asked them to come to the
office Of the Continental Oil for a
meeting to be held a IS p. m. The rep
resentatives of the Teamsters' union
and the Clerks union were not invited
to attend the meeting, therefore, those
representatives went to the Contin-
tai Oil Company and did not allow any
of their members to attend said meet
ing. This was an effort on the part of
the companies to again deal Individually
with the l~essees instead of through col
%lective bargaining with their represen-
%tatives,
After this meeting it was decided by
the representatives OF the unions that
unless this trouble is settled the unions
involved will declare the oil companies
unfair at the next meeting of the Sill
yer Bow Trades and Labor Council
and have all the central councils in the
state notified to this effect. Oil COM
panies may realize in the near future
what it means to have a state and ma
tional boycott upon them.
Much antagonism has developed
against the oil companies in recent
months, ever before the present trouble
arose, and Investigations that had been
made by some of the local unions and
reports coming from International
Union Of Oil and Gas Workers indi-
Gated that many oil companies were
never fair; that the unions all over
the state of Montana should have boy
cotted them long ago. It was men
toned at that time that only one out
OF all the oil companies operating in
this district was cleared by the Inter
national Union Of Oil and Gas Work
ers. The Clerks and Transfers unions
are determined that they will get jus
tice from these oil companies for their
members, even though an appeal has to
be made to every central labor body in
Montana and help Of the American
Federation OF Labor called into assist,