Montana labor news., 1939-11-23
Judge Downey Orders A(M
To Show Cause Why Hours
Should NOT Be Shortened
Hours Have Not Been Cut for
36 Years, While Profits Show
Tremendous Increase.

Attorneys OF the Butte MINERS
Union filed a petition in District
Court here last Monday, seeking an
injunction restraining the Anaconda
Copper Mining Company from con
tinuing the present 9 to 915-hour
work day, on the grounds that it
violates the Montana 8-hour law.
The action was followed by the
issuance of an order by Judge T. E.
Downey, requiring the company to
appear Saturday, Nov. rs, and show
cause why it should not be re-
strained from maintaining the pres
ent working hours. The petition
states that the Butte Miners, en-
ployees of the Anaconda Co, r
required to be at the mine in the
service of the company from nine
to nine and one-half hours a day,
thereby working longer than pre-
scribed by the state Constitution.
Court Move Continuation of
Old Struggle
The action of the Butte Miners
Union in seeking a court decision
against the long hours was decided
upon last September, when, after
long negotiations, the officials of
the company refused to meet the
demand of the union for an eight
hour collar-to-collar day. AT that
time, almost exclusively out of con-
s~ideration for the welfare of the
ommunity-particularly small bust
ness interests-the miners averted a
strike which had been decided by a
referendum vote and transferred the
fight for the eight-hour day to the
courts.
FreebOurn Rules Work Day Illegal
Officers of the organization OBJ
tanned an opinion from Attorney
General Harrison J.. Freebourn
which confirmed the position of the
union that the work-day in the Ana
conda Company's Butte mines does
not by any stretch of the magma
ton comply with the 8-hour provi-
sion in our state Constitution.
The attorney general wrote in
part as follows: "Such time (time
on employers premises) whether
spent in actual work in the mine,
securing tools, waiting for or riding
in the cage, or otherwise, constitutes
energy and time spent in the en-
ployer's service. Our constitution
and statutes in effect declare that
eight hours of such employment
shall constitute a maximum days
work. (Sec. 4, Article XVIII of the
Constitution as amended, Sec. 3071
R. c. M. 1880"
Following this opinion the union
decided to engage Attorneys Well
ington D. Rankin and Philip O'Don-
nell to carry the question into court.
Hours Reduction Crying Need
It has been SO years since the
working day of the Butte Miners
was shortened. This in spite of the
fact that five thousand miners in
Butte today produce as much r
as fifteen thousand did in 1908.
Almost every mining camp in the
West, with the exception of the
Butte mines, operates on an 8-hour
ollar-to-collar basis. Even the
Anaconda Company's Inspiration
mine in Arizona enjoys that condi-
ton. The members of the Butte
Miners Union working in the Lex
ington mine in Walkerville (less
than a mile from the center of
Butte) gained the S-hour collar-to-
collar day last month. Only 81 miles
from Butte, the Highlands mine
operates on a 7-hOur colIar-to-collar
basis in accordance with the agree
ment signed between the Butte
Highlands Mining Co. and the Butte
Miners Union No. l more than a
year ago.
Hour Cut Would Lessen Health
Dangers
The establishment of shorter
hours in the Butte mines would
partially protect the Butte bread
winners from the hot, dusty, gassy,
dangerous, silicosis-breeding holes
which only experience can describe.
Continued on Page 81