Montana labor news., 1939-04-06

of the Federation of Labor held at
Missoula which took a similar action,
that is, protested to the Secretary of
Agriculture against the amount of
sugar that was coming into the
United States.
The Workers Alliance thanked the
Trades and Labor Council for help
ing to make their recent dance a
success.
A long letter came from the Cab,
Bus and Truck Drivers Of Great
Falls, explaining the difficulty with
the Home Oil Company. The letter
follows:
CAB, BUS AND TRUCK DRIVERS
Great Falls.
Mr.. Thomas J. Kennedy, Secretary
Silver Bow Trades and Labor
Assembly, Butte, Mont.
Dear Sir and Brother:
Your communication of March
10th, addressed to Mr.. Bruce Stein
metz, has been referred to this office.
Relative to the allegations Of the
Silver dealers in Butte please be
advised that we do not have any
truck drivers employed by the Home
Oil Company. We do, however, have
some oil tank drivers organized who
work for Melvin Wilson and a man
named Schmidt. These men operate
under MIRO permits and haul both
crude oil and road oil and some gas
cline. Due apparently to the pres
sure that is being applied none of
these men are paid up members of
this local. They joined for the most
part last summer when it was
necessary to carry a card to unload
their road oil, but since the Home
Oil was unfair anyway they appar-
emily have been persuaded to let
their cards drop.
We have some stations here
handling Silver Gas, principally
Hansen Brothers, who employ, but
these men are in a position where
they cannot help themselves. So
that you may know the setup these
stations operate under l will try to
explain the lease. They sign a lease
which does not specify what products
they may handle but states that the
premises may not be altered in any
manner whatever. Under this they
cannot change the name on the
pumps. The state law prohibits sell
ing any brand of gas from a pump
advertising a different brand. So
either way these boys go they vio-
late either their contract or the law.
The principal gasoline hauler for
the Home Oil is F. w. Cloud, who is
the biggest non-union truck operator
in the state. He is from Billings.
Considerable gas is hauled from
here by a Bozeman concern who is
union. l think these men service
Butte. If these union drivers are
pulled Cloud will haul the gas and
the Butte stations will accept it from
them so there is nothing to be gained
from that source.
Considerable progress has been
made here on the Home Oil fight.
Our most recent victory was swing
ing the Great Falls brewery to a
different brand of fuel oil. This
account amounted to about $4,000
a year.
Due to the nature of the product
and the large territory which they
endeavor to serve, a company of this
kind takes time to defeat and we
must depend upon a large measure
of support from other organized
communities. The oil industry has
not been touched in this state and
has been barely scratched in the
nation at large. These men r in
sore need of the benefits they will
receive from organization. These
outfits are poisoning the minds Of
their employees and are seeking the
alliance of employer groups. They
have organized here a "Citizens
Committee which pledges itself tc
patronize any firm which is declared
unfair" In spite of all this the
Home Oil Company will soon be
able to read the handwriting on the
wall. Slowly but surely the or
ganized labor movement of the state
Continued on Page 81