Wage Dispute At Monroe Bridge Causes
Dismissal Of Score In Department
Calendar Room Men Leave Jobs, Claiming Two Cuts in Wages
Amounted to 20 Per Cent Reduction- State Police Called But Men Say They Want
No Trouble
MONROE BRIDGE. July 18-
State police again patrolled this small village last night following a strike
and subsequent dismissal of about 20 employes of the Deerfield Glassine company.
The men left their jobs in the calendar department on Sunday as a result of
two cuts in wages and what they claim to be unsatisfactory working conditions.
They claim the two cuts amounted to a total of about 20 per cent reduction.
The plant employs nearly 160 men and the calendar department is the only one
tied up in the wage discussion.
Reports that the company officials had imported a gang of men from Boston to
replace those in the walkout were denied today, but it ascertained that three
or four men had been brought there from Fitchburg and that two or three jobs
on Sunday had already returned.
Men Go to Readsboro
The rest of those who went out were given 12 hours to leave their rooms in
the company's dormitory after receiving their pay at ? clock noon on Monday.
These men have gone to Readsboro, Vt., where they are now quartered in a boarding
house. They returned last evening for their mail and soon afterward departed
for North Adams and Greenfield. It was during the early evening that Corp. Walter
White at the Shelburne Falls barracks arrived as he has been doing since the
wage dispute started but there was no trouble. The men said they wanted an opportunity
to present their grievance. It is understood that the company presented their
side of the controversy before the men left their jobs. The state officer was
still on duty in the village square at midnight.
Mr. Armideo, office manager, said that the company has been paying its employes
30 per cent more than is paid in other mills for the same character of work.
He said a cut of 12 per cent was given in the calendar department which brought
the pay down to 70 cents an hour still 18 per cent higher than paid in other
mills for the same kind of work. Mr. Armideo said that several of the men who
left the employ of the factory have applied for their jobs back but have not
been taken.
An employe of the mill, who seems in close touch with the situation, stated
that eventually all of the men would be back on the jobs. It is understood that
if the tie-up in the calendar department continues much longer it will affect
the rest of the plant.
Mr. Hodgedon, present general manager of the plant is in town from New York.
The presence of the state officers in the town was at the request of a mill
official who asked protection. |