Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 35, Number 123, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 October 1903 — MAY REDUCE WAGES. [ARTICLE]

MAY REDUCE WAGES.

Carnegie Steel Company Has. Posted Necessnry Notice. That a reduction in wages is possible to the men employed in the Homestead mills of the Carnegie Steel Company was made known Friday by the posting of a notice by the company that on Jan. 1, 1904, there would be a readjustment in the wages of the employes. ’ Officials of the company claim the notice does not necessarily mean any change *ln the wage rates, but in view of any possibility of a change Being necessary it was deemed best to protect the interests of the company by posting the notice. Ever since the strike of 1892 an agreement to this effect has been in force between the company and each of the mill workers. In case either side was dissatisfied with the existing scale agreement it was stipulated that they must give at leart three months’ notice of this fact preceding the first of the year, when the matter would be taken up and a new agreement entered into. During the last four years there has been no disposition on the part of the Carnegie Company to change the agreement, but on several occasions rt has advanced the wages of the men voluntarily beyond the rate agreed upon, until at present they are being paid the highest wages in ten years. However, the recent depression in business has made it necessary for the company to give the required notice of * chnnge in the wage scale. While it is not stated a reduction will be made, it is thought by some that this is the proba-ble-intention, and the posting of the notices has been the them# of considerable talk among the rhen.