Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 November 1906 — Labor World [ARTICLE]

Labor World

Paducah, Ky., is organizing an antichild labor organization. King Edward VII. of England is a firm believer in union labor. The total membership of the engineers’ union of Great Britain is 102,202. A union of laborers of the Charlestown, Mass., navy yard has been organized. Memphis (Tenn.) stereotypers’ union has just secured a contract which guarantees the eight-hour day. An increase of pay from 10 to 30 cents a day has been granted junior employes of the Inter-Colonial railway. The Prince law in New York, which makes it a misdemeanor to bribe a labor official, is to be tested shortly. Foundry, employes in San Francisco, Cal., have obtained an advance of 25 cents a day and a minimum cf $4. Sheet metal workers in Des Moines, lowa, have obtained a raise ; n their minimum wage scale from 30 to 37% cents an hour. Electrical workers of Wilmington, N. C., have been granted an increase of 50 cents a day and a reduction of one hour in their working time. In giving the conditions of employment on public work one or two States so far have required printing contractors to use the union label on public printing. The Typographical Union of San Antonio, Texas, has organized a stock company and equipped an up-to-date printing plant to compete with the open shops of that city. A Virginia court has decided that “no employer or contractor has any legal right to advertise for workingmen during a strike and attract them to a city by misrepresentation of facts.” “The eight-hour Hay and ?10 a week” is sure to be the slogan of 150,000 Chicago factory and store girls if plans made by officers of the Chicago Federation of Labor are carried out. Returns received from three co-opera-tive wholesale societies in the United Kingdom for the first quarter of 1906 show total sales in their distributive departments amounting to over $30,000,000. The proportion of union carpenters and joiners out of work in the United Kingdom has fallen to 5.1 per cent, taking all unions into account. This is a lower percentage than for a long time past. From the standpoint of organized labor, Streator claims to be the most thorougmy organized city in Illinois, if not, indeed, in the United States. Every Industry is organized—even the scrub women have a union. Until lately the mining regulations of Formosa strictly limited all mining operations to Japanese subjects; no foreigners might participate. Now any person, properly registered under the Japanese law, can work the mines. The Ohio law providing that after railway trainmen have worked fifteen consecutive hours they may rot be required to give further service until they have bad at least eight horrs’ rest is valid. Attorney General Ellis has given an opinion to this effect to the Ohio Railway Commission. The Union Traction Company, which operates the street car line al Albany, N. Y., is going to try a plan to reduce the number of accidents. It will pay a bonus at the end of the year to every emplaye who has not been involved in an accident through his own fault. Tbe Grand Trunk has decided to establish a pension fund in which all their employes will participate. It will be conducted on the same principle a* tbe pension fund in operation on some of the chief United States railways, and the amount of tbe retiring allowance'will be based on salary and length of service.