In the Labor World

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · May 13, 1903

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 29, No. 19.

In the Labor World

In the Labor World.—On the first day of May there were many strikes in various parts of the East. A general strike had been called in the building trades in a number of the large cities, but the trouble was less extensive than it was feared it would be. However, many thousands of laborers struck. In New York City 30,000 Italian excavators quit work on the new subway. The strike practically put an end to the excavations on the subway and also on buildings in course of construction. In many cases the demands of the laborers had been met so that threatened strikes were averted. In Chicago, 2,500 laundry men went on strike. In Boston the demands of some 15,000 laborers were granted. There was a strike of cooks and waiters in practically all the restaurants of Omaha on that date, and 7,000 men in the building trades in Philadelphia refused to return to work until their demands were complied with. In view of the continual demands made by the railway men of Chicago upon their employers, the managers of the various railways there have held a meeting and decided that they will co-operate to resist further demands. They say that they have reached the limit in concessions to the men. The street railway strike in Los Angeles has failed of its purpose. About 6,500 men and women have been thrown out of employment in the Deering Harvester Company's factories owing to a strike in the metal-workers' department. The plant has shut down, and this stops the manufacture of about one-half the binding twine used in the harvesters of the country.