The Price of Non-Compliance
A veteran molder sues his former union brothers for conspiracy after being forced out of work for allegedly producing 'too many' sewer rings per day.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Papers were filed in the county clerk's office this afternoon in a suit of more than ordinary importance, which involves the Moulders' Union of Tacoma. Robert Bruce brings the action and the defendants are twenty-eight members of the union. Bruce wants $10,000 for being deprived of work for three years through the 'conspiracy' of members of the union. Bruce, who is 66 years of age, worked for Cherry & Parkes three years ago. It is claimed that he made too many sewer rings per day to satisfy certain of the other molders, who preferred charges against him for working under the scale. Bruce is headstrong, and would not pay the fine of $5 imposed upon him and he was suspended by the union. With his suspension came an order of discharge from the shop. It is charged that the firm was threatened with trouble if it did not discharge Bruce. Not obtaining any work, his two daughters were forced to leave the high school and go to teaching in order to support the family. His wife, who is a cripple, contributed to the family funds by making gloves. Bruce does not blame the union as a union, but believes there was a rank conspiracy against him.
“Bruce is headstrong, and would not pay the fine of $5 imposed upon him and he was suspended by the union.”
This 1892 labor dispute touches on the perennial tension between individual production quotas and collective bargaining standards. While the language of 'conspiracy' against union members is a relic of the era's legal battles, the economic precarity described for the Bruce family—forced to pull children from school—resonates deeply with modern anxieties about the cost of living and job security.
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