Government Warehouse Hires Non-Union Labor
Tensions rise at the waterfront as shipping companies attempt to bypass labor unions by hiring non-union crews to load government freight.
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.
McCabe & Hamilton are loading the steamship Lyra today with a crew of non-union men, paying 40 and 50 cents an hour. Longshoremen claim their wages were cut, but O. F. Cosper, quartermaster's agent, stated that the pay scale is a matter for the government. Captain Grant, arriving from Seattle, maintained that no longshoremen had a right in the government warehouse, stating that the government would recognize union labor but would dictate its own wages for warehouse work. Currently, the longshoremen are making no major demonstrations, and loading continues quietly.
“No longshoreman or stevedore has any right in the government warehouse.”
The struggle over labor classification and the 'right' of unions to organize within government-controlled or funded space remains a major flashpoint in modern logistics and public-private labor disputes.
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