Tension and Sabotage at the Shingle Mill
A labor dispute between union shingle weavers and mill operators descends into machine sabotage and unemployment.
The story, cleaned up
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The dispute between the union shingle weavers and Mr. Rutledge, operators of the mill here, resulted in an open rupture. Some time ago Mr. Moody discharged Charles Brotsche, a union man, and put a non-union man in his place. The union men, numbering about forty, walked out, but nearly all returned when Mr. Moody showed them that he could fill the mill with non-union men. Later he put Howard Cearley, a non-union man, at one of the double block machines. The union men threatened to quit if he did not stop working. During the night, however, a large part of one of the block machines was stolen from the mill, disabling the mill and throwing half the men out of employment. Moody and Rutledge say the union men know where the machine is, and they will not employ union men unless it is returned.
“Moody and Rutledge say the union men know where the machine is, and they will not employ union men unless it is returned.”
Labor tensions involving union versus non-union labor and the subsequent economic impacts on workers remain a flashpoint in contemporary labor relations, echoing the struggles of 1894.
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