New York State. Board of Mediation and Arbitration. Hearings. Transcript, 1913.

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New York (State). Board of Mediation and Arbitration. New York State. Board of Mediation and Arbitration. Hearings. Transcript, 1913.

New York State. Board of Mediation and Arbitration. Hearings. Transcript, 1913.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/64059085

Transcript of hearings of the New York State Board of Mediation and Arbitration concerning the lockout of employees of the Syracuse Plants of the Crucible Steel Company of America. The hearings were conducted June 17-20, 1913. About the first of April, 1913 approximately 1,000 of the 1,500 employees of the two Syracuse plants joined together to discuss the formation of a union. On May 10, 1913 a notice was posted by the employer in all of the departments stating that the two Syracuse plants would be closed indefinitely. The notice further stated that any employee who wished to remain at work could do so by signing a statement that he was not a member of the union. The obvious intent of the company was to break the union through a lockout of union members. At the time of the hearings, over 900 men were still out of work. The union was formed to improve the wages and working conditions of all employees at the two plants. For the most part, wages had not risen for 20 years. The physical working conditions were bad, and the men often had to pay for their tools, and equipment under the sub-contracting system which existed in some parts of the plants. The employees wanted to establish a departmental shop committee system, which would allow them to present their grievances and demands as a group, rather than as individuals. The employees did not ask for company recognition of the union they asked only for recognition of the shop committee.

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