opinion as may from time to time arise, and other clauses setting forth the mode of terminating and amending the agreement, might with propriety be included. An early response will be appreciated. Respectfully, BERNARD F. SUPPLE, Secretary. THE CONTRACTORS AND BUILDERS' ASSOCIATION 95 MILK STREET, BOSTON, MASS., April 11, 1902. WARREN A. REED, Esq., Chairman, State Board of Conciliation and Arbitration. DEAR SIR: A meeting of the master carpenters, members of this association, was called to-day by the president, Walter F. Burk, in response to a request made to him by Mr. Charles Dana Palmer and Mr. Richard P. Barry of your Honorable Board, to take into consideration the matter of the Carpenters' Union request for an increase of wages. I would beg to inform you that the sentiment of the meeting was that the members of this association employing carpenters would be pleased to confer with the representatives of the union; but, in view of the fact that they form but a portion of the whole of those engaged in business in Boston as master carpenters, and it was the impression that a general conference of about all the principal carpenter builders would be held soon to act upon this question, and our members would probably present their views at that conference, and would probably abide by the decision arrived at by that proposed conference, therefore, whatever the decision of the conference mentioned above in our opinion would practically be the decision of our carpenter members. Very respectfully yours, T. F. HARRIGAN, Secretary. `After the lapse of a week invitations were sent to employers specified in a list furnished by the workmen : STATE BOARD OF CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION, DEAR SIR: - At the request of some of the master carpenters of Boston, and acting under the law, we hereby invite you to meet with other master carpenters at our rooms, 128 State House, Monday afternoon next, at 2 o'clock, to talk over the situation in relation to the claims of the journeymen. The object of the meeting is to enable the master carpenters to get together, to see whether anything can be done by them in their common interest, in view of the importance of the matter, and in the absence of any better means of bringing it about. Yours truly, WARREN A. REED, Chairman. The conference of Monday, April 21, was attended by 10 of the leading carpenter builders, employing about 500 journeymen, and by the workmen's committee. The discussion was friendly, but no conclusions were attempted, in view of the comparatively few employers; a committee of three was appointed to secure a larger attendance at the next meeting, which was to be subject to the call of the Board. The Board called another meeting at the Parker House, at the request of the employees. On the 28th, 21 master carpenters met in the presence of the Board at the Parker House, and, having considered the demands of the journeymen, voted that the workmen should receive 35 cents an hour for an 8-hour day after June 1, 1902, and 371⁄2 cents an hour after June 1, 1903; that a committee of six, including the chairman of the Board, should call upon the carpenter builders of the Master Builders' Association, and endeavor to induce them to adopt the same vote. The committee was instructed to consider the advisability of forming an association of all master carpenters. The workmen's committee appeared by invitation and was informed of the vote. Views were exchanged which were satisfactory to all present, and the conference elosed. On April 29 the committee of master carpenters met at the rooms of the Board, and endeavored by correspondence to induce the master carpenters who were members of the Master Builders' Association to join in their deliberations. The committee met from time to time in the first week of May, and on the 8th Messrs. Shields, Potts, Medland and Deegon announced that a strike would be likely to occur on May 15 if something were not speedily done to avert it. On May 10 the master carpenters' committee addressed a communication to "The Master Carpenters who met at the Parker House on April 28, and such other master carpenters as are willing to co-operate with them," requesting them to meet at the Parker House on May 14 to consider the report of the committee. The transactions of that meeting were as follows: MAY 14, 1902. At a meeting of master carpenters, held in Parker House on this date: Voted, That the report of our committee appointed to confer with the employing carpenters at 166 Devonshire Street be accepted, and that the committee be continued to represent us in future conferences. Voted, That we agree to pay journeymen carpenters 35 cents per hour for an 8-hour day on and after June 2, 1902. Voted, That the employing carpenters represented in the conferences held in the Parker House on April 21 and May 14 take part in a meeting of the carpenter builders of Boston and vicinity, to be held in November next, to consider the rate of wages for journeymen carpenters on and after June 1, 1903, and to consider any other business that may properly come before the meeting. WILLIAM L. RUTAN, Secretary. BOSTON, May 14, 1902. We, the undersigned, agree to pay journeymen carpenters 35 cents per hour for an 8-hour day on and after June 2, 1902. WILLIAM L. RUTAN. WILLIAM SAMBY. A. G. MINTON. L. MARTIN & Co. The result of the conference was made known to the committee of the journeymen carpenters. They expressed their satisfaction with it, and said it would be laid before their fellow workmen at a meeting of the union. The offer of 35 cents was accepted by the unions on May 15, and on the 17th John Medland called by instruction and reported the Thus the threatened strike was averted. same. On July 8 Messrs. Shields and Potts called and reported that there was no difficulty, but preparations were being made for a conference at the close of the summer season on the subject of an agreement to govern the craft in 1903. IRA G. HERSEY - BOSTON, ATTLEBOROUGH AND NEW BEDFORD. Eighty carpenters employed by Ira G. Hersey went out on strike October 9, by way of refusal to work with nonunion men. There was danger of the strike spreading. In response to the Board's inquiries, the employer said that he had already offered to refer the dispute to arbitration, and the men had declined; whereupon he paid them off, and told them they might consider themselves discharged. On the following day sympathetic strikes of carpenters occurred in New York, Attleborough and New Bedford, on other buildings being erected by Mr. Hersey, and there was danger in all places of the difficulty extending to allied trades. As may be seen in the statement of the preceding case, the State Board, being solicitous to strengthen the friendly relations existing in this community between journeymen carpenters and their employers, had mediated between the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America and the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners on the one hand, and the large construction companies and associations of carpenters on the other, with the result of bringing about in a section of the trade an agreement that was extending its influence and including more employers day by day. Negotiations were pending at that time between committees of the United Carpenters' Council and the Master Carpenters' Association, in pursuance of the plan to bring about uniform conditions, and for that reason the strike was very much to be regretted. When the strikers were brought to realize the gravity of striking at such a time, they returned to work with one accord on October 12, and on the next day the sympathetic strikers on all the jobs affected resumed their former positions. There was no recurrence of the difficulty. MASTER CARPENTERS' ASSOCIATION - BOSTON. The Board had no part in the making of the following agreement between the Master Carpenters' Association of Boston and the Joint Carpenters' Council, made on October 22; but it is inserted here in proper sequence because of its importance in the history of the movement for uniform conditions in the carpentry industry of Boston, and as an exemplification of the present state of collective bargaining:— Agreement between THE MASTER CARPENTERS' ASSOCIATION of THE CITY OF BOSTON, a voluntary association, having a usual place of business in Boston, in the county of Suffolk and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, party of the first part, and THE UNITED CARPENTERS' COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BOSTON, a voluntary association, composed of and representing the following organizations: Local Unions 33, 1096 and 954 of Boston, 218 of East Boston, 67 of Roxbury, 386 of Dorchester, 959 of Mattapan, 938 of West Roxbury, 438 of Brookline, 625 of Malden, 629 of Somerville, 889 of Allston, 762 of Quincy, 802 of Hyde Park, 862 of Wakefield, 443 of Chelsea, 441 of Cambridge, 780 of Everett, 846 of Revere, 821 of Winthrop and 1197 of Saugus, affiliated with United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America ; |