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Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday July 21, 1909
McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania – Strikers of Pressed Steel Car Co. Issue Proclamation
From The Pittsburg Press of July 18, 1909:
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Proclamation by Strikers
——In refutation of the repeated statements of the officials of the Pressed Steel Car Co., that no strike exists at the Schoenville plant, the organized strikers yesterday issued a formal proclamation. It affirms in the strongest language that a strike is in progress and cites examples of the company’s alleged wage scale under the “pool system.” The proclamation, issued in behalf of the employes by William B. Remay and K. Nagy. is as follows:
Citizens Workingmen:
We talk to you, the oppressed workers, banished by the strike:
Public opinion is not sufficiently informed of the situation, and according to the statement of the directors of the Pressed Steel Car Co. there is no strike existing at McKees Rocks.
We call this statement an untruth. Yes. there is a strike and we proclaim it openly before the public that the bad conduct of the directory of the company is the direct cause of it. We complained numerous times but our complaints have never been listened to, and after complaining again last Monday, we got for our answer: “Your services are no longer required,” and we have been driven out of the works.
Citizens and workingmen, would you have acted in any other way than we did?
We think we are right.
To give you an idea of the injustice done to us we hereby give you an example of the wages that have been paid to some of the workingmen.
Is it possible to live on such wages in a decent manner and provide for a family?
Under the present conditions this is impossible, and if any person can show us how a man and family can exist on such wages we are willing to obey all the rules of the company and return to work.
The methods of paying are scandalous and everyone who is familiar with the proceedings feel only contempt for the men who direct the affairs of the company.
We shall fight to a finish, as it is our right.
We shall not make concessions and fear no threats of the company. We promise that during this fight between labor and capital we shall conduct ourselves peacefully and we beg all the workingmen and citizens to help us in our fight for victory.
Do not listen to false and lying reports.
Help the workers in this struggle, for this is not a fight only for ourselves but also to save our wives and children from starvation.
THE STRIKERS.
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COLDLY REFUSING TO ARBITRARE,
HOFFSTOT ADDS INSULTS
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“Most of the Men Were Common,
Ordinary Day Laborers,” He Says,
in Explaining His Position
—–[…..]
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SOURCES & IMAGES
Quote Mother Jones, We Will Rest, UMWC Jan 27, 1909
https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=dyhRAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&pg=GBS.PA380
The Pittsburg Press
(Pittsburg, Pennsylvania)
-July 18, 1909, Sunday Morning
https://www.newspapers.com/image/141324628
See also:
TAG: McKees Rocks Pressed Steel Car Strike of 1909
More from The Pittsburg Press of July 18, 1909:
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There Is Power In A Union – Billy Bragg
“With our brothers and our sisters from many far off lands
there is power in a union.”