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Saturday, August 28, 2021

With No Offer of Increased Wages, Mill Workers Vote on Returning to Work, August, 1921

Rock Hill Mill Opens Monday. . . Operatives Vote Unanimously to Return to Work

Rock Hill, Aug. 27—The Rock Hill unit of the Highland Park Manufacturing company will resume operations Monday morning, after having been idle since June 1, when the operatives walked out in unison with the operatives of the Charlotte units of the company. Every employee of the plant, it is understood, will be on hand when the whistle blows Monday.

The decision to return to work was reached at a meeting of the operatives this afternoon. The decision to resume work and end the strike was virtually unanimous. The employees return to work under the same conditions and wage scale as was in force at the time the strike was called. There are about 300 operatives employed in the local plant and the resumption of operations will be hailed with relief by business interests in the city as the weekly payroll will be several thousands of dollars, which will be turned loose in the city. Immediately after the meeting the management of the mill was notified and announcement was made that the wheels would begin to hum Monday morning.

The action of the operatives here was to an extent influenced by the action of the operatives of the Charlotte units of the company, who Friday night voted to return to work Monday. The strike here, so far as can be learned, was not aimed directly at the local plant as wages had not been reduced in the Highland Park plant here to the extent they had in some other local mills, but the step was taken in unison with the operatives of the charlotte units. Therefore, all negotiations, so far as the union was concerned, have been conducted through the Charlotte union and the local members have been covered by the action taken in Charlotte.

From the front page of The Charlotte News, Sunday, Aug. 28, 1921

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Mecklenburg Mill Workers Vote to Remain Out

Striking operatives of the Mecklenburg mills in North Charlotte will not follow the lead of Highland Park mill employees who have voluntarily voted to return to work Monday morning, accepting the same wage basis and working conditions that existed when the textile strike was called June 1.

Mecklenburg mill employes met Saturday to consider accepting the offer of their employees of wage scale and general conditions that existed at the time the strike was called, but the recorded vote was against going back. It was understood last night that these employes may consider the matter further later, though no indication could be obtained as to the date when it will come up again.

Reports from other mills in Charlotte indicated that Highland Park employes are the only persons who have decided to return to work, the others apparently being determined to stick it out longer.

Interest was manifested locally in dispatches from Rock Hill, S.C., announcing that employes of the Johnston mill there had voted practically unanimously to return to work Monday morning. That mill also will open its doors and the shrill whistle once more will signal the hour for the spindles to turn.

Opinion in the city Saturday was that the lead of the Highland Park people would be followed by operatives in the other mills of the city, but this situation has failed to develop. Although the Mecklenburg Mill people are said to have carefully considered the proposal to return to work, they turned it down by a good vote. Chadwick-Hoskins company officials had no word Saturday night of any movement on the part of their employes.

The Hoskins and Louise mills, two of the Chadwick-Hoskins chain, will continue in operation Monday morning, and officials confidently expected a material increase in the number of operatives returning to work. Officials reported that these mills made satisfactory progress during the last week and if developments follow during the coming week as rapidly as they occurred last week, the mills will be almost on a normal basis within a short while.

Highland Park Mills Nos. 1 and 3 were reported Saturday night to be prepared for reopening Monday morning as under normal circumstances. Seven hundred operatives are expected to walk into the plant and assume the jobs which they left nearly three months ago. These employes voluntarily voted overwhelmingly to go back to their jobs during a meeting held in the textile union hall in North Charlotte Friday night.

From the front page of The Charlotte News, Sunday, Aug. 28, 1921

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