Outcome in Doubt
The outcome of the strike remains doubtful. At the end of the fourth week, both city officials and strikers were standing firm, despite pressures building up on both sides.
On Thursday, February 29, Mayor Loeb, in a letter to the strikers, could still only "restate the city's position." The letter offered eight cents an hour pay increase and, in general, met demands of the workers on insurance, retirement plans, a grievance procedure, and hours and overtime. But the mayor still refused union recognition, refused a dues check-off and insisted that "as a precondition to any rearrangement of wages and working conditions, the strike must end." He concluded:
I assure you of fair, dignified treatment. As I have said many times, there will be no reprisals. In fairness I should remind you that some of the regular jobs have been filled and others are being filled daily. Your jobs are of the utmost importance to you and your family and I am sincerely interested in your welfare.
Next day strikers assembled in Rubber Workers' Hall rejected by a thundering, unanimous vote an offer from the City Council that proposed a raise of ten cents immediately and five more cents in July, but made no concession on union recognition or dues check-off. The morale of the men was good.
"But they're getting hungry," admitted one union officer. "On the other hand, it was warm and sunny today, and the garbage is getting noticeable. All in all, I'd say the city is in as bad shape as we are."
By that time, as obligations mounted, the strike was costing the union $2,000 a day, up from about $400 a day at the beginning, to provide the absolute necessities of the men and their families. Collections at the mass meetings were running $600 to $800, but $2,000 per day was hard to come by.
Just the logistics of aiding the strikers was a problem. Some of the men were in debt to more than one loan company; some owed several months' back rent; some reported demands for immediate payment or payment in advance of rent. An older worker summed it up: "The man came for the payment on my burial insurance. I told him that right now I'm just trying to keep alive. Reckon I can let somebody else worry about it when I die."
