“Theaters Find It Costly to Break Union Agreement”

Headline: “Theaters Find It Costly to Break Union Agreement”

To make the Chicago movie theater owners thoroughly regret their contract-smashing jamboree, the three unions involved in the lockout last month have collected over $180,000 in wages lost by their members when the Chicago Exhibitors association would not let them perform their accustomed work. The movie musicians collected for all their members. The movie operators collected for all but those of the Orpheum circuit where they had called a strike before the lockout began. The stage hands collected for all their members but only for the first three days, as they then turned the lockout into a strike and won a 7½ percent raise.

The trouble began when the Orpheum’s Belmont theater broke its contract by cutting down its movie operator staff from four men to two. The $180,000 payment made this week is a reminder that the unions expect every owner to be an honorable business man and live up to his written promises.