Show I f 1 UNIN PACIFIC STRK Boiler Makers Blacksmiths and Machinists Walk Out THE WALK OUT GENERA ifocmt 2500 Ken Arc Affected By the Order to Quit 1 the Company Claim to Be In Splendid Condition to Stand the Strike About Jorty Go Out In This City OMAHA Neb April 17Six hundred men employed in the Union Pacific shops struck here at noon The men who went out were machinists boiler makers blacksmiths moulders and pattern junkers The employees claim that the company has acted in bad faith concerning t concern-ing the fulfillment of a agreement entered into t allow the force of men employed to reduce itself when time was below the standard of nine hours a day t It is claimed that the company instead of allowing the forca of men employed to educ itself actually has kept up a lull quota of men and in some shops Omaha included has increased the force The company has not only increased the force but reduced the standard of nine hours to eight for a working day on January 15 of of this year employees claim t have a written agreement signed by General Manager Dickinson and Assistant Superintendent Slertzheimer that while the men are working eight hours it isunderstood the places of the men who leave the service will not be filled ex jeut when absolutely necessary in order io carry on work to advantage vantage there being no intention of doing anything that might be construed us bad faith or standing in the way of this plan taking out naturally and speedily as soon a the force hm been reduced sufficiently to establish a standard of nino hours The aggrieved employees claim that no effort has been made by the company to live up t the terms of the agreement and that while they are working on an eight hour basis other roads are paying the same rate of wages and work their men ten hours a day The executive board representing the employees has been endeavoring en-deavoring t persuade President S H H persqte Clark and J H McDonnell the general master mechanic of the Union Pacific system sys-tem to modify their views concerning the interpretation of the agreement to reduce the force and increase the working hours from eight to nine The officials have held several conferences with the committee but were unable to arrive at a satisfactory agreement and the strike today was the result C J H McConnell superintendent of motive power in an interview said the difficulty was not a matter of wages or hours of work but simply the refusal of the company t sign the new contract submitted by the men regulating the conditions con-ditions under which they should work The first proposition was submitted t him which he refused to sign It was then taken to President Clark who also declined One of the primary objections to the contract demanded that when necessary to reduce expenses and the men were obliged to work eight hours the company should not employ any new boiler makers mak-ers machinists blacksmiths moulders The men finally withdrew this proposition and presented another which provided that when working eight hours a day the company should not employ any of the above named craftsmen until after 10 per cant of the force had been discharged per McConnell stated would prevent interested men working eight hours thereby practically taking the contract of hiring the men out of the companys bands Superintendent McConnell would not say just how many men would be affected The Knights of Labor in the shops refused re-fused t strike as a bulletin was posted by the executive committee of District Assembly S ordering them to remain at work as by striking they would violate their contract There are only a few I knights among them The men in the companys shops at North Platte have also struck I The strike inaugurated today affects about 2500 men on the system and only t affects the workers of iron or those men working eight hours instead of nine as they alleged they were promised on Jan 15 The towns most affected in addition to Omaha arc Denver Cheyenne Salt Lake Rawlins Armstrong Pocatello Evanston Laramie L Grand and Shoshone Sho-shone From conversations with officials i the concensus of opinion was that the I road has never been in a better condition ito i-to undergo a strike than at the present i time I tme The rolling stock is in much better shape although coming out of winter than in October last Of 160 engines on the Nebraska division alone there is not one that has not been in the shops In the last nine months and although the shops have been turning out two engines on an average per day having undergone light and heavy repairs the officials do not hear hesitate t say they can go on for the next ninety days without the men who walked out today President Clark refused to make any detailed statement of the differences between be-tween the men and the company saying his remarks might be misconstrued and irritation would rise He believed the men a a whole would not act rashly and the strike would not be general The men he said simply asked more than the company granted and he could not to the over extent them desired surrender his authority |