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Show ORGANIZER'S SECRET WORK j S FROWNED UPON BY OFFICIALS I' MIDNI6H1 MEETINGS UNLUCKY, SAYS MR. READ, Official Notice Warns Street Car Men Against Union . Movement. Superintendent Wants Employees Em-ployees to Come to Him Direct Di-rect With Grievances. "Misplaced" Circular Posted in Carbarns Car-barns Yesterday as a Striking Object Lesson. Midnight meetings of lis employees to consider matter oC organization are ' uncanny, uncalled-for and should be discouraged, Is the opinion of the Utah Light and Railway company, as evidenced evi-denced by a letter signed by J. A. Read, superintendent' of the railway service, which was posted very conspicuously at the car-barns of the company yesterday. yes-terday. By the side of Mr. Read's letter is a printed circular, surmounted by a coupon ticket, a very simple affair, "Which looks something like this: COUPON. : TICKET, w ; No. 42 : No. 43 The coupon and the circular form what Mr. Read doubtless intends should be regarded as "Exhibit A," and I must be considered as evidence in conjunction con-junction with his own letter. A copy of the circular and a ticket similar to the one posted with it, except that all bear different numbers, have in the last few days been placed in the hands of . every street-car man In tho city. They I were intended to be for tho eyes of I street-car employees only, but three of i them fell Into the hands of employees -who don't want to be organized and I, -who handed theirs over to head officials of the company. The officals were ln-I ln-I terested. I Circular Prom Pratt. II The circular is addressed to the street I railway employees of Salt Lake City I and is signed by C. O. Pratt, general I executive board member of the Amal-I Amal-I gamated Association of Street and Elec-1 Elec-1 trie Railway Employees of America. , I After setting forth some of the advan-I advan-I tages of becoming members of such an I organization as the A. A. of S. & E. R. I E. of A., which has headquarters at ! I Detroit, Mich., and is chartered from I the American Federation of Labor, the I circular submits a plan "which affords I you absolute protection :n establishing I an association of this kind. It then I proceeds as follows: II Enclosed you will find a coupon ticket H with corresponding number. You will 1 I tear off the coupon and eend It, with one ' I dollar (?1.00), In tho properly addressed I envelope, which you will also And en- ; I closed, and mall tho samo. You will re- : I tain your ticket as your receipt for your ; I money, and the number upon your coupon which you return will bo carefully rc- : corded and retained by the commltteo who has been selected to receive and open ! letters coming from you and be rcsponsl-I rcsponsl-I bio for the same I Receipt for the Dollar. As soon as this movement has suffl-I suffl-I clently developed a midnight meeting will I bo called at some proper hall, and upon II presentation of your ticket you will bo 1 II given a proper receipt for tho dollar you II havo advanced and will also receive a certificate of membership In tho Amalga-H Amalga-H mated Association of Street and Electric I Railway Employees of America. Do not R neglect this opportunity, but respond I promptly In order that your movement I may bo concluded during our stay In the city. Commltteo to receive and record your communications. R. E. Currle, organizer, organiz-er, A F. of L.; J. N. Spalding, secretary-Utah secretary-Utah Federation of Labor; C. 0. Pratt. What Mv. Read Says. pppH superintendent Read's letter to the j employees, which is posted with tho 1 above circular, is as follows: PPPH Circular. "Union Organization." To Employees R. S. U. L. & R. Co. It PPpH having como to my attention indirectly In PPpH the past and directly through tho abovo PPpH circular at tho present, that an effort was PPPH being mado to force tho employees of PPpH tho railway sen-ice of this company into PPpH a foreign organization. I thought it tlmc- PPH ly to suggest that beforo affiliating with PPpHI any such organization as tho one dc- PPPH Kcrlbed that you would weigh carefully PPPPJ tho relationship between ourselves as em- PPpH ploycca and employer; tho advantages PPPPJ claimed und the disadvantages, If any, by PPPHI participating In the movement designed. PPPPJ Touching upon ono subject of tho clr- PPPpi cular, there should bo no need on your PPpHj part of secret meetings contemplated by PPpH the signers of the circular in Question: PPPpi that If, so far as we are concerned, and PPPPJ we certainly aro an Interested party. PPPH At this stage of tho movement wo wish PPpH to say that wc invite from you at all times PPPHI conferences upon subject matters that PPpHi you care to discuss with us fairly and PPPPJ broadly, that relate to your welfare and PPPPJ that will have a tendency to bring a closo PPpH relationship and good fellowship and PPPH strengthen tho confidenco between your- PPPPJI selves and this company. 1 Employees of the Utah Light and 1 Railway company are naturally retl- H cent about discussing their movement H to organize, since it has been "tipped H off" to the officials and the latter have 1 taken a stand against it. It Is under- H stood, however, that about 140 of the H men have been recorded as members 1 of the new association and that the j work is still going on in a quiet way. H "The chief grievance which the street j car men have," said an ex-employee of H the company yesterday, "Is one which H Is common in nearly nil cities the em- H ploymcnt of new men to take the H places of the old ones. The wage scale H Is 20 cents an hour for the: first year H that a man is In the company's em- H Ploy, 221 cents for the second year, H and 25 cents after that. It Is easy to H get young men just out of school, and j many others, to work for 20 cents an H hour, and the consequence is that the j older men are rapidly crowded out1' I H know of seventeen men who havo quit H the employ the company far this month, which I consider sufficient proof that something is wrong. "The San Francisco Streetcar Men's union has demanded 27V5 cents an hour for all men, regardless of the length of time they havo been employed. The company does not object to paying tho wages asked for, but It refuses to concede con-cede the same wages to all, which would bo a big advantago to the older men in the service in making their jobs surer. But I do not believe that the organization movement here will be successful. The boys will never hang together." Arnold Against Union. Assistant Superintendent O. P. Arnold, Ar-nold, Jr., said, concerning tho proposed union "Many of the men do not wish to have a union organization. Our payroll pay-roll for March was something more than $15,000. Tho men are making from 5C0 to S90 per month. One of the extra ex-tra men mado 532.50 In March by close application to business. The men seem satisfied with the present schedule. sche-dule. "The general average time for all men of all grades, is nine and one-half hours per day for as many days In each month as they care to work. Ono Murray crew had thirty-three days wages due them on April 1st, as a result of overtime and regular shifts. "The company has always pursued a liberal policy of conferring with tho men and 'doing all that can be dono for them, and still pursue good business busi-ness methods. There is, so far as I can see, no need for the organization of a union of the character Bet out in tho circulars distributed among tho men." |
