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Show I The age Controversy Between I the Engineers and Firemen I and the I IVestern Railways A Statement by the Conference Committee of Managers I A. W. Trenholm, general manager I ot tho Chicago, St. Paul, Minneap- oils & Omaha Hullwny, unci Ohalr-I Ohalr-I man of the Conference Committee of I Managers representing tho Western I railways which has been carrying on I negotiations on behalf of these rail-I rail-I ways with a committee representing their engineers and firemen, who I have requested general revision of I mles governing compensation and In H addition Increases in rates of pa, I made public the following statement: I The negotiations which have been I going on for about three months be-I be-I tween committees representing tho I western rnllways and their locomo-I locomo-I tivo engineers and Ilremcn regarding I the wuges and schedules of these I employes, were suspended today. I The railways concerned In tho nego I tlatlons number 03 and Include prac-I prac-I tically all lines in tho United States I west of Lake Michigan and the 1111-I 1111-I nols Central Railroad, Including this road, and all lines In Canada west I of Fort William, except tho Grand I Trunk Pacific. The total mileage of I the railways Involved Is approximate- ly 1-10,000 tulles. Tho number of I engineers find firemen Involved Is I about, 53,000 and the wages now paid I annually to them amount to about I 107,750,000. I The final request submitted by the I employes' committee proposed In- I creasing the number of arbitrary al- lowances, reducing the number of I hours of work after which overtime would be paid by 60 per cent in pas-I pas-I senger service and 20 per cent in freight and other service, Increasing tho rate for overtime 100 per cent in passenger service and 50 per cent In freight and other service, and In addition, advancing substantially tho I rate per hundred miles for all ser-I ser-I vice as well as creating many new positions. These and tho other concessions con-cessions requested would Increase the pay rolls of the railroad represented repre-sented more than $33,000,000 a year or approximately 50 per cent. The original requests of the engineers engi-neers and llremen were presented on October 10, 1913. These original re-quests, re-quests, if granted, would Increase their wages approximately 127,000,000 per year, or 40 per cent, according to a careful estimate made by the Conference Committee of Managers on the basis of tho pay rol's as of October, Oc-tober, 1913. Upon receipt of these requests, the individual western railways rail-ways gave notice of their deslro to terminate the wage schedules In effect ef-fect with their engineers and firemen and to enter Into negotiations for tho purpose of making new agreements. The main object of the new agreements agree-ments proposed by the railways was to secure uniformity as well as simplification sim-plification of the wage schedules, which have become complicated and frequently require extra payments for services which are u part of the tegular teg-ular work of engineers and firemen. Tho actual negotiations began in Keb. ruary, 1914. It was claimed by the Employes' Committee that the adoption adop-tion of the proposals of the rillwnv would lnvohe a reduction In the compensation com-pensation of tho engineers and Urn men. For reasons which wera fully presented, the Conference Committee Commit-tee of Managers did not believe that the railways would be JustitW In making nny increases In tho wages of the employes, to sav nothing of the enormous increases requested. Hut It was not Intended to make any i eductions In wages. Tnor&fore, the Con'.vonco Committee of Mruugcrs, advised the Employes' Cofmlito-s that If tho latter would accept such a revision of the rules as was suggested sug-gested by the Managers, tho Managers' Mana-gers' Committee would Join with Urn Employes' Committee in adopting revised re-vised rates of pay which would secure se-cure to the employes iis largo compensation com-pensation as they hud been receiving. receiv-ing. In tho original proposal of the employes em-ployes there was not a word even hinting that It was desired that tho basis for computing overtime In train service which, except in some places in passenger service, is universally ten hours, should bo reduced. When, however, tho employes' first "proposal "propos-al was definitely rejected, Instead ot modifying their request, tho Employ, es Committee came back with anoth- or proposition which asked practically practical-ly all of the concessions requested 1 originally, and, In hddlton, a reduction reduc-tion in the basis for computing overtime over-time of engineers and firemen from ten to eight hours. Tho employes know that it would be Impracticable to reduce tho actual day In train servlco to eight hours. To do so It would bo necessary to shorten practically all railway divisions, divi-sions, to relocate yards and shops In fact, largely to reconstruct the railways at a prohibitive cost. The employes know tho only effect of changing tho basis of a day's wage from ten to eight hours would bo enormously to Increase tho overtime paid. Tho Conference Committee of Managers Man-agers believed that the original requests re-quests of the engineers and firemen wero unreasonable. Naturally It regarded re-garded the new requests of the committee com-mittee as much more so. It believed that, In view of present business conditions, con-ditions, there could be no Justltlca-tlon Justltlca-tlon for the railways taking any Btep that would add greatly to their expenses. ex-penses. It believed that the two com mlttees were so far apart that auv ugreement on a revised schedule was highly improbable. It, therefore, suggested to tho employes committee ou May 25, 1914, that all proposjls of both sides be withdrawn and that tho schedules In effect on October 10, 1U13, bo restored and kept in Jffect not less than ono year. This jugges- tlon the employes committee rejected. A repetition of tho refusal of the Managers Man-agers Committee to grant tho excessive exces-sive request made was followed by the suspension of negotiations at tho instance of tho employes committee until July 14, pending th? result of a strike voto of tho engineers aud llremen to bo tnken on tho iirious railroads Involved. Tho Conference Committee of Malingers Mali-ngers recognizes tho fact that rail-was rail-was are engaged In n public so. vice. It tecognlzes tho fact that, therefore tho Managers of railways hao no moral right to nccedo to unreasonable unreason-able requests ot employes tho granting grant-ing ot which would unduly lnc -ease tho expenses of railway operation, because, In tho long run, tho public is tho chief sutferor from whtuoier, .Impairs the ndequato maintenance or oillclent and economical operation of railways. Tho committed' also recognizes recog-nizes the fact that should tho western wes-tern rtillwnjs bo tied tip by a strike tho results would bo calamitous, nml that hero again tho public would be tho chief sufferer. Finally, tho com-mltteo com-mltteo recognizes tho fact that In the long run public opinion usually determines de-termines tho outcome of ontrovors-les ontrovors-les between railways and their employes. em-ployes. For thlr reason tho commit-too commit-too believes that .! is its duty to tho public to mnko a lull st.it. un-i.t f Mm requests wIitIi (!-. on '!" - haw-" haw-" ii. i- ii nil ' ll" l i Oil ' i'-'"1" ..r rcj'-1 u0 il b '' 1 principal requests made by tho employes em-ployes aie as follows: Meaty Increases In the rates of I pay of engineers and llremen in all , classes of service; that the number of hours after which overtime will bo paid in freight servlco bo reduced from 10 to S hou-s and In passenger service from 10 to G hours; thai these higher rates of pay for these shorter hours having been grouted, o entitle bo raised to u basis of time and a half in freight sonlco and dou-J ble time In passenger service; that' engineers and llremen be paid an ar-1 bltrary 30 minutes preparatorj tlmu lor each trip instead of computing servlco continuously from actual time of reporting for duty; tlmt still other arbitrary allowances bo made for so called terminal delays which In reality include periods within tho time of tho employes regular service; that those arbitrary allowances bo paid In addition to pament for the miles or hours ot tho trip or hours worked In yard service; tho differentials differen-tials paid for running Mallet engines bo Increased; that tho differentials between local and through freight service bo Increased and that two llremen be employed on largo coal burning engines regardless of the character or length of tho run, the tonnage handled or tho work required of the llremen. It will be noted that these and tho various other requests made are cumulative; cum-ulative; that It Is their combined effect ef-fect which would produce an Increase of over 00 per cent In tho wages of these employes and that the request for these enormous Increases In pay and in railway expenses aro made, when transportation and commercial conditions are sucli that the railways rail-ways must find means of either reducing reduc-ing their expenses or obtaining increases in-creases In the passenger or freight rates paid to them by the public. Unfortunately, many ot tho Issues Involved aro so complicated and technical tech-nical that it Is very hard to present, j tho facts In easily understandable form. The following Is a summary of tho original requests of the em-' i ployes and of the reasons why they were rejected. It should bo repeated repeat-ed here that In making their origin al request tho engineers and flrcmei tacitly conceded that tho existing basis ba-sis for a day's wage, namely, ten hours work or the making of a run of 1U0 miles was equitable; aud, thereto 'e, If, as Is now requested 8 hours or luO miles were to be made a day's work In freight service, and ." hours or 100 miles n day's work In passenger service, nil tho following estimates as to what complying with the requests would cost would be very ' much too low: 1. With but few exceptions, oxer-time oxer-time In train servlco has always been paid pro rata, on tho basis of ten miles por hour. Tho employes re-1 quest that overtlmo bo put on tho basis of double tlmo In passenger ser-1 vice and tlmo and one-half In all other oth-er servlco. Tho Managers' Commit tee refused this because conditions, In railway train service are entirely different from those In other Hues of Industry, one ot tho main differences being that In train servlco wages are generally on a mlleago basis, and a day's work when they have worked many employes aro regularly paid for much less than ten hours. The granting grant-ing of this request would cost the western railways J2.1C0.00O a year. 2. Tho employes request Increases In the rates of pay for running all classes of engines, and Increases In tho differentials for running Mallet engines. These requests wero declined de-clined because since tho lnst settlements settle-ments wero made In 1910 there havo been no changes In condition of ser-' vice or engineers or firemen or In , commercial conditions which would warrant general Increases In their wages. Tho employes request that men running pusher and other eu-glues eu-glues In unclassified servlco bo paid tho snmo rates as' If they were running run-ning In through freight servlco. This was refused because tho conditions lu these services aro entirely differ cat from those In through servlco and vary from placo to place, and, there-foro, there-foro, the wages paid should depend ' on local conditions. Tho employes request re-quest that on divisions where the grade Is l.S per cent or more, 10 per per cent higher wages should bo paid ( than lu valley service. This was refused re-fused hecnuse there should bo no mathematical relationship between road gradients and the rato of wages paid. Tho employes requost that locomotive lo-comotive engineers and llremen bo given tho snmo seniority rights in electric servlco that they htivo In steam service, and that tho standard wages for engineers and llremon be applied thereto. This was, rofused because- olectrlo power Is used on only a tow western roads lind, thoro-1 foro tho question of conditions of i work and rates of wages In e'ectrk' si"iro Is j.iireU a loi al one TIipsi- V if O'.S r ,U' 8ln I III' l-llgl I - - .1 HI lir,n i . J kial.'-i r..i Mie rnllwayi a total of 15,327,000 n year. 3. Tlio etnpiojes request that engineers engi-neers and firemen on local freight trains, and that those en through ; freight or Irregular freight Sains do-'"S do-'"S such work as loading or unload-iK unload-iK freight or switching cars nt sta-tlons sta-tlons b0 paid an arbitrary allowance for this work lu addition to being paid tho regular rates for the trip. The .Managers' Commltteo ' denied that thero had been nny change In conditions which Justifies nn Increase In the differentials between tho wages wag-es for local and through freight ser. vice, or that th-ro Is any teasou why ! extra payment should bo tuailo to men on a through ' freight train for doing ork whIcn ls j,rol,orly n ,mrt of their regulur work. Tho granting of these requests would cost tho wes tern railways $2,075,000 a year. 4. Tho employes request an In-i In-i crease In tho rates of pay for switch-I switch-I lug senice, mid. In addition, two . cents per hour more for employes j working nights than for those work-lug work-lug day 8. No change In conditions w-as shown which would Justify any j increase In the wages being paid for I switching senice. It was requested thnt overture In switching service be computed or the basis of time and one half. The objection to this wns the samo as that to the payment of punitive and premium overtime In regular train service. It Is requested that when road engines nro used In nrd servlco the higher rates ot wages wag-es paid on road engines be applied. I Tho Managers contend there Is no I reason why men running a road engine en-gine In switching service should be paid any higher wages than for run-nlng run-nlng any other kind of un engine- In switching service. Tho granting of these various requests would Increase the expense ot the westeVn railways by $3,480,000 a year. . H;' H C It ls requested that engineers H I'l nnd firemen In all classes of service wQLjfl bo allowed and paid for thirty mtnH L tites preparatory time, this proparafl W' tory tlmo o bo an arbitrary allow-H JM' anco and tho compensation for It tol I be additional to tho wages for thai I i '' mileage hcutally run or the time "o-KK tmilly on duty. For example, if an It'', employe made a run of 100 miles In !? 5 hours, ho voulil 'bo paid for 100 111 r miles, or tho equivalent of 10 hours, vl'f ' and for '30 minutes besides. Tho II Managers' Commltteo conceded tho II. . correctness of tho principle of paying tb. men for tho entire period from theif -M tlmo when they report for duty untlll WM they nro released, In miles or hours,! ofl whtchoier will yield tho greater com- J.ll pensatlon. Tho concession offered - '1H by tho Managers would tncrcaso tho W H pay rolls of tho western roads np- JH proximately $131,000 a year; whllo - '-V tho granting of tho request made by ' ' tho employes would Increnso tho pay LS rolls by $2,010,000 a year. M '9 6. Tho Employes' Commltteo re- "" jrf (Continued on pago seven) m , MI THE WAGE CONTROVERSY (Continued from pago three) quest allowances for what It calls terminal ter-minal delay. For engineers and firemen fire-men In passenger service Initial terminal ter-minal delay would bo the period between be-tween the time they were called to leave the roundhouse or other point and the time when their train departed depart-ed from the passenger depot, while finally terminal delay would begin .when they arrive at the passenger depot at destination and end when they aro relieved from duty. In freight service Initial terminal Oeliy would bo the period between the time when they vvero called to le'ive the roundhouse or other point and the time when their train parsed from the yard track or lead to malti line and actually departed from tho ter-mlnal, ter-mlnal, while final terminal delay would bo the period botwecn the time when tho train arrived at tho switch leading from tho main line to the yard and the time when they were relieved from duty. For all of iLcse kinds of terminal delay overtlmo pro rata Is requested In addition to compensation com-pensation for the road movement. The Managers refused this because it Is part of tho regular work of on-glnemen on-glnemen to take their engines trom the roundhouse to the depot or yards and from the depot or yards to the roundhouse, at the beginning and end Ing of their runB. The Managers proposed pro-posed to substitute the principle of paying men for their time or mileage from tho time that they report re-port for service until the are relieved. re-lieved. The arbitrary allowances requested re-quested by the employes for so called terminal delays would add $2,47.1,000 a year to the pay rolls of the Western Wes-tern railways. 7. Tho employes request that engineers en-gineers or firemen arriving nt a terminal ter-minal or the end of a run be automatically auto-matically released from duty, ami that when they nro used again 't be considered that they have oegun another an-other day's work. Tho Managers Committee rejected the principle that employes should be automatically re leased nnd paid a day'a wage regardless regard-less of how short tho distance they had run or how shoit the time they had worked. This would mean that although the basis of n day's wage 's 10 hours or 100 miles, allowances for short runs or different kinds of v. oik might bo so pyramided that omppiyes would receive two, three, four ur even more days' pay without having either run 100 miles or been on duty JO hours. Another request made Is that engineers and llrcmeu tied up between their regular termhints be paid for continuous service while thus tied up. This wns reje.t-'d because be-cause it would require pamnt when no service was performed and even when men wero tied up under the provisions of tho 10 hour law Mid, could not ho used without violation of that law. The Managers' Comm'l-tee Comm'l-tee proposed that when men wiv. tied up between terminals they shnir 1 le-celvo le-celvo their full wages for 10 ho.tr' out of each 21 hours that they were, tied up. The difference between the emploves request nnd the Manners offer Is that the emplo)es nsK for pay for every hour they nro tied tip. Tho granting of these requests of tho emplojos wou'd add $1,21)0.000 n : ear to tho expenses of Western in!l ways. , S. It Is requested that engineer nnd firemen held at n termln il other than their homo terminal, including tho rest period required under the Federal 10 hour law be paid for n'l the time that they aro ho held nfttr the expiration of 15 hours from the tlmo when they are relieved from pre ( vlous duty. The chief unreasonableness unreasonable-ness of this request Is that It wirilrt tequlre the railways, after tho -Munition of 15 hours, to pay emp'oyes their hourly rate for tho entlro 21 hours of tho d-iy, when they wero not working, whereas, when they n.'tial-ly n.'tial-ly aro working they,' of course, iv)er work 24 hours a day, and therefore, never earned 24 hours pay. The Man ugers offered to pay men, although not working, when held nt other than their home terminal except In cases of acts of God and casualties which prevent tho operation of trains-- a day's wage for the first 30 hours that they were held tied up, and a da's pa for each subsequent 24 nours that they wero tied up. To grent this request of tho employes would rost the Western railways $1,100,000 per annum. 9. It Is requested that englne'-ira and firemen being deadheaded on company business bo paid tin) same as the engineers and firemen pulling, tho train on which they uro lead headed. Tho Managers Committee does not be lovo it is equitable to pa) engineers and firemen th'j simp wages for deadheading ns for performing per-forming service. It proposed that employes being deadheaded on inn aeng r trains bo paid ono halt the mill ii urn rato nnd that when dead hea ig on other trains thev he paid the . 11 minimum day. Acceptance ot tho c-.iplo)cs proposal would cost ilu Weft :n ronds $211,000 a your 10. Tho employes made vnr'oua )0 quests for chanres In the conditions of the employment and tho wi-jfH of hosiers at roun Ihouses. Thoso were H Jet ted becauss tho conditions i.n-dn i.n-dn which hostlem work aro b' ni nd tl-nt their c ndltlons of .ten Ice ami wages must ho left to ! deill th by tho diff.'"it railways 'octl-1) 'octl-1) . Tho grant.up of tho reqitf .U un dor this head would coot tho Western rallwnvs $1,20.1,000 a )enr. 11. Certain requests were made re guiding tho placing of coal on locomotives loco-motives and tho sizes In which It should bo plnccd on tho tenders It was also requested that on con' burning frulght locomotlvoa wo'ghlns 183,000 pounds or moro on drlvors, two firemen bo employed. The Mana gers' Committee replied that ldentl cal conditions ot service cannot be brought nbout on the numerous Opes of engines which are used to perform nr)lng sen Ices on different runs, and in localities under dissimilar operating op-erating conditions It wns also uu , able to accept tho principle that two firemen are necessary on any type of ' engine regardless ot the character or length of the run, tho tonnage han-1 died or the work required of the Are-, men. Acceding to these requests of' the emplo)e8 would lnole an Increase In-crease In the expenses of the Western Wes-tern rallwn)s amounting to no less than $5,000,000 a )enr. The Conference Committee of Man ngers that has represented tho rai'-wtijs rai'-wtijs in these negotiations Is composed com-posed of A. W. Trenholm, General Manage", Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis Minne-apolis & Omaha Hallway, (chairman); (chair-man); J. W. lllgglns, (Jeneral Man nger, Missouri Pacific Itnllwn) ; F. C. Ilatcheldcr, President, Baltimore & Ohio Chicago Termlnnl Itnllroad; P. II Morrlssey, Assistant to Vice-President, Vice-President, Chicago, Burlington & Oulncy ltailroad, P. C. Hart, Gener-al Gener-al Manager, Chicago, Milwaukee (c St. Paul Hallway; I) W. Campbell,, Assistant General Manager, Southern Pacific Co , Pacific S)stem; Grant Hall, General Manager, Canndlnn Pacific Pa-cific Hallway, Western Lines; J. H Keefe, Assistant General Mauager, Gulf, Colorado & Snnta Fo Hallway; W. S. Martin, General Manager, Denver & Rio Grande Hallroad; W J. Tollerton, General Mechanical Superintendent, Su-perintendent, Chicago, Hock Island & Pacific Hallway; II. M. Curry, Me chanical Superintendent, Northern Pacific Hallway; M.J. Buckley, General Gen-eral Superintendent, Oregon-Washington Hnllroad & Navigation Company. The employes ha've been represented represent-ed by a committee of about 100 men headed by Warren S. Stone, Gnnd Chief Knglneer, Brotherhood of Loco motive Engineers, and W. S. Carter, President, Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and F.uglnenioii. |