The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1883-07-20
Strike of Operators of the Largest
Companies on this Continent.
STATEMENT OF THEIR GRIEVANCES.
DETAILS OF TIRE WRONGS COMPLAIN
ED OF BY THE MEN WHO
HAVE LEFT WORK.
BUSINESS CHECKED BUT NOT STOPPED.
Latest News from tho oStrikers-What
Thoy and the Telegraph Com.
panies arc Doing.

at noon.
About 10s o'clock A. NJ. the operators
OF the Western Union Company here re-
ccived cipher dispatch from their Execu-
tive Committee in New. York instructing
them, unless otherwise ordered, to 60 out
at ~ O'Clock,
At that hour-no contrary orders having
been received-they all left their tables.
Mr.. Burruss, acting as spokesman, ap-
preached Superintendent Tree, and in
formed him that they had determined to
quit, and expressed for him personally the
kindest feelings.
Mr.. Tree said that he was very sorry,
and that he thought it was q great mistake.
10 which Mr.. Burruss replied that that re-
mained TO be seen.
The Office here employs twelve men. or
these all went out except Mr.. r. ID. Cud-
lpp, chief day-Operator; Mr.. w. {. Wal
strlim, chief nlgbt-operator, and Mr.. Il. T.
Cudlipp, who is not member OF the Bro
therhOod. The men did not expect the
chiefs to 60 out with them.
The operators, stood about the Office for
awhile, and were quickly surrounded by a
crowd of .messenger-boys and citizens
anxious to hear what had been done. The
story was soon told; the operators quietly
dispersed, but not so the crowd, which
long stood about the Office and piled the
clerks in the Office with interrogatOrics.
A good many asked hypothetical questions
about messages, and some actually filed
teegrams to friends at distance TO see
whether the wires were really at work.
Messages oflele ed were received, and send
ers told that they would be gotten oil as
rapidly as possible.
Mr.. Tree, the superintendent Of this di-
vision, was for hours overwhelmed with
callers; but many OF these he had to refuse
to see, because it was necessary for him to
set his office TO rights as far Us possible.
lie Immediately put the fragment OF his
force to work getting off the messages left
on the hooks by the strikers, who, IL SEEM
ed, had honestly done all they could TO
dispose OF the work in hand before the
hour for quitting arrived.
The operators who struck yesterday
belonged to the followed companies: Great
Northwestern Of Canada, Western Union,
Mutual Union. Baltimore and Ohio, and
American Rapid.
The operators OF the Southern Telegraph
Company, which is the only telegraph COM
pany here other than the Western Union,
did not strike.
There are about twenty-five thousand
telegraph operators in the United States
and Canada. OF these fifteen thousand be-
long to the Brotherhood; three thousand
Others have signed non-intcrferenee card,
so that the operators believe there are only
about four thousand men not in unison
with them.
What the Strike is For.
The following document sets forth the
grievances Of the operators. 1t was pre-
pared before the recent order OF the West
ern Union Company making amodllcatlon
OF the hours OF labor, which modification
was regarded by them as no concession at
all:
The following is an official statement fl ON
the executive officers OF the Brotherhood
OF Telegraphers concerning the difficulties
existing between telegraph companies and
their employees. This statement Is fur-
nished to the press in order that the public
may not be deceived by unauthorized state
ments which may emanate from irresponsl-
ble parties.
on Monday, July 10th, the Executive
Board of the Brotherhood OF Telegraphers
of the United States and Canada presented
TO the executive officers of the several COM
mercial telegraph companies OF the United
States and Canada memorial placing be-
fore the companies the grievances OF the
operators and employees generally, and Pc
titioning for the redress OF TIE same. The
companies to whom the memorial was pre-
scented embrace the following: In Canada,
the Great Northwestern and the Mutual
Union; in the United States, the Western
Union, Mutual Union, American Rapid,
Baltimore and Ohio (commerciaD, New
York American District, and the New
York Mutual District Telegraph Compa-
nies: also, the Metropolitan Telephone
Company, OF New York, and the Chicago
Telephone Company, OF Chicago.
The bills OF grievances are as follows:
AMERICAN COMMERCIAL INTERESTS.
Section l. Believing that mans physical
and mental welfare requires that ut least
one day i'm seven be accorded him for rest
and recreation, we ask for the total aboli-
ton of Sunday work as a compulsory duty,
unless compensated as extra service.
Section 9. That eight hours shall con-
stitute regular days work and seven
hours regular nights work, and that
both sexes shall receive equal pay for equal
work.
Section 8. That a universal increase oi
Is per cent. on all salaries paid shall be
petitioned now for.
CANADIAN COMMERCIAL INTERESTS.
The memorial OF the Canadian Com
mercial Telegraph employees is identical
with that presented by the American en-
ployes, with the exception OF section ],
which asks for a fixed compensation for
Sunday work OF 40 cents per hour; Sec
ton 8, that salaries now paid shall be in
creased according to the following sched-
ule: Employees now receiving $50 per
month and upward, 10 per cent. increase
employes receiving from S45 to 800 per
month, Is per cent. increase; employees
receiving S3j to $40 per month, 20 per
cent. increase; and that the lowest salary
paid shall be $50 per month. This applies
TO all practical telegraphic employees. such
as operators, clerks, and linemen.
The American memorial asks for the
linemen that eight hours shall constitute a
DAYS work; that compensation at the rate
OF two days. pay shall be allowed for all
Sunday work; that the lowest salary paid
q regular lineman shall be $50 per month,
and for helpers $50 per month, ana that
the duties OF linemen shall be confined
solely to their legitimate work.
The American memorial petitions, on
behalf OF the frst-class Wheatstone opera
tors, that they shall be paid at the rate OF
S75 per month, and for the second-class
operators $50 per month; that their work
ing hours shall be the same as the Morse
operators. This completes the several me-
MORALS, (The frst-class Wheatstone [au-
tomaticl operators are at the present time
receiving but $50 per month, and the Sc
cond-class operators but S30.)
The members OF the Brotherhood claim
that their organization Is the result OF the
tyrannical and unjust treatment meted out
10 them during the past ten years, and that
fheir demands are not unreasonable. In