New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-07-17

AZ vNCKEASE
An Ison- ~.'"s .,,n EQUALIZATION OF PAY SOUGHT
r.. a;..ontented telegraph operators yes'er-
day presented petition TO 1he |" - 80 15 ner
Company asking for an incieaSo Tho eo.al-
.ent in the wages of all operators .no sa.or. nt
;vat;on of the pay of men ana women ~. NJ
.ra tba shortening OF hours oi 'aoo Al.
sa,;or Vas taken by the company eAoep' V.a0
49, p.ssident Eckert asked by what author'ty
49,, ,,;ttee was acting. Some OF the opera
.nrs cav that they are ready to strike IL 1ne
p.,th.ybood decides that such acuon is
necessary.
r,rr DEMANDS OF THE OPERATORS.
HOW THEY ARE REGARDED BY THE coMfNN
wpu PROFESS TO BE WILLING TO STRIKE.
Tho discontented telegraph operators 'nro"sn
%bs Executive Committee OF their secret organiI
ton. yesterday presented their demands 70 1n0
Western Union Telegraph Company. ino SUI,
sance Of their requests is an increase OIL io p0r
in the wages of all telegraph operators, the equa'',
-s.,on of .ha nav of women and men operators, and
.ha shorteninr of hours of labor. Beyond request
for proof that the committee was acting by author-
itv Of the employees whom they were said TO repro
.ent no action was taken In behalf OF the company
II is not probable that anything will be done before
the meet,p OF the Executive Committee OF Inc Wes'
ern Union tomorrow. 1t is Impossible 70 ooei'n
any indication OF what attitude will Dc taken ny
the company, and the operators refuse 10 comn,i'
Themselves to assertions that STRIKE Will 10 Vuo
result of the rejection of their demands. ihe Nv
most that is admitted either hand Is the s'a'e
ment that n compromise NAV come out OF iutulo
negotiations without the lamentable eifects certain
to follow strike.
A CONFERENCE WITH GENERAL EchEHI.
The committee of the brotherhood OF loieg
raphers held its audience with General lhonias l :
Eckert ice-prssident and VI T,i0
Western Union Company, about 1 p. IN. DE-
N,,vo Caraen' the president of the company, is IN
Europe The telegraphers' committee is composed
of the following operators: Eugene D.
OConnor. chairman; Mortimer ID. Snaw
secretary: John Campbell. Robert E~,
inc. H. w. Orr, Roger j. Mullen' ana
Joseph H. Ford None of the members IS conhec'eo
with any of the New-York offices. The paner eni-
bodvinp the demands was handed to General Ecker''
after Mr. OConnor had stated the OBJECT Oh the
committee's call. Only short conversatioh 'nc"
took place. General Eckert said that he knew none
of the persons whose names were sgned 10 .no
paper; he did not know the members Oh
the committee, and he had no knowledge thas
they were authorized to represent any OF the en-
ployes of the Western Union Company. lie asked
that they present petition signed by the operators
who might wish 10 make the requests that the paper
contained. The members of the telegraphers' COM
mittee appeared to be nonplussed a little at Gen.
eral Eckert's remarks They remarked that the
signatures could be obtained. but the work OF get
ting them would take some time. They were
there at their own expense ana
every day of delay would cost them money. Gen.
eral Eckert rsjoined that the eemPany would allow
al, the time that was needed to secure the proper
signatures. Finally Mr.. OConnor inumated that
the signatures would be forthcoming, and the COM
mlttee then with drew.
WHAT THE OPERATORS ASK.
The text of the petition presented to the COM
pany is as follows:
The undersg ned the Executive Board OF the Brother
hood of relecfaphers OF United states aud Canada,
acting accordance with instructions from tnat po:y
eSbodyng the desires OF ali
of employees i service OF the western Unon iee
SECTION iBeeving that mans physical and mental
welfare requires that at least one Day IN seven De a
corded him for rest recreation We request the total
abolition OF Sunday work compulsory duty unless
compensated as extra service. u.
SEC 2-Tnat eight hours shall constitute oays "orA
and seven nights work
SEC 3-Both sexes shall receive equal pay for equal
sEo 4-Thst universal increase Of Is per cent On all
salaries now paid be sranted
LSE-MEN's INTERESTS.
SECTION 1-Tbat eight hours shall constitute regular
days work and tDat compensation at the rate OF Two
days pay be allowed for ali Sunday WORK; that the
,aa PIe neSer. So tns the duties Of
be confined solely to their legitimate WORK
wHEATsToNE INTERESTS.
SECTION l-Taat the salaries of rstelass wheatstone
operators increased To $75 per monti, and second
class operators $50 per month"; aud that tbey receive
in addition tue Is per cent increase ASKED ior Morse
SEC 2-That the working hours of wheststone opera
tors be tue same as Morse operators
The memorial closed with request for "a reply
tho ,fia the siOnafUres
of the committee were affixed. 1t dated from the
Manhattan Hotel. at Broadway and Canal-st-
ATTITUDE OF WESTERN UNION OFFICERS.
General Eckert declined to receive the cards of re-
porters who called on hlm after the conference He
also declined to make statement to TRIBUNE
reporter who waited for him. Assistant General
Manager Bates was equally reticent. Superiutend-
en-. Humsione said:
"lt is impossible to tell what action the company
will decide to take. / consider tho demand
for an increase of Is per cent in salaries AN i'm
moderate one. 1t Is not warranted by the scale
of wages paid to other classes of labor and then it
is greatly disproportionate TO the reduction made
by tha company in 1s77--that was only per cent.
Tell me what section 1 MEANS won't your Mr..
Hmnstone vent ON. in facetous mood. ut seems
to intimate that there is no extra aud tear
aman for Sunday work, provided he is paid for it,
Section 2 asks for hour less OF work
for the day men than they are now re-
quired t' do This talk about no Sundays of
has nothing to It, While the men do work nine
hours q day. en- Saturdays and Sundays we FREE
quenty let many OF them off and pay them as II
they were at work: l don't understand exactly
what they mean BY equal pay for equal work for
both sexes.n
"But, on the average. are not your women opcr-
ators paid less than for the same amount Of
workp
We'll, suppose they are" replied Mr. Huinstone.
cat rough guess would say that the salaries
of the men average so per cent more About 20
per cent of our operating force are women 4; tins Is
also only q rough estimate"