The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1883-07-25
Strike of Telegraph Operators.

There exists in the United States and
Canada an organization known as the
Brotherhood of Photographers. The or
ganization is said to have membership
of exceeding ten thousand and embraces
a large portion of all the telegraph opera
tors in the country. The organization,
its members declare, is "the result of the
tyrannical and unjust treatment melted
out to them during the past ten years."
| They say that between the years 1870
and 1874 two general reductions amount
ing to twenty-five per cent were made in
their wages; that local managers to curry
favor with their superiors made other
economic suggestions affecting the SER
vice and compensation, and that in 1873
the companies made another direct reduc-
ton in their wages, although the quar-
terly reports showed an increase in the
profits of the lines. They maintain
that the average pay for commercial oper-
ators in the United States is only about
| fifty-four dollars month aud of railway
operators thirty-nine and one-half dollars
month that the service is combining
and continuous, wearing upon mind and
body, requiring skill of high order and
imposing very grave responsibility. The
hours of labor are deemed excessive, con-
sidering the exhausting character of the
labor, railway operators in particular, be-
ing compelled to be at their posts from
fourteen to sixteen hours day, and on
many roads they are required to sleep in
or near their offices 80 that they may be
called for any purpose connected with the
running of trains. A claim is also made
that for Sunday labor extra pay should
be allowed in accordance with custom
prevailing in other occupations. The fact
is cited that the late William Orion,
president of the Western Union and while
he was living more thoroughly conversant
with telegraphic matters than any other
man in the country, testified before a con-
gressional committee that telegraph oper-
ators could not perform daily more than
six hours of continued labor without en-.
dangering their health. In view of these
general facts the operators through their
committee petitioned July 16 for redress
of grievances, as follows
Section l. Believing that mans physical
and mental welfare requires that at least one
day in seven be accorded him for rest and rec
reation, we ask for the total abolition of Sun
day work as a compulsory duty, unless COM
| pensated as extra service.
Section 2. That eight hours shall constitute
a regular day work and seven hours a regular
nights work, and that both sexes shall receive
equal pay for equal work
Section 3. That universal increase of if
| teen per cent on all salaries paid shall be
petitioned now for.
The companies showed no disposition
either to accede to the terms of the
brotherhood or even to recognize its COM
mittee and negotiate with it, Accord
ingly strike was ordered at noon, Thurs
day, the 10th instant, and at that hour in
over two hundred cities in the United
States and Canada the operators aban-
doned their keys, departed from the com.
panies' offices and formally entered upon
a course of resistance to the most DOW
erful and far reaching corporation on this
continent. Messages half completed in
their reception or delivery were instantly
abandoned when the signal was given to
strike. How suddenly and effectively the
movement was executed is we'll illustrated
by the scene in New York. At noon in
that city, says the press account, four
hundred and fifty operators of both sexes
were at work in the main operating room
OF the Western Union company, and the
busy clicking of the instruments was
going on without break. Message after
message was received and sent with the
rapidity that is born of long experience
and native dizziness. Eleven minutes
afterward the scene changed in an in
slant, and with precision which showed
that the principal actors in the change
were prepared for it. The signal was
given by prolonged screech from small
pocket whistle sounded by Mr.. Frank
Phillips, one of the operators. The effect
was instantaneous. Hardly had the shrill
echo died away, when the rattle of the
telegraph apparatus ceased, there was a
moment of silence, and then came cheer
which made the rafters ring. With a
vigorous hand clasping and waving OF
handkerchiefs, the operators began to
move toward the exits. The human
stream went steadily and orderly down
the stairs to the street below, where q
crowd gathered. All were exultant, en-.
thusiastic, satisfied. They remained but
little while before the entrance to the
building on Broadway, dispensing within
few minutes after they had grouped
themselves. All told, about four hundred
operators left the place, and among them
were many young girls.
A similar scene, with smaller numbers
participating, was enacted in all the
larger cities in the Union and the Do
minion. The strike, though aimed at the
Western IInion chiafu ao that oorxouo