The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1883-07-19
THE THREArENED STRIKE.
what a PROMINENT western Union Ma

What \ Prominent Western Union Man |
saws AbnOt 1t.
ST. LOUIS, July Is The following |
dispatch which explains itself has been
received by Col. l.. c. Baker, superin
tendent of the Western Union Telegraph |
company:
CHICAGO, July II.
To L. c. Baker. Superintendent Western |
Union Telegraph Company, ST Louis, MIS- |
souri,:
The following has just been received |
from General Eckert, general manager
of the Western Union Telegraph com
pany, of New York: A committee of
six persons called upon me yesterday
and presented a mamOrial addressed to
the Western Union Telegraph company,
and signed by themselves as members
of the executive committee of the
brotherhood of Telegraphers of the
United States and Canada. This me-
memorial calls upon the company for
certain concessions in regard to the hours
and rates of pay substantially in accord
ance with the program with which You
have been familiar since their March
meeting in Chicago. The party were
asked If they represented the employees
of this company, and upon replying at
Tentatively they were requested 70 furn-
lsh list of such employee This they
said they were not able to do, stating
| that it would require a long time
to prepare list and they were here on
expense. They were told that the COM
| pany did not know the committee or
whether its members had authority
| from the Western Union Telegraph COM
| pany's employees to present any demand
and that we could not deal with outside
| parties. One demand is that both sexes
should receive equal pay for equal work,
and another is Is per cent. increase
| on all salaries An operator
| now receiving q salary of $50 would by
| this plan get q smaller increase than one
receiving $50 or $50, thus widening the
| differences now existing. An eighty
dollar operator at present working nine
/ hours per day and tWenty-six days per
| month receives equal to 81 1900 cents
| per hour. Under the schedule in the
memorial the same operator would re-
i ceive $92 per month for eight hours, a
compensation equal 10 about 80 per cent
increase in addition to the Sunday al.
loWance just granted under the new
rule. This is the smallest in
tcrease demanded. In case oil
milestone operator receiving $oC
per month for twenty six working days
equal to 81 36-10O cents per hour the
proposed schedule would give him
81 46- 100 cents per hour. an increase Of
over "a per cent Another demand Is
that linemen shall be allowed two days
pay for Sunday work, and that sos shall
be the lowest rate of pay regardless OF
location or importance of service; tina
the duties of q lineman shall lie contin
ed to legitimate work, and
nothing is mentioned about
the duties of other classes being restrict
ed to their particular line of employ
! ment, but if such concession were al
lowed one class there is no reason TO
Withholding it from others, and WIZ
Iinemen should have helpers IS not un
derstOod. Again, double pay for Sunday
work would offer temptation 20 thu
men To slight their Saturda,
duties to create necessit,
for Sunday work. The demand
. that both sexes shall be paid the SAM
for like service looks TO the driving O
women from the ranks, as were the com
pany to concede It would be to its inter
: est TO prefer men operators, who can b
, aVailed of for q greater variety OF servics
than women operators, who
may be equally capable fol
general duty. In published
interviewed with Number of the com
mittee he states that since the orgsniza
ton of the league petty wire trouble.
and mistakes in messages haYe practi
cally ceased, these results being attri
b1ted directly TO the fact Of the or
ganIzatiOn.. The reverse In the case Il
operators declining To joiE
the league have been interfered with IL
, their duties; wires have been thrown
out Of working condition and in mum
erous cases the official messages of thi
officers of the company have been mu
tilated and seriously delayed. A strike
of the American District Telephone
company iinemsn, members Of the
: league, took place in this city recently
since which time the strikers have beer
engaged in cutting wires daily, one mar
now being under arrest and indictmen
for such laWless work. With thousand
of abie-bodied men out OF employment
all over the country, many Of them ap
plying 20 as for work, such demand II
! remarkable II Is known that
large proportion nf the OPERATOR
: have Iren lesi ~ join tia
; league on compulsIOn, and Others under
the belief that the organization was q
; cooperative society for legitimate anC
benevolent purposes, many of whom
have stated that they will repudiate any
arbitrary action OF the striking element
tSigned r c. CLowRY,
Genn Superintendent.