Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1888-03-21
THE RAILROAD STRIKE.

The strike Of Taiiroau ehgineeIs no" extends on nearly all the roads west oi Chicago. The exact extent IS not deh- nitely stated as late reports are conflicting. The strike originally started with the Chicago, Burlington 6 Quincy on the 18th of February their grievance being the refusal on the part of the managers of the road to accept the classification Of wages as agreed upoc by the brotherhood of locomotive engineers, and as accepted by ali the other trunk lines and Tn tact all the prinsIpal roads m the country. This classification of wages IS simply scale of wages per mile for each miie run instead of monthly salary or wages per diem. The rate of wages IL shis section is now { cents per mile tor freight engineers and 31s cents per mile for passenger engineers. The Bur- linglon managers insisted on term of service of three years before an engineer
 was entitled to first class pay. The en-
 gineers, on the other hand, argued that
 a man might work faithfully for two
 years and eleven months and then be
 sired" As far as the merits of the
 strike are concerned on the "Q" road + seems to be with the engineers as an engI- neer who can perform first class service is entitled to first class pay from the start and the Burlington managers have the power to discharge one when found In- competent
 So far as the strike or the Santa Fe system IS concerned, which most directly
 affects the people of the south west It
 seems not only an injustice to he pub
 lie who will suffer by 1t, but an injustice
 to the management of the road as well,
 and from telegrams sent out from Chi cago does not have the sanction ot
 Chief Engineer Arthur, of the brother
 hood. When strike was recently threatened on the Santa Fe system a
 classification of wages, satisfactory to
 both parties. were agreed upon and artl-
 cles of agreement was drawn up and
 signed by the managers of the road and
 engineers whereby the former agrees
 not to discharge any engineers except
 tor cause and then only after an inves-
 tigation by committee composed ot en-
 gineers. or at least having representation on the committee under thirty days no- tice, and the engineers agreeing not to quit without giving them the same nc tice. The agreement has not been IT
 force thirty days, and the engineers on the road are all on strike.
 A Chicago telegram says that When
 questioned regarding the strike on the Atchison system Chief Arthur sad :; "It is beyond my power to give you any explanation of this action. The men have not notified me, and l am con- pletely in the dark. The company has not bloke~ their agreement with me The men have done wrong and must
 suffer the consequences. IL Is nothing
 but an open rebellion, and il looks as though the men were tired of the grand officers advices, or wilfully dlsregarded their duties to the laws and constitution i'he following message was sent to NIT. Connor, chairman of the grievance com
 mittee, yesterday:
 !. o. Connor, chairman: It Is re- ported here that you have ordered the men to quit work. Revoke it. Your l grievance can be settled here by MT. Smith. Come to Chicago by the first train.
 (Signed) P. NJ. ARTHUR Officials of the company said the ac- tion of the men vas beyond comprehen- sion, as the road had not been handling Burlington freight
 Engineer Mccarthy vas interviewed
 today in regard to the strike Of engineers, l but said he knew little more about Il than any one else, although member Of the brotherhood. In reference to the telegram from Chicago, stating that the
 strike on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad was without Chief Engine er Arthur's knowledge or consent, he said
 1t was safe 10 say It was a mistake, as no
 one in the order had authority to order
 a strike but him While having no in-
 formation on the subject, particularly, he
 thought the strike would not last heIe 1 many days longer.