Evening journal., 1890-10-06
ERIE EMPLOYEES UNEASY.
They Present a Long List of
...... Their Grievances.
CERTAIN CHANGES ARE DESIRED.

They Want Ten Hours TO he a Days
Work and Better Pay for Oyertime-If
Their REQUESTS Are Ignored $4,000
nTen May Go on Strike
NEW YORK, Oct 6-The executive com
mittee OF forty-three OF the Federated
Body Of Organized Labor in Train Serv-
icen Of the Erie system, called for short
the federated board, expects TO receive at
noon today from Second Yicc President +.
b. Thomas, Of the Erie railroad, some an
swer upon n list Of grievances presented
last Monday. The committee came to
to town again on Saturday, expecting a
reply then. They say that Mr. Thomas
did not give them much satisfaction. All
that could be learned at the Erie office was
that no answer had been given to the men,
but that an appointment had been made
with the committee for noon today. 1t
was said that the grievances presented
contained eighty-three separate clauses.
The List OF Grievances.
Just what these are is not made public,
but the gist Of them IL said to be as followss
Shorter hours is the chief demand. Some
times brakemen have to work fifteen and
sixteen hours a day, and are weary and
unfit to work While tho hours OF labor
Of the engineers are relatively less than
those of the other employees. the engineers
complain Of the heavy engines. "You've
never ridden on an engine weighing sixty
eight or seventy tons, have youY said an
engineer yesterday. Nor Well, you'll
want to get of before you've gone far, If
you do. The shaking up you'll get will
be worse than any you ever had in all your
days The very life Is Jared out Of you as
the locomotive rushes along, perhaps at
the rate OF fifty miles an hour, and It rocks
so that you can scarcely keep your feet
Sometimes when 1t tips in rounding a
curve it seems an age before 1t gets back to
the rail again.
"An engineers life only averages four
years now, and after the present generation
/ who served on the smaller engines have
died Off there won't be any old engineers
/ to be found"
What tho Engineers Want
The engineers now work twelve hours a
| day according TO their own computation,
and they say they have to work twelve and
a half hours before they are paid for over
time They want ten hours to constitute
days work, overtime TO begin az the end
of ten and half hours. The officials say
that third Of the engineers have short
runs of three and half 10 Eve houra
Ten Hours Days Work.
The conductors say that they arc nov
running between 1900 and 1000 miles
month. They want this reduced TO betweel
1000 and 5000 to correspond 70 the mileag
OF other roads running in connection witt
the Erie The general demand of engi
neers, firemen, conductors and brakemeI
is 20 have ten hours constitute a day.
work for all the employees who handle
trains. The causes Of the dissatisfaction
among the men we're stated by another en-
gineer 70 a reporter as follows;
A Trouble Of Long Standing.
"The trouble has been growing for tw,
years." be SAID. every change has beel
made with view to cheapening labor
Dozens Of old and experienced men wer
dropped In the last two years for trivia
causes The real explanation was tina
their work coula be done more cheaply.
"a fireman would be promoted TO tax
the old engineers place, but with less pay
The old engineer was drawing $500 day
but the promoted fireman would get onl
&C. 76 for his first year and S. IS for his se'
ond years services as engineer. Lots {
old men, conductors as we'll as engineer
were dropped out in this way, and {
course, the company saved money by en-
ploying novices. Now the main thing thS
we engineers object to is thgrlassihcatioI
, whereby two years pass before man draw
full pay. II q novice can do good man
work from the start, why shouldn't
draw full payf We ask that all engineer
, be put on the same footing; likewise d
! conductors, hremen, brakemen and oth'
| trainmen. Then the company will hay
no occasion to discharge competent men
order to save the money.
The Long Houra' Grievance.
, Another grievance is the long hours {
! work and insufficient pay for overtim
The reason so many men are compelled |
work longer than necessary Is that the di
pAtohers' Offices have for some time bee
IN the hands Of inexperienced OPERATOR
instead OF dispatchers familiar with Il
switches and sidings along the line {
! course the blame would be put on the Ell
! gineers Many Of the freight men WI
j are supposed to work only ten hours are Q
duty twelve TO fifteen. We ask that te
D hours be made tho days limit, and thr
! one-tenth OF days pay be given us Il
I every extra hours work This means Il
crease Of pay, but no more than they g
on other roads"
: They May Strike.
, The Federated Body of Organized Lab,
In Train Service is composed OF membe
Of the Brotherhood Of Locomotive Eng
neers, the Brotherhoods OF Firemen al
Railway Trainmen and the Order Of Co
4 ductors. It claims 70 number 90 per cen
Of the trainmen, and 10 represent 1870
4 men on the Erie system. The commit
/ appears to be in no hurry, but they say tn
I a strike Is contemplated If their deman
; are refused.
Miners Strike for More Wages
: BRADDocK, Pa, Oct. 6-Another minei
strike has been inAugurated in the weste
pannsvfvania district In uvhipb ovar z