The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-04-18
" % 4 QUESTION OF WAGES.
Non in other Shops Awaiting Orders
to Join the Strikers.
knights ef Labor Notify Their 4smbsrs
60 Remain ~ Work-Ths Santa Fe
shopmen and Trsinmen Alse Stop
WORK.

IRON mOlOefS ana pattefnmakefS. The
employees claim that the company had
acted in bad faith concerning the fulfill
ment Of an agreement entered into TO allow
the force of men employed to reduce itself
when the time was below the standard of
nine hours > day. 1t is claimed that tho
company, instead Of allowing the force Of
men employed to reduce itself, actually
has kept full quota of men, and in some
shops. Omaha included, has increased the
force, and not only this, but reduced the
standard of time from nine hours to eight
tor . working day on January Is. this
year. The employees claim to have q writ
ten agreement signed by General Manager
Dickinson and Assistant Superintendent
Mertzheimer to the effect that when tho
men are working only eight hours, it was
understood that the places ofsthose leav-
ing the service would not be filled except
when absolutely necessary in order to
carry on the work to advantage
The aggrlevcd employees claim that no
effort has been made by the company to
live up to the terms of this agreement and
that while they are working on an eight
hour basis. other roads paying the same
rate of wages work their men ten hours a
day. The executive board representing
the employees has been endeavoring to
persuade President s. H. H. Clark and ].
H. Mcconnell. general manager of the
mechanics of the Union Pacific system, to
modify their views concerning the inter.
probation of the agreement, 80 as to reduce
the force and increase the working hours
from eight to nine. The officials held sew
eral conferences with the committees. but
were unable to arrive at . satisfactory
agreement. and the strike today was the
result ]. H. Mcconnell, superintendent
of motive power. in an interview said that
the difficulty was not matter of wages or
hours of work, but simply the refusal of
the company to sign new contracts
submitted by the men, regulating the con.
ditions under which they should work.
The first proposition submitted to him he
refused to sign. 1t was then taken to
Clark, who also declined. One of the
primary objections TO that contract was
that it demanded that when necessary to
reduce expenses aEst tthe men were obliged
to work eight hours the company should
not employ any new boiler makers, ma
chinists, blacksmiths or moulders. The
men finally withdrew this proposition and
presented another, which provided that
when they were working eight hours a day
the company should not employ any Of
the above named craftsmen until after 10
per cent Of the force had been discharged.
This, Mcdonnell stated. would practically
take the control of hiring the men out of
the company's hands. Superintendent
Mcconnell would not say just how many
men would be affected.
The Knights of Labor in the shops re-
fused to strike, as the bulletin posted by
the executive committee of District No. 81
ordered them to remain at work, as bv
striking they would violate the contract.
Only few Knights were among them.
The men in the company's shops at North
Platte also struck. The strike effects
about 2, 500 men on the system and only
interests the workers in iron or those men
working eight hours instead of nine. as
they alleged they were promised on JAM
uary Ii. The towns most affected in addi.
ton to Omaha are: Denver. Cheyenne.
Salt Lake. Rawlins, Armstrong, Pocatello.
Evanston, Laramie. La Grande and Sho-
shone. From conversations with officials
the concensus of opinion was that the road
never had been in better condition to un.
dergo a strike than at the present time.
The rolling stock 10 in much better shane.
although coming out of winter, than
it was in October last. Of 100
engines on the Nebraska divisions
alone, there is not one that has not been
in the shops in the last nine months, and.
although the shops have been turning out
two engines day on an average, having
put light and heavy repairs on them. the
officials do not hesitate to say that they
can go on for the next ninety days with.
out the men who walked out today.
President Clark refused to make any de-
tailed statement Of the differences between
the men and company, saying his remarks
might be misconstrued and irritation
would arise. He believed that the men.
as a whole, would not act rashly, and the
strike would not be general. The men, he
said, simply asked for more than the COM
pany granted, and he could not. to the ex-
tent desired, surrender his authority over
them.
DENVER, April 1.-THE threatened strike
of machinists. boilermakers and black
smiths employed in the Union Pacific
shops here did not occur today. The men
are in the dark with regard to the cause
of trouble, and tonight a committee was
sent to Omaha to straighten things out.
Many of the pen employed in the shops
here are Knights of Labor, and the bal
ance consist of members of the Amalga.
mated Association, Engineers, Boiler
makers and Machinists' Associations.
Should the strike go into effect, there will
be about $50 trades unionists who will
walk out of the Denver shops. while about
200, who belong to the knights Of Labor.
will remain at their posts, as they have
received orders from Assembly No. 50,
which governs the Knights of Labor
Union Pacific employees, from Chicago 10
San Francisco. that no cause tor a strike
exists. At Laramie. Wyoming, about
thirty men quit work. 1t is thought at
Laramie that OF the 200 or 5000 men
on the Union Pacific not 10 per cent. will
go out on the orders issue from Omaha
At Cheyenne sixty-eight machinists and
boilermakers went out today, according to
orders received from Omaha At Salt
Lake fifty boilermakers, machinists and
olacksmi,hs, out Of force of 200 shopmen.
went out. Advices received a. Sal, Lake
from Union Pacific headquarters report
that the strike is general over the sys-
TEN, and extends to Butte on the Utah
Northern. Portland on the Oregon Short
Line and Cheyenne along the line in Wy
oming.
PORTLAND, April l7.-An the boiIermak-
ers, patsernmakers ami ironmouiders on
the Pacific division OF the Union Pacific