St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-06-18
WILL THEY STRIKE?
Street Railway Employees
Object to the Proposed
Contract
Which Holds Back Their Pay
to Cover Any Possible
Accident.
Much Of the Excitement Due
to Certain Tongues Left
Unbridled.
The Company Thinks the Con-
tract Will Do Away With
Negligence.

An OrQer III lu0 10TH VI q COuLldC
issued by the Twin City Rapid Transit
company, and rendered to the employees
of the company in Minneapolis to sign,
has been the subject of much comment
among the employees Of the company i'll
this city.
The order or contract makes all en-
ployes of the company responsible not
only for breakage to the cars and equip
ment, but to vehicles broken in coils
ions, and personal injuries sustained by
passengers when the collisions and
accidents are due to the negligence or
carelessness of employees. The con-
I tract further provides that in
case any wages are due to the employe
at the time of any accident which was
caused by neglect or careiessness, the
amount due shall be applied. so far as
necessary, in payment for such damage,
and any and all such wages shall be re-
tanned until all claims for damages shall
be Observation-Disclosures and paid. An
other clause of the contract allows the
company to change the method IF pay
ing the rate per hour to an amount per
trip or per day.
Interviews with number of the con-
duetors and motoneerS last evening
brought out the statement that none of
lIC OOH u lQO DCOA w ShS
men here for their signatures. There
was report that copies of the new
contract had been left at the Ramsey
street barn, and that only one of the
men had signed. The report, however,
could not be verified. One of the en-
ployes of the company who has been
working for the past four years as
conductor said there was no doubt
but Il large number of the men would
quit work if the company insisted Oh
the new contract being signed. About
40 per cent of the employees in st. Paul
are what is known as ''new men'-that
is, they have been working less than six
months. The chances were that nearly
all the new men would sign the con-
tract; in fact, he said, whole lot of
them would sign their life away if the
company reQu ested.
He had not seen contract, but from
what lie had learned it was like all cor
poration contractS-all for the company
and nothing for the men. One of the
sections, he said, provided that each
empIOye would have to deposit
with the company 500 before commenc-
ing work, and in addition to this the
first months pay would be held back so
that in case any part of the car was
company would have about S160 of each
employees money to pay for the damage.
The clause allowing the company the
option of paying by the day or trip
instead of by the hour might not mean
a reduction in the pay, but it could be
operated to the disadvantage Of the
men. AS an instance of how it would
effect the wages of conductors and
he said in case of fire or
tie up Car might be half day making
a trip, and the result would be the men
on the car would only be paid for one
trip instead of their wages per hour.
The majority of the men seen last night !
were not at all anxious to talk about the |
matter, but nearly all OF them Intimated |
that their action would be guided |
largely by the result in Minneapolis.
The officials at the office OF the COM |
DanY here explain the new order in this |
way: For a time past the company has |
Oeen using certain form of contract |
With the men in relation to the care of |
property, and deposit was required to |
protect the company from loss, neglect |
he company's employ before the order |
went into effect had not signed the con-
tract, and the men were asked to sign, |
so that all could be on the same footing. |
Situation Serious.
AT an early hour this morning the
situation became very serious. At the |
headquarters of the employees this air |
was Surcharged with talk and intlma- |
lions of coming trouble, and as the |
last cars pulled into the barns, !
were dropped that |
gave evidence of some difficulty in |
store for today. None OF the conductors
Or motormen would say in so many
words that strike today was probable,
but it was freely admitted that to force
the obnoxious contract upon the men
would be to invite. a general strike. At |
the same time it was admitted that |
should strike come, there were many |
Of the new men and the unemployed I
who would assist in keeping the lines in
operation.
A large meeting of the employees was |
leld last night in East Minneapolis and I
1t 2:30 o'clock this morning was still Ill
session. The report OH the outside was |
that hot and excited debate was Ill |
progress, the cooler heads endeavoring |
20 prevent summary action and submit
he matter to arbitration. At the hour.
If going to press the committee was
still in session, and committee was
appointed to interview the general |
The probabilities are ;there
viii be no strike.