The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1893-04-18

employed in the Union Pacific shops
here struck at noon. The men who went
out were machinists, boier-makers,
blacksmiths, molders and patternmak-
ers. The employees claim that the COM
pany has acted in bad faith concerning
the fulfillment of the agreement entered
into to allow the force of men to reduce
it self when the time was below the STAN
dard of nine hours day. 1t is claimed
that the company, instead of allowing the
force of men employed to reduce itself,
actually has kept up the full quota of
men, and in some shops, Omaha in
cluded, has increased the force. The
company has not only increased the
force, but reduced the standard of time
from nine hours to eight for a working
day January 18th, this year.
The employees claim to have q written
agreement, signed by General Manager
Dickinson and Assistant Superintendent
Dertzheimer, that while the men were
working eight hours it was understood
the places of the men who leave the
service will not be filled, except when
absolutely necessary, in order to carry on
the work to advantage, there being no
intention of doing anything that might
be construed as bad faith or standing in
the way of this plan working itself out
naturally and speedily as the force has
been reduced sufficiently to establish a
standard of nine hours.
The aggrieved employees claim no effort
has been made by the company to live up
to the terms of the agreement and that
while they are working on an S-hour
basis, other roads are paying the same
rate of wages and work their men ten
hours day.
The Executive Board, representing the
employees, seems to be endeavoring to
persuade President S. II. H. Clark and J..
II. Mcconnell, General Manager Me-
chanic of the Union Pacific system, to
modify their views concerning the in
depreciation of the agreement to reduce
the force and increase the working hours
from eight to nine. The officials have
held several conferences with the COM
mittee, but were unable to arrive at a
satisfactory agreement. and the strike to-
day was the result.
j. H. Mcconnell, Superintendent of the
Motive Power, in an interview said that
or hours of work, but simply the refusal
of the company to sign new contracts
submitted by the men, regulating the
conditions under which they should
work. The first proposition was SUBJ
mitted to him, which he refused to sign.
1t was then taken to Clark, who also de-
clIned. One of the primary objections to
the contract demanded that when it was
necessary to reduce expenses and the
men were obliged to work eight hours,
the company should not employ any
new boilermakers, machinists, black
smiths or mofders. The men finally
withdrew this proposition and presented
another, which provided that when
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.
Mcconnell stated, would prevent an in
crease of men while working eight hours,
thereby practically taking the control of
hiring men out of the company's hands.
Superintendent Mcconnell could not
say just how many men would be
affected.
The Knights of Labor ia the shops re-
fused to strike, as bulletin was posted
by the Executive Committee of District
Assembly No. 81 ordering them to re-
main at work, as by striking they would
violate their contract. There are only a
few knights among them. The men in
the company's shop at North Platte have
also struck.
The strike inaugurated to-day affects
about twenty-five hundred men on the
system, and only the interests of workers
of iron or those men working eight hours
instead of nine, as they alleged they were
promised on January 18TH The towns
most affected, in addition to Omaha. are
Cheyenne, Salt Lake, Rawlins, Arm
strong, Pocatello, Evanston, Laramie,
LaGrande, Shoshone and Portland.
From conversations with officials the
consensus of opinion was that the road
never had been in better condition to
undergo strike than at the present time.
The rolling stock is in much better
shape, although coming out of the winter.
than in October last. OF 100 engines on
the Nebraska division alone, there is not
one that has not been in the shops in the
last nine months, and though the shops
have been turning out two engines on an
average per day, having undergone light
and heavy repairs, the officials do not
hesitate to say that they can go on for the
next ninety days without the men who
walked out to-day.
President Clark refused to make auy
detailed statement of the differences be-
tween the men and the committee. saw
ing his remarks might be misconstrued
and irritation would rise. He believed
the men, as a whole, would not act
rashly, and the strike would not be gen.
eral. The men, he said, simply asked
more than the company granted, and he
could not, to the extent desired, surren-
der his authority over them.
NO TROUBLE AT DENVER.
DENVER, April 1.-THE threatened
strike of machinists. boiler-makers and
blacksmiths employed in the Union Pa
cific shops here did not occur to-day.
The men are in the dark in regard to the
cause of the trouble, and tonight a COM
mittee was sent to Omaha to straighten
things out.
Many men employed in the shops here
are Knights of Labor, the balance con-
sisting of members of the Amalgamated
Association of Engineers, and the boiler