The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-05-03
WANTED THE OLD SCHEDULE.
OCEAN STEAMSHIP WHARF HANDS
CALL on MR.. CONFER.

They Are Given the Choice of Join
Ing the Regular Gang at weekly
Wages or Working by the Hour.
The Change I'm the Manner OF
Working Fully Explained by Mr..
Comer-NO Outbreak Among the
Men.
Everything was quiet on the Ocean
Steamship Wharves yesterday. As stated
in the Morning News the reported trou-
BILE has been much exaggerated. The ru-
NOR Of fire arms having been taken to the
wharves from the barracks proves TO
have been without foundation.
The whole trouble hinged on misunder-
standing of the company's action in en-
ploymg a permanent gang Of one hundred
men at regular weekly wages. A delega-
ton Of the men waited on President Com
er yesterday afternoon and asked for an
explanation. They said it had not been
made clear TO them what the company
wants. and their object was to have the
matter clearly set forth. Mr. Conner I'M
dertook TO do this. He stated that the
company has been employing a .arge
number Of men who were receiving any
where from 75c to SO per week The
the gangmen about IS. This plainly in
dicated that there was a large number
on the force who were not getting enough
to live on, and the company decided that
it would be TO its interest as well as that
of the men to employ a smaller force
that would receive higher wages. To this
end it proposed to employ a permanent
gang Of about forty truck men at IS per
week. and sixty gang men at $3.50
per week. with the usual number Of head
ers AS this gang could not DO all the work
a sufficient number of truckers and gang
men would be hired ut the usual rate per
hour Both the permanent gang ana the
outside men Will be paid for overtime as
heret OfOrc.
This system, Mr.. Conner explained. gives
the men the choice of work. They may
their pay every Saturday night, or those
who do not wish to work all the time, may
stick to the Old hourly schedule.
The matter was fully discussed by Mr..
Conner, and the delegation, and the men
left. stating that they would consider the
matter and give their answer at $50
Conner that they preferred to work on the
Old schedule. Mr. Conner replied that they
might do as they saw tit, but that the COM
pany was determined to put on perma-
nent gang Of 100 men, and IL il could not
get the old hands TO join it would employ
outsiders
About nifty men have joined the perma-
nent gang so far which finished unload
ing the steamship kansas City" Friday
night al 8 o'clock Tney commenced re-
loading the ship yesterday morning and
finished the work about II o'clock last
night. The Kansas city sailed at midnight
with a cargo consisting iu part of 1850
packages of vegetables, 1900 barrels of
rOsin and about 200 bales of cotton, with
the usual cargo Of general merchandise.
The officers of the Steamship Company
state that all stories about fire arms be-
ing sent for and fears of trouble are
without foundation. The whole affair. they
say, was simply a discussion between the
company and the men, which leaves the
latter in a position 10 take their choice
of the class of work they prefer
The Steamship Company received a tel
egram from its New York agent yester-
day stating that the City of Birmingham
had arrived, with its cargo of vegetables
in excellent condition, the new system of
ventilation showing a marked improve
ment