The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-09-18
ON A STRIKE.
The Freight Handlers at New York
Boat Go Out.
ON ACCOUNT OF A CUT IN THE
WAGE SCHEDULE.

The Reduction Was Made by the Maine
Steamship Co. of Five Cents an Hour
Because of the Low Freight Rates-The
-Ths Longshoremen Think the Cut
Unnecessary and Understanding Set
Element of ths Matter the Men Went to
Work Last Night as Usual.
FOR the flrs6 time 1n ten years strike
1s OH in Portland. While there is no
danger of rioting, for the strikers are not
the kind Of men who do this sort of
thing, the strike will occasion the Maine
steamship company and possibly other
companies more or less trouble and 1t
may be some time before the difficulty is
Settled. In the meantime about sixty
men are out of employment and work at
the wharves of the Maine steamship COM
pany is at q stand still.
Thursday night the Maine Steamship
Company notified it's freight handlers
that after Friday night only 25 cents an
hour would be paid by the company for
the handling of it's freight instead of the
80 cents an hour which has up to the
present time been the price paid for
This work
Yesterday morning the freight handlers
employed by this company assembled at
one of the halls of the local labor unions
to consider the reduction. The Maine
Steamship Company's longshoremen
have union of their ownH and the
meeting of yesterday morning was CON
Quoted in secret and only the members of
this union or of the Central Labor Union
were allowed to be present in the hail.
The situation was thoroughly canvassed
ana every point gone over The freight
handlers at last decided that they would
not submit to the reduction without
protest and voted unanimously to strike
If the 80 cents schedule was not restored.
In the afternoon committee Of the
freghthandlers visited the local officials
OF the Maine Steamship company and
held conference with them. They in
formed the company that they would not
return to work at the twenty-five cents an
hour schedule and that unless the thirty
cents schedule was restored no work
should be expected from them. The
officials of the company here informed the
strikers committee that they did not
order the reduction and that it was done
in accordance with orders from New
York. They said they could do nothing
to help the situation and that the men
must confer with the New York authori-
ties. The local officials seemed anxious
10 do all that they could for the strikers
and offered to transport the committee to
New York free of charge should they de-
sire to go to that city to confer with the
officials there.
ployed by this company for nearly thirty
years and nearly all of them have been at
work for this same line for the past eight
or nine years. They believe that the re-
duction in the pay is not fair and that
there is no reason for it and they do not
intend to submit to it without fight.
A reporter for the PRESS saw some of
the strikers yesterday afternoon and asked
them to explain their reasons for striking.
He was told that within the last few
months the Maine Steamship company
has been handling more freight than it
has before for many seasons. This makes
the work for the longshoremen harder
and if anything the men said, they
thought their pay should be raised. Sud-
denly the company announces that it will
not pay more than twenty five cents an
hour for this kind of work and this at
the commencement of the hardest season
of the year. The strikers claim that their
work in the winter and fall season is
made very uncertain on account OF the IT.
regularity with which the boats run into
this port. II boat belonging to the
Maine Steamship company leaves New
York on time and should arrive here
somewhere in the later afternoon or early
evening she is just as likely as not de-
layed from one to five hours by fogs or
bad weather. During all of this time the
men say they have to wait about the
wharf so as to go to work the moment the
boat is at her dock and for this long wait
they are not paid. These delays are bound
to occur from four to six times every
month and the men have no idea what
time they can get to work. The men say
that while few of them can make $18 and
SO per week they cannot average more
than five nights work a week, and SO cam
not make more than SO or S12. The work
that these men have to do requires con-
siderable experience and great strength,
and is of the most exbausting kind The
thirty cents an hour schedule has been in
operation here for fifteen years or more
and the strikers just at this time when
the New York line is handling more
freight than ever cannot see any good
reason for the cut down. Some of the
men who have worked for this company
the longest say that they do not desire to
dictate to the company, but that it does
not seem just TO them to make cut of
the wage scale, and they intend to fight
the strike out to a victory or not return
to work for this company.
When asked if there was any possibility
of any of the other freight handlers going
out from sympathy the men said they did
not care to discuss this matter. They said
that the longshoremen were we'll or
ganized and all firmly believed in the
thirty cents an hour schedule. A cut in
one place, if not opposed, might mean a
cut in another and SO the men were all
disposed to stand together. The men
said that there might be a strike called
on the Portland Steam Packet company's
wharf if the strikers on the New York
boat could not win without their help,
but they could only surnise what could
be done as no action had as yet been
taken in this matter.
The strikers also said that the strike
might be general among the freight
handlers in Portland, that it might ex-
tend to the rSilroad and other steamboat
lines as all of this class of labor is well
organized.
In behalf of the company an official for
the New York line here said that the
Portland office was informed of the cut in
wages on Thursday and informed trat
the schedule would go into effect on Fri
day night. He said that the compan
pays out sec, 600 year for the handling
of the freight in this CITY and that on the