Omaha daily bee., 1902-08-19
CAR SHOP EMPLOYEES STRIKE
Union Pacific Carpenters and Painters Jsin
Maohinists and Boiler Makers.
THEY SAY WAGE SCALE HAS BEEN CUT
Company Insists that Il Has Kept
Agreement Made with Car
Me1 Last JuIy-NearIy Two
walk out.

strike cycle at the Union Pacific shops b,
walking out, 1856 strong. yesterday morning
These were car carpenters and painters, A
report that tin shop men had also gone out
could not be verified. Thirty-two car mer
and four painters remain at work. Oficiall
Of the railroad company say that is all the,
need at this slack season, and the strike
seems to have caused no CONSERVATION al
Union Pacific headquarters.
The car men gathered in their shop yes
terday as usual a little before 7 o'clock
They gosslped around and the Z o'clock
whistle for going to work was the signal
for the walkout. AS that sounded the 1876
men picked up their tools and left the shops
in a body.
Derisive remarks from the company
guards met them, but there was no disturb.
ance OF any kind, and they proceeded Ia
o'Neill hall. Sixteenth and Cunning streets,
where they went into formal session. Only
about 80 per cent Of the number has men,
bership in any union, so all banded in a
temporary organization, arrangements then
being made to conduct the strike along the
usual lines.
Especial provision was made for getting
car men at other points on the line to
strike. 1t is the earnest hope Of the car
men here that this can be done. The strike
Is so for only local, and the 1856 men form
scarcely more than one-ffth Of the total
number Of car shop employees OF the road
some 200.
The strikers demand the abandonment
OF piecework in their department, which
method they accepted from the company
only seven weeks ago on a years trial.
They charge that the company has not
maintained its part Of this years agree
ment.
Make No Demonstration.
The passing Of the car shop men was
remarkable for its lack Of demonstration
Everything was prearranged, having been
decided upon at a meeting held at o'NeilI's
went out-bag and baggage. Ten Of the
thirty-two men they left behind them
were foremen.
Master Mechanic Barnum heard Of the
walkout and FASTENED to the scene.
Whats the matter?" he asked.
I'VE are opposed to piecework," was the
reply.
We'll, what do you want? You agreed
to It yourselves, didn't your
You'll find out later what we want"
So far these latest strikers have sent
the Union Pacific absolutely no
cation. demands. uitimatum or den OF any
kind.
I'VE have not heard a word from them
said an official. "They have not made any
demands on us at all. In fact we knew
nothing Of this pending strike trouble un-
I'll Sunday afternoon, when we heard Of the
meeting Sunday morning. Even then we
did not think they would go out. / sup
pose they'll tell us pretty soon what they
want. But the Union Pacific has kept I'D
thG and nf1an RAanan ouAN.A 49,. -.
men entered into, and they must do the
same.
"As a matter OF fact. we know what In
iuence is responsible for this strike. The
boiler makers and machinists, the other
strikers, have done IL. That meeting at
O'Neill's hall Sunday morning was attended
by only about seventy-hve OF the car shop
men. For the rest 1t was packed and
crowded by the other strikers. They
urged the car men on to this move.
when the 22O employees of the car shop
came to work this morning not half Of
them even knew that a strike was planned.
But all were ~stampeded by the seventy
i've who were at the meeting and they
cleaned out the shop, with the exception
Of about forty men. I do not believe they
can start trouble with the car men any.
where else. They are handicapped by lack
OF organization"
The car men to the number Of about 100
held q meeting at Sixteenth and Cunning
streets yesterday afternoon, at which com
mittees we're appointed to confer with the
other unions interested in the strike.
Grievance of the Strikers.
Members Of the union said that they had
worked for some time under the premium
plan and that ten crews were paid under
that system the last pay day, none OF them
receiving less than the daily wages under
the old system and some of them more than
that.
But the understanding with the company
was broken by It in sending for timekeep-
ers and inspectors to Introduce the premium
system" said one whose words were en-
dorscd by a number of his fellows. 1--WE
started to work under what was known as
the Union Pacific scale of premium work.
II was prepared by the Union Pacific officials
and superintendent. As soon as we had
worked under that long enough to see that
a large number Of us could make premiums
they began tinkering with the scale. A man
who we think has been employed In the
Burlington shops at Plattsmouth came up
and told the superintendent that he could
not anord to pay go cents, the Union Pa
eihc scale, for setting wheels. and that the
scale at Plattsmouth was but IS cents for
that work. II takes three men to set a
wheel, and by hard work we could make
about $l.25 a day apiece. The days wage
Is about $2.40 for this class Of work, so you
see where We would be II they should 60
back en- their agreement to pay the wage
scale where the earnings of the workman
were less than that. II they had not begun
TO tinker with the Union Pacific scale and
to adopt scales in use in other shops it is
possible that there would have been no
strike until the company introduced the
piece system pure and simple, but as II was
We could not tell from one day TO the next
what the scale was for doing a piece Of
work, and 1t looked TO us as though the new
timekeepers were trying TO see the average
time In which a piece OF work could be done
by the most skillful men and bring the rate
down to a point where Il would be impos-
sible for US to earn any premium. no mat
ter how hard we might work"
President Burt Talks.
President Burt Of the Union Pacific was
at the oil house which is under construe-
ton at the shops yesterday afternoon when
twenty-five strike breakers who had ar
rived over another road were escorted to
the shops by a number OF guards. He did
not observe the jeers Of the strikers pick
cts.
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