Albuquerque weekly citizen. (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1891-19??, 1902-09-27
TRYING TO SETTLE Stake.
The Kansas State Labor comuisslones
at Work.


Lee Johnson, state labor commits.
soner for Kansas. Ia interesting him.
self In the Union Pacific strike OF the
boilermakers, machinists and helpers,
and with p. J. Conlon. first vice presi.
dent of the International Association
of Machinists, and other officials OF
the union. he is trying to bring about
settlement of the strike, says the To-
pcka State Journal Conlon's head.
quarters are in Cleveland, Ohio. but he
was sent west to represent the grand
lodge of the machinists in the Union
Pacific trouble. Mr.. Conion and Mr..
Johnson held conference In Kansas
City, Kan, Monday. The machinists'
representative went to Omaha Monday
night
! In connection with the establishment
of piece work in the shops of the I'M
/ ion Pacific. a statement has been pre-
pared Ivy the chief clerk of the motive
power department In which compari-
sons aer made of the earnings Of the
men under the Old and the new sys.
TEN a portion of the statement fol-
| lows:
Under this system the regular rate
of pay per hour is guaranteed to EN-.
ployes according to the character Of
work 80 he performed and the grade of
service, and what they ran earn be-
sides is only limited by their ability
and experiences.
For instance. teh standard rate Of
pay per hour for machinists, black
smiths and boilermakers Is 32 cents
per hour. Under the piece work sys-
TEN they are guaranteed 80 cents an
hour for every hours work. but II,
gagged by the amount of piece work
actually done, they earn more than
32 cents an hour. they receive that
amount. II, on the other hand, they
make less than the 80 cents an hour.
by the piece work. the company makes
up the difference and pays them the
full cents an hour.
Another illustration: The standard
rate for carpenters per hour Ia 27h
cents or 30 cents. as the case may be.
and the company guarantees that they
shall not receive less. but they have
an opportunity to make as much more
as they are able to.
The regular rate for coach painters
Is 27ls cents an hour. During August
out of a total of seven the wages
varied from sos cents to 1913 cents
per hour.
The regular rate for coppersmiths
is rs cents an hour. Last month ono
man averaged a cents an hour. or
very nearly double what he would
. 10, III
The regular rate for blacksrniths is
So cents an hour. Last month one OF
the company's blacksmiths made an
average of 5sis cents per hour, a gain
of 60 per cent.
I'm the same way the hourly rate for
drllers is % cents. One of the COM
pany's drillers last month averaged 81
cents an hour nearly three times what
he would have made under the old sys-
tenn
These figures show what the new
and in some cases inexperienced.
hands have been able to do under the
piece work system. Now, here are
| figures showing what the older men
in the shops did during the same
month:
One coppersmith. rate 31A cents
| per hour, average earnings SO cents.
-Four tlnsmiths. rate go cents per
hour. average earnings 80 to so cents.
One coppersmith. rate rs cents, av-
erage earnings. AZ cents.
One coach painter. rate 80 cents.
average earnings. 33 1-3 cents.
six coach painters. rate 27ia cents,
earned from 301s to 32h cents.
One coach painter, rate Is cents,
earned 20 1-5 cents
Two helpers, rate IS cents. one
earned 10 cents per hour and the other
% 10 cents.
Two coach painters, rate 25 cents.
earned 81 cents.
One locksmith, rate 25 cents.
earned 80 cents
One locksmith's helper. rate IS
cents, earned 22 cents
Seven car repairers, old rate Is
cents per hour, earned from 1913 to
22 l-5 cents per hour.
Two carrepairers. old rate 20 cents
per hour, earned 1916 ana e2 is cents
per hour.
"One car repairer. old rate 22M
cents. earned 1874 cents.
zone car repairer, old rate 22M
cents, earned 25.S cents.
One carrepairer, old rate 27M
cents, earned ISL cents.
These figures show H. every. case
the wages earned by ten men per hour.
being the average fer the entire
month. Figuring nine hours to the
day II Is easy TO see how much these
men have been able to earn per day
under the piece work system. In ever,
case where the workman failed To
come up 10 the old scale, he was paid
at the old rate, thus having no com
pjaint These were tho tervns n~s.-