Omaha daily bee., 1902-07-27
HAS NO FEAR OF OUTCOME
Grand President Mcneil Of Boilsrmaksrs'
Union on the Strike.
PIEcEwoRK OBJECTIONABLE CONDITION
Head of the order says this Men DO
Not Ask Unreasonable wages
and Quotes Pay on other
Railroads.

"This strike Is merely an incident. The
Union Pacific Is as certain to lose as that
there is a strike. Il must have skilled
mechanics and can get them nowhe ex-
oept in the unions. That simply means
that eventually the company will be forced
to remploy its old men, and In order to do
this It will have to accede to the terms Of
these men"
This is the way in which John Mcneil OF
Kansas City, grand president and organizer
Of the Brotherhood Of Boilermakers and
Iron shipbuilders views the strike on the
Union Pacific. President Mcneil arrived In
Omaha late last night and will be here for
a day or two in connection with the strike.
81 am highly gratihed with the progress
Of the strike from the boilermakers' stand
point and the management OF Il and I will
assume to make no changes In the direction
Of affairs, My chief purpose in coming At
this time is to see what financial means
the boilermakers require and how their
funds are being distributed" said Mr.. Me-
Nell.
Mr.. Mcneil has Just come from the Santa
Fe system, where the boilermakers have
been at outs with the company for some
time over a black list proposition. He feels
that things are being brought to a settle
ment favorable to the boilermakers and
thinks the end is not far on.
Wages OF BoiIermakers.
81 am deeply impressed with the justice
and fairness Of the Union Pacific boiler
makers demands" said he. ITO show you
something Of their conditions as compared
with other boilermakers let me quote these
facts and figures: on the Illinois Central
railroad the boilermakers get 32h cents an
hour in the city of Chicago; 80 cents in
New Orleans and in all other places s1h
cents: on the Northwestern they get 32h
cents an hour in Chicago and BIN in other
places; on the Missouri Pacific 80 cents; In
the city OF Pittsburg at the foundries they
get IS cents an hour and 81 a day extra for
what we call dirt work, that is, repair
work; in New York ano Brooklyn. 37h an
hour, with double time for overtime, treble
time for Sunday and are allowed twenty
seven hours for a night; In Buffalo they
get 80 la cents In contract shops and 81 on
the railroads.: in Birmingham contract
work pays S5 cents and railroads 81; in
Florida on the Plant system and others
they get IS and we have Just settled on a
scale in Minneapolis, st. Paul and Duluth,
the maximum OF which is S5 cents an hour.
Now, In the New England states the price
drops to 80 cents an hour, with time and
a half for overtime, but you must reInem-
Der that living expenses in that section are
very low.
1.-THE boilermakers on the Union Pacific
struck because the company would not
grant their demand for a scale of ssh in
Omaha, Kansas City and Council Bluffs,
ranging up to 81 in western Wyoming.
This would bring the scale up to a cent
and a half or two cents and a half more
than fhau vvaHa aatNtn~ To aaunnarfaan
with wages paid In other localities by other
railroads and the living expenses. of the
various places; these demands are perfectly
reasonable.
Concerning PiecewOrk.
Now, as to piecework, there is no rep
resentative railroad in the country that
presumes to use that system for new en-
CINE work. except the Pennsylvania and
Burlington, and they don't use 1t for re-
pair work. So you see, 1t Is obsolets as
far as repair work Is concerned. This
brings up another point to be considered,
namely, that the Union Pacific does prac-
tically nothing but repair work on engines.
II has ceased making its own engines, so
that II It adopted the piecework system
for repair work, It would stand alone in
that respect.
Il. when the boilermakers had their fight
on the Erie. which endured from Deem
Der, 1900, until December. 1901, they were
put to an expense Of $S7. 1000, but they
finally won, and they will cheerfully ex-
pend $4,000 to win the fight with the
Union Pacific If need be. We succeeded
! in having piecework abolished on the Erie,
as We did also on the Burlington, Cedar
Rapids & Northern in our little tight OF
> three months. and we will attain the
same results on the Union Pacific. The
. system is wrong, and 1t must be abolished
everywhere"
! President Mcneil will meet with the
boiIermakers at Labor temple this after
-. noon. Asked IL he would meet any OF
/. the UnionAPacinc oficials while here, he
said: mot a bit OF IT. I have no time
to throw way talking with oficials."
. Onion Paclne Conference.
Every master mechanic and division su-
I perintendent on the Union Pacific met
: with w. r. McKeen. jr.. superintendent OF
= motive power and machinery, at the lat
ter's once yesterday afternoon for the
purpose OF making 9 thorough report and
considering fully the conditions and needs
Of the system. Those at the meeting
were: Superintendent McKeen, M. p. Bar
s mum, master mechanic Of the Nebraska
division; A. Stewart, z. T. spriggs and
Z ]. o. Brinkerhof. master mechanics Of the
: wyoming, Colorado and Kansas divisions
I respectively, r. w. Baxter, w. L. Park,
: w. A. Deuel. and James Roberts, superin-
q tendents Of the divisions of Nebraska,
a Wyoming, Colorado and Kansas respec-
e lively.
. After the conference superintendent Nc
e Keen said:
4 "An our men reported their respective
/. divisions in hrst-class shapei motive
q power, which is the most important thing
a normal and far above the average in
: some instances. The Kansas and Colo
: RADIO divisions report larger forces In the
shops than before the strike. The mer
had all made very thorough investigation
: and their statements and reports were ABB
~solutely reliable and accurate"
In connection with the conditions over
the road General Manager Dickinson, whC
y has returned from a tour within the last
two days, said; "our AFFAIRS are in good
order and the strike has not affected
them at all. Trains are running on time
both freight and passenger, and the en-
gines are hauling as much and in some
, eaaes more tonnage than before the strike