Perth Amboy evening news., 1907-02-04
P. R. R. MEN
MAY STRIKE
FOR INCREASE
Final UItimatum will Be Resulted
to General Manager Alterbury
May Give 48 Hours.

PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 4-The
discontented employees of the Pennsyl-
vania Railroad Company, who have
been chatting for months over the re-
fusal of the company to grant their
request for an increase in wages and
a new scale of working hours, are pre-
pairing to throw down the gauntlet to
their employers with q strike threat
ened if their demands are not met
with favor.
The grievance committee of the
Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen,
which has been conducting the ne
goiations between the employees and
the company, assembled in this city
within the last few days to arrange a
final interview with General Manager
Atterbury, of the railroad, at which it
will present the demands of the men
for the last time Should the COM
pany, which several times has refus-
ed to give a final answer to the COM
mittee's request, again do so or re-
fuse to grant what they ask, the griev-
ance committee will call negotiations
off and report to the brotherhood that
they have failed, placing before the
men the alternative of giving up their
fight or going on strike. Before the
end of this week the requests of the
men will either have been acceded to
or the union will be deliberating on
the advisability of striking.
Gathered for Final Appeal.
The members of the grievance COM
mittee are all in town, having been
summoned from all parts of the coun-
ltry to attend the final threshing out of
| the Pennsylvania railroad dispute. A
meeting of the committee is being
held today at the Grand Fraternity
building. There the requests of the
men will be formulated for presenta-
| ton to the company for the last time.
A request will be forwarded to Gen
eral Manager Atterbury for confer
| ence and. ii it is granted, sub-com-
mittee will be appointed TO wait upon
him and place the requests of the
committee before him>for final action.
On several former occasions Mr..
Atterbury has met the committee.
each time informing them that their
requests could not be acceded to at
present, and asking for further nego-
| tiations. These meetings have been
| held at intervals since September,
when the first discomfort arose
among the employees over 10 per
cent raise in wages granted them.
| They asked for large increase and
the matter was placed in the hands of
| the grievance committee for agita-
tion.
While none of the members of the
committee would discuss the subject
yesterday, it was unofficially stated
that within forty-eight hours after
the meeting today the body will have
reported favorably or unfavorably to
the union In the event of an unfav-
orable report the union, which repre-
sents 90 per cent. of the railway EN-
ployes of the country, will be face to
face with situation where it must
recede from its position or strike.
| The outlook for a favorable reception
| by the company of the committees s
demands Is dark, as it has declared
| persistently that for the present the
! 10 per cent. raise in wages Is all the
workmen will get.
! Want n New Time Scale.
Besides the matter of wages the
4 railroad men are agitating for re-
! organization of the time scale so that
viii equalize the hours of working
4, They say some of the shifts are now
100 long and others correspondence
short and that . reconstruction of the
scale would work to their benefit
without loss to the company.
Val Fitzpatrick, vice president o
the Brotherhood of Railway Train
men. who has taken personal charge
of the agitation, is now in the cit.
and will in all likelihood accompan,
the delegates of the committee to th'
meeting with General Manager After
bury. Mr.. Fitzpatrick did not den,
when questioned yesterday that tht
crisis in the matter had been reached
but refused to discuss the probabilit,
Of strike.