The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-11-08
Conferences Have Ceased and Men VIII Begin BaI-
 IOting on Strike
SEVENTEEN PER CENT
 INCREASE IS ASKED
Engineers First Asked an Increase of Twcnty-sevcn Per Cent In Wages But Finally Reduced Fig
 ures Materially

Chicago, November IA strike vote
 will be taken among engineers of 61 raiI-
 roads west south and north of Chicago
 including the Illinois Central, following
 the termination today of the negotiations
 between the railroads and grand officers of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engi
 neers. which had been on since Septem-
 Der 26 Differences on wage increase
 of approximately per cent and altera-
 ton of working conditions stood between
 the negotiators.
 Grand Chief Warren S. Stone of the Brotherhood. who has been leading the
 railroad men in their demands, said to- l day he believed the strike vote would be
 unanimously In favor of suspension of work and that the enginemen would have expressed their desire by December 1o | Immediately thereafter, he said. a last opportunity would be given the railroads | to meet the workers. and if they ignored that opportunity within five hours every engine west of Chicago in all branches of
 service would be still. the fires drawn and
 out of the thousands of cabs would step every driver on duty.
 l The representatives of the enginemen
 in the 25 conferences which ended today
 without results were
 l Leading Officials | Warren s. Stone. grand chief. and Ash
 Kennedy, F. A. Burgess. E. corrigan NJ. W. Cadle and H. E. Wills. assistant grand
 chiefs of the Brotherhood of Locomotive | Engineers.
 Railroad officials follows heard the
 engine drivers demands: l ID, Eward of th4 Burlington lnes F =
 Batohelder Of the c'besSo rern,insl Eal-
 timore and Ohio. " A. Durham or the
 Missouri, Kansas and Texas: c. II. Elm
 erson of the Great Northern; T. J. Foley
 of the Illinois Central. F. C. Fox of the l Atehison, Topeka and Santa Fe. Grant
 Hall of the Canadian Pacific, H. J. Sim
 mons of the El Paso and Southwestern.
 and A. W. Trenholm of the Chicago, St. | Paul. Minneapolis and Omaha. l The whole question arose from the de- oison of the enginemen themselves in l convention al Detroit, Mich, last spring.
 It was then decided that the existing wage | schedule in effect since February, 1907. was unsatisfactory and that working l conditions had been imposed by railroads
 which should be eliminated. The grand | officers were named to meet the railroads l and present demands.
 Working Conditions The general working conditions of which | the engine drivers complain include, among other things, the following: Drivers of the ''Mallet compound en- l zines which do practically the work of | two engines and entail a correspondingly | greater responsibility and capabilities,
 receive the same wages as other drivers of high-power engines of much less ca pacity.
 Engineers wish to be relieved of the toll l of preparing their engines for travel and
 caring for them after runs. | Switching time should be paid for on | a different basis.
 The magnitude of the wage question | is evidenced by a statement by the ein- l ployes that the ' per cent wage differ 1 ence now standing between the drivers and the railroads means approximately | S2, ,S00,000 year.
 | The cost of alterations of the working conditions and minor considerations in | the conference would be less than SJoo- 900. 1t was asserted.
 stone's Statement
 we just reached the point where it was evident we could not agree on the wage and other questions" said Grand | Chief Warren s. Stone of the brother | hood today.
 | When we started our negotiations we | little expected them to last as long as | this
 l "our powers to arrive at agreements are restricted by the fact that in this case we are simply following out the ex- pressed commands of the individual en- 1 gineers. Hence we have only the power i allotted us by the Detroit convention. | 'erhe railroad committee of ten assert
 ed directly that they could not approach | our terms, and there was simply nothing laft t.s d.. .alr fr%..
 presson on their desire to strike By | December 10 we will have the ballots | counted and will present the results 10 | the railroad men They will have one chance to meet the terms our men have expressed through us, and If they re- | fuse I think the strike order will go out within half an hour. eff strike is ordered we can reach every engineer, I believe, within five hours. and on every one of the sixty-one roads every cab will be deserted lmme- diately."
 Per Cent of Increase l Representatives of the Association of Railway Managers, from which the com mttee of ten to treat with the englne- men was drawn. said the statement by MT. Stone was substantially correct, and added only the figures over which the | contention was waged.
 When the conferences began said w. B. Scott of the conference commit | tee the engineers demands approxi- mated T per cent increase. This final ly was brought down to IT per cent We | finally agreed to 10 per cent increase | tota1ing s3,S40,000 for the sixty-one roads
 we represent, and here we both stuck. The s6,52S.000 increase they stuck for was more than we could concede." | Later it was made clear that the roads which are parties sto the wage confer- ences did not include all lines vest of ! Chicago, but the chief roads west south l and north and from Fort William west in
 Canada, excepting the Wabash lines and
 several minor systems. Lines Affected
 The following list was given out of | lines affected
 Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe