The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1911-01-20
The Baltimore & Ohio r. r.,
and the Missouri Pacific-Iron
Mountain System Strikes,
Ends in Complete Victory for
the Strikers.


was arranged After four days of nego
tiating the strike was settled to the en-
tire satisfaction of all.
Every striker will be reinstated to hi
old shop and standing within sixty
days, if the officers of the organization
and the various locals can furnish them
Missouri Pacific Iron Mountain Settle
ment.
All the roads in the Southwest dis
trict had signed agreements granting al
increase in pay, with the exception o
the Missouri, Pacific. The machinist'
endeavored to secure an agreement with
out having to resort to strike.
Negotiations were carried on for near
| ly five months.
Every concession made was met by 6
demand for further concessions. 1t fin
| ally ended in all the machinists to the
number of 1900 walking out May 2
1909.
It was the most complete tie-up on
record
Every machinist, including gang fore
men, and in some instances roundhousC
and general foremen, walked out.
The usual thing happened-shops filled
with professional strikebreakers, thugs
and armed Pinkertons. The day will
come when they who stoop to employ
and protect this class of people will pray
to God to protect them from pestilence
Of their own creation. Bull pens erected
Professional and business men form
ing Citizens Alliances and Law and Or
der Leagues to uphold the Constitution
and protect the flag, etc. Trains delayed,
Passenger trains, with two, and some
times three and as high as seven engines
to get over division ordinarily handled
by one engine and crew.
Theatrical troupes took sweet revenge
for delay. Here is a sample: 81 mad a
friend who got tired of life and de
termined to end it ALL Selecting as
comfortable a tie as possible on the
tracks of the Missouri Pacific, he lay
down and waited for train to come
along and end his misery
"And was he killed outright by the
engine?"
"No, he died of starvation and ex-
posure waiting for it,
All the Metal Trades Walk Out.
After the strike had been on five
months and nineteen days the Allied
Metal Trades, the boilermaker, the
blacksmith ana sheet metal departments
to the number of 200, realizing that
an injury to one was an injury to all,
walked out
Thus began the first great railroad
strike in America in which the men
employed in departments where no i'm
mediate grievances existed, struck in
sympathy with their fellow workers,
whose organization the railway company
sought to annihilate.
A conflict was now on, in which the
endurance of living. breathing human
beings was measured against iron and
steel
OF man the Creator. against the crea
ture of his brain and skill.
But the motive power went from bad
to worse, and it is doubtful whether an
other railroad throughout the vast net
work of public highways ever expert
enced so much difficulty in operating
its trains as did the Missouri Pacific
during the last sixty days of the strike
All the Gould Lines Threatened.
The final blow was about to be struck
by the Allied Trades. A vote was being
taken by the four metal trades on all
the other Gould roads, when an offer
of reopening negotiations was made to
the Allied Crafts. The conference start
ed on December Is and reached sue
cessful conclusion on the following Mon
day.
The main clauses of settlement are:
|. Boilermakers, blacksmiths, copper
smiths and timers, with their apprent-
ices and helpers who went on strike Oc-
tober 81, 1910. or who have since left
the service for cause directly due to
the strike, shall, upon application be
reinstated to their former position with
in one week from date of settlement.
2. Machinsts, apprentices and help
ers who went on strike May 2, 1910,
shall, upon application, be reinstated
from date of settlement as follows:
Four hundred first week.
Two hundred second week
One hundred third week.
Balance in thirty days.
3. The seniority of maehinists, ap-
prentiees and helpers reinstated TO be
continuous, dating from time last EN-
ployed prior to the strike of May ?,
1910.
4. Increase of per cent. in wages.
All machinists that have secured work
elsewhere and that desire to return to
the Missouri Pacific, but cannot get