New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-05-06
DENIES OIL TRUST MEN
WORK "A HOURS A DAY
H. |. Pratt Says All Have One
Day OFF a Week When They
Shift from Day to Night.
PAID $17.55 HE ASSERTS
None Exposed to Elements and
14-Hour Trick" Was Volun-
tary, He Declares-"Pop-
pycock," Answers Healy.

"The Standard Oil Company does not
work two thousand of its employees seven
days a week and twenty-four hours on
stretch every two weeks. 1t does not
compel its men TO work with no covering
between them and the snow or sun, ana
II pays them an average wage OF Sli 90
for six days of work each week as fire.
men or stilmen."
so says II. J.. Pratt OF the Pratt OIL
Works. which is part of the Standard oil
Companys plant in New York. in answer
to charges made by investigators OF the
American Federation of Labor and the
International Brotherhood OF Stationary
Firemen. I'm reports to those two organ
izations, which were made public exclu-
sively in The Tribune yesterday.
Mr.. Pratt admitted that part of the re-
ports of the labor Investigators was cor
rector example. that the men worked
fourteen hours day on the night shlft
and ten hours on the day shift.
But the men chose that schedule OF
shifts of their own accord" he declared,
lin place Of twelve hours day and night
And they do not work twenty-four hours
days each week"
Does that mean they work seventy
two hours week on an average. or 1fi
hours every two weeks. with n day of
when they change from the day To the
night shft?" Mr.. Pratt was asked.
YES, that is IT, Besides that he
added. there are only eIghty-four men
who work those shifts as hremen and
stiIlmen In the New York plants. There
are about two thousand men altogether
employed In the plants. but only about
per cent OF the number are affected.
don't know how many there are in the
New Jersey establishments who may be
similarly concerned
1T is all wrong. too. tho statement That
the stills and fire beds are not covered
They all have roofs over them. but they
are not inclosed. because the furnaces
would make the places too hot for the
men to work In them II they were. Their
average pay Is 81 81 a week instead of
SIS"
Timothy Healy. president OF tho Inter
natopal Brotherhood Of Stationary Fire
men. who was In charge Of the investiga-
lions. exclaimed "Poppycock" when Mr..
Pratt's denial was repeated 10 him.
1T is falsehood II Mr.. Pratt states
that the men do not work a twenty-four
hour shift" Mr.. Healy declared He
says. does he. that the men have a day
off once week when they shift from
the day TO the night shift? How can they
get it when the works go on seven days
each week and they have TO have men to
sl,ft l.. fhl.
men are taking their day off? There may
be individual cases when man gets or
on the seventh day. but the rest work on,
ten hours I'm the day shift. fourteen hours
at night twenty-four hours when they
change from ore TO the other and thirty
eight hours out of forty-eight when that
change comes. They were doing II only
three or four days ago. to my positive
knowledge
Mr.. Pratt says the men chose the ten
and fourteen hour divisions OF the day,
too. does he? Do you suppose any man
would choose 10 work fourteen hours at a
stretch at the hardest kind of labor. SHOW
cling coal and hauling ashes. unless he
was made 10 choose that way by his en-
ployers?
And he saws the stills are not lnclosed
because II they were IL would be too hot
for the men? How about the times when
the snow. sleet and rain are blowing in
under the roof of the shed? Besides. the
stills are not all covered. as he says.
There are more than eighty-four men
working under those conditions. too. in
fact. | know one plant which employs
four hundred. There are never less than
twelve hundred of these men at slack
times. And though some get sl7 %, the
majority get SIS a week.
The truth Of the matter is Mr.. Pratt
knows the conditions are what they are
and does not want them interfered with.
When we tried to see what could be done
for the men. to get them better wages
and more humane hours. the company
discharged every man in its employ wfo
was any way active. and have proof of
It, Mr. Pratt probably didn't think We
would go into the investigation as thor
oughy as we have. but we mean to try
TO make life easier for those men"
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