New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-10-31
MESSENGER BOYS
TO STRIKE TO-DAY
A. D. T. and Postal En-
ployes Draw Up
Demands

II took nearly three hours 70 get any
action last night at a meeting of 600
messenger boys in "a East Fourth
Street, but when it did come it came
with a rush. Al 1890 o'clock, after
much energy and vast quantities OF
vocal effort had been expended in draw
ing up demands, which the boys viii
present 70 the heads of the American
District Telegraph Company and the
Postal Telegraph Company, Abe Hart
mann, one Of the organizers OF the
Messenger Boys Union, succeeded in
restoring order long enough 20 shout:
Those in favor Of going on strike
tomorrow morning stand up"
But the boys didn't stand up. They
jumped up, It probably was the most
enthusiastically unanimous vote taken
by any labor organization in recent
years. Every one of the 500 boys that
had been milling around and fussing
and whistling and yelling for three
hours leaped 20 mis- feet, and a shout
OF We'll strike" went up that shook
the building. From that minute there
wasn't any doubt at all that the mes
senger boys strike was on in earnest.
Demands Drawn Up
Before voting 20 strike, and voting
IL with such a tremendous volume of
noise that left no doubt as TO the
popularity of the strike, the boys drew
up their demands. which will be pre-
scented TO officials of the two companies
this morning by Hartmann and Marx
+. Levy, organizers; Nathan Wallach,
president, and other members OF the
unions executive board.
Each of the demands was discussed
al great length by the boys and voted
upon several times before 1t was in
corporated in the list. The demands
are as follows:
l. For the boys who work at nights:
A wage of s12 a week with a seventy
hour week and a day off every other
week. the company 20 furnish uni
forms, and no night boys to work after
a. m. in districts where boys work
during the day on commission. At
present the night boys get 1851 a week
and work ten hours day every day in
the year,
>. For the boys on weekly wage:
A wage of $3.50 a day. ten-hour day and
day OFF every two weeks, and half
hour for lunch. These boys now get
from S4l0 TO $3.50 a week in the SER
vice of the Postal and sS.17 in the SER
vice of the A. D. T., with a seyen-day
week every week in the year,
Commission Boys Demands
8. For the boys who work on COM
mission fiat rate Of cents for de-
liyering a telegram, on all messenger
service where the service payment is
between Is and % cents, onehalf the
service payment; where the service
payment is over 80 cents. one-half after
the company deducts carfare; one day
off every other week cents for deliv-
erng or getting a cable message.
These boys now receive from 4: TO
~ cents for delivering kilograms and
one-third of the service payment, less
the cost of transportation, in messen-
ger service, and work every day in the
year.
The commission workers also incor-
porated in their demands 3 cents for
closed calls calls when the party to
whom a message is 70 be delivered can
not be found, and for which the boys
now receive nothing) and cents for
lost calls (calls where the boys are
sent 70 the wrong address or a mistake
is made by the clerk in the Western
I Union or Postal Office.