Denver labor bulletin., 1916-07-22
RAIL MACNATES
PLAYING FOR TIME,
Plea of Arbitration Not Made
in Good Faith
Brotherhoods Taking Strike Vote That
Will Force Eight-Hour Day Issue
to a Conclusive Test
(From the Publicity Bureau of the
Transportation Brotherhoods.)

Cleveland, Ohio, July SIN an effort
to make their position clear to the pub
lic the TRANSPORTATION Brotherhoods
have issued the following statement rel
ative to the conference between the en-
ployes' committee and the railway man.
ayers, recently held in New York city.
The employees committee met the rail-
way managers committee and presented
their demands for an eight hour work
day with a penalty for overtime, of time
and half pay.
The managers committee refused to
grant these demands and did not submit
any definite counter proposition to the
employees.
The managers did discuss what they
termed tentative proposal" which did
not take into consideration the plain
fact that freight train crews are piece
workers and they are paid to perform
a certain definite service of moving a
train from one end of a division to the
other and when they have performed this
piece work, they have done what they
were paid to do regardless of whether
it was done in less than eight hours.
No Authority Over Wages
What the men want is a chance to
perform this piece work in all cases, in
elgnU nOurS or less
Having no penalty for the use of over
time, the railroad companies now use
the men continuously from twelve to
twenty hours
The Interstate Commerce Commission
has no authority under the law to reg
ulate wages OF employees any more
than it has TO regulate the price
OF steel rails and other supplies pur-
chased by the railroad companies. There
fore, any investigation made by the In
terstate Commerce Commission into the
subject of wage would come to naught,
for the reason that the Commission has
no power to settle the matter.
Under the Newlluds Arbitration Law,
it is distinctly provided that arbitration
can be set in operation when a strike is
threatened"
Sparring for Advantage.
If the Interstate Commerce Commits
sion would assume the responsibility of
agreeing that the demands of the men
should be met it would clearly be up
to the Commission to provide the means
for meeting any increased cost of oper-
alton.
The railways, Of course, would like TO
put the Interstate Commerce Commission
under this obligation to grant increased
freight rates.
If it is right and proper for the freight
train employees TO go into an arbitration
as to whether they shall be worked ex-
cessive hours and as to what they shall
sell their labor for when it would only
be consistent for the railway car and
engine builders and railway supply deal
ers to agree to arbitrate with the rail
roads as to the price the railroads should
pay for these things.
Why Men Refuse Arbitration.
The principle objection, however, of
the employees to arbitration, would be on
the ground OF the inability to secure i'm
partial arbitrators who were sufficiently
acquainted with the technicalitfes of a
problem of this kind
In previous arbitration between the
employees and the companies, the man
who was acting as neutral arbitrator
was n corporation lawyer representing
large vested interests, owners OF rail
road securities and who had appeared in
numerous cases as attorney OF record
for the STANDARD Oil company.