The St. Joseph observer. [volume] (St. Joseph, Mo.) 1906-1932, 1916-08-12
RAILWAY MEN NOT SEEKING
REAL EIGHT HOUR DAY
Actual Object Is Enormous Wage In
crease For No More Work,
Companies Declare.

what Is an eight hour days The an
swer to this question is one of the vital
points in the wage controversy be
tween the railroads and their engi-
neers, conductors, firemen and brake
men which will come TO head early
in August, when the employees com
plete the nation wide strike vote they
are now taking t, enforce their de-
mands.
The railroad managers say that the
train employees organizations are mis-
leading the public when they refer to
their demands as providing for an
eight hour day. They declare that the
eight hour basic" day which the en-
ployees are contending for merely pro-
vides for an enormous increase in
wages by increasing the rate of pay
per hour without either limiting the
working day to eight hours or even re-
quiring a full eight hours work for
days pay.
The spokesmen for the brotherhoods
admit that they are not asking for a
"real" or absolute" eight hour day,
but they insist that the granting of
the demand for days wage for eight
hours or less and for 80 per cent more
than the regular hourly rate for all
overtime will make it so expensive for
the roads to work their train crews for
more than eight hours that they will
increase the speed of their trains and
thus effect reduction in the working
hours of the train crews.
This assertion was explained recent
ly by w. G.. Lee. president of the
Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen,
who said:
"1f all terminals were 100 miles apart
we would be in a position to demand
an absolute eight hour day. But we
recognize that the divisions vary in
length. many exceeding 100 miles. AS
a concession to the railroads we have
agreed to the twelve and one-half mile
basis in lieu of the absolute eight hour
day. On long divisions it permits them
(thc managemcnts) to ignore the eight
hour day and escape the overtime by
simply making an average speed of
trains equal to or exceeding twelve and
one-half miles an hour"
On the other hand, the railroad man
ayers assert that they cannot increase
the average speed of their trains with
out decreasing the load of each train
and running more trains. which would
require the employment Of more train
crews to handle the same amount of
freight they now carry. This, they
say. would increase operating expenses
by even more than the increase in
wages would amount to.
In order to provide for a real eight
hour day the railroad managers declare
many changes would have to be made
not only in the wording of the de-
mands as presented by the employees,
but also I'm many of the most impor-
taut of the other provisions of the pres
ent wage schedules which the brother
hoods insist shall he left unchanged.
Most Of the present schedules applying
to freight and switching service pro-
vide for days wage for each 100
miles or less their trains run or for
each ten hours or less of work. thus
guaranteeing "A days pay to any man
who is called for any work during the
day. They also provide for extra pay
ment for hours in excess Of ten or
miles in excess Of 100 In passenger
service the basis for days pay is
even less. In the case Of engineers
and fircmen it is five hours in eastern
territory and six hours and forty min
utes in western territory. The de-
mandS provide for days pay for
eight hours or less or 100 miles or less
and do not apply to the passenger serv-
ice, which is already on a basis more
favorable to the employees than an
eight hour day.
The demand for time and One-half
for overtime would therefore penalize
the railroads. they say, for time re-
quired to complete train run in ex-
cess of eight hours or for any delay,
while the employees would still con-
tlnue TO draw a fun days pay in many
cases for considerably less than the
standard days work.