The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1916-08-25
RAIL WAY MEN NOT SEEKING
REAL EIGHT HOUR DAY


W nat IL an elgnt nour Day 1De an
swer to this question Is one OF the vital
points In the wage controversy be-
tween the railroads and their engi-
neers. conductors, iremen and brake
men which will come TO a head early
In August. when the employees com
plete the nation wide strike vote they
are now taking To 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 III increase In
wages by increasing the rate of pay
per hour without either limiting the
working day to eight hours or ever re-
quiring a full eight hours work for a
days pay.
The spokesman for the brotherhoods
admit that they are not asking for q
"real' or absolute" eight hour day,
but they insist that the granting of
the demand for a days wage for eight
than the regular hourly rate for all
overtime will make 1t 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 a reduction I'm 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:
eff all terminals were 100 miles apart
we would be I'm 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 I'm lieu of the absolute eight hour
day. On long divisions It permits them
(the m-anagementsD 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 moun to.
In order 10 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 In many of the most impor-
tant OF the other provisions OF the pres
ent wage schedules which the brother
heds insist shall be left unchanged.
Most OF the present schedules applying
to freight and switching service pro-
vide for a days wage for each 100
miles OF less their trains run or for
each ten hours or less or 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 exces Of ten or
miles I'm excess of 100. In passenger
service the basis for a days pay Is
ever less. In the case OF engineers
and firemen II Is five hours in eastern
territory and six hours and forty min
utes I'm western territory. The de-
mands provide for a 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 q 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-
CURED to complete a train run In ex-
cess of eight hours o. for any delay.
while the employees would still con-
tinue to draw a full days pay In many