New Britain herald., 1916-03-10
RAILROAD MEN ARE
 OPPOSED TO STRIKES
Authorize Union Heads to Nego-
 tiate With Their Employers

vote or 4OO,OOO engineers, Hrem en, 1 conductors, and trainmen of Amer ican railroads overwhelmingly fa- vored auth orizing union heads to en- ter into negotiations with the rail- 1 roads for an eight-hour day The following statement was issued: 'While the returns from the mem- bership of these four organizations are not completed, it is evident that the vote is overwhelmingly in favor of presenting to the railway com panies of the United States the re-
 quests for the eight-hour day and time and onc-half for overtime Con-
 sequently the movement with that ob-
 ject in view will be carried forward
 in it's regular course.
 The present vote has no signif-
 canoe except as an indication of the
 desire of the men that this matter
 should be presented to conclusion,
 and all reports that it has significance
 as a strike vote are erroneous and
 mislea ding. In the imm ediate future
 the requests will be presented to the
 railway arrangements, and the neces-
 sary steps taken to make the same
 effective"
 According to A. S. Stone, Grand
 Chief of the Brotherhood of Locomo- tive Engineers, the demands in a few
 days will be presented to the rail- roads and they will have thirty days in which to make reply
 Disagree As To Meaning.
 The railroads and the employees do not agree as to the meaning of the referendum vote taken by members of the four great brotherhoods on all che railroad dS bo Tinted representing close to 100000 employees on 528 lines. These organization arc the Brotherhood of Locomotive En- Gineers, the Trainmen and the Order of Railway Conductors
 The brotherhoods announce that question is that of the eight hour day and time and a half for over time. similar to conditions which prevail Ill many other lines of industry
 The railroads says that tho issue uoes not mean the coming of an eight hour working day, as contended by the employees, but rather an increase or 70 per cent. over present wages Tor the same amount of work. and an increase in many wages of S715 per cent. for over time as compared With present rates. The demands pertain only to freight and not to passenger service.
 The propositions on which the 1 men voted were divided under four 1 articles, The first pertained to road 1 service and provided that 100 miles 1 pr less, or eight hours or less shall 1 @ day, with overtime be- at the expiration of eight i hours on runs of less than 100 miles, md as soon as 100 miles have been l 'un on longer trips, overtime to be at one and one-half times he prOrata rate, no one to receive l less than they now receive for a min. munl for eight hours day to be 1 not less than now paid for ten hours l a day, all over eight hours in any ] twenty-four hours to be paid for at ! time and a half rates. Article three 1 provided that eight hours or less at 1 the present day for ten hours will 1 constitute a day for "hosters" the l men who prepare locomotives for ] runs and care for them at terminals. l The final article guaranteed the em- ployees the right to retain any rates 1 of pay or schedules in effect January | l, 1916, which are preferable to the | new schedule.
 Extra Cost of $1OO,OOO.o .oO0 a Year.
 The railroads prepared statement or thelr view of the situation in which 'ney said ITO allow the increase would add $100,O0O.O0O a year to the operating expenses f all the roads of the the United States for the benefit of men whose average pay day was in- creased from 30 to A per cent. from 1903 to 1914, while the wages Of the western engineers were further increased in 1915."
 The roads further ,onterdoa 4,4 the men made no allowance for diff terence between railroad and indus- trlal service. They pointed o,t +,o+ the rallroad engineman or trainnan ie guaranteed payment for d full dav if ne works more than either the esta1,- Ished miles or hours. It. most liens of industry, the railroads hold. th, employee does not recei:e q dav,c pay for less than a days work ana or dinarily he cannot earn more than q days pay without working more than the regular number of hours F71lther the roads contended that terminals are located generally so the distance between them can be made in approX- imately ten hours, and that therefore the running time can't De reduced to conform to the demands without re- ducing tonnage of trains and there by depriving the roads of efficiency in operation, or by building new terlnin- als at enormous expenses. It also was claimed that there have arisen no Ecw conditions demanding larger rates of pay since the present rates were fixed by arbitration under federal laws.
 The unions formally denied the ar guments of the roads and m explain ing the reasons and motives for their demand said:
 The eight hour day movement is based wholly upon the justice of a work day of reasonable hours that will permit the men further to separate the dead line between work and wages