The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1918-04-23
Tacoma Carmen Turn Down T.R. & P.
Offer of Is Percent Increase In Pay

Offered raise of wages
amounting to / 3 per cent for each
employee, but under conditions
that a new contract for an add
tional year should be agreed to,
members of the street car mems
union of Tacoma have turned
down the increase and will sub
NIT the salary raise question to
an arbitration board this summer.
| A referendum vote of the car
men was taken Friday night, and
announcement OF the action made
| Tuesday.
A similar offer was made to
the street car union in Seattle,
where it was also turned down.
cities voting, the ballot stood 14S
With half the employees in both
for accepting the raise and 1855
| against.
Five Cents an Hour Raise.
Street car men of the two cit
les are operating under wage
scale fixed by the federal arbitra-
ton board last fall, following the
street car strike.
This scale is embodied in an
agreement between the car men
and the companies, which extends
until August.
Because of the increased cost
of living and the higher wages
paid in other employments, it has
been impossible to obtain suffi-
cient men to run the cars in Ia
coma and Seattle.
So the Stone Webster corpora
ton, thru Manager Bean in Ia
coma and the Seattle manager,
offered salary increase two
weeks ago.
The increase was 5 cents per
hour for trainmen and for other
crafts SIS month or so cents a
day. The offer carried an agree
ment that the arbitration con-
tract of August should be extend
ed until August, 1919, or until
three months after the United
States cease being at war.
OI1lccrS agree.
The wage and working condi-
tons committee of the Tacoma car
mems union accepted the propo-
sition and signed the agreement.
The president of the union, G. A..
Sturmer, was a member of the
committee. But on a referendum
later in the week, the car men
turned down the offer flat.
There are too many strings to
the proposition, explained Secy.
Morgan of the car mems union
. Tuesday.
ut tied us up for another year,
: without giving us any opportunity
to get a reduction in working
hours. The car men would rather
work under the present scale UNI
til their contract expires and then
get a new contract with better
conditions. There isn't much
danger of a strike in August un-
less a deadlock exists that the
arbitration board can't break. We
want the increase in wages bad
enough, but we're not going to
tie ourselves up to work continu-
ally under present conditions"
Beans Statement.
Manager l.. II. Bean, of the II.
r. & P. Co., issued the following
statement Tuesday:
while the scale of wages for
Tacoma trainmen and others is
fixed by the arbitration agreement
of last August (Which does not ex-
pire until Aug. l OF this year,
i'm the hopes of lettering the serv-
ice, ETC.. several conferences have
been held by the wage and work
ing conditions committee, repre-
senting the employees, and L. II.
Bean, representing the company.
ION last Monday this commit
tee, consisting OF Messrs. Sturmer,
callahan, Snowden, Pace and Nor
ris, agreed on a new wage scale
which was to become effective
April Is, and recommended the
same to the employees for accept
ance. This wage scale increased
trainmen's wages five cents per
hour and other crafts SIS per
month, or SO cents per day.
Attic the present agreement
does expire until Aug. and altho
this new offer was effective and
recommended by the authorized
committee OF employees, 1t was vot-
ed down by referendum ON last
Friday.
$500, 900 More a Year.
1.-The company and the commit
tee representing the employees, felt
the increases offered were sub
stantial and would have the effect
of retaining employees In the serv-
ice. The increase would have
gone into effect three and one
half months before the expiration
of present agreement and was to
carry until after the participation
of the United States in the present
! v,or hut mt lotor fhou A,,orrcf I