The Knoxville independent. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1919-01-25
TALKS OF LABOR
BOARD DECISION
Col. Harvey Declaaes The
Situation is Serious
Says Ompany Had Hoped It Would
. Not Become Necessary TO Raise
Gar Rates.

Having received certified copy of
the wage award granted employees
Of the Knoxville Railway and Light
company by the United States war
labor board, Col C. H. Harvey presi-
dent of the corporation, gave out
statement Friday in which he says
that the award grants a wage in
crease of from 70 to nearly 100 per
cent above the contract scale, while
the cost of living has increased only
Is to Is per cent.
Employees have been receiving % to
20 cents an hour, with a bonus of
two cents an hour if on duty % days
a month, while the war labor board
award grants wage of SO cents
an hour for the first three months
service, SO cents for the next nine
months and 40 cents thereafter.
Col. Harvey in his statement also
called attention to the recommends.
ton of the war labor board that the
city commission grant the Knoxville
Railway and Light company the right
to raise their car fare to six cents
and said the company had hoped that
it would not be necessary to raise
street car rates.
The statement asserts that "The
condition is serious, but the company
will endeavor to meet it fairly and
squarely"
His statement in full is as fol
lows:
"From the boards notice it seems
that the national war board has I'M
dertaken to raise the wages of the
employees of the Knoxville Railway
and Light company from 100 to about
$50 per cent in excess of the pre-
war scale of wages, already agreed
to and accepted by the employees.
"The appeal by the empolyes to the
national war labor board was for an
increase Of wages on account of the
increased cost of living. In Septem-
Der, 1917, the members of the en-
ployes union of the Amalgamated
Association of Electrical Street Rail
way Employees of America, acting in
conjunction with one of their nation
al vice-presidents, agreed to scale
of wages and entered into con-
tract in regard thereto, fixing the
scale nearly fifty per cent in excess
of the pre-war scale. Government
reports and private investigation
showed that the increase in the cost
Of living from September, 1917, to
August, 1918, when the complaint
of the employees was filed, had in
creased not exceeding Is or 16 per
cent. The Knoxville Railway and
Light company offered its employees
an increase of twenty per cent in
their wages-thus more than meeting
the increase in the cost of living.
"The National war labor board,
instead of increasing the wage
scale to meet the increased cost of
living, upon which the complaint was
based, and which in our opinion have
justified an increase of only Is or
16 per cent, undertook to grant, and
award, an increase amounting to
from seventy to nearly 100 per cent
over the contract wage scale of Sep
TENDER, 1917.
at seems apparent from the award
and from the communication of the
national war labor board to the
mayor and commissioners of the
city of Knoxville, that the labor
board expects this increase of wages
to be paid by the general public out
of increased car fares their recon-
mendation to the city commission in
respect of this matter being as ur-
gent as language could make it.