Free trader-journal and Ottawa fair dealer. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1920-1927, 1920-09-11

railroads try TO fiji the ranks of in
experienced men as could be induce
to leave the new union incidentally
the l.. A. r. +. has been called tn
OUTLAW union" because the A. +. o
L. has refused to recognize them AM
their leaders,
Well, anyway, Mr., Grunau has some
interesting remarks to pass about th'
present state of affairs which he say
has been brought about by the em
poyment of unskilled help. II take
experience, he says. 10 know how tt
make UP a train so that the cars can
be cut out with the least time AT each
station. This is accomplished at Ter
minal yards and when done by eX
pericnced help is quick task, In
experienced men can pick out tram
! but mix the cars so badly thdt II II
much harder to make mp the next
! train. Green men do not know when
10 set the brakes and by hitting a
string OF ears. put good ears on the
bad order" list for repairs AT Ben
sonyille. on the Chicago, Milwaukee
& St. Paul, there are 1000 bad or
der cars. of which 500 are loaded, q
condition caused by the bad help
trouble, says Grunau.
There are 500 ,o00 men out OF rail
road work at present, 10000 are
members of our organization, says
Grunau. They will be back to work
in Is hours when We give the word.
II the executives want efficient SerV-
ice, all they have 10 do is to promise
the men their old rights and they
can have the experienced switchmen
back TO work 1t would take these
men two or three weeks TO have the
yards back to normal but the longer
the executives delay the worse condi-
lions will become and this winter Will
be practically a complete tieup.
Now the /. A. A. wants to get into
the yards and see if the cars are de-
layed l. it true that there are entire
tracks of ears that have not been
moved since tie beginning Ct the
strike? Are the wheels covered with
the rust OF weeks of inactivity? Is
there an increase in bad order cars
because o fthe inefficient handling?
What can be done to get the railroad .
executives to settle the trouble with .
he switchmen, if that really Is the .
seat of the difficulty? /
Grunau says that the heads of the .
'airoads do not want 10 have an eff /
,ient service as long as the govern
nent will guarantee 5A per cent and .
hat by inefficient operation they are .
ibe to discredit government control
md reduce any suggestion of public
ownership.
Hard to Get a Job
The classified columns of the Chi.
ago papers have contained advertise
nents OF experienced switchmen, so
set out TO see what luck a man
would have Of learning the trade
A big fat man in the Rock Island
'fice greeted me the instant I came
nto the room with, I'm busy
All right. I'll wait
To this the fat man snapped. well,
what do you want, and make it
Il want a job switching"
Had any experience"
mo"
"Youl save me lot of time, and /
Yourself too, if youll just beat it. |,
amt hiring no more inexperienced
men,
Il followed his advice and approach
cd an office that turned out to be the
Chicago Junction Railway, which han
lies the business OF the stockyards
district. | couldn't get a job at that
office. but if I'd go to Che yards
md talk to the trainmaster in charge
ned most likely take me on. We had
lutte little chat as this gentleman
vas not pushed for time. We got to
alkiug about the strike last spring
md he told me that il had decided to
70 rairoading then that | could have
lad good job by this time. | would
re over men with years OF experience
Who came in the day after me- He
aid that there was a fairly good sup
,ly of experienced men and that the
northwestern was not hiring any men
Who had not been in the business for
Wo years. The roads weren't taking
n men who had left them in the
uTCH ulueF any toHultlOnS, Dut were
firing men who had left other roads in
he strike last spring He said that
here was much shifting among the
men as they were all looking for the
,est job and didn't have much to lose
because of their short service. He
.dded that his railway had to turn
wo or three engines back to the