Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1922-05-03
THE TRUTH ABOUT
THE RAILROADS
Published by the
Brotherhood Of Loco. Engineers
Why Piecework Was Abolished on
Railroads During Federal Control

:
Railroad executives testifying be-
fore the Senate Committee on Inter
state Commerce laid great stress on
the abolition of piece-Work during
Federal control of railroads, claiming
that maintenance costs were largely
increased thereby.
Testifying before the same commit
tee, on February 2, 1922, William G..
McAdoo, former director general of
the Railroad Administration, said:
"Piece-work was abolished only af-
ter an extensive investigation cover
ing a period Of months, in which a
comparison of the results obtained in
a region working day-work with re-
gion working piece-work had shown.
Disadvantages Of Piece-work
"(D There was no advantage from
an efficiency standpoint in piece-work
over day-work in locomotive repair
shops.
"(2) That locomotive maintenance
costs per 1000 pounds of tractive pow
err miles were GREATER in the re-
gon working piece-Work than they
were in the region working day-work.
"(3) That it was not possible I'M
der the piece-work system to avoid
large payments to workmen for work
which was not performed. In fact, on
the Pennsylvania Railroad it was
found that the officials had voluntari-
Iy overpaid piece-workers to the ex-
tent Of more than $2,5OO,OQO.
"(4) No substantial difference in
the general condition of equipment
was found in the piece.work region as
compared with the day-work region
on roads where work was properly
supervised and a high standard Of
maintenance required"
Mr.. McAdcO testified that less than
10 per cent of all employees in the
maintenance of equipment department
were at any time, during Federal con-
troll, working on the piece-work sys-
tenn; therefore, authorizing it to be
discontinued, he declared, could not
have seriously affected maintenance
costs either during or since Federal
control
For the information of Congress,
Mr. McAdoO submitted the official re-
ports of the Investigations and recon-
mendations upon which he auth orized
abolition Of piecework
Railroads Padded PayroIls :
Under date of December Is, 1918,
Frank McManamy, assistant director
OF the Bureau Of Operations of the
Railroad Administration, reported that
the Pennsylvania Railroad was ode
liberately overpaying their piece
workers to the extent Of millions of
dollars,' and that it was impossible
to persuade the managers Of the road
to discontinue this practice
"The Pennsylvania Railroad Off
Gals the report continues, "were evil
IDENTIFY not satisfied with increases
granted to their mechanics Of more
than 60 per cent above their average
rate on December 81, 1917, therefore
without authorization, they increased
it to more than 100 per cent"
The report further declares ''that
we have, within the past few days, OBJ
tanned information which leads us to
believe that other lines have adopted
the same method of payment. under
stand the Baltimore and Ohio has
overpaid their piece-W orkers. The
Philadelphia and Reading during the
first two weeks of August overpaic
their piece-workers to the amount OF
100000"
In a report dated December 4, 1918
Mr.. McManamy reported the result Of
an investigation undertaken at the re
quest of the Board of Wages anC
Working Conditions into the practices
and results Of piece-work.
The High Cost of Piece-work
In the Northwestern region, where
mechanics were paid 10 cents NOR,
per hour, and where day-work pre-
vailed, the cost of maintenance wa
materially lower than in the Alleqh