Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1922-07-05
THE Il TRUTH '1|,' ABOUT !, B / I r
THE RAILROADS
Published by the
Brotherhood Of Loco. Engineers
SHOULD RAILWAY WAGES BE
CUT?
Investigation Brings to Light Startling
Facts About Engineers Pay

acts About Engineers Pay :
The U. S. Railway labor Board, now
sitting in Chicago, is hearing the
spokesman for the railroads and the
various railway labor organizations
to determine whether or not. working
rules should be changed and the
wages CT these employees further re-
duced below the 1920 cut which
chopped over $37S, 100000 from the
railway pay rolls last July. -
The question is one of vital interest
to the country Not only the passen-
ger and the shipper but every citizen
who consumes food, wears clothing or
gets a letter through the mails has
personal concern in an efficient, de-
pendable and economical transporta-
ton service .- 80
The railroads contend that they will
gladly reduce rates if they can take
the difference out of the wages of
their employees. They do not promise
that this will insure greater efficiency.
On the contrary, most of them frankly
admit that it will not, since railroad
wages are already at a point where
many Of the best men are leaving the
service. The lawyers for the railroads
are not stressing the defation of the
section men and unskilled mainten-
ance-of-way employees, whose wages
are only about So day; but they as
sert that the higher paid railway EN-
ployes, especially the engineers and
train service men, should Immediately
suffer substantial reduction in pay.
Wages of Best Paid Rail Labor Small
In order to secure for our readers
the unvarnished truth about the
actual wages received by the best
paid railway employees, we have just
! made a survey OF the compensation
OF locomotive engineers, who are.
sometimes referred to as ''the aristo-
Gratis Of labor" since they are among
the most highly skilled and best paid
railroad workers. Obviously, if cut
should not be made in the wages of
these men, then the wages of the most
poorly paid employees can not be fur
Their reduced.
In order to determine whether the
engineers are now receiving more
than their share Of income, we have
taken the authoritative figures on
wages recently compiled by the u S.
Railroad Labor Board, the data COL
lected by the Interstate Commerce
Commission, and the rule for deter
mining a "just and reasonable wage"
laid down in the Transportation Act
passed by Congress in 1920 and still in
force. According to the carefully COM
piled figures of the Railroad Labor
Board, the average daily earnings Of
engineers are as follows:
Passenger engineers ....... $500
Yard engineers ............ 6.51
Through freight engineers 7.05
Local freight engineers 49,. 7.44
The Labor Board stresses the fact
that these are average daily earnings
and include overtime as we'll as regu
lar pay. They represent the total
daily compensation received by the
average engineer since July /, 1921
when Decision No. LAT of the Labor
BOARD imposed 4 $40 cut, totaling
$33,SS2,645 per annum on engine serv,
ice employees. In the same report
there is also given the average
monthly wage received by engineers
which indicates that many of them dc
not work full time. In fact, the high
est average stated is but $1S5.93 pei
month, which tapers down to $119.5t
for yard and local engineers. AS q
matter of fact, many engineers are