Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1922-04-12
IIIE AIR ADS and
3. THEIR EMPLOYEES
Pub shed by request Of
81 81 E. No. IS

X 4 st-l,3e3 aeS
PieceN.ork and Bonus System sa SIS
abroad employees in road service.
have Away been. paid upon the piece
work plan, in that they receive a. sta
ted amount .eper 100 miles OF less. q
Almost from the very beginning wage.
schedules or agreements between the.
railroads and their employees engaged
in engine and train service have been.
upon the piecework system, and & am
quite sure that: both the railroad off
Gals and the employees have been fav-
orable thereto. u 3I.t +. .Ss s. D
M Much has been said during recent
years with regard to speeding up
systems in the employment Of work
.ers. These so-called deficiency me-
thods have included the old piece
work" and "bonus" systems Of wage
payments. In other industries these
methods have usually been discussed
as innovations and have been opposed
by the workers in most of such in
dustries, altho for nearly half CEN
fury railroads have enforced both
pieceWork and bonus methods of pay-
ments upon their employees in road
service. Altho effecting a. wide diff
ference in the earning power Of indi-
vidual employees, this system, never
theless, has been in effect without OBJ
lection from either the railroad off
Gals or railroad employees concerned.
The Old Ten-Hour Day Rule
Previous to the adoption Of the s.
hour law thruout the country, and ex-
|cept on a large proportion Of the rail
roads where the S-hour wage basis had
already been established, the rule us
ually found in wage agreements for
freight service was 80 hours or less,
100 miles Of less, constitutes a day
+ Under this rule an employee was
guaranteed not less than one days
|pay for a single period of service, al
tho his true basis of that days pay
was 100 miles, If employees engaged
in transporting a freight train over a
division of railway averaged 10 miles
per hour, or completed the 100 miles
in 10 hours, each of them received
one days pay at the rate specified in
the agreement. If the train was trans.
ported $50 miles in Is hours, each EN-.
ploye was paid for one and one-half
days. Such payments were based up
on the piecework system; SO much per
100 miles, as long as the "miles equal
or exceed the hours"
Should the work of transporting the
train become SO laborious, because 5oi
increased tonnage, as to reduce the
speed below an average of 10 miles
per hour, wages ceased to be paid on
the mileage basis or pieceworI
plan. and were then paid on the
hourly. basis AT the rate of one
tenth Of a days pay for each hour. il
service. Thus, if the train was trans
ported 100 miles in IL hours each EN-
ploye was paid for IL hours work, OF
twelve-tenths of a days pay, regard
less Of the miles. 3
In this manner Overtime began
when the hours exceed the miles,
and overtime. being then paid "pr,
rata" as described in, railway wag,
agreements, inflicted no penalty upo1
the. employer, for, being in most case
the result Of heavy trains, it was sal
! to have been an evidence of manag
erial efficiency, because it usually dc
veloped a reduction in the actual Wag
cost per ton mile" altho it did sho1
an increase in the wage cost per trail
mile"
Railroads Adopted "eonus" System
Formerly, when the capacity Of tn
locomotive was not SO heavily take
4 by train loading, "bonus'' was dc
vised by which it was believed tina
the speed of the train would be acce
1 Grated. a train crew that transporte