The daily worker., 1925-01-14
MAYOR HYLAN'S
TUNNEL JOB IS
HALTED BY men
Union Sand Hogs De.
mand Safety Devices
By ART SHIELDS

aApA FiN9o OAoH NS'ASSFSbNNFNt
NEW YORK, Jan. 13.-Not
union sand hog can Mayor
Hylan get for his proposed tun-
mel under the Narrows from
Brooklyn to Staten Island until
the working hours for high air
pressure men are reduced.
Auctioning of the tunnel con-
tract has stopped until the
mayor gets an agreement with
the Compressed Air Workers
Union.
Tired Of Committing Suicide.
eve are tired of committing sui.
cide," said an old sand hog in the
unions Office at 229 East saith street.
Look at Mike there, crippled for life,
paralyzed from the hips down. He
got the bends once too often"
The "bends" follow long hours un-
der high air pressure. The worker
may pass out thru the air locks feel
ing pretty fit and two hours after
double up and collapse on the street
and be laid up for a week to two
months. After several attacks Of the
bends" he is thru for life. Hun
dreds of bends" attacks have occur
red on the great vehicular tunned pro-
ject from Canal street, Manhattan to
Jersey City, with about two hundred
more or less permanently disabled and
10 killed.
The union agrees that high air
pressure is unavoidable; that pound
of air is necessary for every two
pounds of water pressure. But the
union demands that working hours
per day be reduced in proportion to
the air pressure hazard-the hours to
range from at comparatively low
pressure to one at so pounds.
Union Demands safeguarded Workers.
The new demands which must be
met by whatever contractor gets the
Brooklyn-Staten Island contrat. make
drastic changes for the better over
the hour schedules prevailing on the
Booth & Finn job from Manhattan to
Jersey City. The 6 hour day is to be-
gin at IS pounds, instead of 81; the
4 hour day at 26 pounds instead Of 30;
3 hours from 33 to 3S pounds; 2 from
4 3S to 4S; ~ hours from 43 to 4S
and hour per day at 4S to so
pounds. Due rest periods are to be
given.
Proof that contractors can success
fully operate under this schedule is
shown by the success of the o'Rouke
company on the Brooklyn Rapid Tran
sit power house on the East river.
The Compressed Air Workers I'm
ion seeks to have these provisions
binding on all future operations, thru
the passage of the Steinberg bill, now
before the New York legislature.
Joseph McPartlan, secretary Of the
Compressed Air Workers Union gave
the Federated Press a total Of sand
hog casualties on the Booth & Finn
Manhattan-Jersey job. Nine hundred
and thirty were injured, according to
union figures, reckoned on the basis
Of men seeking compensation, the pub
lie service commission admitting $50.
Ten were killed and 200 more or less
permanently disabled.
Two Men Injured Daily.
"Ten men are injured daily on this
job" said McPartlan in his little Of
flee. That's a big human price to
pay for his big engineering project.
The trouble is that the price is un-
necessarily big. Most Of the injuries
are due to the cruelty long hours at
the unnatural conditions.
"The sand hog doesn't make for
tune. He works only part time; gets
seven, eight and eight and a half dol
lars a day, with certain serious injury
awaiting him sooner or later. His
working life is far shorter than in
other occupations and insurance com
panies either reject him entirely or
charge him four times the rate of
other high rate risks"