LABOR STRIKES IN AMERICA

Dunstan Times, Issue 1253, 5 March 1886, Page 3

LABOR STRIKES IN AMERICA

A matter that is agitating the public mind is the labor problem. Reeent'y the coal miners have been giving trouble to their employers, and they are so thoroughly united that they have things pretty well their own way. In most instances a compromise has been effected, and the men have gone to work again ; but in some of the mines in Pennsylvania work is entirely suspended, and promises to be so for some time to come. The {owners say that coal mining is unprofitable at the present prices, and they would rather shut down altogether than endure the increased loss which would follow an advance of wa »es to their men. The men claim that they are working at starvation figures, and cannot make a living in spite of long hours, overtime, etc. lb is the old quarrel between capital and labour, in which neither side can bo trusted to tell the exact truth; and it is a quarrel that is likely to he kept up indefinitely unless, as seems not improbable, the labor party gets control of thiugs and dictates terms to the capitalists. Every year the trades unions are becoming more and more complete; every trade has its union, and all of them are organised into a general association of “ the knights of labour,” as heretofore stated. It is capable of being made a means of good and evil and unhappily it has thus far shown as quite as much of the latter as the former.

Lawyers are (trying to find a way ot suppressing these organisations, on the general ground of conspiracy against the public good. In a few instances they have succeeded, but only in a few, as it is not easy to find a jury to pass a verdict in their favor. The labor men have shrewd lawyers in their employ, and arc taking legal adv ce and following it more carefully than was formerly their wont. Instances of personal violence in strikes are less frequent than of yore and consequently there is less occasion for the interference of the police. The boycotting system has been found of great use in bringing employers to terns, and latterly it has been employed against such of the laborers as choose to break loose from the dictates of their 'unions A week ago there was trouble in a hat-making establishment in one of tho suburban towns, owing to a reduction of wages, and about 50 men wont out on strike. Some of the employes of the house remained, and new men wee engaged to fill the places of those who went out.“ Tho ‘knights of labor came to the front to aid the strikers. The non-strikers and' the new men found they were ostracised by nearly everybody else in the neighbourhood ; the butchers, bakers, and candle-stick masers would sell them nothing; the keepers of the beer saloons refused their patronage, and their old acquaintances would not speak to them. They were as lonely as Robinson Crusoe before the arrival of hiaman Friday, and it was not long before they joined in the strike and left tho employer without any employed. The quarrel was adjusted very promptly, and the men returned to

work at the old wages and under the old conditions.

Early this week (says the New York correspondent of the ‘Age,’ writing on January 18) it was announced that the enginedrivers—we call them engineers—and tiremen on the elevated railways in the city had made demands upon their employers, and a strike was impending. The locomotive engineers of the country have a “ brotherhood," which is one of tho most powerful trades unions in tho country, and probably the best managed; it has a large fund in the hands of competent and reliable men, and its chief is fully worthy to represent them. In all its difficulties with the

railways it has conducted itself with dignity, and as its claims h,ave been based pon equity, it has almost invariably carried its point It has usually demanded more than it really wanted, and in this way has enabled the railways to save their reputations by meeting them half way. Three or four years ago there was a, strike on what is known as the Gould system of railway**, which includes an aggregate of nearly 2000 miles of lines. It was caused by a gradual increase in the number of

hours in which a m in was on duty without a correspondim< increase of pay. The engineers made their demand, wh'oh was refused, and then they ask d for arbitration, and this also was declined. Then a general strike. among the whole system was ordered, and it was strictly carried oat. At the hour appointed , all the engineers who were in terminal on other stations left their engines, whether attached to trains or not; those on the road ran to the next important stopping place and then declined to go further They were careful not to alienate public sympathy by incommoding passengers'who wore on the trains only at important stations where they were suitable hotels or other accommodations. Freight trains were left at the first station, where they stopped after the hour of the strike, and until the trouble was adjusted the entuo running of the Gould system of railways was paralysed. Negotiations were resumed without delay, and as soon as a meeting of the directors could, be had the difficulties were adjusted. Each side conceded something to the other,, and the brotherhood gained its point, while the railways preserved their dignity. But it was a severe loss to the railways, as the public'did not learn the adjustment of the trouble as quickly as It did of the strike —bad news always outstrips good news in speed—and for weeks the Gouid system was perceptibly avoided. _ When the trouble began with the brotherhood on the elevated railways early this week the managers thought they could get the best of the fight'by a temporary reduction of service. On the east side of the city there are two parallel lines on Second and Third avenues, and on the west side two other parallels on Sixth and Ninth avenues. Though belonging to different corporations, the lines are practically under one management, and therefore we will speak of them a? “ the Company.” Well, the Company decided to close the Second and Ninth avenue lines and concentrate travel on the Third and Sixth, thus getting aleng with half the number of engineers and firemen. The order was issued late one night; the notice appeared in the morning papers, but those who did not read the papers before going to work or business bad no knowledge of it. Fancy the expressions of anger, often mingled with profanity, that escaped from the lips of those who found their usual lines of travel closed, and were told they must go to the other avenue. Three hundred thousand passengers are carried daily by the elevated railways j all the lines are crowded to their utmost capacity in the morning and evening, and for three hours at each end of the day the trains have all they can do in the transportation of passengers. The reduction by one-half sof the accommodation to the public was an inconvenience not pati ■ ently to be borne ; when it became known that no strike had taken place, but the measure was simply a precautionary one on the part of the Company, there were curses, not loud and deep, but prolonged and eloquent.- The public and papers took the side of the engineers, and the strong arm of the law interfered in the shape of the Hail way Commissioners, one of whom proceeded to tlie offices of the Company and plainly told them their charter would be forf.ited unless they immediately resumed the running of trains on the suddenly closed roads. His arguments were forcible, and the order went out at once. By noon the trains were running pretty nearly as before the beginning n f the trouble. The chief of the brotherhood, who had been summoned here from Cleveland, where he resid.es, had an interview with the officers of the Company ; then he wont to a hall, where the engineers off duty had assembled, and after telling them to bo patient he gave some good advice, which should be heeded by the workmen everywhere. “ Keep out of the bar-rooms, said he ; don’t boast of what you are going to make the Company do ; and after you have gained your rights, don’t boast about having done so. I never go into a bar room, and hope every member of the brotherhood will follow my example.” The final interview between the officials of the road on the one hand, and the grand chief and the committee of engineers on the other, took place yesterday afternoon. Each party met the other courteously, the points in dispir c were discussed one by one, each side yielded a little, and in little more than an hour the whole affair was arranged amicably. The engineers had asked that eight hours should be considered a days labour in place of ten or eleven hours, which had been enacted of them ; and a compromise was mule upon nine hours. The other points presented were mainly in regard to extra time, the time when service should begin, and the treatment of men under suspension for alleged violation of rules. It was shown that men wore sometimes suspended out of spite on the part of subordinate officials and when they returned to work they received no pay for the time lost. It was agreed that hereafter a eusnonded man should be paid in full for his lost time, provided he was exonerated after a hearing ; and it was further provided that no man should be dismisse I from service without a hearing. Then it was agree 1 that no man should be discharged in consequence of his services on the present or any other committee unless he had committed a misdemeanor, and those who wore discharged in the early part of the week were to bo reinstated on the same conditions. When the chief announced the result of the cans ference he gave some more good advice, and the prospects are that affaiis between the railway company and its employes are now on a bettor footing than they have ever been before. 1 have devoted unusual space to this difficulty, as it illustrates the working of the most complete benevolent and protective organisation in 'he country, and the one that has the best and most temperate management, 90 per cent.—about 12.000 —of all the locomotive engineers of the country belonging to it. It has the full sympathy of the public, and if all trades unions had as good a record as this there would be little cause to complain of their actions.