The Maintenance of Way Workers and the Maine Central Railroad,
1901
This is the second excerpt of Déjá Vu, The Maintenance of Way Workers and
the Maine Central Railroad, 1901 by Professor Charles A. Scontras from the
Bureau of Labor Education, University of Maine.
John T. Hogan, Chairman of the Joint Protective Board of the Maine Central Railroad
(the Grievance Committee of the Way Men) was given permission to strike by John T. Wilson,
President of the Brotherhood, when Mr. Wilson learned that officials of the Maine Central
had refused to continue to meet with the union, and when they refused to discuss matters
with him personally. Wilson had traveled to Portland in the hope that the embryonic labor
organization could peacefully resolve its differences with the company. While in Portland,
he sent a letter by special messenger to George Evans, General Manager of the Maine
Central, requesting a meeting. The messenger was instructed to ask if he should wait for a
reply, and he was informed that there would be no answer. Thus, Wilson granted permission
to the Grievance Committee "to order the simultaneous suspension of work."
In general defense of his action, the President declared that the Maintenance of Way
men had "as much right to combine to agree upon what they will sell their labor for,
provided they stay within the bounds of reason as the M.C.R.R.C. has to form combinations
with other railways and agree upon a rate they will exact from the public for a rate of
transportation."
Management was quick to announce that it expected only a few of the men to obey the
strike order, that the tracks were in "excellent condition," and that it
anticipated no delay in meeting its business obligations. More importantly, management of
the Maine Central made its stance on unionism quite clear:
"We do not refuse to meet our men. We are always willing to meet them, but the
policy of the company is to settle all grievances if there are any with the men
themselves."
No union veteran of industrial conflict could misinterpret the position of management.
It was a classic expression of non-recognition of the union.
In a predictable follow-through, management stated that "the places that have been
vacated (by the strikers) will be filled at once." Once again, workers learned that
the right to organize was one thing; employer recognition of the union was another.
Approximately 800 trackmen belonged to the eight lodges, or divisions, that were
involved in the strike -- Bangor No. 163, Waterville No. 180, Brunswick No. 197, Lewiston
No. 199, Portland No. 198, Bartlett, New Hampshire, No. 46, Lancaster, New Hampshire, No.
50, and Lime Ridge, Canada. Hogan claimed that the membership represented 97 percent of
all the trackmen.
The striking trackmen hoped to attract the sympathy and concern of the community by
pointing out the nature and responsibilities of their work. Few were familiar with the
work of the men who looked after the roadbed ties and rails. The steel rails, subject to
variable climatic conditions and the constant pressure exerted upon them by the heavy and
swift-moving engines and trains, could break at any time. No one knew, not even the
best-trained trackman, when a steel rail might break. Then, too, a few broken bolts might
be the cause of a foul joint which could derail a train. Extreme heat could cause the
expansion of the rails, and if sufficient space was not provided between the joints at the
end of the rails, the rails would wildly seek room for growth, fly out of place,
"making a wreck a dead certainty." The public suddenly became aware of these
overseers of rail safety--the men who watched the rails, "who kept frogs and switches
in proper adjustment for the safe passage of the heavy trains," and who "kept
the curves in proper alignment and elevation to make passage of fast, heavy passenger or
freight trains possible. The trackmen hoped that the perceived and real hazards of rail
travel generated by their strike would win them sympathy, support and concessions.
The trackmen were joined by 200 fuel men who shoveled coal into the sheds and from the
sheds into the tenders of the locomotives. Their work was described by railroad workers as
"laborious, dirty and unhealthy." The bodies of the coal men, which were always
covered with "fine black grime," signaled the nature of their work -- work for
which they were paid $1.25 for a day that extended beyond ten hours.
The Brotherhood demanded a ten-hour day, time-and-a-half for overtime, and double time
for labor on Sundays. They also demanded that promotion of the men in the maintenance of
way and fuel department be based on seniority, where merit and qualifications were
sufficient. In those cases where it was necessary to move maintenance of way and fuel
department workers to areas other than their regular quarters, the union demanded that the
company pay for such travel expenses. The union also insisted on the right of an employee
to be represented by a union committee in instances where he believed he was unjustly
accused and dismissed. If found blameless, the employee was to be reinstated without loss
of time and expense. The Brotherhood further demanded that no maintenance of way or fuel
department worker was to be fired for serving on a grievance committee.
The Brotherhood desired that the agreement include a rule which provided that at points
where the maintenance of way employees lived in the company's dwellings, or at those
points where the company had dwellings, the section men be permitted the free use of such
dwellings and fuel, and that such dwellings be kept in good repair by the company.
Central to the strike were labor's wage demands. The company had recently conceded to
increase the wages of the section men who were earning $1.25 a day to $1.35 a day, and
that of the foremen on the Mountain Division who had been earning $1.65 a day to $1.75 a
day, matching the wages earned by the foremen on the main line. Management refused to make
any further wage concessions in the form of increased wages to yard foremen, who generally
earned more than $1.75, to coal men, or to any foremen who already earned $1.75 a day.
The Brotherhood demanded a 25-cents-a-day increase for all section men and yard foremen
and men on the system, with the exception of yard foremen at Portland (Upper, Lower and
Thompson's Point Yards), Bangor, Waterville, Bath, and Brunswick, who were not to be paid
less than $2.50 a day. Also accepted were the foremen on the Mountain and Quebec Divisions
who were to receive a minimal increase of 35 cents a day, and the Rockland branch section
hands who were to receive an increase of not less than seven cents a day.
The general rule providing for a twenty-five cent a day increase in wages was to apply
to all extra and fence gangs. The coal shovelers and hoisters on the entire system were to
receive a minimum of $1.75 per day. |