(12) A secretary of a Trackmen's Brotherhood division in Georgia reports that foremen receive $35 per month (in city yards, $40 to $50), working from sunrise to sunset, longest day being 14 hours, get no pay for overtime, and have no beneficial associations, their wages being too low to join such; carmen work 12 hours and shopmen 10 hours. (13) An officer of the Brotherhood of Engineers in Alabama suggests legislative remedy for long hours, and says that they have had men on duty 36 to 40 hours without intermission for meals or rest; engineers and firemen are paid for overtime after 12 hours. (14) An officer of the telegraphers' order, speaking of conditions in western New York and Pennsylvania, says that telegraph operators average $40 per month, wages ranging from $25 to $60; that their hours vary from 10 to 16, averaging between 12 and 13; that Sunday work is frequent with no extra pay, the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway being the only road to allow extra Sunday pay, and that only to day men. (15) An officer of the Order of Railway Conductors in Kansas says that conductors and brakemen are allowed overtime after 10 hours, on the basis of 26 working days per month, and that 10 hours is a standard day; passenger conductors get from $100 to $125 per month; freight conductors, $90; passenger brakemen, $55 to $60; freight brakemen, $60. (16) The reply from a division in Tennessee of the Order of Railway Conductors says that wages are fair but hours long, being, on the average, 13; in Georgia a few Sunday trains, but in Tennessee and Alabama about the same as other days, overtime paid for. (17) An officer of Trainmen's Brotherhood Lodge in New York says that standard wages are paid, but age limit of employees is put at 45, and that train-service men are on duty from 12 to 24 hours, averaging 11 per hundred miles, for which they are paid as follows: Firemen, 2 cents per mile; passenger engineers, 31 cents; freight engineers, 3 cents; freight brakemen, 2 cents; freight conductors, 24 cents; Sunday labor excessive in freight service. Some track repair gangs worked 45 Sundays in 1898. Notwithstanding these numerous complaints, and many more which could be reproduced which doubtless would prove upon investigation that in many quarters, especially the lower grades of labor-for example, track laborers and foremen, who perform nevertheless a very responsible service from the point of view of the safety of the traveling public, are underpaid-it seems to your expert agent that any attempt to secure uniformity, even to the extent of a uniform minimum wage, would work more harm than good. The remedy seems to lie rather in the direction of strengthening the hands of labor organizations, which can organize these men along conservative lines, and by wise business management within the sphere of their legal rights secure for them in those localities where they are underpaid greater consideration. With respect to legislation affecting the hours of labor, perhaps more could be done, but of this we will speak later. With respect to the general level of wages in railway employment perhaps no class of employees is more closely affected by the general changes in the industrial prosperity of the country. The depression of 1893 made itself felt instantly upon the transportation business and brought about sweeping reductions in wages and the cutting down of the force in all departments of railroad employment. It is, perhaps, true that wage reductions were not made except as a last resort, and that many of the leading railroad systems of the country maintained the old rate of pay throughout the period of depression. But the force was cut down, the work per man increased, and oftentimes the hours, so that relatively, if not absolutely, there was a reduction in compensation per unit of effort. Increasing prosperity in the last few years brought these wages up again even in cases where roads were not paying dividends. The Louisville and Nashville Railroad, the Southern Railway, and the Missouri Pacific Company, covering 10 per cent of the total mileage of the United States, announced an increase of wages on January 1, 1899, although the first two roads have paid no dividend since 1893, and the latter none since 1891. The Louisville and Nashville's original cut was 20 per cent of salaries over $4,000 and 10 per cent on salaries less than $4,000. On July 1, 1898, the improved conditions enabled the managers to restore part of the cut, and now on January 1, 1899, the balance was restored, affecting 18,000 men and putting them back to where they were prior to 1893, although the stockholders are not in as good position as they were at that time. Railroad employees are beginning to realize that extreme hostile legislation affecting railroads may very quickly affect wages, and through their bettermanaged organizations they are beginning to exert the strong political power possessed by this army of men to see that only well-considered legislation is attempted. A comparison of railroad employment with that in other departments of industry and an examination of the total outlay for wages on the part of railway corporations will show the importance of guarding railroad prosperity. Probably more persons are dependent, directly and indirectly, for their living upon the employment offered by railways than upon any other single occupation in the United States except agriculture. From the reports of the Interstate Commerce Commission it is estimated that the compensation of railway employees for 1899 represented 60 per cent of the operating expenses and over 40 per cent of the gross earnings of all the railroads in the country. The following table, taken from the Interstate Commerce Commission's Report on Statistics of Railways, gives the total yearly compensation of 99 per cent of all the railway employees in the United States during the last 5 years as follows: § 5. HOURS OF LABOR-SUNDAY LABOR-OVERTIME. The replies to the question regarding wages, income, and hours of labor receive. from 35 railroads, as quoted above, furnish considerable data as to the actual num ber of hours railroad men in the various grades of service are required to work. In his testimony before the Industrial Commission, Mr. Sargent, chief of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, said that trainmen had little occasion for complaint as to hours and that 10 hours constituted the usual day for trainmen. In many cases firemen paid by the 100-mile run have been able to earn 10 days' pay in a week. Emergencies frequently arise, due to accidents or conditions of weather, when men may be required to work continuously for 36 hours or more, but such conditions are of course exceptional and not to the interest of the roads any more than to the interest of the men if they can be avoided. The hours of firemen have been reduced from about 12 on the average to about 10 largely as a result of better organization being able to bring the complaints of the men as to hours before the managers in a reasonable way. Telegraphers and yardmen have to work usually 12 hours per day and frequently are not paid for overtime. Conductors' hours have also been reduced as a result of their organization, and they are shorter than they were a few years ago. The rules of many companies require that even in cases of emergency conductors who have been on duty for 16 hours shall have 8 hours rest before being called upon for further duty. The complaint of trackmen seems to be the most serious, as will be noted from the replies from track foremen as just quoted above in section 4 of this report and from the testimony of the chief of the Brotherhood of Railway Trackmen. In the South and West rules require trackmen to work from sunrise to sunset and in most other places 10 or 11 hours are required. The position of track foreman is an arduous one; the responsibility is great, as he is held accountable for the condition of the 1 Advance sheets of Thirteenth Annual Report, Washington, 1901. track and must be specially watchful in stormy weather when there is danger of a washout. Track laborers are usually paid for overtime, night work, and Sunday work, but the foremen are not. It is very generally felt that some relief might be afforded to this class of men by assigning them shorter sections of track and by adding to the total number of employees per mile of line operated. The testimony of railroad presidents before the Industrial Commission seems to indicate that labor conditions with respect to hours were exceptionally good. The fixing of wages by a mileage rate and the usual rule of the larger roads make possible a labor day from 8 to 10 hours for most classes except in cases of emergency. The joint reply of the chief officers of the railway brotherhoods1 to the questions relating to hours states that, "The necessity of changing train and engine crews at established points where terminal facilities are provided renders it impractical to arbitrarily fix the hours of labor of train and engine men. We think the hours of labor of yard and office men should be shortened, and we think they could reasonably be fixed by law. For train dispatchers and yard employees in large or busy yards, 8 hours should constitute a day. In all other classes of service 10 hours should be recognized as a day's work, and all time on duty in excess of 10 hours for a day's pay should be paid for as extra or over time. We should suggest an act specifying the legal workday as above and legalizing claims for extra pay for extra hours worked.' Some of the representatives of organized railway labor argue for an 8-hour day and also urge the desirability of legislation regulating the hours of labor as a measure to promote public safety, it being admitted by nearly all parties concerned that many accidents occur because of overstrain or fatigue on the part of men who have been kept on duty long hours. The representatives of the roads, however, maintain that under existing conditions uniform legislation on this subject would be very disastrous in its result, especially in the train service, where delayed trains could not be tied up at a stated hour. They state, moreover, that the tendency toward shorter hours generally and reasonable pay for overtime is so marked that legislation is unnecessary, and, furthermore, that the cases where employees are overworked are very exceptional. Many of the States have already legislated on the subject of hours of labor for railway employees. Ten hours is a legal day's work for all classes of railroad employees in New York, Ohio, and Minnesota. References to these laws may be found, and quotations from the text of the same, in the report of the Industrial Commission (vol. 5, Labor Legislation, p. 27 ff.), and also references to all such laws and court decisions based upon them for the period since 1895 in the Bulletins of the United States Department of Labor. Several of the States have passed statutes providing that railroad employees can not be compelled to work more than a certain number of continuous hours without a prescribed period of rest, 8 hours, 10 hours, etc. In Georgia 13 hours is the maximum, after which 10 hours rest must be given, except when trains are delayed by casualty; Florida, 13 hours and 8 hours rest; Ohio, 15 hours and 8 hours rest; Colorado, 18 hours and 8 hours rest; Minnesota, 18 hours out of 24, and 20 hours, except in case of casualty, is the maximum without 8 hours rest; New York, 24 hours and 8 hours rest; Michigan, same as New York. In all these cases exception is made in cases of casualty and accident, which may require longer continuous service. Nebraska passed a similar law in 1899, making it unlawful for trainmen to be required to work more than 18 consecutive hours without 8 hours for rest. At a union meeting of the representatives of 5 railway organizations, at which 2,300 railway men were assembled, at Carnegie, Pa., on or about July 4, 1899, the following resolutions relating to hours of labor and legislation fixing a maximum period for continuous labor without opportunity for rest were adopted: Whereas the great innovations of modern railroading have brought with them an increase in the physical and mental strain upon employees in the transportation departments, and as there is a disposition on the part of our railroad companies to lengthen instead of shorten the runs of trainmen and enginemen as their duties become more arduous, thereby making the strain twofold: Therefore, be it "Resolved, That we, members of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, Order of Railroad Conductors, Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, and Order of Railway Telegraphers, in joint meeting assembled at Carnegie, Pa., this 16th day of July, 1899, urge Congress to pass a law restricting the hours of labor of employees in the transportation departments of interstate railroads to 8 out of 24. Be it further 1 Report of Industrial Commission, vol. 4, Transportation, p. 761. "Resolved, That a copy of this resolution be sent to the President of the United States, the United States Senate, the House of Representatives, and the United States Industrial Commission. "JAMES T. SMITH, Chairman. "J. D. RAUTH, Secretary." There is from the very nature of the occupation the greatest variation in the hours of labor in the different grades of service. On fast express trains there are many cases where trainmen do not work more than 5 or 6 hours a day, including their lay over, and receive a full day's wages; while for telegraph operators, train dispatchers, station agents, and trackmen the conditions at present are such that they are apt to be required on the average to exceed a 10-hour day, which it is certainly the intention of the majority of the roads and of all of the labor organizatious to enforce under existing conditions and existing rates of pay. It seems only fair, as a measure of equalization of hours so far as possible among the different grades of service, as well as to provide for the emergency demands of the business at different seasons of the year, to provide for the payment of overtime. This should be done on the basis of a standard day, and allowances made for those not paid by the day when emergencies over which the employee has no control and for which he is not responsible require him to be on duty longer hours than the number making a standard day. Whether the economic conditions and the intensity of service in all sections of the country would justify 8 hours being considered the standard day at the present time it is impossible to say without a more minute investigation than that authorized in this report. Probably 10 hours would be a fair standard day at the present time if any general or Federal legislation was contemplated, and such legislation would probably inure to the disadvantage of many employees working under existing contracts without materially helping the mass of the poorer paid and harder worked laborers in certain grades of service. The actual practice of railroad corporations with respect to payment for overtime, and the rates for such payment, may be studied more minutely in the replies of railroad corporations to the question with reference to hours and wages as already quoted in section 4 of this report; also in Exhibit 2, which gives the rules, regulations, and rates of pay for employees in train and yard service on 4 of the larger roads; also in the subjoined replies to the question: Are the men paid for extra time; if so, how much? to which answers were received from 37 railroad corporations operating 107,284 miles of line and employing 599,120 men. From these replies it will be seen that in general extra time is paid for pro rata, but that this rule does not apply to all departments of the service. Telegraph operators and trackmen seem to be the worst off with respect to the demands made upon them for overtime without extra pay; station agents, who most frequently are telegraph operators, also suffer the same inconvenience. It will be noted also that only in a few cases do roads pay for overtime at a higher rate than is paid for the same service during regular working hours. This practice seems to be rarer than in other departments of industry, where it is the usual custom to pay night work and extra work at higher rates. Men who are paid by the mile run or unit of work are usually paid for overtime by the hour rate. ANSWERS TO QUESTION: ARE THE MEN PAID FOR EXTRA TIME; IF SO, How MUCH? 1. Yes; in certain branches of the service, chiefly operating department. At proportionate rates, as a rule. 2. Overtime is paid. 3. Car department (1), no; (2), 25 per cent extra for wrecks only. 4. Men, outside general office force, are paid regular time for all overtime. I C-VOL XVII-01- -47 5. Yes; pro rata proportion of regular hourly or daily wages. 6. Do not pay overtime to monthly men. Day men are paid overtime at regular rates. 7. In nearly all grades of railway service the men are paid for extra time. The amount paid for extra time varies with the amount of pay which the employee receives. 8. Employees are paid for stated services and are usually paid extra for additional time. 9. Only trainmen and men paid by the hour are required to work overtime. For the former, overtime is paid for on the basis of a 10-hour day and at proportionate rates. 10. Yes; men in transportation service at daily rate; shop and road men, time and one-half, except this latter does not, of course, apply to piecework. Yes; amount varies. 11. 12. In nearly all departments of the service they are. In some departments at the same ratio as their regular pay, in others on a higher basis. 13. Extra time is paid for in nearly all grades, the amount varying according to rate of pay. Yes; at proportionate rate. 14. 15. Officers, clerks, station agents, operators, are not; other employees are paid for overtime at a proportion of the rate per day or month. 16. Men in train and yard service are allowed extra time at the same rate as regular time. 17. In the transportation and machinery departments nearly all classes of men are paid for extra time, usually at the same rate per hour as their regular pay. except that in shops it is customary to pay time and one-half for extra time worked between the hours of 6 p. m. and 7 a. m. and on Sundays. In the road department regular section men are paid extra time for all labor performed over 10 hours per day. They are paid at the rate of time and one-half for overtime and for Sunday labor. 18. Employees are paid for extra time at pro rata of stated salary, except agents, whose pay is adjusted so as to cover extra time. |