Railroads in 1909--Employee pay

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Bluefield Daily Telegraph
November 9, 1909

RAILROAD MEN WILL DEMAND HIGHER PAY
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Arrangements Being Made by Trainmen's Organizations for Annual Wage Scale Conference

    Arrangements are being made by representatives of the wage scale committees of the different railway trainmen's organizations for the annual wage scale conference with general managers of the various railroads throughout the country, and it is expected that several important changes will be made when the new scale becomes effective.
    Representatives of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and the Order of Railway Conductors are now working on the new schedule of pay and working conditions, which will be presented to the executives of the railroads east of the Mississippi river next month.  It is estimated that the trainmen will ask for a general advance in wages and a few changes to working conditions.
    The engineers and firemen argue that the big increase in the size of locomotives gives reason for a request in the increase in pay.
    The railroads, it is claimed, are hauling as much freight at present as in 1907, the banner year, and are doing it with one-third less men.  This is made possible by use of the monster locomotives, which are capable of hauling twice as much freight as the engines used five years ago.
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Gordon Hamilton
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