N&W in 1910--Clerks strike

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Bluefield Daily Telegraph
May 18, 1910

RAILWAY CLERKS STRIKE
OUT ALL OVER SYSTEM
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Demand Recognition of Union Which Norfolk and Western Refuses to Concede--Only Five Out in Bluefield
    The Brotherhood of Railway Clerks struck yesterday afternoon at 2:30 and as a result men are out in this city, at Vivian, Elkhorn, Keystone, Williamson, St. Paul, Coeburn, Tazewell, East Radford, Roanoke and other points which it was impossible to hear from last night.
    To counteract the effect of the strike it leaked out from an official source last night that the Norfolk and Western will replace the men who have quit and will also discharge a number of others who have been prominent in the strike work.
    The demands of the strikers are that the Norfolk and Western adopt a schedule presented by the clerk's union in which the clerks ask that the men receive equal wages for equal work and also ask for promotion according to merit, the men having the opportunity to apply for vacancies according to their seniority, the same as is done by other orders.  The men also want to have the privilege of allowing the union to settle their disputes and bring any grievances which may arise during the term of the contract.  The union claims to represent ninety per cent of the men on the railroad payroll as clerical help outside of the general offices and shops at Roanoke.  A man who is prominent in the union said last night that these are 535 men in the order.
[The remainder of the article on the microfilm was too blurred to transcribe.  The number 535 was also blurred, but the best interpretation is shown.]
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IN CITY AND COALFIELD
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First General Strike
    Not a single railroad man could be found here last night who remembered a time when the Norfolk and Western ever had a strike on its hands before in which any order or union called the men out all over the road.  About five years ago there was a strike in which the Southern Express Company men and agents took part.  So, the Norfolk and Western, as far as could be determined last night, was neutral in that matter.
[Some words were blurred on the microfilm.  The best interpretations are shown.]

Gordon Hamilton
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