N&W in 1911--Strike

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Bluefield Daily Telegraph
July 6, 1911

QUESTION OF STRIKE NOT CONSIDERED
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Richmond Report Concerning N. & W. Employes Gives Distorted View
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WELL KNOWN MACHINIST OUTLINES THE SITUATION
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Proposed Agreement With Railway Too Indefinite and Men May Vote to Reject It and Ask for Another Conference
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HAVE IMPLICIT CONFIDENCE IN MOTIVE POWER CHIEF
    Roanoke, Va., July 5 (Special)--The report from Richmond that many employes of the Norfolk and Western are voting on a proposition to strike is a distorted view of the situation.
    Several days ago, after a conference extending over several weeks, the general committee of the federated trades, representing all the shop men of the road entered into an agreement with the management whereby they were to submit to all lodges of the machinists' unions a proposition that the men should receive an advance of two cents an hour in pay whenever the income of the road should be three million and eighty-two thousand dollars a month, the average of income in the last six months of 1910.  This agreement now is being voted on.  It applies to only shop men, not another branch of labor on the road being affected.  A well known machinist of the Norfolk and Western informed your correspondent tonight that many of the men are not satisfied with the proposed agreement, but while they are entirely willing to trust the company and have implicit confidence in Mayor W. S. Lewis, superintendent of motive power, they regard the terms as too indefinite.  They say that it may be years before the income of the Norfolk and Western reaches the specified limit and they think a clear understanding should be arrived at.  If the agreement is turned down by the lodges it will mean that the matter will come up for another conference between representatives of the men and the management.
    At the present the question of a strike is not even remotely considered and there does not seem to be the slightest disposition on the part of the machinists to suggest such an eventuality.  Indications are that after a month or two the men will ask for another conference, and at that conference the principal question will be the small difference of $82,000 of monthly incomes.
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Gordon Hamilton
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