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.