The Maintenance of Way Workers and the Maine Central Railroad, 1901

This is the fifth and last 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.

As the strike entered its second week, a large delegation of section foremen from across the state gathered at strike headquarters in Portland to assess the strike situation. They reported that only skeletal section crews were at work. The strikers, it appeared, were as determined to resist the company as the company, in turn, was determined to keep its trains moving. The only sign that the company was experiencing any inconvenience was revealed when it offered the men who shoveled coal an increase of ten cents a day. In a gesture of solidarity, the men refused, pointing out to the railroad managers that such a proposition would have been handled through their General Grievance Committee. The company discovered that conductors, baggage men, brakemen, and others were so reluctant to have anything to do with shoveling coal that railroad officials had "to take a hand in it."

Against a background of rumors that a morning Pullman would be wrecked somewhere between Richmond and Waterville, requiring the train to "run with great caution," the major railroad Brotherhoods, increasingly sensitive to the fact that their lives were "constantly in danger," took formal action to exert influence to bring about the end of the strike. The Brotherhoods of conductors, engineers, firemen, trainmen and telegraphers sent out a call to their respective memberships to address the strike situation. Each Brotherhood chose representatives to meet with the General Grievance Committee of the trackmen, and also to meet with General Manager, George Evans.

While all anxiously awaited the meeting between the representatives of the Brotherhoods and the railroad management, accidents of a more violent nature surfaced. Two different attempts made to wreck a midnight train near Bath proved unsuccessful. Although the Maine Central did not wish to express an opinion as to the perpetrators of the sabotage attempts, many were inclined to believe that strike sympathizers were to blame.

The labor officials cautioned the trackmen against any conduct that would negatively reflect upon themselves, their union, and their cause. They were acutely aware of the fact that they functioned in an ideological and legal environment in which it was often charged that labor unions ruptured the harmonious relationships which existed between employers and employees, disturbed the tranquillity of the community, jeopardized the capability of Maine industries to compete successfully in a nationally market, promoted violence and mob rule, and were led by professional agitators whose cause was either revolution or self-enrichment.

The anticipated meeting between the representatives of the various Brotherhoods and General Manager Evans took place on July 3rd. It resulted in the end of the strike, and the men returned to work on July 4th.

Labor and management officials did not disclose the nature of the settlement. General observers, however, learned that the men returned to work at the old wages, and that all strikers were to be taken back except those whose positions had been permanently filled. The question of wages, according to the local press, had not be "considered" by the company, but the men returned to work in the "hope that their pay may be increased later if the business of the road holds up ..." Some newspapers, using "reliable" information, reported that sixty percent of the strikers returned to work, others found work elsewhere, and a few were denied their old jobs (probably singled out) by the roadmasters.

Many trackmen denounced the settlement. A former track foreman charged that the General Grievance Committee "had sold the strikers to the management," and that the settlement was a "death blow" to the union. The Waterville Division, the first, and perhaps the strongest, division of the Brotherhood in Maine, unanimously voted to condemn the action of the General Grievance Committee, and debated whether "the order should be kept up." While believing in labor organization, it declared that "none were decided that it worked in their case to the extent that they would longer encourage the maintenance of the division."

When queried about the future of his labor union, a veteran track foreman stated:

We have had enough. The men who have gone back at the old wages will stay long enough to secure more profitable employment, and then probably will leave the service of the company. Those who remain with the company will profit by the experience we have had and will never strike again. The result of the strike has been a hard blow to the railroad orders as it has been to us as the near future will tell.

The extent of the effect of the strike on the International Brotherhood of Trackmen of America, and its divisions in Maine, was revealed by the first Census of labor unions taken by the Maine Bureau of Industrial and Labor Statistics in 1902. No Maine divisions of the Brotherhood appeared in the Census count. While it is inaccurate, it seems probable that it mirrored the reality of the defeat of the union in Maine.

On June 10th, the day the strike was inaugurated, the Daily Kennebec Journal featured a story on the rising surge of tourists who had discovered the majestic and therapeutic wonders of the state. The following captions revealed the blend of pleasure and profit associated with the tourist industry: A GREAT ARMY, Over 350,000 Visitors Annually Come Into State of Maine, A Great Factor in State's Prosperity and Brilliant Future, and The Nation's Play ground and Mecca for Vacationists from ALL Parts.

The new nomads, who were again preparing to trek to Shangri La, would do so on the rails maintained by the "expendable no-accounts" who returned to work on Independence Day!