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As a side note, buried in a 1979 issue of Railway Age was a '100 years ago' (let's see, do some quick math here - that would make it 1879!) blurb about the Rock Island in Iowa shifting from a monthly pay scale to a per mile wage. First class conductors would go from $70/month to 60 - 100 cents per mile. Thanks! Jeff Jeff Worones Seattle WA From: "qutlx1@aol.com" <qutlx1@aol.com> To: cbq@yahoogroups.com Sent: Thursday, March 28, 2013 7:10 PM Subject: [CBQ] The Great Burlington Strike of 1888 In an effort to get the group back on subject..................
I was reading the Kendall County Record tonight and in particular the"
Yesteryear" section in which there were a couple short clips from 1888
about two paper mills shutting down due to lack of coal and straw due to the RR
strike here in Kendall County, IL and elsewhere. It got me to wondering.
So I got out my copy of "The Great Burlington Strike of 1888" by Donald L.
McMurry who wrote the book as a study in labor relations in 1956 while at
Harvard.
If you're interested in understanding what it was like to work on the RR
before the real rise of the unions, the interstate commerce commission and the
hours of service law; this work and the counterpart (written from the union
perspective; Salmons,"The Burlington Strike" contain great insight into
working conditions, Q operations at the time and both labor and mgmt
philosophy.
As background at the time there were not uniform systems of payment on a
per mile basis but rather each road set a rate of pay for each run. The
Burlington men felt they were not being paid a comparable wage for similar work
as on other roads. It was not at all uncommon to be on the property for days at
a time and to sleep in the loco cab and caboose while in route. Pay was for the
run, no matter how long it took.
The strike was called against the Q by the engineers and fireman, then it
expanded to the switchman. The Q stood it's ground and prevailed with the help
of the Pinkertons. Certain union employees defaulted to the use of firearms and
dynamite. The Q defaulted to hiring men off other roads. It wasnt pretty.
Many men who stood with their lodges never got back to work.Or as new
employees.
Leo Phillipp
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