A History of Organized Felony and Folly - The Clarence Darrow ...

A History of Organized Felony and Folly
"shall be required to do also such work as held or called for."
Under that rule many cases occurred on all the railways of
which the following is an illustration:
A machinist is called after his day is over to make light
repairs to a locomotive. He finishes the work in 30 minutes
or less. Another locomotive is at hand also needing some
slight attention. The second locomotive takes another half
hour of the man's time. In all he works 1 hour. Under Rule
7 he received pay for 10 hours.
Rules 4 and 5 covering shifts and hours prevented the
railroads from ha\ing more men on the job through the rush
hours than through the slack hours of the day, with obvious
consequences to the payrolls.
A certain railroad in 34 weeks called upon a car repairer
15 times to operate a small torch in emergency wrecking. He
rendered temporary service and the total time required of him
was well within 15 hours, but under the National Agreements
as to working conditions this workman made two
special pleas. He claimed that he ought to be paid for con-
tinuous service for the entire 34 weeks although he had rendered
intermittent service that amounted to less than 2 days
of v/orking time. The board granted the claim. He also requested
an increase of pay from 58 cents to 68 cents an hour.
Because he used an oxy-acetylene torch on an average of 1
hour in every 2 weeks, he insisted that he should receive the
sam.e pay given mechanics who operate welding and cutting
torches all the time. His claims, both of which were granted,
will be found in Docket No. 1194 of the Decisions of the
Railway Board of Adjustment No. 2.
The burdens on the railroads and hence on the public
were further increased by the creation of what came to be
known in ridicule as "McAdoo mechanics." Here is an illustration.
A New England railroad employed a 17-year-old boy
in the upholstery departm.ent of its shops. His duties had
consisted wholly of stripping the plush from the seats of
passenger coaches, beating out the dust, and turning it over
for replacement in the cars. The skilled upholsterers in that
shop had been annoyed over the condition of their glue heated
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