The Ten-Hour Day That Split Seattle’s Streetcar Men

There is a good deal of discussion among street car employes relative to the bill passed by the last legislature making it a misdemeanor for street car companies to require their men to work more than ten hours a day, and some of the employes of the Consolidated lines have sent a petition to General Manager Clark asking him to make no change in the present schedule of working hours.

The street car companies say that the bill is a nonsensical one, for the men are paid by the hour, and that if they prefer a short run instead of a long one it has always been accorded them. The managers say that the day run is generally from twelve to fourteen hours long, and the night run much shorter. The men who have been on the road the longest have always been given the choice of positions, and they have invariably taken the longest run, because it was day work and would net the greater pay, while the new men have taken the night run on shorter hours and smaller pay.

The bill, which is the subject of the discussion, reads as follows:

“Section 1. No person, agent, officer, manager or superintendent or receiver of any corporation, or owner of street cars, shall require his or its gripmen, motormen, drivers or conductors to work more than ten hours in any twenty-four hours.

“Sec. 2. Any person, agent, officer, manager, superintendent or receiver of any corporation, or owner of street car or cars, violating any of the provisions of section 1 of this act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined in any sum not less than $5 nor more than $100 for each day in which such gripman, motorman, driver or conductor in the employ of such person, agent, officer, manager, superintendent or receiver of corporation or owner is required to work more than ten hours in each twenty-four hours as provided in section 1 of this act. And it is hereby made the duty of the prosecuting attorney of each county of this state to institute the necessary proceedings to enforce the provisions of this act.”

The bill was introduced by Representative McDonnell, of Seattle, at the request of the street car employes of this city on February 12, and was favorably reported by the committee on labor and labor statistics. In the senate, on motion of Senator Frink, of Seattle, the bill was taken up out of its regular order on the calendar and passed through the senate without opposition, and subsequently approved by the governor. There being no emergency clause to this bill, it will not go into effect until ninety days after the date of its approval by the governor, which will bring it to about the middle of June.

The president of the Street Car Union, H. O. Wright, was active in the preparation of this and other bills relative to street car work, and was in constant communication with the legislators endeavoring to secure their passage. Mr. Wright is a deputy at present in the office of County Clerk Jordan, and has been for years connected with street car work in this city, previous to his entering the county clerk’s office. The bill will work no hardship on any street car company, nor upon its employes. These employes are always paid hourly, but it is claimed that some managers of street car companies have been devoid of mercy toward their men by requiring long, unnecessary hours, preventing them from getting the rest so essential to a proper condition to protect the lives of patrons of the various roads.

Some of the employes are opposed to the new law, and to the shortening of their hours, and say that the bill was gotten up in the East, where the men were being paid by the day, and was therefore beneficial; that copies were scattered about over the country with the recommendation that all unions secure its passage in the legislatures of the several States of the Union. In Oregon, where the men are paid by the hour, the union sent a delegation from Portland to Salem and the bill was by its efforts defeated.

Inasmuch as the bill simply says that the roads shall not “require” men to work more than ten hours, it seems to be the opinion that the men can work longer if they choose, and that the companies can go along in the old way without changing the hours, and still not be amenable to the new law.