"Class struggles" on the railways began in
earnest.
The new situation was brought home to the brotherhoods in the course of
several wage arbitration cases in which they figured.[62] The outcome
taught them that the public will give them only limited support in their
efforts to maintain their real income at the old high level compared
with other classes of workers.
A most important case arose from a "concerted movement" in 1912[63] of
the engineers and firemen on the 52 Eastern roads for higher wages. Two
separate arbitration boards were appointed. The engineers' board
consisted of seven members, one each for the interests involved and five
representing the public. The award was unsatisfactory to the engineers,
first, because of the meager raise in wages and, second, because it
contained a strong plea to Congress and the country to have all wages of
all railway employes fixed by a government commission, which implied a
restriction of the right to strike. The award in the firemen's case,
which was decided practically simultaneously with the engineers', failed
to satisfy either side.
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