The men do not like to work overtime. When their day's work is done they
want to be able to go home and rest, and they declare that many of the
masters force the men to work after hours without reason.
The contracts for making and building in large enterprises are nearly
always what are called time contracts. This means that the contractor
agrees to have the work finished by a certain time, and if he fails to
keep his part of the bargain he has to pay a heavy forfeit for each day
that he is behind time.
When the time for a contract is nearly up, it is often necessary for
the men to work overtime to save the master his forfeit.
The men contend that the masters ought to be willing to pay extra for
such service. To save them money they are asking the men to toil for
them after their full day's work is done, and when they are so tired
that it requires an extra effort to do the work.
The leaders of the strike think that overtime is unnecessary if the work
is properly handled from the beginning, and they are anxious to make the
rate so high that masters will not ask it of their men, unless under
very unusual circumstances.
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