Correspondence re grievances, 1919-1932

Inclusive date range: 1890-1962

Bulk dates: 1921-1948



The collection contains records from the Nickel Plate Road. The bulk of the records are grievance reports filed by the employees' unions, and then the resulting correspondence between company managers, superintendents, union representatives, and the employees. Extensive internal communication between various divisions of the Nickel Plate is also documented. The correspondence also contains documentation of the various rules and regulations that are were agreed upon between the management and unions in their contracts. Other agreements include those between various railroad unions and both the Pere Marquette Railway Company and the Lake Erie and Western Railroad, both of which were controlled by the then owners of the Nickel Plate Road. Of particular interest is the twenty-six year grievance process regarding the types of seating present in the train engines, and which class of employee had rights to which particular seat; these records include hand-drawn renderings of the types of seats thought to be appropriate by various interested parties.