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Pullman porter
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==Duties and wages== [[File:Parlor car-Oriental Limited circa 1910s.JPG|thumb|A porter is shown vacuuming the carpet in a [[Great Northern Railway (U.S.)|Great Northern Railway]] parlor car, circa 1910.]] [[File:Oriental Limited dining car.JPG|thumb|right|Porters serving in a dining car, circa 1927]] A porter was expected to greet passengers, carry baggage, make up the sleeping berths, serve food and drinks brought from the dining car, shine shoes, and keep the cars tidy. He needed to be available night and day to wait on the passengers. He was expected to always smile; thus the porters often called the job, ironically, "miles of smiles".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.paulwagnerfilms.com/miles-of-smiles-about-porters/ |title=Miles of Smiles β About Pullman Porters |website=Paul Wagner Films |access-date=2013-07-19 |archive-date=2014-03-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140327234403/http://www.paulwagnerfilms.com/miles-of-smiles-about-porters/ |url-status=live }}</ref> According to historian Greg LeRoy, "A Pullman Porter was really kind of a glorified hotel maid and bellhop in what Pullman called a hotel on wheels. The Pullman Company thought of the porters as a piece of equipment, just like another button on a panel{{Snd}}the same as a light switch or a fan switch."<ref name=autogenerated5>{{cite magazine| url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/five-things-know-about-pullman-porters-180959663/| title=Five Things to Know About Pullman Porters| first=Erin| last=Blakemore| date=June 20, 2016| magazine=[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]]| access-date=16 February 2023}}</ref> Porters worked 400 hours a month or 11,000 miles, sometimes as much as 20 hours at a stretch. They were expected to arrive at work several hours early to prepare their car, on their own time; they were charged whenever their passengers stole a towel or a water pitcher. On overnight trips, they were allocated only three to four hours of sleep{{Snd}}and that was deducted from their pay.<!-- Fake reference existed at end of paragraph preceding this comment β numbered 7. Probably wasn't reference 7 that exists now (2021-02-26). Please resolve if possible. --> A 1926 report by the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (which finally achieved recognition by the Pullman Company in 1937), using the results of a survey by the Labor Bureau, Inc., stated that the minimum monthly wage for a regular porter was $72.50, with the average being $78.11, and tips on average amounting to $58.15; however, porters had to pay for their own meals, lodging, uniforms, and shoe-shine supplies, amounting to an average of $33.82 a month.<ref>{{cite book| title=The Pullman Porter| year=1926| publisher=Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters| location=New York City| url=http://publications.newberry.org/pullman/archive/files/4c057c714cf8431860c75a02d4b1756b.pdf| access-date=14 March 2018| archive-date=14 March 2018| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180314104708/http://publications.newberry.org/pullman/archive/files/4c057c714cf8431860c75a02d4b1756b.pdf| url-status=dead}}</ref> Overtime pay of 60 cents per 100 miles was paid only for monthly service in excess of 11,000 miles, or about 400 hours of road service in a month. Maids received a minimum of $70 a month, with the same overtime provision, but they received fewer tips. By contrast, Pullman conductors, who already had a recognized union to bargain for them, earned a minimum $150 a month for 240 hours' work. The company offered a health, disability, and life insurance plan for $28 a year, and paid a pension of $18 a month to porters who reached age 70 and had at least 20 years of service. The BSCP booklet also reports that in 1925 the Pullman Company paid out over $10 million in dividends to stockholders from an aggregate net company income of more than $19 million. "It didn't pay a livable wage, but they made a living with the tips that they got, because the salary was nothing," says Lyn Hughes, founder of the A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum. The porters were expected to pay for their own meals and uniforms and the company required them to pay for the shoe polish used to shine passengers' shoes daily.<ref name=autogenerated2/> There was little job security, and the Pullman Company inspectors were known for suspending porters for trivial reasons.<ref name=autogenerated5 />
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