The Washington times., 1911-02-02
FIGHT OF CLERKS IN MAIL SERVICE


the total number of week days falling
within work period and a rest period
into the number Of hours the clerk IL
on duty while on the train or at the
terminal during his working period Tho
| basis for the average is the number OF
week days, which puts the work of all
| clerks who work every day, including
Sunday. and all who work during the
week days only on common basis.
Time to Study.
at has not been thought by officers
Of the department that as a general
standard an average of six and a half
hours a day on the basis of a six-day
week-giving credit for any work per-
formed on Sunday-could be considered
| excessive. This allows a clerk an av-
erage of one and half hours a week
day in which to study the schemes of
distribution, correct his records, and at
tend to reports and correspondence,
without exceeding the eight hours
which, in the general commercial world.
are regarded as fair days work.
There has really been no change in
the standard of hours of duty required
of the clerks. Five hours and a half
day for runs where the clerks have
half time off and run on Sundays has
been the standard for many years. In
order to make the method of figuring
the average hours of duty uniform for
clerks who run seven days a week and
those who did not run on Sunday, the
standard for the daily runs was fixed
at six and half hours, and six days
week was taken as a basis for figuring
instead of q hae Gtu
on lines where the work is continuous
In both directions. the average of hours
of duty has always been below the
standard and will continue to be.
Where hours have been increased It is
thought that no hardship resulted. On
the other hand. where cases were found
in which the hours were excessive, an
effort has been made TO provide relief.
There Is no doubt that efforts of the
department to bring about a proper
readjustment in these cases has re-
suited in considerable dissatisfaction
among the clerks. ! have endeavored
TO ascertain as near as possible the ex
act causes for this and to take steps
to remove them wherever practicable
without sacrificing the proper object in
view
Trying to Meet Complaint.
Appropriate steps have been taken to
remove all cause of complaint as far as
practicable; first. by giving the clerks
full credit for all the work done on the
road or at terminals, for time in putting
off the mails, the delivery of registered
matter, the going to the postoffice to
sign on and off duty, and the prepara-
ton in the car of trip reports where II
is impracticahle to prepare them en-
route; also to give due consideration to
the extra duty performed at Christmas
and other times of emergency. Fur
thermore, orders have been issued that
acting clerks shall be employed to I'LL
vacancies pending appointments or
transfer, and in lieu of clerks injured
on duty and clerks absent on leave in
all cases where the average hours of
work approximate what Is considered
fair for the line or run affected.
with reference to the claim that
the effect of the order to take up the
slack is lowering the efficiency of the
service. am of the opinion that the
efficiency of the service as a whole has
not been impaired, and that such dissat-
isfaction as exists will largely, If not
entirely, disappear when the clerks un-
derstand what is expected-that there
is no purpose whatever Of imposing a
hardship. upon them, and that Where
conditions exist which result in hard
ship they will be promptly removed by
the department. AS stated above. the
recent instructions given will, I believe,
remove cause for complaint.
Regarding the statement that d.
vision officials have used the order to
overwork the clerks, l will say that
have no information nor intimauon
whatever that such is the case, but Will
make proper inquiry as to the alleged
facts and take appropriate action with
reference thereto II found to exist.
Mail Goes Astray.
Representative Martin of South Da-
kota told of riding on a train especially
to determine the actual facts regarding
the handling of the mail by the clerks,
and then addressed the House as fol-
lows:
The States of the West are growing
very rapidly. The mail service is in
creasing constantly, and still it seems
practically impossible to get into the
minds of the administration of the
postal service in Washington anything
like an adequate apprehension of the
needs of that service. 1t is matter
of daily experience that important mail
is carried by, piled up at the end of the
division, starts back on the next train.
and some of 1t is worked out and some
of 1t brought back a second time. The