Albuquerque morning journal., 1920-02-11
MAINTENANCE Of
WAY WORKERS To
!. GET SUPPORT #
! STRIKE OCCURS
Failure to Reach Agreement
at Washington Conference
May Result in Paralysis
OF All Traffic Lines.
BARKER IS DEFIANT:
SAYS LAW NOT VALID
we Shall Disregard Any
Power That Tells us We're
Net Free to Strike" He
Says in Statement.

lay moHhihe JOURNAL SPECIAL LEASED wIsel
Detroit, Mich. Feb. 10.-Failure
OF the railroad unions and Director
General Hines to reach an agree
ment at the Washington confer
ence may result in a general walk
out OF railway workers, according
TO Allen f. Barker, president of
the Brotherhood of Maintenance
OF Way Employees and Railway
Shop Laborers, who yesterday call
cd strike of his union for Feb
ruary II.
A message received at headquar-
ters here late today, Mr. Barker
stated tonight, indicated that heads
of thirteen railroad mems organ
1zations now in Washington would
stand pat and act as a unit" in
pressing their wage demands.
1t is my belief" he said, that
even should officers of other unions
not call strikes. many thousands of
railroad men in other departments
will join hands with the mainten-
ance of way and shop laborers."
He reiterated his statement that
be used in fighting any possible
court action to prevent the strike.
His comment on word from Kansas
that officials there planned to in
woke the new industrial court act
was:
They will need lot of jails. I
believe the law is unconstitutional.
We shall disregard any power that
tells us we are not free to strike
Meanwhile plans were going
ahead for putting the strike into
effect. In sending out the call it
was found the union numbers 3S7,-
600 members and all but $4,000
employed on Canadian roads it was
said, are affected. Numerous mes
sages were received at headquar-
ters during the day, officers stated,
asking whether protection would
be afforded by the union to non
organized crafts which wished to
join the walk-out. The reply to
these queries was not made public.
Cleveland, o., Feb. 10.-The
agreement abrogated by President
w. G. Lee of the Brotherhood of
Railroad Trainmen, was known as
"Order No. 13" and was entered
into by the railroad administration
and the four railroad brotherhoods.
One paragraph of the agreement
provided that it should remain in
force during the war and thereafter
unless majority of the regional
directors of the railroads or a ma
jority of the brotherhoods officers
should desire to terminate it in
which case thirty days notice of
cancellation would be required.
1t is understood here that the
presidents of the other three
brotherhoods refused to join with
Mr.. Lee in abrogating the order.
Washington, Feb. 10.-The rail-
road administration nearing the |
end of its control over the nations
rail transportation systems tonight
faced critical situation with re-
spect to the wage demands of more
than 100000 employees. Confer
ences tomorrow between Director |
General Hines and leaders of the |
workers unions probably will de-
termine the outcome of the situa-
ton.
Officials of the unions submitted |
to the director general at today's |
meetings a new statement which |
served to open up all important |
questions. Mr.. Hines informed them |
he would reply tomorrow.
Meanwhile w. G. Lee. president |
of the Brotherhood of Railroad |
Trainmen, was pressing Mr.. Hines |
for an answer to the demands of |
his organization, insisting the |
trainmen were ready to strike un-
less a satisfactory settlement was |
reached.
Railroad administration officials
also received informal notices that |
they must contend with a strike |
called by the brotherhood of Main
tenance of Way Employees and Shop
laborers.
Further than admitting that he
had given the railroad administra-