Norwich bulletin., 1920-02-11
Talk of Wa|kOut of
 Railway Workers

Agreement on Wage De-
 mands-Unions Are Press
 ing Hines.
 Washington, Feb. 1O-The railroad administration, nearing the end of it's control over the nations rail trans portation system, tonight faced critical situation with respect to the wage demands of more than 100000 employees. Conferences tomorrow be- tween Director General Hines and leaders of the workers unions, prob ably will determine the outcome of the situation.
 Officials of the unions submitted to the director general at today's meetings a new statement which served to open up all important questions, on which the two sides were at variance, and will require further discussion before a settle ment can be reached. MT. Hines in formed the union leaders he would reply tomorrow U their new state ment of claims.
 Meanwhile, W. G. Lee, president of the Brotherhood of Railroad Train rllen, was pressing Mr. Hines for an answer to the demands of his indi- vidual organization and insisting the trainmen were ready to strike unless satisfactory settlement were reach cd. Railroad administration officials also received informal notice, that they must contend with a strike call cd by the Brotherhood of Mainte- nance of Ways Employes and Shop Laborers.
 Further than admitting that he had given the railroad administration the I ,f tion to cancel the present wage con- tract on aFebruary 25. Mir. Lee de- l clined to discuss the plans of his or ganization. The strike vote taken l under his instructions was said to show a large majority of the train 1 men favorable to a strike.
 1 This last phase of the situation was giving railroad administration 1 officials concern because, should the l trainmen walk out, an almost com l plete tieuD of traffic could be the 1 only result. The thousands of engi- neers, firemen and conductors could not operate the trains, for III many 1 states they would be forbidden to ] work under full crew laws unless all trainmen required were on duty l it was explained. Union by'aws also prohibit other employees from taking out trains not manned by me regulation number of brakemen. Officials of the other three train- | opera ting unions were declared not te i be supporting MT. Lee aggressiysly l in his demands, although he was sait to have communicated with ecah o1 l them before notifying MT. Hines o1 1 his intention to cancel the wage agreement. The communication o1 l the trainmen's president was said tt | have been merely a request for : statement from the other unions a: to- their objections, if any, to ths 1 proposed action. The leaders ars
 understood to have replied they haC
 no objection but declined to commi
 themselves as to supporting the pro posed ILoEe.
 i The action of President Barker o 7, the Maintenance of Way Employe
 was declared again by railroad ad
 ministration officials to be in viola
 tion of his wage agreement. It wal
 said Mr. Marker had signed thu | agreement only last November ?;
 and that it had gone into effect oI
 December 16. A search of the files il
 Mir. Hines office was. declared t. have revealed no communication can
 ceiling the agreement with the gov
 ernment. MT. Barker and commit tee of ten are expected to reacl Washington tomorrow to attend tn
 conference of union leaders with MI
 Hines.
 Both union leaders and railroad
 administration officials careful,
 guarded the contents of the lates
 statement of claims and grievance
 made by the operating employees rep
 resentauves. It was declared to be
 summary of the views of the uniol
 leaders on Mir. Hines proposals bu whether it held out hope for com
 promise could not be ascertained 1 Union officials were not ready t,
 make a statement as to their mex step in event. MT. Hines refused t
 meet their demands It was sug. gested they might appeal again t, President Wilson, who has been in
 formed of the negotiations. Renort that the union had such a step unde consideration at this time. howevel were denied consistently by all. Tn qualification was made, however, tha
 events tomorrow would determine tn
 workers future policy.
 The union leaders brought up tn
 cost of living question again toda-
 after permitting that puzzle to Ii dormant since Friday For the, frs
 time it was said, many of the lead
 CTS urged their colleagues to take l firmer stand and demand "sonlAthin
 definite" on this from the govern
 ment. They were said to have insist , ed that the promise of the admins
 tration to reduce living costs had no been fulfilled and that this should b : used as additional pressure. in sup
 port of their claims