Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1921-05-18
Similar Settlement in
Case Of Skilled Toll
ers Would Mean Cut
Of Virtually Over
100000 Employees.

ated Press. The United States rail
road labor board late Tuesday an
nounced its intention Of revising down
ward the wages Of more than 1000, ,OO|
unskilled rail workers by next July
! The. amount Of the decrease was no
announced but will be made publi
on June I. At the same time th,
board announced that it would holt
hearings on June 6 regarding proposal.
by the roads to decrease the wages ol
other classes of employees and woult
also make it's decisions in these cases
effective on the same date. A similar
decision in the case of skilled workers
| would mean q cut in the pay of prac-
tically every railroad worker in the
country on July ] and would affect
approximately 2,OOO,OO men.
The announcement Tuesday. which
said that prevailing conditions justify
to some extent, yet to be determined,
a readjustment downward of wages -
was entirely unexpected and came only
a few hours after the close of the
since early in April Neither the
roads nor the representatives of the
unions had expected any announcement
for several weeks
Boost Crantsd July 20, 1920.
On July %, 1920, the board rendered
q decision increasing the pay Of all
classes Of railway employees approx
mdtely Il per cent. or about $780, 600, :
600 year. Several months ago ser-
eraI roads announced that they could
no longer operate ander this wage
award and announced reductions aver
aging about 20 per cent in the pay Of
nnskilled employees. The workers ap-
pealed to the board which decided
that the roads could not make sum
mary reductions but must first hold
conferences with the men aud then. if
no agreement could be reached, sub
NIT the case to the board for decision.
Practically every large road in the
country then held conferences with it's
unskilled employees regarding reductions
and when the employees refused to re-
cept cuts. carried the case to the board.
About 0S cases in all were TINS ap-
pealed and the board finally decided to
hear them as unit instead Of sep
arately.
n. c. [. Entsrias Wsdss.
In presenting their case the roads
nleaded that they were being forced
to pay more for labor than they could
employ it for in the open market: that
reduction in the cost Of living justified
a similar reduction in wages, that they
were being forced to operate in many
cases at loss, and that they wished
to reduce their rates for the benefit
Of the public but could not do 90 while
forced to pay wartime scale to labor
The employees in their reply charged
that the financial embarrassment Of
The roads was due to eross mismanage-
men.; that increased rentals had prac- |
tically nullified any decreases in other |
necessities and that the wages paid rail |
were still below those paid in |
,ther lines Of industry.
Wage Attitude Dubious.
Tuesdays announcement that the
BOARD felt that prevailing conditions
justified revision downward in wages
vas the first indication of its atti-
ude on the wage question. Railway
Tuesday night expressed them
'elves as being pleased at the boards
statement and expressed the opinion
hat the same conditions which it was
ound applied to unskilled labor would
e applied to skilled workers, which
rould mean wage reductions for ap-
2.000,0 900 employes-skill-
d and unskilled.
Representatives Of the employees re-
used to comment on the boards an
ouncement until they had time to
tudy it. Il