Great Falls tribune., 1921-10-27

ductors: w. s. Carter. of the firemen.
and T. C. Cashen, of the switchmen.
declared in turn they had no power to
cancel the strike order. expressed the.
individual opinion that their men would
not obey an order from them or the
board to remain at work. and reiterated
| their previous declarations that only
a satisfactory settlement could avert
the walkout
Such an attempt they said. would be
reconsideration BY the labor board of
! its II per cent wage reduction order of
i last July l or q movement by the indi-
vidual railroads to confer with the
unions and set aside the boards order.
| ". S. Carter declared settlement
should also reimburse the men for the
pay lost since July / as result of
the wage cut.
! May Issue iaIunotioa
I, That the government eontemplates
/ injunction proceedings against the
! unions for violation Of the transporta-
! ton act was Indicated by the trend of
questioning. conducted by Ben w.
| Hooper. representative of the public on
the board.
| Hooper sought throughout his exam
ination of the five union leaders TO
bring out that their strike order was
not only in defiance of the July wage
cut decision. but by including other and
unsettled questions. violated that part
of the transportation act which says
all disputes shall be referred to the
board first for settlement.
Lee, of the trainmen, said his organ
ization's ballot was based solely on the
July wage cut and declared he had
withdrawn from the brotherhoods joint
meeting and refused to subscribe to
their ballot. The language of the joint
ballot, he said, implied other questions
were involved.
The other leaders defended the joint
ballot and asserted that the other ques-
tons referred to all had a bearing on
the frame Of mind which led the e.
ployes to vote for strike.
The question of time and one half
fer overtime and of general revision
of schedules were included in the dis
cussion preceding the strike question
proper on both the joint ballet and that
Of the trainmen While all the union
chiefs maintained that the strike Ques
ton was technically taken ON the July
wage cut, all admitted that the other
questions would probably figure in any
settlement leading to calling off the
strike. N
Stone Objects
Questioning Of the union leaders
brought out that vote against the
strike had been returned on % roads
by the conductors on IA roads by the
trainmen, and on three 'roads by the
firemen. Cashen said the switchmen
on every system voted in favor Of
striking. Stone, after a heated pro-
test against furnishing the Information
to his enemies agreed to obtain it
from his office in Cleveland.
The hearing was marked by frequent
clashes between members of the board
and Stone. The engineers grand chief
ing the unions fair hearing. after he
had attempted to introduce the names
Of seven roads which, he said. violated
orders Of the board. The chair ruled
against the evidence.
1T is not our purpose to Sit herO
and listen to discussions going back into
the history of other decisions, or the
merits Of decisions that we have rem
dered,". the chairman said. If you
want to be heard on that, you may be
heard at another time and place" IN
Il want to call your attention to the
fact that Mr.. Hooper just finished ask
ing that identical question OF Mr.. Shep-
pard, and Mr.. Sheppard replied to it"
Stone retorted.
violations Of schedules by these diff
ferent roads has been going on for
months and that has led up to the frame
Of mind that you find these men whom
represent in.
III we cannot find redress in this
board then ] want to know where the
$1,000 engineers can find relief. IL
We. are to be prohibited explaining the
feeling Of our fncn. then. / do not see
(Cs1biassa eA Psse Thrss.)