News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1921-02-16
LABOR RULES
BURDEN COSTS
OF R. R. Service
U. S. Railroad Labor Board
Asked to Stop Payments for
Work Not Done.
WOULD SAVE S3OO,oOO,OoO
Lower Cost Of Service Can Be Secured
Only by Cutting Expense,
Atterbury Says.

| OISHlS cIlCl Stll'g dNllOb Ny ihe
United States Railroad Labor Board
to end "gross waste and inefliciency
prevailing under present working rules
and conditions, General w. w. After
bury, vice president of the Pennsyl-
| vania railroad, in a statement to the
board in session at Chicago said in
| part:
Many railroads are not now earning,
| and with present operating costs and
traffic have no prospect of earning,
even their bare operating expenses,
leaving them without any net return
and unable to meet their fixed charges.
The emergency presented can be met
either by an advance in freight and
passenger rates, or by reduction >in
operating expenses.
With declining prices and wages in
industry and agriculture, the country
demands that the solvency of the rail-
roads must be assured by reduction
in operating expenses, and not by a
further advance of rates.
The National Agreements, rules and
working conditions forced on the rail
roads as war measures cause gross
! waste and inefiiciency.
Would Save $3oooOo,ooo
I estimate that the elimination Of
this waste would reduce railway OPP
Grating expenses at least $300,00000
1t would be far better to save this sum
by restoring conditions of efficient and
economical operation than to reduce
wages.
We believe that as the wages Of rail
road employees were the last to go up
they should also be the last to come
down, but we 10 insist that for an am
pie wage an honest days work shall
be given. The public has the right to
insist that this must be obtained.
The public has also the right to ex-
pect that the railway executives with
the cooperation of the regulatory
bodies and the employees, will as rap
idly as possible reduce the cost of rail-
way operation so as to insure eventual
Iy reduction in rates. Ultimately a
REIMBURSEMENT of basic wages will be
required. Meantime it is to the inter.
ests of all concerned, including labor, |
that the rules and working conditions
shall be made conducive to the highest |
efficiency in output per man, l
Losses in Income lrroparabIe
When wages have been too low the |
harm done has been offset by retroac-
;,,x, e
operating income are irreparable. You
cannot make retroactive tomorrow the |
savings that Should have been made !
today.
The board cannot possibly write the |
rules and working conditions Of every |
railroad in this country and adjust
them cquitably to varying geogIHph-
ical, operating and social conditions.
1t rests entirely with the board to
determine whether this whole situas
ton shall drift into chaos, and or
derby procedure become impossible ex-
cept at the price of railroad bank
ruptcy, financial shock and still wider
The Labor Board can prevent this
by declaring that the Ma
ionaI agreements, rules and working
conditions coming over from the war
)eriod are terminated at once; that
he question of reasonable and eco
lOmical rules and working conditions
hall be remanded to negotiations be-
ween each carrier and it's own en-
DloyeeS; and that as the basis for such
egotiatiOns, the agreements, rules,
nd working conditions in effect on
ach railroad as of December 81, 1917,
hall he re-established.
If the board will do this, the Labor
Committee of the Association of Rail-
7ay Executives will urge upOn ev-
ry railroad company a party to De-
ision No. 2, that no proposal for
he reduction of basic wages shall be
lade within the next succeeding nine
' days. This win afford an Oppor-
unity to gauge the economies which
an be accomplished through more
1icient rules and working conditions.
1t also will afford additional time
which to realize the benefits Of
lrther decline in the cost Of living.
Relief Imperative and Equitable
The course which we are recon-
ending is not only imperative but
Iutable. A.,
The War Labor Board declared that
e war period was an interregnum. to
, used neither by employer nor en-
oyee for the purpose of lettering
impairing the position of either.
To perpetuate as the normal rules
ID working conditions on the rail-
ads, the extraordinary provisions OF 1
e war period is Il distinct violation Il
all promises. The war has now n
en- over more than two years. The S
ne has come when, If the railways n
e to be efficiently and economically b
Grated, In accordance with the pro- v
'ions Of the Transportation act, nor a
II conditions Of employment and or D
'rkino conditions must be restored II
d increased efficiency Of labor be a