The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1921-10-28
THREATENED RAIL
STRIKE DECLARED
OFF BY THE UNIONS
-Walkout Order for October 80
Rescinded in Resolutions
VOTE TAKEN UNANIMOUS
Brotherhood Leader Declares
Public Was Misled by Propa-
ganda of Road Executives

Cleveland, Oct. 2S.-Secret cod,
messages to general chairmen b,
, which they are directed to notify 10
cal chairman that the proposed rail
road strike had been called off were
sent from the general Offices here OF
the brotherhoods Of trainmen, engi
, neers and liremen
Chicago, Oct. 2S.-"I shall get down
on my knees and thank God that the
catastrophe has been averted.' said
w G. Lee, president of the Brother
hood Of Railway Trainmen last night
when discussing the strike settle
ment.
President Lee said that he had On
his desk thousands Of letters from
the wives and children Of railroad EN-
ployes asking him to do everything
possible to prevent a strike.
| Chicago, Oct. 2S.-(By the Associat-
ed Press )-The rail strike scheduled
for Oct. 80 was averted last night
when leaders of the switchmen, train
lmen, conductors, engineers and fire.
men at joint meeting adopted reso-
lutions withdrawing authorization Of
a walkout and officials OF the railroad
itelegraphers organization announced
they would take similar action These
were the only unions which had au
lthorized strike.
The vote calling off the strike was
unanimous by organizations. w G..
/ Lee. president of the Brotherhood of
Railroad Trainmen. announced. The
official wording Of the resolution
adopted was that the strike be de.
clared not effective
The vote in the individual unions
was unusually close, however, the fire
men particularly holding lengthy ar.
lgmneats before agreeing to cancella-
3tion OF the strike order, the labor
chieitains said. In some OF the
groups the ballot was described as
"the closest in history on similar
question" All of the differences were
lironed out by the different unions,
however and the final showdown
found all of them casting their ballots
for mo strike"
| l.. L. Sheppard, president of the
Order of Railway Conductors. said
that the unions had decided to call
off the strike because OF the growing
public opinion that the strike would
be against the labor board, and conse-
quently the government, and not
against the railroads.
1T was evident also that the entire
Washington administration was op-
posed to us and that we have had lit.
tie chance of gaining our objective"
said Mr. Sheppard.
I'VE called this strike TO gain GER
tain rights to which our men were en-
titled Mr. Sheppard told The Associ.
ated Press
1T soon became evident, however,
that the roads We're succeeding I'M
their misleading propaganda to the
effect that we really would be strik-
ing against the government
This railroad propaganda found
its way to the United States Railroad
Labor Board. This governmental
agency told US that II would look on
strike as against it and the govern
ment and not against the roads, and
that the full force of the government
would be brought to bear against us
il we walked out Under such cir
cumstances there was nothing to DO
hut annul our orders for the October
80 walkout.'
Union leaders said that the resolu-
ton adopted by the labor board an
nouneing that no further wage reduc-
tion petition for any group OF EN-
ployes would be considered until the
rules and working conditions for that
group had been settled was decided |
ly instrumental" in bringing about
the action calling off the walkout.
They declared that they believed un-
der this resolution, it would be
months before their pay again would
be reduced
Members OF the labor board said |
that the action OF the labor leaders
meant that the board S decision ON
Yesterdays conference between the
board, the unions and the railroads, to |
determine if the transportation act
had been violated in the strike ac-
tiyities would be decidedly mild
The board which informed the unions
that this decision would handle them
with ungloved hands ii they did not
call off the strike by morning, would |
take the attitude now that the dis
pute had been settled and that con
sequently the matter again was out
of its hands. members said
The decision, one member SAID
probably would be a recital of the
events leading up to the conference
and then a mere statement that the
board sees nothing further to DO.
members said.
In discussing the resolution annui-
ing the strike orders, the union presl-
dents declared that its outstanding
feature was that it was based on tAe
statements made to the unions by
Ben Hooper of the board, that wags,
reductions would not be considered
by the board for any employees untll
the rules and working conditions for
those employees had been settled
WEATHER FORECAST