Connecticut western news., 1921-03-03
LABOR RULES COST
 ROADS MILLIONS
Public Directly Interested h Effort to Stop CraIn on
 Carriers income.
BIG SUMS FOR WORK NOT DONE
Railways Asklns Labor Board e@ Abroasts WastetuI Agreements
 Made Under Federal Control

-"rhe entire country, it's consumerI. Its farmers. it's workmen, and ev." the railway employees themselves, uts dI- krectly interested with the, railroads Am cutting down railway operating ex- penses.-
 <. This is the keynote of the care pr@- scented by the railroads to the United States Railroad Labor Board, now lm session in Chicago.
 The railroads have submitted evA- dence to the board to show why the National Agreements directing railway shop labor should be abrogated, be- lieving that thls Is . vitally lmpos&awa step ln the process ef reducing cp- eratinu sxpsoses
 This step is not only necessary t@ insure adequate earning power to th@ railroads, but will make possible am ultimate reduction in rates The agreements were made by the Railroad Administration just before the end of Federal control. The SUM total of the rules and working condh- tions provided by the National Agrc@- ments have increased the operutsn@ expenses of the railroads by hundreds of millions, and have decreased the efficiency and output of the employees in other ways resulting in losses which cannot be. calculated in dollars md cents.
 For several weeks the railroads have been multiplying instances of the absurd and extravagant results of tha labor rules fastened upon them by the National Agreements
 Tn one case cited before the board a machinist was paid 16h hours wages 1 for work all performed within elghR hours. This case illustrated the efrece of the rule that for each "call" th@ worker is ts be paid i've hours wsxes even If he works only ten minutes The case of a car repairer on the virginian Railway, who wss recently paid over 1000 for services which | were never rendered, and in addition 1 the same amount of overtime as was made by his gang. was another exam plA.
 l Tn connection with the rule that none but mechanics or apprentices shall do mechanics work, the follow Ing was cited to indicate it's unfair -l7ess: rrve Hours Pay for 30 Minutes we~k
 '"The Fl Paso & Southwestern RaIi- road recently had an engine set out at 1, Douglas, and about the time It was ready to go to its train 1t developed that a window light was broken in the cab. It was necessary for the foreman to call carpenter to do the work that he could have performed himself in a few minutes. The train was delayed one hour and 30 minutes, and the em- ployee called to do the work was paid five hours for work requiring 30 min utes"
 The inefficiency created In infiexible application of the rules contained in the agreements in question was Illus trated in the following actual case which recently occurred on the Balti- more & Ohio Railroad: a#
 "An engine was placed in the
 shops for certain repairs. Because
 of the provisions of the National
 Agreement, it was necessary that
 members of five crafts perform
 parts of this work: formerly, the
 entire operation was performed by !
 S6,5oo, 900 for Work Not Performed
 How the railroads of the country were compelled to pay almost s6,500.- 900 in the first six months of 1920 for [ service not rendered because of the effects of but one of the 1S2 rules in- cuded in the Shop Crafts National Agreement was shown in the .testi- mony.
 This punitive payment for work new or performed was required hy % clause in tlse National Agreement. Hlich pro- vides that when employees are re- quired to check in and out on their own time they will be paid one hour extra at the close of each week
 The rigid classifcations of labor, when taken in connection with the rule that requires that a man must have four years experience before be- ing employed to perform any of the work listed in them, result in paying rates applicable to men who are sup posed to be fully qualified for work which does not require men of four years experience.
 To illustrate how the lnnexibillties of many of the rules now enforced op- crate to mulct the railroads of large sums for services which in the ab- sence of these rules could be obtained for relatively moderate sums, evidence was laid before the Labor Board show ing that three men who were em- ployed at a small pumping station In Michigan, performing unskilled work, would, when classified under the rules, receive an excess of pay amounting to more than the value of all the wa fer pumped and current generated at this station.
 The Chicago testimony contains lit- orally hundreds of instances such as these, all supporting the contention of the railroads that the labor rules un- der which they have been forced to