Evening star., 1921-04-05
WAR ON NATIONAL AGREEMENTS
DECLARED BY RAIL OFFICIALS S
Executives Insist Arrangements Are Wrong
IN Principle and Seek to Deal With
Their Own Employees Individuality,

handled such job. Furthermore. they
| say that three men. and not six, are
| required. since. as practical job
only the boilermaker, the machinist
| and the pipeman are employed and
there is no call for the helpers.
| Compares Task to Newspaper.
A labor leader with whom l was
discussing this particular charge
against the national agreem ITS
picked up newspaper, and pointing
to brief story, said:
1T would be just as reasonable to
say that because that is short story
] in newspaper one man ought to
| have done all the work of writing,
! editing and putting that story in type
or course. 1T requires three or four men
| to handle that story before it reaches
the public. including the reporter, the
copy editor and the typesetter"
! In their efforts to discredit the ma
tional agreements. the executives
I have cited scores of instances where
| labor waste and excess pay have oc-
| Cured. 1t is possible here to
give only a few of the illustra-
tion. Another bulletin issued by the
executives is headed. "Forty-two
Hours Pay for Nine Hours Work.
The case in question was reported by
the st. Louis-San Francisco Railway
Company A wrecking crew COM
terminal at am. and goes tfty
miles to clear up a wreck. The work
of clearing the main track Is COM
pleted at pm. The crew ties up for
rest and sleep from pm. until :
am. and resumes duty at Z am,
picks up refuse and arrives at home
, terminal at 2 pm.
Pay for Entire Time.
Under the national agreement, say
the executives it is necessary tN
pay the entire crew continuously for
the first twenty-four hours from the
time they leave their home terminal,
computed as follows: From am. to
4 pm. eight hours straight time !:
from pm to IL midnight. eight
hours time and a half, or twelve
hours; from IL midnight to s. am.
(sleeping), eight hours at double
time, or sixteen hours; from am. to
pm. six hours at straight time, a
total of forty-two hours for nine
hours actual work.
The railroad workers reply to this crit
icism by saying that the only new thing
in this arraignment. due to the national
agreements. is the payment of double
time for the third eight hours the men
are on the job. Under agreements with
many OF the roads prior to the national
agreements: the men would have re-
ceived time. and a half for the third
eight hours instead of double time. They
insist that the railroad executives are
trying to make the public believe. that
the national agreements are responsible
for many things today which really ex-
listed under the southeastern agreement
and agreements with roads in other Sec
tlons OF the country prior to the ma t;onai
agreements. They insist, too, that men
sent out on emergency. wreckfng work,
are entitled to pay while they are alb
sent from their homes.
The principle underlying the insist :
ence of the workers for extra pay
for overtime work is to penaiize the
roads for compelling the men to work
extra hours. The men say that they
do not want to work overtime that
like other human beings they prefer
to have an opportunity for rest and
recreation. But If the Many in
stances cited by the executives of pay
for many hours not actually used in
work are proved to be the case. it
would appear that the national agree
ments might well be amended in the
the roads and a reduction of freight
rates.
Drive at Hourly Dasis.
The railroad executivessare making
a drive. too, at the pract1ce of pay
ing the shopmen on an hourly basis
instead of for pieeework, as pro-
Wded in the national agreeme nts.
to the Railroad Labor Board to show
that the efficiency and output of the
car repairmen on the eastern lines
of the system decreased when the
men began to be paid by the hour
instead Of by piecework. Il. l. Kleine.
assistant>c chief Of motive power, sub
mitted exhibits to show that in less
than a month after the change in
method of payment had been made
the efficiency of the men fn terms
of output per hour decreased 11.6
per cent.
/ W. I. Langford OF the Union Pa
cific told the Labor Board that in
the boiler. shop at Omaha, Neb.. the
amount of time required to perform
the same work was increased 31.4
per cent by tbe adoption Of the hour
shop decreased 23.9 per cent. he said.
He stated that in other shops the
time requil ed for work also increased
very greatly and the output de-
creased.
willing to Have MoAinrxtions.
Some of the railroad workers are
willing to admit that there are rules
contained in the national agreements
these mem are just as firm as those
who stand by all the rules of the
agreements in their demand that
national agreements still continue.
The kernel in the nut, when all is
said and done, is that the railroad
executives, or some of them. realize
that if the shopmen deal with their
employers as a nation wide group of
employees they have a powerful lever.
and the men, on the other hand.
realize that il they are forced to
deal with their employers in smaller
groups they will not be as potent
| in their demands.
incidentally, it may be mentioned
that the railroad brotherhoods, the
organizations which cover the men
who actually operate the trains, are
| not included in any national agree
ments, other than the standardiza-
| tion Of wages which occurred during
| the war under the general order q
| of the Railroad Administration and
! it's supplements. and order No. of
| the Railroad Labor Board fixing
| wages last July. However, the
| brotherhood leaders see the advan-
tage of national agreements. and
| they believe that it would be a wise
| step if some arrangement could be
made. by the brotherhoods for ma
tional adjustments of their griev-
ances. and working conditions.
| "----.--
II