Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-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 S30O,OO0,O00
Lower Cost Of Service Can Be Secured
Only by Cutting Expense,
Atterbury Says.

Urging emergency action by the
United States Railroad Labor Board
to end gross waste and inefficiency"
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 fxed charges.
The emergency presented can be met
either by an advance in freight and
passenger rates, or by a 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 a reduction
In operating expenses, and not by
further advance Of rates.
The National Agreements, rules and
working conditions forced on the rail
roads as war measures cause gross
waste and inefficiency.
Would Save 100000, 900
estimate that the elimination Of
this waste would reduce railway op-
Grating expenses at least $500, 600 900.
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 60 up
they should also be the last to come
down, but we do 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 ot the regulatory
bodies and the employees, will az rap
i"'v as possible reduce the cost Of rail-
NV operation so as to insure eventual
Iy reduction In rates. Ultimately
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.
Losses in Income Irreparable
When wages have been too low the
harm done has been offset by retroac-
tive increases. Losses Of railway net
operating income are irrenarable You
cannot make retroactive tomorrow the
@0vings that should have been made
oday.
The board cannot possibly write the
Jules and working conditions of every
railroad in this country and adjust
them eqnitably to varying geograph-
zeal, operating and social conditions
II rests entirely with the board to
determine whether this whole situa-
ton shall drift i.to chaos, and or
derby procedure become impossible ex-
cept at the price Of railroad bank
ruptcy. financial shock and still wider
unemployment
The Labor Board can prevent this
catastrophe by declaring that tho Ma
tiona agreements. rules and working
conditions coming over from the war
period are terminated at once; that
the question of reasonable and eco
nomical rules and working conditions
shall be remanded to negotiations be-
tween each carrier and its own en-
ployees: and that as the basis for such
negotiations, the agreements, rules,
and working conditions in effect on
each railroad as of December, 81, 1917,
shall be re-establshed
If the board will do this, the Labor
Committee of the Association Of Rail-
way Executives will urge upon ev-
cry railroad company party to De-
cision No. 2, that no proposal for
| the reduction Of basic wages shall be
made within the next succeeding nine
| ty days. This will afford an oppor-
| tunity to gauge the economies which
can he accomplished through more
| efficient rules and working conditions
| 1t also will afford additional time
in which to realize the benefits Of a
| further decline in the cost Of living.
Relief Imperative and Equitable
The course which we are recon-
'nending Is not only imperative but
| ,Quitable.
| The War Labor BOARD declared that
| he war period was an interregnum to
re used neither by employer nor EN-.
ployee for the purpose Of lettering
or impairing the position Of either.
To perpetuate as the normal rules
and working conditions on the rail-
roads, the extraordinary provisions of
the war period Is distinct violation
/ Of all promises. The war has now
been over more than two years The
time has como whom, II the railways
are to be efficiently and economically
operated, In accordance with the pro.
visions Of the Transportation act, nor.