The Leader, enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1915-1921, 1921-03-02
EMPLOYEES TO TRY
AND AVERT STRIKE
Will Strike Only If All Attempts
to Agree Fail
JOINT COMMITTEE MET
Representatives of Is Crafts Con-
ferred Here Monday

Inc empoyes of the Atlanta, Biz
mingham and Atlantic Railroad win
use every possible means to get what
they consider fair treatment at the
hands of the operators before thew
Will employ the strike as a means of
enforcing their rights, but thew are
prepared to strike as a last resort if
that is the only means by which thew
can maintain their present position.
such is understood here to be the
sense OF the conference held all dav
Monday by the joint committee re-
presenting the thirteen Brotherhoods
affected by Judge Samual H. Siblev's
order authorizing Col. B. L. Bugg, re-
ceiver of the A. B. and A., to reduce
| wages.
| AT the close of the afternoon session
OF the joint committee, formal request
was dispatched to Col Bugg for a
conference between she general COM
mlttee and the Receiver of the road TO
be held in Atlanta at $50 O'Clock
tuesday afternoon. The committe
reconvened at 7:30 o'clock, $50 Cen
trai time for night session,
Meeting Called Feb, %
The meeting of the joint committee
today was called on FEBRUARY %, two
Gays before the receivership order was
issued by Judge Sibley at the instance
OF the Birmingham Trust and Savings
Company Its purpose at the time if
was called was to condense and
strengthen the case of the employees
against a wage reduction in antici-
patton OF a conference with the oner-
! ators. Such conference was sugpes-
ted by the Railway Labor Board in ifs
ruling FEBRUARY 21st when it disclaim-
cd jurisdiction over the wage contro-
versy in its present status
AT the opening of the morning ses-
sion, which was convened at 1O.3O
o'clock by Chairman w. M. Martin
OF the Brotherhood of Locomotive
Engineers, it was decided to continue
with the original purpose of the meet,
ing and Strengthening the case of the
employees IN order to be ready to pro,
tect their interests when the United
States Court which has assumed iuris.
diction called them to testify on a
wage reduction.
Arbitrary Cut Unexpected
The news that Judge Siblty had is
sued an order authorizing Receiver
b. l.. Bugg to arbitrarily reduce
wages, effective March LIST, Tuesday.
came as bombshell to the committee.
hey had expected the receiver to ask
for wage reduction but had not re-
motely considered the possibility that
the wage reduction would be ordered
without first taking evidence from
both sides.
Shortly after the opening of the
morning session, before Judge Sibley's
order came, a committee composed of
J. P.f Hogsed, of Atlanta, grand vice
chairman of the Brotherhood of
clerks and station employees, o. D..
German of Mauk, Ga, chairman of
the brotherhood of railroad telegraph
ers, and w. D. Cargile of Manchester,
chairman of the brotherhood of fire
men and enginemen, M H. Towns of
Fitzgerald, chairman of the black
smiths and ]. T. Bass of Atlanta,
chairman of the conductors, had been
authorized to issue a statement to the
press the sense of which follows;
Statement to Press
We are confident that the court
which has assumed jurisdiction over
the roads affairs will be fair and i'm
partial and will follow the established
presidents and are we'll satisfied to
have our case considered in Atlanta as
IN Chicago. Our case will be based
on facts, as before, and we belicv it
stand up in any court of law.
The grounds on which the oper-
ators of the A. B. and A. placed their
case before the Railway Labor Board
in Chicago did not make it necessary
gor us to defend the present wage
scales in order to have the operators
thrown out of court We are pre-.
pared to defend ourselves on our own
ground as we were to rebut the rail-
road before.
The order of the court, however,
completely changed the complexion of
the meeting. A recess was taken
shortly after the news of the court or
der had been given the committee by
a newspaper reporter at 12:45 and the
representatives of the thirteen broth
erhoods wired their national execu
tives.
Strike as Last Resort
When the committee reassembled at
z: o'clock it Immediately began con-
sideration of ways and means to meet
the wage reduction order. 1t was
unanimously voted to exhaust every
possible road to strike. The men do
not want to strike, according to un-
official statements of members of the
| committee. Most of the members of
the committee have been through a
strike at some period in their careers