New-York tribune., 1922-08-07
What the Striking Shoprnan Says:
COMPANY Unions Organized to Give Man
agement Despotic Control Over Shops

"''uuAy ueAaSlh me progress Oh the
/ negotiations. Rules agreed to by such
conferences should be, consistent with
the principles set forth in Exhibit
| B' hereto attached"
X. X. Board Lays Down
l6 Principles as Guides
] The above mentioned Labor Board
! in it's decision also laid down sixteen
/ fundamental principles to guide the
negotiations as above stated. In these
sixteen principles were found three
thai. stood out very prominently. These
read in part as follows:
! Principle no. 4--The righ, of railway
/ employees to organize for lawful objects
shall not be denied, interfered with or
Principle No. 5--'The right OF such law
full organization to act toward lawful oh
| jects through representatives OF tts own
choice. whether employees OF particular
carrier or otherwise, shall be agreed to
| by manag eynent.
| Principle No 1.-THE majority of any
craft or class Of employees ahall have the
represent members of such craft or class
| Such organization shall have the right to
make an agreement which shall apply to
all employees IN such craft class. No
! such agreement shall infringe, however.
of the organization representing the ma
| jority to present grievances either Ia per
/ son or by representatives OF their own
I choice
In compliance with the decision of the
United States Railroad Labor Board on
| May "a, 1921, the officers of System
Federation 80 Of the Railway EN-
/ ployees' Department, all Of whom were
! employees Of the Pennsylvania Rail
road Company, met with the represen-
tatives Of the Pennsylvania Railroad
system and were confronted with the
ultimatum that they must accept the
company's form ballot, which had FOR
it's purpose the destruction Of the or
ganizations on that railroad by calling
| for individual representatives and not
representatives of the organization.
The officers Of the organization en-
deavored to have the railroad agree to
submit ballot to the workers in con-
formity with Principle 15 OF the Labor
Boards decision. Failing to get that
concession they endeavored to induce
the representatives Of the railroad to
agree to submit the controversy to
the Labor Board for Interpretation
| This also met with failure.
The officers of the organization were
informed by the spokesman for the
railroad that if they would agree to
go along with the company's PROPOSE
! tion they would be taken care of, or
In other words, if System Federation
No. 80 would agree to cease to function
as an organization concessions would
be made by the company to the officers
They suggested that if the officers OF
the A. Il. Of L. union really represented
the men they would be elected as indi-
viduals to represent them. This was
quite unsatisfactory, for the road in
sisted on handling disputes with their
! shopmen with five separate groups Of
their epresentatives--one for Altoona
and the others for the eastern, central,
northwestern and southwestern divi-
slons OF the line. This would have
broken up the entire system of fedora
I tion organization. Some of the union
! leaders would have been eligible as
representatives in one section, others
in another.
System Submits Ballot
To Conform to Ruling
| The officers OF System Federation No.
80 consequently felt that they had no
alternative but to submit ballot to
their affiliated membership in conform
/ lty with the decision Of the United
States Railroad Labor Board. The re-
suit of this ballot was that 37,2e7 men
voted to have System Federation No. 90
represent them in the negotiations for
new agreement, ten men voting for
ether organizations.
Regardless of the results Of this
ballot, the Pennsylvania Railroad Off
| cials refused to meet the officers OF the
| organizations on that railroad, al
! though they were employees Of the
! company, with the result that the CON
| troversy was submitted to the United
! States Railroad Labor Board Hearings
were held on July and 9, 1921. The
result of the organization ballot, in
cluding Che ballots and stubs, was
| submitted to the Labor Board for it's
/ information, and the board insisted
/ that the Pennsylvania Railroad Com
| pany do likewise, with the following
result:
| Mr.. E. T. Winter, assistant to George
L. Peck, vice-president in charge Of
4 personnel Of the Pennsylvania, repre-
senting the railroad in this case, fur
| nished the Labor Board the following
| hgures as the result of their company
| union ballot: Number of votes cast on
the entire system, 5,234; votes cast for
individual representatives., S,4e0; votes
cast for organizations, 1877; iniscellane-
Gus, 50; blank, 742; others, 1873. This
proved to the Labor Board that the
Pennsylvania secured only 10 per
cent vote in favor of their employees
representative plan. The board conse-
i 1NA'o.I AcHoSicA uSSiSIou NO. Z1S on
July 2s, 1921, directing the organiza-
tions on the Pennsylvania Railroad
and the company to have another cleo
tion, laying down specific rules to gov
ern said election.
In this decision the board declared
all negotiations held by the minority
committee to be null and void. Regard
less OF the above decision, the Pennsyl-
vania Railroad refused to comply with
the orders Of the board. and under date
Of September 26, 1921, the chief counsel
for the Pennsylvania Railroad informed
the Labor Board that they would not
treat with System Federation No. 90
as an organization. On July 2b, 1921
the Pennsylvania Railroad Company
discharged the officers Of the respective
organizations and In defiance of the
Labor Board placed piecework in eff.
4 feet on that system, and through the
minority machinery set up reduced
wages. establishing a scale ranginc
from 80 cents an hour for helpers anc
! apprentices to b1 cents an hour fo,
mechanics. The scale was again re.
duced this month.