The Connecticut labor news., 1922-06-23
Informal C any a S S Shows Shop Crafts HereabOuts Ov ver- whelmingly for Re- sistance of Wage Cuts Sop on Farm ing Out Work Not Taken Seriously.

of the shop crafts on the New Haven Road as to whether they desire a strike or not to resist wage cuts and change in working rules, will be held by the System Federation Board in New Haven on Tuesday next and the result immediately forwarded to the general officers at Chicago to be added to the rest of the country. The vote is now fully completed and prac- tically canvassed and despite reports being spread in the daily press and this week by President Pearson, is overwhelmingly for strine on July if the wage cuts go into effect,
 A sop to head off the strike was offered by the Railroad Labor Board yesterday when it announced that it would open hearings on Monday next on the workers protest against the farming out of railroad repair work to outside or dummy firms. This is one of the big contentious of the unions but had been repeatedly ig- nored untl thie wage cuts and changes in working rules so incensed the men that a strike threatens. It is not be- heved here that this eleventh hour move by the Labor Board will have any effect on the general result of the ballot, as 1t IS pract4 cally now all cast the country over.
 Stories have been sent out from Chilago during the week that the brotherhood chiefs are disappointed with the result of the vote. These are evidently to discourage the work CTS and incite the public into the be- lief that it is the leaders that desire the strike and not the workers. The brotherhood chiefs cannot be disap- pointed as yet because the date on which the return of the vote was asked is June 25, Sunday, and there fore hardly any of the railroad divis ions have as yet made report to Chi cago. One small shop near Chicago, where the few boilermakers employ ed voted against strike is taken as basis for the reports. All the other crafts in the shop, however, were overwhelming for the strike, accord ing to information received by local union chiefs.
 General Manager Bardo, according to statements attributed to him, IS not taking the situation seriously as yet, and nowhere as near as danger ous as the situation last fall when strike threatened. Until the result of the strike ballot is made known, said MT. Bardo, he sees no need of any action.
 The state chamber of commerce and the manufactures association do not apparently agree with MT. Bardo, or at least propaganda being spread by them does not agree. In publish ed statemnets this week the directors of the state chamber inform the pub lie they are getting ready for strike
 %I,~A L.. hours after a strike is called freight a big order. The manufacturers associations last fall made copious maps and plans for busting the strike and these will again be brought into play and the manufacturers associa- tions will have complete charge of the transportation problem; Governor Lakes anti-strike organization will also be on hand, the chamber states.
 President Pearson in an open letter to the employees this week pointed out to the empolyes that while there were I7,ooo that "are talknig strike" there are about four million people in this section that would be opposed to them and therefore he warns them of the danger of doing anything so rash as declaring for strike At the same time Ben Hooper, chairman of the Labor Board, issued a general warning to the railroad workers in which hte declared a strike will prove disastrous to the unions and then takes a slam at them for their temer- ity in not quietly accepting the wage boards slashes. Coming as it did an other decision by the Labor Board cutting off from the clerks and sta toin empolyes of the country about SI35ooo, 900 in wages it didn't fit very we'll. A dissenting opinion by the la bor group on the board was overruled as usual
 Clerks, signal men and statoinary fremen are cut from two to six cents an hour. Clerks were cut three and four cents an hour, according to