Norwich bulletin., 1922-08-08
NUMBER FOUR
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kConttuued from Page Ono) way executives on August 1. they took the position sQuareiy that the striking former employees cannot be given prefer enee to employees at present in the ser vice without doing violence to every principle of right and justice involved in this matter. and without the grossest bbreach of faith on the part of the raiI- roads to the men at present in their service" s-- -e
 ''F;resi6snt Harding in his proposi-. tion today said, therefore, only the qnes- tion of seniority covered in paragraph 8. which executives rejected remains in dispute s-s ."
 "He calls upon both werRmen and carriers, under the law, to take the ques- ton in dispute to the railroad labor board for hearing, and the compliance I by both with the decision rendered"
 Tt would seem clearly that this re- quest demands a complete surrender of | the position Of the railroad presidents l as stated last Tuesday".s
 Mir. Loree. who is president of the | Delaware and Hudson, was the only one Of the executives of Il roads attending l the informal session of the conference who would express an opinion on Pres ident Harding's proposal.
 The others, while they declined to | AAidF&S dUy i4lUAF ed that MT. Loree's, stand was not to I be considered unanimous among those 1 present at the conference. or .necess2r- fly criterion of the attitude of rail executives throughout the nation.
 The chairmen of the eastern presi- dents conference, they reca,ksd, cast the two minority votes at the meeting of the association of railway executives last Tuesday when President Hard nfo a4I the time Mir. Loree was said by mem bers of the association to have refused to subscribe to the reply sent to the president beca Ise 1t was not sufficient ly emphatic in refusing his "three-point piar' With the exception of Mr. I.oree, oni- cials of eastern roads voiced 6 belief that they, in their determination to maintain their pledges of seniority l rights to their present employees, had nothing to fear in submitting their case 1 to the railroad labor board.
 The board already has clearly stated in two instances, that the strikers have automatically abandoned their rights to seniority. the rail chiefs contended. They pointed to a resolution adopted by the labor board on July, 8, three days after the shop crafts walked out, which said in part:
 Whereas. the six organizations com ! prlsing the federated shop crafts have l notified the railroad labor board that a 1 very large majority of the. employees which they represent have left the ser vic eof the ca-riers. that the members ! of the said organizations are no longer employees Of railways under the jurls- diction of the railroad labor board or subject to the application of the trans portation act"
 It was in this resolution that the la- bor board urged the formation among employees remaining in the service. and the new employees succeeding those who left the service such organizations as | may be deemed necessary, sn the repre- sentstion of said employees before the la bor board in order that the effectiveness of the transportation act may De. main tained."
 l The labor board. for the second time. took a stand which. it would now be embarrassing for it to reverse, said To- cal transportation chiefs. when its
 chairman, Ben ". Hooper. issued the following statement. on July 8:
 Upon one question. the striking en- ployes should not be deceived. Their leader has said that the strikers are no longer employees of the railways, and they have thus automatically abandoned
 
 agreements and under the decisions of
 this board, including their seniority.
 This Is not the boards action. It is their own action.
 Many carriers are giving their for
 mer employees the opporrnniey to re- enter the service within limited time
 It must be understood now that men who remained in the service and those
 who are now entering 1t will have
 rights of seniority that this board could not ignore. No better advice could be given to the men who are. out than
 that they retdrn to the service imme- diately. They have misjudged the sit. u2tion that confronted them, but it +
 not too late to escape many of the evi results.'
 The limited time" to which Mfr Hooper referred in this statement, after which the railroads had announced they would cancel rhe seniority rights of enr
 ployes who remained on strike, expIret on July. 1T, according to the records 0. the association of railway executives. M Mir Loree's rropositiea to Presiden 4 Harding's plan for settlement of the sen
 iority issue was based on these two pub l llished declarations by the board sait j those who conferred with him today The conference chairman held that since the labor board had outlawed tn, . strikin gunions, "the matter of seniorft, X could not be taken before the board be J cause the strikers were no longer class ed as railway employees and, hence coui, not come before the federal body 10 settlement of their troubles or adjust : naA@t of their diEnutsz