Evening star., 1922-02-09
FurIoughed Without Pay as
Result of Presidents Order
to All Plants.
CALL NOTICE TOO SHORT;
APPEAL TO ROOSEVELT
Union Heads Seek to Get More
Work Here and Rap Outside
Contracts,

4
| were furloughed from the Washing
| ton navy yard today because Of the
| order from President Harding stop
ping work on ships which are to
| be scrapped. according to Robert e.
Janson. president of Lodge 174 of
| the International Association Of Ma
| chinists. These men are retained on
the rolls, but are furloughed until
| further orders without pay, pending
reorganization of the navy yard.
The situation, as viewed by off,
cials of the lodge. is a serious one
for those who have been employed
! in the navy yard. With practically
! no warning they have been thrown
out of work without having had time
to adjust themselves to the new con-
ditions.
Officials of the lodge state that,
| while the action OF the government
had been anticipated. the government
had promised that ample warning
would be given SO that the men woul!
| have opportunity to find other EN-
ployment.
Average $3.50 Per Day.
| These men earn on an average
| $3.50 a day. said Mr.. Janson, "and
the loss in earning power of the 1850
men is something over $1,000 per das,
! They are all skilled machinists. and
the situation, taking into account the
business depression, is serious.
We have hoped. ever since we
| knew that this was coming. that the
government would make the reduc-
ton little more gradually. The ef-
| feet Of suddenly throwing 1900 pSh
out of work in a city the size OF
Washington. which haspfactically No
industrial interests. can easily be
"This.~f6dge. which is composeu
continue its efforts to convince tn
public that the Washington nav:
yard plant is able to take care Of an.
job in the metal industry. and tina
all work of this kind should be DOR
there and not sent to outside firms. ~
| Officials of the lodge have been t.:
conference throughout the day. The.
feel that the navy yard workers haN'
not been given enough warning of tn.
i lee4uettoHs sn 1gt4o eN6bls fNem =
dnd other Jobs. They also i tho
with such q completely equippei
ment work should be sent there. whic,
would tend to keep the largest mum
ber Of men employed.
Commandant ConArns Report.
The commandant Of the navy yard.
| when interviewed today by a Star
| reporter, confirmed the statement that
more than 1900 men had been fur
loughed. He said that as yet the num-
ber was only approximate. but that Ii
would go over the 1900 mark.
Asked il any further reductions
! were contemplated. he replied that
present time.
| Usually when individuals or groups
are being discharged they are notified
the night before that they need not
| was not done in the present case.
| These 1850 men are not separated
from the service, but are furloughed
| without pay. 1t is pointed out that
this procedure gets around the fact
that they are not separated, and thus
come within the jurisdiction of the
retired act.
Officers Of the machinists' union got
a tip yesterday of the contemplated
reduction of the force and went to
the office of Assistant Secretary
Roosevelt today. They say they were
about any contemplated. reduction in
the navy yard force.
Plead With Mr.. Roosevelt.
Representative Fred NJ. ZihIman of
! Maryland headed the delegation to-
day. which included N. p. Alifas.
president of District No. A. Interna-
tional Association of Machinists.
I
ington navy yard comes. that called
on Secretary Roosevelt to urge that
the Navy Department advance GER
tain work which it intends to do later
in the year.
Mr.. Roosevelt referred the delega-
tion to the. chief of ordance, who said
that everything is being done to re-
tain as many men as possible and that
the department is still working on
projects to relieve the situation.
The union officers point out that
for months they have been asking
the department to lay plans to re.
lieve the situation which now exists
They had urged the department., they
say, to provide a program which
would give the men an opportunity to
get other work before the result Of
the limitation of armaments went
into effect.
The delegation which visited the
Navy Departm ant today said that last
a private contrs ctor which could have
been done in the Washington navy
yard.
They pointed o.,t that this contract
was let because -therwise at the end
Of the fiscal year the appropriation
the Treasury and could not be a con-
tinuing appropriation obligated for.
The delegation now urges that the
men who are being laid on through
stoppage Of work on the manufacture
of big guns should be given tempo
other equipment for auxiliary craft
which the Navy Department needs un-
til a more efficient way of putting into
effect the curtailment resulting from
the Limitation OF armament has been
worked out. -