The New York herald., 1922-06-08
Ordered Dispatched to 100000
Railway Shopmen for
Voting at Once.
RETURNS ASKED JUNE 25
Union Chiefs Send Letter Say
ing Time for Action, Not
Talk, Has Arrived.

CINCINNATI, June Z ASSOCIATED
Press) Three strike ballots were or
dered dispatched to the 100000 railway
shopmen of the country to-day. with
an urgent appeal that the vote be re-
turned to union headquarters In Chi
cago by June 25, leaving a margin Of
Ave days to clear the deck for action
before the shopmen's $60,000.0o0 wage
cut ordered yesterday by the Railroad
Labor Board goes into effect on July l.
Following the release Of the ballots
by the executive council OF the six
federated shop crafts here to-day in
ternational headquarters Of the six
| unions were instructed to send out
letter to all locals urging immediate
action on the ballots.
This IS time for action and not talk
or unnecessary delay" the letter read.
Every ballot is desired to be In Chicago
at the earliest possible moment and in
no case later than June 80. While the
ballots are marked returnable June 80.
every local lodge should rush the return
Of the ballots as soon as the vote Is
taken and IL 1t is humanity possible all
ballots should be in Chicago before June
25. 1922, thus making 1t possible to ad-
| wise the membership before July !. This
can and will be done II the membership
will do their part as herein requested
Facilitation of Vote.
! The letter was regarded as a ceitain
| forecast of walkout on July / II the
vote of the membership favors strike.
! To facilitate taking the vote. every
! local Lodge was instructed to call spe-
cial meeting Immediately on receipt or
| the printed ballots, which are now on
the presses in Chicago.
| The locals were urged by the sxecu-
tive council to make special effort to
have every man eligible to vote cast his
ballot. The letter was signed by the
| six international heads, William H.
Johnston of the machinists. j. A.
Franklin. boilermakers; James Kline.
blacksmiths: ]. j. Hymes. sheet metal
workers; James P. Noonan. electrical
workers: Martin F. Ryan, carmen. and
B. NJ. Jewell. president of the railway
employees department of the American
Federation of Labor. The action OF the
shop crafts follows a decision yesterday
by all the railway unions affected by
wage reductions. issued and pending.
from the Railroad Labor Board. to call
an immediate vote on the new pay
| cuts
The triple barrcled strike ballot of tn /,
shopmen resulted from notification to-
day from the Labor Board that II had
declined to order restoration of wage
and working conditions declared to have
been illegally changed on certain roads.
Vote on Three Propositions.
Two ballots. recently authorized by
the shop crafts convention in Chicago.
but never sent out, were inmediately '
ordered put In the mails. The vote will
therefore be on these three PROPOSE
| tions:
Seven unsatisfactory rules recently
promulgated by the Labor Board.
including five rules wiping out time
and one-half pay for overtime
Farming OUT of shopwork to out
side firms. alleged illegal installation
Of piece work and alleged arbitrary
and unauthorized reduction of wages
by several roads.
The s6o.0oo,0oo pay cut, effective
July /.
The shop crafts on June l. asked the
Labor Board to take jurisdiction over
certain disputes, ordering restoration of
wages and working conditions declared
to have been illegally changed The
board to-day took jurisdiction of dis
putes on six roads. including the
Western Maryland. where a shopmen's
Continued on Papa Six