Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1922-07-05
sHQPMEN CLAIM
! M|sINF QRMAT|ON
! HANDED PUBLIC
Says That Length Of Work
ing Day Is Ignored By
Labor Board in Compare
! son of WAGE With 1917.

The local federation of shopmen
yesterday issued the following
statement:
\ In our statement last Sunday we
dwelt somewhat upon the fact that
the United States railroad labor
board is attempting to mislead the
public as to the present rate of
compensation for shopmen as
compared with the year 1917. In
a statement from Chicago publish
ed by local papers yesterday, 1T is
claimed:
"Machinists who belong to the
shop crafts which have gone on
strike were cut Z cents an hour.
They averaged 77.3 cents and now
average 1903 cents. In 1917 the
date was sos. the new hourly rate
being 80 per cent higher.
Z AS we have previously pointed
out, the board cleverly avoids CIV
ing consideration to the length of
the day in drawing their COMPARE
sons. Maehinists in Albuquerque
in 1917 were paid IS per day, and
the new rate proposes to give them
$3.50 per day, or exactly ~ per
cent more than the rate OF COM
pensation in 1917. instead OF 80
per cent, as inferred by the board.
This means a IL per cent increase
in pay against an increase in the
cost of living of more than SO per
cent, according to the latest fig
rres of the United States depart
ment of labor. :,
The labor board has now caused
to be issued an edict declaring the
shop craft unions as "outlaweo
for failing to abide by the decisions
of that honorable body. and rec
ommending that new unions pc
formed among the men remaining
upon the job and those now enter
ing the service What about the
non-un:on employees, many thou
sands of whom have also walked
out of the shops with the union
men Are they "outlawed" too!
This is not a matter of unionism
or nonunionism. These men nave
walked out as a matter or primer
nile to resist unreasonable and un-
bearable conditions inflicted upon
them by the labor board. at the pc
hest of the Association of Railway
Executives.
Others Violate law.
And. by the way, during the past
two years some eighty dltferent
railroads have openly and flagrant-
ly violated the provisions or the
transportation act and the orders
of the labor board, and we have not
yet heard Of the Association OF
Railway Executives being declared
''outlawed," and suggestions made
for the forming of a new union OF
railway presidents. The employees
have patiently and conscientiously
striven to abide by all of the pro-
visions of the transportation act,
even in the face of violations by
re railroad too numerous to men,
ton, until. through a miscarriage
of justice and biased decision
handed down by a tribunal sup
posed to be unbiased and fair. con-
ditions have been forced upon us
which are unbearable. If we are
ltlaws then the presidents OF
,veral dozen railway companies
should have been long since resting
serenely behind prison bars.
p Lie StdtSIlltllL 10 lliauc tlldI ~ az
tically all trains are running on
time. Any interested person who
will make a check of the situation
will learn that no train has left AL
buquerque on time since the hour
of the walkout, and the situation is
growing steadily worse.
We note a press dispatch quoting
Mr.. John Purcell of Topeka as
saying that 1.167 men are still
working in the shop at that point.
This does not exactly correspond
with a report which we have just
received from Topeka, reading as
follows:
1.-TWO thousand men were en-
ployed in the mechanical depart
ments in Topeka; 1850 quit work
and the shutdown is 95 per cent
effective. Morale good. Number
working is decreasing hourly and
force not working is constantly in
creasing, with no one returning to
work"
4 The situation in Albuquerque re-
mains unchanged. If. as claimed
by the management, few men re"
turned to work. this has been more
than offset by additions to the
ranks of the strikers from men
who did not respond to the call
upon Saturday.
LOCAL FEDERATION OF
SHOPMEN.
The average depth of the seas Of
the world is three miles.