The New York herald., 1922-08-02
RAIL EXECUTIVES STAND ON
SENIORITY PLEDGE TO MEN


service and those who are now en-
tering it will have rights of seniority
that the board could not ignore
The chairman Of the boards state
ment that
This is an individual utterance,
but it expresses, in substance, the
sentiments of a large majority of
the members of the Railroad Labor
was justified by formal action of the
board taken in it's resolution of July
3, 1922. which stated. among other
things, as follows:
BE it further resolved, That the
employees remaining in the service
and the new ones entering same
be accorded the application and
benefit of the outstanding wage and
rule decisions OF the Railroad Labor
Board until they are amended or
modified by agreements with said
employees, arrived at in conformity
with the transportation act or by
decision OF this board, and
BE 1T further resolved, That II it
be assumed that the employees who
leave the service of the carrier be-
cause Of their dissatisfaction with
any decisions OF the labor board are
within their rights in SO doing. it
must likewise be conceded that the
men who remain in the service and
those who enter II anew are within
their rights in accepting such en-
ployment; that they are not strike
breakers seeking TO impose the ar
bitrary will of an employer on en-
ployees. that they have the moral
as well as the legal right to engage
in such service OF the american
public to avoid interruption Of indis-
pensable railway transportation, and
that they are entitled to the protec-
ton of every department and branch
Of the Government. State and ma
tional."
stand Fast on Seniority.
1t must be understood that any
proposal that employees now on
strike shall be permitted to return
to the service without impairment
of their seniority, is merely another
way of suggesting that those men
who took employment in this crisis
in good faith. relying on the prom
ises of the railroads to protect them
in their positions, these promises
being justified by the authoritative
utterances of the Labor Board, and
thus have made possible the contin-
ued operation of the railroads. shall
now be saci ifjced in favor of men
now on strike. who not only brought
about the crisis. but by their own
action and declaration are no longer
employees of the railways, under the
jurisdiction of the United States
Railroad Labor Board, or subject to
the application of the transporta-
ton act.
In addition TO the necessity OF up-
holding the Labor Board and main
tanning the pledges made by the
railroads to the men now at work
there is the practical effect on the
supervisory officers OF a violation of
the pledges they were authorized to
make. Their encouragement and
Decentralization would be far more
disastrous than this or any other
strike. Much harm has. already been
done by repeated publication Of
rumors in recent days that the loyal
me-, and the new men are to be sac
rificed to the strikers. This has
discouraged new men from accept
ing employment In as great numbers
as would come forward IL certain
that the pledges given would be full
filled. Such published rumors only
delay the complete collapse Of the
strike
In view of the above, IL Is sub
mitted that the striking former en-
ployees cannot be given preference
TO employees at present In the SER
vice without doing violence to eyery
principle of right and justice in
volved in this matter and without
the grossest breach of faith on the
part of the railroads to the men al
present in their service. Under
these circumstance IL becomes an
parent that the railroads cannot
consider any settlement OF the pres
ent strike which does not provide
protection in their present employ-
ment both to the loyal employees
who remained In the service and to
the new employees entering IL.