The Connecticut labor news., 1924-11-15
CHIEF OF BRITISH RAILWAY UNIONS
 COMING TO U. 5.
C. T. Cramp Is Fraternal Delegate to A. F. of l.. Convection at
 Fl Paso.

d good report to make to the American labor movement" said C. T. Cramp, head of the National Union of Rail waymen and vice chairman of the Brit ish Labor Party, just before he left London for the United States. Mir Cramp is fraternal delegate from the British Trade Union Congress to the American Federation of Labor conven- ton which opens at Fl Paso, Texas, on November 17.
 Cramp is bulky, two-hsted figure of man, with soft, polite utterance. rather unexpected from one swarthy and stern-featured. He looks husky enough for his double task. As gen eral secretary he is responsible for the union business of 375,OOO railway men vice chairman of the Labor Party he presides over conferences whenever Chairman Ramsay Macdonald is oth erwise engaged.
 "How do the railway men get on with a two-handed job, one political the other economic 7'' asked LABOR'S rep resentative-
 "The railway men have always been recognized, l think, as the most politi- cally conscious group among the British unions" said MT. Camp. Locally they've been pioneers It's because they're everywhere more c0Dmopo1itan, not confined to single-industry connlu- mites like the miners or the textile workers We railway men are meeting verybody all the time.
 : There are 1000 members of the N- U. R. who are in local governments, as magistrates or county authorities, in city councils and the like Our men have positions of prominence and responsi- bility in every local trades council and oO3 local labor parties. I am not saying this to crack up ourselves, but to show why am speaking for our unions and our party out of an unusually close touch to them, when I say we are al ways ready for struggle on either po- 1itica1 ,or industrial fields.
 We regard the union and the Labor Party as two sides of the same thing Last year our people donated l0.0GO pounds ($4s,oOO to the party's general election fund, besides the customary weekly ha'penny q cent a week) paid by all as the N, U. R. political levy. In any election the railwaynnen are the cefi- ter of every local knot of live wires. even in the squire and parson' areas (rural regions dominated by landlords and preachers.)
 We are starting the machinery iar the most comprehensive wages and hours campaign since the 1919 strike Meanwhile union we are tightening up. The average increase of membership for several months past has been 600 weekly
 "To complete our wages and hours program we are negotiating with two other unions which have members on the1 railways There have been some diff culties. When our demands are com pleted we will proceed as follows:
 For the train service sections there is the complete system of 'conoiliation grades'-a term of convenience, for the system means much more than that. 1t provides for negotiations, after any break with railway managers, through the central wages board on up to the na- tional wages board composed equally of management and employees with a gov chairman.
 There are six N. U. R. men, six rail way managers, four representatives of railway users, two labor (nominated byl the Trades Union Congress and by the Cooperatives), and two capital (nomi- mated by the Federation of British ln- dustries and by the Associated Cham bers of Commerce) on the national board.
 ''The findings are not obligatory If rejected, of course, strike is imminent. The negotiations may take three months or more"
 Membership dues for the National Union of Railwaymen are pence (1O cents) a week. One cent of this for po- litical levy last year kept the politiel fund at 61,676 pounds (about $30,OOO). One-half of the political fund goes to the head office, the other half stays in the local branch, for use of the local la Dor party.