Evening star., 1924-08-24
Results Gained by Cooperation
Between Railroad and Employees

Continued from First Page.)
new idea of industrial co-operation"
was explained to them and they were
given an opportunity to play their
part in the new game. The result was
these men were saved to the railroad.
to themselves and their families.
survey of manufacturing proc
esses, mattrial supply and condition of
tools and equipment was next made.
One of the first steps in cooperation
in GlenWood was to go over the small
tools, scrap the unfit, repair the Grip
Piled and supply new one where
needed, but, above all, to have an ade-
quate supply of good tools always on
hand. This was done on the principle
that nothing so directly affects the
quality of work in a railroad repair
shop as the condition of the tools.
The men. invited to make sugges-
tions, Joined the management in
raightening out the small tool situ-
alton. Additional tool rooms were set
up in different departments to save
waste of time by running about seek
ing tools. Work was co-ordinated and
material supplies replenished which
ended the disastrous custom of rob-
blng one engine to repair another.
was humming and the practice of
men coming late for work or laying
off after payday was eliminated. An
employe who lags behind is disci-
plined. not by his foreman, but by a
committee of his own associates.
If foreman gets rough he is sure
TO hear about it at the next CO.
operative conference, and such con-
ferenCeS are held in the superintend-
eel
New Discipline Methods.
In Glenwood shop there was shop
politics and favoritism shown, there
was friction between some of the
workers and their bosses, as there is
in most shops. Under the new system
the old practice of discharging en-
ployes for slight infractionS of regu-
lations, has given away to a system
of transferring them from one gang
to another or from one shop to an
other. Foremen as well as workmen
are subject to this regulation and
factions and favoritism are thus dis
counted by changing employees and
foremen around. The diSgruntled man
finds after a while that he's got to
work somewhere and that it's up to
him to find some boss or some gang
| that he can get along with and buckle
! down to his work.
The two essential factors in the de-
| velopment of this new relationship on
| the Baltimore and Ohio are co-opera-
| tion between the management and
| the unions in perfecting methods of
| production, and equal sharing by the
| railroad and its employees in the bene-
| fits acCruinG from the cooperation
| Enthusiasm in improving production
| would soon die down, aud out, if il
resulted in greater instability of en-
| ployment and a shortened period OF
| work. Intermittent furloughs and ar
| bitrarY layoffs and shutdowns had
much 10 do with the old demoraliza-
tion at Glenwood. Rush jobs today
! no work tomorrow, bred a vagrant
! spirit in the man. ShiftlesSneSS in or
! Sanization of work in the shop. Why
keep tools in condition, stock up with
repair parts. or step lively on the jot
when the whistle might sleep in the
/ morning?
| Doing own Repair Work.
! The chief item in the work -stabili-
| Zation program so far developed is
| doing Baltimore and Ohio work ir
! Baltimore and Ohio shops Instead OF
| contracting out repair work, the Bal
! timore and Ohio is organizing neces-
| sary repairs into a steady flow to the
! workmen in its own shops. Take the
| modernization of some $50 old loco
/ motives, referred to above, the re-
suit is that :G) The splendid shop
organization, fulS imbued with the
! spirit of cooperation, is kept to-
| Eether to the obvious benefit of the
| road: and CD The jobs of thousands
| of men are stabilized. Incidentally
! the railroad saves something like
| $500 on each locomotive SO modern
| lied. by actual comparison with out
| side contract costs.
| The work on this locomotive mod
| ernizing program was actually start
ed one year ago, about four months
after the policy of cooperation was
/ established
! Now the men in the Glenwood shop
! are not driven. or to use shop term
| "highballed.' They are not working &
| any harder than they did in January
| 1928. but are producing more and do
| ing il in comfort. For example. a ma :
| chinist has invented a tool which per-
| forms certain process in two hours
! instead of seven. They are no longer
| afraid that tomorrow sun will not
| shine on their job. They are not run
ming about the shop aimlessly trying
| to hide from the foreman. There is
no caste or favoritism in the shop, for
the fortman and the men are on equal
! footing as partners.
Material SpoiIage HaIved.
At Glenwood during the first year
| of tryout the cost of spoiled material
| per employe was cut in half, behind
| schedule delays were reduced to a
minimum, and there was a two-thirds
reduction in the average in-shop stay
of locomotives. Glenwood from being
| the worst shop on the line was
brought up to the best the first year
So encouraged is President Willard
and the other Baltimore and Ohio
| officials that they bought out an old
| car factory in Dayton and are now
making their own cars. They also
bought rolling mill at Cumberland
and are rolling their own scrap iron
and reworking it themselves, where
| they previously sold it for junk to
, the steel company. Eventually they
will make everything needed on the
| system from locomotives to screw
drivers, lanterns and monkey
wrenches. The men have proved they
| can do the work cheaper in the Bal
timore and Ohio shops than the Bal
| timore and Ohio can buy outside.
Now other shop crafts have Joined
with the machinists, including the
International Brotherhood of Black
smiths, Drop Forgers and Helpers
the International Brotherhood of
Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders and
Helpers of America; Amalgamated
Sheet Metal Workers international
\lliance; International Brotherhood
or Railway Carmen of America
Sw itchmen's Union of North America
oe Electrical Workers.; Brotherhood
International Brotherhood of Station
ary Firemen and Oilers, and the
United Brotherhood of Maintenance
a,l Oo;1 7 ~
The workers themselves, through
these unions of shop craftsmen have