The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1926-09-15


The law provides that an attempt at
an agreement must be made by the
union before it can bring its case be-
fore the board, and this formality win
take little time. The initial move
will occur within the next fifteen days.
The struggle nearly came to head
I'VE months ago when the union with
eighty percent of the twelve thousand
porters and maids on Amrican rail
roads already in its ranks was plan
ming action before the railroad labor
board. The dissolution Of this board
and the substitution of the mediation
board delayed matters, and both the
union and the employers have spent
the time in preparation.
Always Growing.
The union, said G. A. Price, the
financial secretary of Chicago division,
in his headquarters at 3118 Giles Ave.
to a representative of The DAILY
WORKER yesterday, has continued to
gain in numbers. 1t was thought right
to increase the initiation fee recently
from five dollars to ten dollars, while
leaving the dues the same, one dollar
a month.
This was done to equalize the
burden, since those who had the
courage and undertook the expense of
starting the union should expect
little greater initial financial support
to it from those who came later and
pronted by all the work done by the
pioneers. Unionism is q new thing to
Negro workers, said Price, and it may
be that some of the porters are re-
PEELED by this raising OF the initiation,
low as 1t is still compared with the
BENEFITS received. But even at that
the porters continue to Join, the union
Is growing
company's Last Trick.
The company's strategy now is to
place a porter on the so-called board
Of industrial relations" Of It's "plan of
employe representation" Up until tho
company officials got the idea of pre-
tending to represent their own men
before the government mediation COM
mission, there had been no porter on
the board.
The man who now sits on 1t is sup
posed to have been freely elected by
the zone central committee of the
company union. This committee is
composed of eleven men, two-thirds
Of whom, says Price, are stool pigeons.
The porter who now occupies a seat
on the company union -noard of indus
trial relations" is likewise a company
man. chosen because he can be relied
on to betray his fellow workers, and
hopelessly in the minority, one vote
out of ten, in case he should suffer a
change Of heart and decide to go
straight
Union Has Evidence.
When the company appears before
the railroad mediation board with it's
dummy union which now includes a
porter in the administration, and asks
to be allowed to deal with it and
decide the wages Of the porters, 1t will
find that a huge majority of the Pull
man company employees have already
voted against the company union and
in favor of the Brotherhood of Sleep
ing Car Porters in a poll now being
taken by an organization of New York
statisticians headed by Stuart Chase.
Complete Referendum.
The union aids in the distribution
of the questionnaires or ballot blanks,
but the blanks themselves were sent
out and the results tabulated by the
professional statisticians. The blank
states in introduction:
1.-THE results of this referendum as
whole may be used before the board
OF mediation created by the new rail-
road labor act viii you cooperate
by answering these questions care
fully according to directions? You
assume no risk by answering this
questionable, since the law provides
that your name shall not be revealed.
except to the mediation board"
The Men Decide.
After several questions about work
ing conditions, preference as to a
monthly assignment instead OF a mile
ase basis Of pay, pay for preparatory
time, terminal time, delays, doubling,
ETC., regular wage for extra por-