Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-30
Railway Workers Ballots
viii Be Counted Here
Beginning Monday.
OFFICIALS OF UNION
CONFER WITH MORROW
Threatened Walkout Would Affect
$50 Employees in Alex
andria Shops.

The wage increase dispute between
the Southern Railway System and $500
OF its shopcraft workers was moving
toward crisis, it was learned today
when an official of the unions shop
craft committee and a railway employe
department representative of the Ameri-
can Federation of Labor conferred with
former Gov. Edwin P. Morrow of Ken
lucky. member of the United States
Board Of Mediation. to whom the case
mas been referred for. settlement.
The threatened strike. which would
also affect more than $50 employees of
the Alexandria, Va, shops, was declared
by officials of the unions shopcraft
committee today to be looming as inn
mlnent unless an agreement is reached
LOT satisfactory settlement of the diff
Ierences now in the hands of the Fed
eral board
Ballots Coming In.
One official ventured to predict that
the strike ballots, sent out by the union
70 all shopcraft employees of the sys-
tenn on March Is and which are still
pouring into the unions headquarters
mere at the National Hotel, would vote
closing time for filing the ballots has
been set at midnight tomorrow night
and the count will begin Monday.
Inc matter was referred to the board
on wednesday last and officials of the
southern have steadfastly refused IN
comment on the situation, dismissing
all queries with I'VE have nothing to
say since the board has assumed itIris-
dlction over the dispute"
Other Roads Gave Raise.
The dispute is attributed by the
workmen to the failure of the Southern
halfway TO voluntarily grant shopcraft
employees the wage increase given by
more than 20 other roads, falling in
line with the recent New York Central
decision and sought for by the South
ern shopcraft workers in an origins
request filed with the company May i
1928.
The employees original request asked
for the creation of daily instead of
hourly pay at the rate of $3.50 per
day for locomotive and passenger car
mechanics; $40 for freight car ma
chanics; $685. per day for all helpers:
s4O6 as starting rate for regular ap-
prentices; S235 per month for mechan-
les and s174.8O for helpers.
The voting. which began last Satur-
day with the distribution of the bal
lots mailed to the employees by William
H. Baldock, member of the unions
shopcraft committee, concerns only
mach1nists, boilermakers, blacksmiths.
sheet-metal workers, carmen and cleo
trlcal workers. Transportation men.
such as engineers, conductors, brake
men, telegraphers and dispatchers, are
not affected.
Criticism Question Raised.
Harry ]. Carr, a railway employe de-
partment representative of the Amer
ican Feoeratlon OF Labor has stated
that the Southern Railway has ex-
pressed the opinion that granting a
voluntary increase to the men would be
critlclzed. The railroad, Mr.. Carr said
takes the position that it must be
oroered by a Government tribunal to
increase wages and that a deviation of
TINS policy would provoke unwarranted
criticism. '''-'eu
We hold, however" Mr.. Carr de-
clared. that the Southern is taxing
tnat position alone in this theory. IN
January board of arbitration decided
laVoraply on increases for shopcraft
workers OF the New York Central Rail
read. Since that time" he continued
~ aodltlonal roads, including some
competitors of the Southern. have VOL
unfairly granted the same rates to their
employees. taking the New York Genital
decision as a precedent"
II was pointed out that IN the event
OF failure of the board of mediation
TO make satisfactory settlement of
the dispute. an emergency board would
be called by the President for further
aroltratlon before the strike order
would be issued.