Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-10-31
RAIL WAY WORKERS
MEET HERE MONDAY
TO PLAN NEW LAWS
Unemployment Is Foremost
Among Vital Questions
to Be Discussed.
ORGANIZATION OFFICIALS
REPRESENT 1,250,O00
Committees Which Have Been Ac-
tive Several Weeks to
Make Reports.
By the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
CLEVELAND, october 31.-Railway
labor organizations will open one of
their most important meetings in re-
cent years when their representatives
gather in Washington Monday to con-
slider questions vital to both the rail-
ways and their employees. which will
later be presented to Congress for
action.
The organizations will be represented
by the Railway Labor Executives As
ISOLATION, composed of chief executives
of the 81 railway labor organizations,
and by B. M. Jewell, president of the
railway employees department Of the
American Federation of Labor. The
executives will represent about $780,
900 railway employees.
Reports to Be Heard.
They will hear reports of commit
tees of the railway organizations, which
for several weeks have been considering
many vital questions, d. B. Robertson,
chairman Of the Executives Association
and president of the Brotherhood OF
Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen,
said.
UNEMPLOYMENT stands out as the most
important question, Robertson said.
General wage readjustments, he added,
will not be considered. The question OF
wages will BE- considered only IN SO far
as they apply to the proposed modinca-
afv,o fhn aOyY1Flila finF
of wage statistics.
T,here are more than $50, 900 railway
workers idle, facing a hard Winter with
little financial help possible from their
employed fellow workers, Robertson
said.
Other Vital Questions.
Coupled with the question Of unem-
ployment, he said, is the question OF
the shorter work day and Sterilization
of employment in the railroad industry,
consolidation CT railroads, the national
pension plan for railroad en1ployeS,
regulation of bus and truck transpor-
taticn On the public highways, and in
land waterway transportation.
Robertson expects "a constructive,
practical program for relieving I'M
employment in the railroad industry
will emanate from the conference"
Failure of Solution.
"All efforts to revive business in the
railroad industry and thereby provide
employment for the several hundred
thousand jobless workers, who are anx-
ious for an opportunity to earn a liv-
ing. have failed" Mr.. Robertson said
Those responsible for the successful
operation of the industry have been I'M
able to find solution. The suggestions
of economists and the Investigations by
Government tribunals have likewise
failed
The railway labor organizations
have been studying this subject for
some time
The suffering among the unemployed
in the railroad industry has reached a
point which demands definite action
which will insure some real measures of
practical relief. The approaching Win
Ter emphasizes the necessity for imme-
date action"
Other questions to be considered in
clude amendments to the railway labor
act, the Federal employers liability act
bill S-4357, limiting the jurisdiction of
the United States District Courts: Fed
eral workmenS compensation law re-
quests of the Ferry Boetmen's Union
and the dining car conductors for ad-
mission into the Railway Labor Execu-
tiveS' Association. general political stu
alton, increases in freight rates request
ed wage reduction by the Chicago &
Northwestern Railway, Endorsement of
political candidates through Labor and
disarmament
Altogether, there will be % subjects
on the program for consideration.