The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1932-12-09
R. R. COMMITTEES
REPORT ON PAY
CUT POLICY
Officials Help the Cut;
Members Resist

CHICAGO, Dec. 8.-The General
Committees of the Railway Brother
hoods engineers, firemen, trainmen
and conductors-and Of the unions
affiliated to the American Fedora
ton of Labor, telegraphers, switch
men and the shop craft unions, are
meeting here today to report to the
union officials on the attitude of the
railway workers toward the con-
tinuance Of the 10 per cent wage
reduction of last February and the
additional 10 per cent cut now de-
manded by the railway executives.
Attitude, Toward Wage Cut
The agreement for the 10 per cent
wage slash now in force expires Feb.
1. The issue to be decided is whether
negotiations shall be re-opened with
the representatives of the rail COM
panies or to allow the present agree
ment to lapse and thereby, theore-
tically, at least, to go Sack to the old
wage scale. This would result in the
rail companies serving formal notice
for 20 per cent reduction.
The Temporary Slash
The position of the union Off
Gals, who have made no preparation
for the organization of strike action
or stoppages if the roads refuse to
return to the pre-reduction wage, is
that the companies will be content
to continue the present 10 per cent
reduction for the time being and will
not insist on the additional 10 per
cent slash.
This complacent attitude which
amounts to surrender to the first cut
which was represented to the mem
bership Of the unions as "a temporary
measure" in return for which the
thousands Of men on the extra lists
would be given regular employment
an arrangement which never ma
terialized, some 100000 more being
laid off in the last nine months
and lays the basis for second re-
duction, is arouSing great resentment
among the rank and file.
To Reopen Negotiations
Nevertheless, the union officials
have called joint meeting with the
company representative for Dec. IL
in the Palmer House here where it is
presumed that wage cut negotiations
will be reopened.
Pay Banks from Wage Cuts
The enormous sum required to pay
interest on railway bonds, more than
70 per cent Of which are held by big
banks and insurance companies, is
being sought in wage adjustments"
The fixed charges of the railways
interest and dividend - total now
about $845, 100000 per year. OF this
sum the railway workers by the 10
per cent reduction have been forced
to contribute $215 100000
The additional 10 per chit de-
manded, and apparently conceded as
necessary by the union officials, in
spite of their public denominations of
it, would put a further burden of
approximately $210,ooo,00 on the rail
workers. This does not take into
account the loss in wages caused by
total and part time unemployment
both Of which are increasing.
Banks and Government
The proposals of the railway COM
pan1eS mean that more than half OF
their fixed charges are TO be covered
by wage reductions. The struggle of
the railworkerS is a struggle against
the big banks and financial
concerns of Wall Street and the gov
eminent whose huge loans to the
companies through the Reconstruc-
ton Finance Corporation place it
more solidly than ever behind the
wage cut plans of the railway bond
and stockholders.
The BrotherhoodS Unity Committees
The organization of the rank and
file OF the railway unions for resist
ance to the wage cut is being car
ried on by the Brotherhoods Unity
Committee in a number of the i'm
portant rail terminals including Chi
cago and vicinity.
The number OF rail workers who
are coming to see that the policy of
negotiations adopted by the union
officials is merely preparation for an
other wage cut is growing. Refusal
of the companies to restore the wage
scale as Of February, 1881, will meet
with resistance in various railway
centers, it is indicated by the re-
ports coming into the Chicago head
quarters OF the Brotherhoods Unity
Committee.