Evening star., 1933-07-13
Rehiring Under Preferential
System Is Promised
by President.
CLASSIFICATION DISPUTES
TO BE HEARD BY BOARD
Representatives of Employees Un-
derstand Further Dismissals
Will Be Limited.

Government workers already thrown
gram, and those who face a like fate,
today awaited action by admins
tration officials in charge of the recovery
program that would furnish the jobs
under the preferential status for re-em-
ployment promised them by President
Roosevelt.
The Presidents statement yesterday
that those workers who had won their
civil service status by competitive test,
as opposed to the class "blanketed in
by executive order, would go on pre-
ferred list" for employment in the new
emergency agencies was followed late in
the afternoon by conference with Will
liam Green, president Of the American
Federation Of Labor, and officials Of the
American Federation of Government
Employees, an affiliate, who laid before
Mr.. Roosevelt the cause of the ousted
workers, approximating 1000 here.
Green said afterward that he and
his associates were advised that 1t is
intended that the rank and file Of the
workers in the new agencies must be
chosen from the preferred list"
Further Dismissals Limited.
The visitors also gained the impress
sion. it was said. that there will be a
limitation on further dismissals. and
that In many cases, those who would
have been dropped will be, instead,
merely transferred to the new emer-
gency establishments.
At the conference also it was brought
out that the President proposes to
grapple with one sore spot that has
arisen in connection with the separa-
tions, by setting up board Of appeals
to hear controversies on efficiency
ratings.
The charge has been made freely that
when the annual efficiency marks were
given in the various agencies on May
Is, reduced ratings were applied in
discriminatory to facilitate removals.
The Presidents plan. it is understood.
would call for a board to be composed
of member Of the Civil Service Com
mission, representative of the en-
ployes and a third member, neutral, to
pass on the merits of these disputes.
Will Consider 30-Hour Week.
These efficiency marks are estab-
lished by administrative Offices in the
several agencies.
The visitors also understood that the
President would give favorable con-
sideration to their argument in behalf
Of the 30-hour week for Government
workers.
Green was accompanied by John
Arthur Shaw. national president of the
Federation of Government Employees,
and John P. Simpson. president of the
Interstate Commerce Commission Lodge
of the Federation, who also is chair
man Of the newly-formed Civil Service
Reinstatement League, promoted by the
federation to aid the workers who are
losing out
While Green and his associates ex-
pressed satisfaction over the outlook,
Luther c. Steward, president Of the
National Federation of Federal En-
ployes. the rival employe group, COM
mented today that the efficacy of the
preferred list" would only be de-
termined by the way it works out.
New Reductions Loom.
Any general rehiring of dismissed
employees would be marked departure
from past practice, as only in the Agri-
cultural Adjustment Administration and
the Transportation Co-ordinator' Office
has there been a definite program of
using civil service workers, despite the
fact that this is not required by law,
these, with other new agencies, having
been exempt from classified civil service
requirements.
The bulk Of the separations, started
on July /, will be concluded Saturday,
when the first half of the month ends,
although it has been forecast in two de-
partments and Interior
that the separation program will be in
progress for some time.
Further, new reductions loom the
middle of next month when the several
consultations proposed by the Presi-
dent go into effect, but the extent Of
these will not be known until the alb
sorhing agencies decide on the number
of workers to be retained