The Daily Alaska empire., 1933-12-01
D|M0ND SEEKS
 BACK PAY FOR
 RAIL WORKERS
Combines that with Effort to Eliminate the l5
 \ Per Cent Cut

WASHINGTON, Nov. 18-(Spec- ial Correspondence)-Gen. Hugh S.. Johnson is striving to have sep arate study made of living costs in Alaska so that it can be con- clusively shown that all Federal employees there are entitled to immediate restoration of the 15 per cent wage reduction. Delegate Dimond has joined with national officers of several of the railway brotherhoods in an effort to not only rescind the cut as it applies to Alaska Railroad employees but to give them back pay to the full amount of what they would have received had no reduction been placed in effect.
 A brief has been presented to Secretary of the Interior Ickes by the brotherhoods requesting such action, and it has also been ap- proved by the Delegate. The others signing it are Arthur J, Lowell, Vice President of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Bremen and En- ginemen; G. w. Laughlin, Assist ant Grand Chief of the Brother hood of Locomotive Engineers; w. G. Johnson, Vice-President of the Order of Railway Conductors; A. F. Stout, National Representative of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees; E. L. Harrigan Deputy President of the Brother hood of Railroad Trainmen, and L. M. Eddy, Vice-President of the Order of Railroad Photographers.
 Text of Brief
 The brief sets forth in part:
 T. While the members of the organizations whom we represent in the employ of the Alaska Rail- road are in the service of the United States, their wages are not fixed by statute. The wages or compensation of these employees were arrived at by an agreement negotiated by the organizations and the then Secretary of the Interior, Hon. Hubert N. Work, signed by the then General Manager, and it's pro- visions were faithfully kept, both by the United States and by the several organizations and their members in the employ of the Alaska Railroad, until the passage of the Economy Act of 1892. ..
 B. The agreement so made in 1925 has never been modified with the consent of the employees of the Alaska Railroad affected, and, in fact, their consent has never been asked. When the Economy Act of 1892 went into effect, the reductions therein prescribed of 8 1-3 per cent of the compensation of the employees of the United States, was applied to all in the service of the Alaska Railroad. :.
 In Separate Class
 "5. The transportation employees of the Alaska Railroad have never been considered as ordinary United States employees is proved by the fact that they have never enjoyed the usual benefits and privileges granted to Federal employees, such as 30 days annual leave, cumulative for a period of several years, sick leave, or retirement insurance. Until the passage of the Economy Act of 1892 they were considered in a separate class, for it was well known and understood that their wages and hours, for the terms of employment had been arrived at by negotiation and compromise, that were not employed pursuant to the law at a fixed statutory salary, as is the case of other em- ployees of the United States. More over, the increases of pay made from time to time for other Fed eral employees have not been ex- tended to transportation employees of the Alaska Railroad.
 '7 There is nothing unfair or negotiable in maintaining the rates of compensation for these men as they were before the reductions made by the Economy Act of 1892 and 1883, for the cost of living in the Territory of Alaska is both
 Continued on Page Two)