Imperial Valley press., 1941-11-13

wage dispute between tue Fedora
ton of Long Lines Telephone Work
ers and the American Telephone
and Telegraph Company may or
may not be settled before the
threatened strike deadline Of NoV-
ember IA, but regardless Of the out
come the potentialities of this scrap
are SO far-reaching they make an
interesting case history to show
how complicated one of these ma
tional labor rows can be Incident
ally, it will be we'll to bear in mind
how many sided these labor trou
bles are since the country is ap
parently in for a wave o. such things
during the winter
There is no doubt about whal
this threatened telephone strike
would do to the nations system o.
communications. Local communica-
tions would not be Immediately dis
turbed, but long distance calls, news
services. radio services. telcphOt0
transmission Of neWSpictureS. ticker
services, weather reporting lOr alr
services, and Army and Navy COM
munications would all be affected.
Take first the employer. the AT
& T It is tops OF what's known as
the Bell System. 1t has holding
company function and an advisory
function for II regional operating
companies which give service in
every state in the Union through
about 30 per cent of the country
telephones. Outside Bell are some
6400 independent companies. From
an operating point of view, AT.
& T's chief function is its long
lines department connecting the II
regional operating organizations.
INDEPENDENT UNION
The labor dispute in question IS
with the employees of this long lines
department. There are about $1,000
workers below the grade of super
visor. though the union claims 15.-
900 members belong to the Fedora
ton OF Long Lines Telephone Work
ers. FLLTW is an independent un-
ion, neither A.F of L. nor CLIO.
It's only affiliation with other un-
ions is through the 5-year-old Ma
tional Federation of Telephone
workers which is made up of 81
independent unions. all autonO-
nous. Total membership of the 81
unions is about 10000, of these
10000 are Bell employees. The 81
unions in the national federation
are largely geographical unions.
corresponding roughly to territorial
divisions Of the employing compan-
les.
Particularly since 1929 when the
Bell System made an elaborate
statement of policies, AT. & T. has
made much of its aim ito pay
and wages in all respects
adequate and just" 1t has empha-
lied that its average wage in l94O
vas S37 a week, while in 1925 the
igure was s26 week. An ella
'orate pension system has been set
lp as we'll as system of automatic
-ovancementS to carefully scaled
naximumS for every class of work.
n the words Of the Bell manage
nent, the company has always
nalntalned that its wage policy was
he best that it has been able to
evelop TO date. That policy has.
owever, included some geographi-
al differences in wage scales.
More than year ago, the long
neS workers presented 0pnD.ndc II
'r flat increases. The case was
resented to the Department of La
)r for study Pending lnVestiga ton.
egotiations were suspended. A few
onthS ago the study was complet-
negotiations were resumed un-
r the guidance Of a panel of three
embers of Dr. John r. Steelmans
meditation Service.
The union set its demands for
per cent wage increase and /
1uction of regional wage differ
tialS. The company contends that
2 increases asked range from 9
46 per cent for craftsmen's top
,es Of from $66 to S72 a week and
m 10 TO % per cent for opera
s top rates of from $27 to $34
week. Further, the company con-
ids it has already made cumula-
e counter-offers of increases
ich with increases already made
ring the year amount TO So mil
or 8 per cent Of the wages OF