Evening star., 1941-02-17
Skilled Workers Lost
To Plane Industry by
Lack Of Draft Policy
Aircraft Aides Cite
Need of Exemptine
Trained Employees
(TWenty- eighth OF a Series.)
BY JOSEPH S. EDGERTON,
Gtzy Auiotinr Ed{for

NEW 1OEIr>s C6D. Ito prevent
the loss of trained workers in the
aircraft industry there is vital need
for national selective service policy
covering all classes of workers in
the industry, in the opinion Of
officials of the Nations outstanding
factories now engaged in the pro-
duction of aircraft engines for ma
tional defense.
Although local selective service
boards, for the most part, have
shown real desire to cooperate
with the aviation industry, there
have been many instances of the
military drafting of employees who
cannot very well be spared by the
industry.
Some selective service boards ap-
parently work on the theory that
If a man has not been employed for
several years, at least, his services
cannot have become indispensable
to the industry. Such boards are
drafting men with weeks and even
months of service in the industry.
In every such case appeals have
been taken and usually sustained.
The process, however, takes time
and interferes with the work of the
employe concerned and with COM
pany officials who must appear in
the case.
Serious Peril to Industry.
The assumption that man is of
no value to the aircraft industry
ho
of service is wholly erroneous, ac-
cording to heads of the aircraft
engine industry. A man with even
week of service cannot be very
well spared in the face of the pres
ent emergency, since it is estimated
that his loss means the loss of
nearly month before another man
can be selected and trained to the
same level of efficiency and the
resulting lag in production made
good.
Many thousands of workers in
the aircraft industry have been
added during the past six months
and virtually every aircraft plant
now Is in the midst of a personnel
recruiting and training program
which has become one of the major
efforts of the production program.
If all selective service boards worked
on the theory that a man without
at least a month of service in the
industry should be denied defer
ment from military service, the in
dustry might be seriously crippled, it
Is contended.
Some typical examples of the
selectlve service problem at indi-
vidual factories are illuminating:
The Allison Engineering Co.,
General Motors Corp. unit at In
dianapolis, now engaged in produc-
ton of vitally needed id-cooled
engines for three types of pursuit
airplanes for the United States and
Great Britain, has $500 employees
OF draft age with service records
ranging from a few weeks to two
or three years, out Of a present
total Of $500 employees.
Many Trained Men Lost.
No blanket exemption has been
requested and every case is con-
sidered on its merits by selective
service boards and company heads.
There has been no complaint of lack
OF cooperation on the part of the
selective service boards, but there
has been great loss of time in
arguing the merits of individual
cases. No effort has been made to
secure exemptions for non-skilled
labor not directly concerned with
production.
Bell Aircraft Corp, Buffalo. N. Y.
has lost many trained men through
operation of selective service. Espe-
cially serious is the ordering to ac-
tive duty of test pilots who are re-
serve officers in Army and Navy
aviation. Appeals from active duty
orders have been filed in several
cases. Bell now is 1900 men behind
In its personnel expansion program
and the loss of any men, even those
with less than a week of service,
Is regarded as serious.
Exemptions Refused.
Bell officials have suggested that
II mechanics must be taken from
airplane and engine factories to pro-
vide personnel for expanding air
squadrons that they be made crew
chiefs and assigned to maintenance
OF the airplanes and engines they
assisted in building. In this way
the Army would have the benefit |
OF their fundamental knowledge of |
the equipment under their charge
and at the same time the factory
would receive some benefit, after |
thelr discharge from the military |
service, from their experience in |
actual service, with the maintenance
and operation of production equip
ment
Wright Aeronautica1 Corp. is en-
gagged in production of engines in |
five plants in the vicinity of Pater-
SON. N. j. Considerable difficulty |
has been experienced with local
selective service boards, which have
refused exemptions for men with |
several months of experience in
many cases.
The boards have been overruled
on appeal, but much time has been
lost III the process. With a great
expansion program in process at
the New Jersey plants and per-
sonnel being detached for transfer
to a huge new engine factory now
under construction near Cincinnati,
no man can be spared, regardless
OF length of service, from any pro-
duction job.