The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1942-12-31
Roll Jurisdiction Splits Two
Boards: Little Steel In
Picture

Washington. President Roosevelt
and James F. Byrnes, Economic Stabi-
! lization Director. viii be called upon
| in few days To settle serious juris
dictional dispute between the War
Labor Board and the National NaiI-
way) Mediation Board, it was learned
today.
The two federal agencies are con-
tending for the right 70 make final
! recommendations on the wage de-
mands presented to the Class ] rail
roads by the twenty standard railroad
unions on behalf Of 10000 EN-
ployees.
The WLB has appointed a sub-com-
mittee which will call on Mr. Byrnes
to present the boards side of the dis
pute, while a committee representing
the unions are planning TO see the
President on the same day, if possible
| Representatives Of the carriers will
also seek to lay their case before Mr.
Roosevelt.
The inter-a@ency dispute has grown
out of conflicting interpretations of
their respective jurisdictional fields.
! Under the Railway Labor Act the Ma
tional (Railway) Mediation Board has
! the exclusive duty of mediating dis
putes on the railroads, and the final
step in the boards machinery calls for
J a Presidential fact-tinding or emer-
gency committee to make recommen-
datiOns to the President
The WLB, on the other hand. main
tainS that under the Presidents eXecu-
tive order of Oct. 3, 1912, the board
received authority to stabilize wages
of all employees earning less than
5000 in all industries. The Railway
Mediation Board, however, insists that
the President specifically exempted
the operations Of the Railway Labor
Act from the WLB's puryiew.
The dispute will be settled when the
President, or Mr.. Byrnes, decides
which Of the proposed executive or
ders now being discussed, the one
drawn by the Railway Mediation or
ganiZation or the one written by the
| w LIS, Shdll De approved.
The proposed executive order draft
ed by William Graham Rice for the
WLB would vest in the board the au-
thority to review fact-finding recon-
mendation by an emergency board ap-
pointed by the President in pursuance
of the provisions of the hallway
Labor Law. The board would have
thirty days in which to review an
emergency boards findings and TO ad-
wise the President whether they came
within the boards stabiliZation policy.
Little Steel Formula in Picture
The National (Railway) Mediation
Board is willing to file a copy of an
emergency boards recommendations
with the WLB for its information, so
that check may be made whether its
findings contrayene the Little Steel"
formula under which the WLB allows
a II per cent wage increase 10 cover
the rise in living costs in the eighteen
months ending May, 1912. The WLB
| feels that this is too narrow cOnceS-
sion and presumably believes it has
the right to hold hearings and 10 90
! beyond the grant of authority which
the Railway Board is willing 10 make.
The railroads and their employees
are between the two fires. The car
riers side with the WLB and wish 10
have this board clothed with even
greater authority than the board itself
desires.
The railroads seek to have the WLB
as Il court of appeals in the dispute.
or to appoint the fact-tinding board to
consider the current dispute
The controversy is divided between
the demands of the operating unions
and those of the interpretations
unions The former demand a straight
80 per cent wage increase while the
latter ask for a minimum wage III
crease OF 20 cents an hour. IO-cent-
an-hour minimum and the closed shop.
Unions Want Old Board
On the other hand the unions prefer
to have National Mediation Board re-
tain the jurisdiction to the dispute
until final settlement is made.
The carriers believe that they will
get a better deal from the WLB
while the unions feel that the emer-
gency boards under the railway act
will give them a better break
| \ committee representing the rail-
way unions conferred recently with
the WLB in an effort to straighten out
the jurisdictional dispute. Frank Null
holland attorney for the labor organl-
cations, offered To agree that Il copy
of any emergency fact-tinding commit
tees recommendations shall be filed
| with the WLB to see if they conform