Evening star., 1942-11-15
Many Firms Seeking
10 Join in Draft
Manning Table, Plan
System Of Tuking Men
Without Tying Up War
Work Wins Popularity
BY MIRIAM GUTENBERG.

power oIIlceS With requests tt
participate in the "mannins
table plan" providing for an or
, derly withdrawal of their work.
ers from war plants to the Army
a manpower official disclosed
last night.
Still in the experimental stage
! and purely voluntary, the plan is
getting such a reception that some
thing OF priority system will have
: to be set up so that the most critical
manpower problems in war plants
will be dealt with first, the official
said.
& Although District draft officials
spent two days at a regional meet
ing last week learning how the plan
affects their operations, it was
understood that no employers here
had yet expressed a desire to par
! ticipate.
= Purpose of Plan.
The plan, in brief, provides for
the withdrawal from a plant of
draft-eligible workers at such a rate
that production will not be dis
turbed.
= Outside Of listing manufacturing
plants whose business volume is IS
per cent or more in war work and
certain essential industries such as
utilities and railroads, manpower
officials have not been too specific
about what companies can partici-
pate in the plan.
1t was indicated, however, that
the list of "a essential activities
put out by the War Manpower Com
mission as a guide to draft boards
might also be considered as a basis
for considering a company for par
tlclpation in the manning table
plan"
Locally, that might bring in COM
munications services, such as tele-
phone, telegraph and newspaper
companies; transporta ton services
and the public utilities.
Federal Activities Might Apply.
In addition, some Government
activities whose purpose and struc-
ture approximate industry" might
apply for inclusion in the plan.
Under this heading might come the
Bureau Of Engraving and Printing,
the Government Printing Office, and
the Navy Yard.
Here's how the plan works:
The employer obtains the man.
ming table application from the re-
glonal director of the War Man
power Commission. The regional
Office here is at 2145 C street NV.
If the application is approved, the
plant owner receives five copies of
a manning table with instructions
for compiling it. Several different
schedules must be worked out, but
manpower officials contend that even
a plant employing several thousand
workers can be checked and man.
ming tables prepared by two quail
fed persons, clerk and a typist,
within a short time.
Each job classification within
plant must be analyzed and the rel
ative Importance of various job
classifications determined, funda-
mentally on the period of time re-
uuired to train replacement. Also
indicated is the status of workers in
regard to their liability for military
service.
Schedule Prepared.
Using the manning table or in
ventory as basis. replacement
schedule is prepared providing for
the replacement of men In each job
classificat ton and the time in which
the replacement can be accom-
plished.
When his schedules are prepared,
the applicant retains one and for
wards the other four to the regional
War Manpower Commission direc-
tor who arranges for validating the
employers plan, retains one of the
copies and forwards the others to
the State director of selective serv-
ice, the area director of the United
States Employment Service and to
the War Manpower Commission.
When the State selective service
director accepts the employers re-
placement plan, he assigns State
acceptance number to the employer
who will then be authorized to use
this number and to place stamp
bearing that number on the re-
quests he then files for the occu-
pational deferment of his men.
A new occupational deferment will
be used, showing how long it will
take to replace man. The time in
dicated will be taken from the ac-
cepted manning table.
Illustration of System.
In plant of 1000 workers, an
employer may find 1.500 are women.
over or under draft age or physically
handicapped OF the remaining 500,
only so may be necessary men" but
If the $50 others were all taken at
once production would bog down.
The arrangement, then, would call
for some Of the men to be called each
month. They would either be held
in IA with note that their induc-
ton is postponed for certain num-
ber of months or they would be clas-
sified In IA or 2-B even though
they were not actually necessary
men,"
Meanwhile, the employer would
be replacing them from the reserve
labor supply of women and over
age men.
In notifying draft boards last
week of the manning table plan,
national selective service headquar-