Evening star., 1943-12-28


rangements which may be neces-
sarv In helping carry out the Army
control plan
Move Is Surprise.
The Presidents action, announced
last night and effective Immediately,
took most OF the Capital by surprise
because the wage controversy ap-
peared to be we'll on the way to
settlement
But, said the President. Il cannot
wait until the last moment to take
action to see that the supplies to our
hsnting men are not interrupted I
am accordingly obliged to take over
at once temporary possession and
control Of the railroads 10 insure
their continued operation.
! The Government will expect
every railroadman TO continue at
his post Of duty.
! The major military offensiveS
now planned must not be delayed
by the interruption of vital trans
portation facilities. II any employees
OF the railroads now strike, they will
be striking against the Government
of the United States"
Seventeen Call Of Strikes.
Seventeen OF the 20 unions had
Withdrawn strike calls and accepted
the Presidents proposal to let him
referee their dispute, and two more
DAYS remained before the Thursday
, strike deadllne to induce the other
three to do likewise. Those three
conductors, flremen and switchmen
represent about 10000 Of the
country'S 100000 railroad employees
, Although the leaders of those
j three operating brotherhoods did not
comment Immediately. the possibil-
lty OF an interruption of railroad
service appeared definitely passed
1t was believed probable, however.
that If the conductors, firemen and
switchmen accepted the Presidents
decision on the merits of their de-
mands, they would do so with ex-
pressed unwillingness in order to
preserve their future bargaining po-
sition on the disputed points.
Nevertheless, the Presidents order
indicated that the possession is to
be nominal in effect, so far AS pos
sible
| The Secretary said the order,
shall permit the management of
carriers taken under this order to
continue their respective managerial
/ functions to the maximum degree
possible consistent with the pur-
poses OF this order
! Termination of Government con-
/ troll is to take place as soon as Mr..
/ Stimson determines that it is no
longer required to prevent inter
ruption Of transportation service"
Under the Antistrike Act. private
properties taken over by the Gov
ernment must be returned to their
owners within 60 days after normal
operations are resumed.
| simultaneously, the President
awarded an increase of 5 cents an
hour and weeks vacation annually
to the employees represented by the
Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen
and the Brotherhood of Locomotive
Engineers who had accepted the
Presidents offer last week TO decide
their case himself
An award of cents an hour al
ready is in effect The additional
5 cents, the President said. is to be
paid as the equivalent of Or in lieu
OF claims for time and-a-half pay
/ for time over 40 hours and for ex-
penses away from home
"NenOps" Accept Offer.
| The IS incorporating unions, rep
reSenting 100000 employees, sent
word to the President late yester-
day they were accepting his offer
of arbitration. They defined what
| they understood was to be arbi-
trated, but their Interpretation is
not acceptable to the carriers, Mi
Roosevelt said.
! The 'nonops' notified the Presi-
dent they accepted Sterilization Di-
rector Fred NJ Wilson's authoriza-
ton OF graduated increases of to
10 cents an hour This acceptance
had the effect. in their opinion. of
removing basic wage increases from
the arena of arbitration. The unions
then said. The only remaining ques-
ton in dispute is, Shall the nom
operating group receive the benefits
OF overtime after 40 hours per week
offered to the operating group"
The equivalent of overtime after
40 hours to the incorporating en-
ployes has been calculated at 4 to
6 cents an hour These Office. shop
and rail employees now have an
established 48-hour week and are
not subject to the wage and hour
law. The 'nonops" have been hold |
ing out for cents an hour-a scale |
to which Mr.. Vinson objected.
This decision OF the "nonops" to
accept arbitration apparently en-
gendered no i'll will between them
and the three operating unions.
Their relations have been harmoni-
Gus, though their cases are sepa-
rate.
Order Viewed as Freeze"
Ssme persons interpreted the
Presidents award to the trainmen
and engineers as freeze for the
duration. His decision said "the in
creases in pay above recited shall be
paid until proclamation by the
President or declaration by the Con-
gress of the cessation of hostilities:
and that the agreement now arrived
at in time of war shall be without
prejudice to rights of either party
at the expiration Of the date above