Evening star., 1943-06-19


Navy announced that only tw
structure of the bituminous industry
has been built on the payment of
wages on the present face face"
basis, that is, for the productive time
at the face of the seam of coal.
He said neither the union nor the
operators had proposed a plan to
take care OF the inequality.
War E Inappropriate Time.
"A time of war is no time to settle
long standing and complex questions
Of this character" he declared.
IF the United Mine Workers. or
any individual miners seek a settle
ment of the dispute as to the legal
rights of bituminous mine workers
to additional compensation under
the Fair Labor Standards Act, the
Wage and Hour Division OF the De-
partment of Labor is the Govern
rnent agency provided for the settle
ment OF such questions subject, of
course, to court review as provided
by section 10 Of that act"
In directing new contract, the
board provided for concessions pre-
viously approved, amounting to
about 20 cents a day. Among them
were elimination of charges for tools,
certain safety equipment and black
smithing, and an increase from $50
to $50 in payments made to the
miners in lieu of vacations.
Mr.. Davis discussed in the ma ajor-
ity opinion not only the travel pay
issue, but also the UNIV demand for
a general wage increase Of 81 a day
which the board denied on May Is.
He said there was no doubt that
miners in the past had suffered
great hardship owing to low wages.
But he declared their present eco
nomic position was good, with aver
age weekly earnings in March
amounting to $4297, compared with
$l4 in 1888.
A 81 increase, he said, would mean
a total increase of 469 per cent to
miners since January /, 194l-the
date used in the boards Little Steel
formula which allows a IS per cent
increase above the level of that time
to compensate for increased living
costs.
1T is obviously impossible" Mr..
Davis continued, for the War Labor
Board to approve any such increase
for the mine workers under the ma
tional wage stabilization policy. To
approve it would fly in the face of
decision after decision of this board
in which We have had to limit the
wage increases allowed to the wage
earners in most Of the great war in
duStries of the country.
Would Wreck Program.
ANY such departure from the gen.
eral rule would destroy the whole
wage stabilization program. 1t would
defeat it's own ends. The resulting
increases in costs of production
could only have the effect to further
increase all prices, including par
ticularly farm and food prices, to
levels which would nullify the wage
increases. 1t would expose the mine
workers themselves to a renewed
danger that their payroll dollars
would be reduced to small change
before they get to the grocery store"
Public Member Wayne L. Morse's
concurring opinion declared it
would be thoroughly dishonest for
the War Labor Board in the name of
portal to portal pay to grant wage
increase to all the miners, including
those who travel underground and
those who do not"
He strongly condemned the miners.
too, for their resort to work STOP
pages, declaring:
One Paramount Issue.
AS result of the economic ac-
ton taken by the United Mine
Workers of America and their off,
GERS in violation of the no-strike
pledge, there is one issue which has
developed in this case which sur
passes all others in significance so
far as the security of this Nation is
concerned: namely, whether or not,
in the midst of a war, the mine
workers will abide by the same rules
and the same laws which are ap-
plicable to all other groups.
If this issue involving the su-
premacy of law should ever be sacri-
feed at the altar of expediency or
under coercion of power, the damage
to the war effort would be much
more costly not only to national
morale, but also to actual war pro-
duction than would be the losses,
unthinkable as they are, which
would result from coal strike 1t
is one issue which cannot be COM
promised if we are to retain a Gov
ernment by law. This writer is con-
fident that 10000 900 Americans do
not want it compromised in this case
or in any other"