Evening star., 1943-11-24
Arnold Defends
Bus Line Against
Low Pay Charge
Union Cites Wages
In Claiming Public
Sofety Is Endangered

!" SsOsssssssS oDstS
Sofety Is Endangered
Presenting the Arnold Operated
Bus Lines position in a wage dis
pute that resulted in a one-day
walkout Friday, Joseph L. Arnold,
vice president and general manager,
said today the line paid its drivers
q higher percentage Of gross income
than any of the other nearby Vir-
ginia transportation companies.
Mr.. Arnold appeared before a
special War Labor Board panel
which yesterday heard Eli L. Oliver,
representing Local 1079 of the AFL
Amalgamated Association of Street,
Electric Railway and Motor Coach
Employees Of America, assert that
long working hours of Arnold driv-
ers are endangering the public's
safety.
Mr.. Oliver said the low wage ratio
paid by Arnold has made it extreme
ly dificult for the company to COM
pete on shrunken manpower mar.
ket.
Arnold Cites Increases.
Mr.. Arnold said he had prepared
no figures comparing his company
with the Capital Transit Co. because
conditions affecting the two firms
were entirely different.
Il came here prepared to talk
about Virginia companies" Mr.. Ar
mold said.
Mr.. Arnold said that since January
l. l94l, wages of drivers have been
increased IA cents per hour. He
said this is 81 per cent increase
since the date fixed by the War
Labor Board for computing the
Little Steel formula.
The Arnold drivers are requesting
straight 14-cent-an-hour wage in
crease, overtime payments for shop
employees, continuation Of an arbi-
tration clause in the pending con.
tract and certain wartime modifica-
tions. Employees now receive II
cents an hour for the first year and
81 cents thereafter.
16 and Is Hour Days.
Asserting that in keeping its
drivers on duty for 16 and 18 hours
a day the Arnold line has violated
the Interstate Commerce Commits
sion motor carriers safety regula-
tlons. Mr.. Oliver held that by in
creasing wages the company could
compete more successfully in the
shrunken labor market, thus lessen
ing the need for abnormally long
work hours.
1CC regulations require that a
carrier shall not cause a driver to
work longer than 70 hours in any
consecutive 1872 hours, nor more
than 10 hours in any 24-hour period
unless the driver is off eight hours
during or following a 1o-hour ag-
gregate stretch. Mr.. Oliver said.
However, he added, 16-hour days are
the rule with Arnold drivers.
He said he understood that one
driver had reported the violations
to the 1CC. but had not been able
to get on long enough to follow up
the case"
Driver Fell Asleep.
Brought to the witness stand BY
Mr.. Oliver. Russell Wynkoop. an
Arnold driver, said that on October
20 he went to sleep at the wheel of
his bus after long work week in
which he had worked as much as 18
hours in one day. The accident hap
pened when he fell asleep at the
wheel.
On cross-examination by F. J..
Rice, Arnold counsel Mr.. Wynkoop
said he had been given a l2-hour
rest period the night before the ac-
cident and that he supposed he had
gotten eight hours sleep" Mr.. Rice
said the company requires its men
to get eight hours sleep when pos
sible.
Mr.. Wynkoop said that following
the accident he worked only 90. :
hour days for week as a penalty
for the accident. BY shortening his
day, he said, the company had
stopped his overtime pay.
Other drivers who were brought
to the stand testified that they we're
willing to work the long hours in
order Ito feed our families" John
Claude, who said he had been en-
ployed by the Arnold line for seven
years, testified that DR.. John D. Sui
livan, the company doctor, had ad-
vlsed him to stop working long
hours to prevent nervous break
down.
Disparity in Wages Claimed.
Mr.. Oliver pointed out that Cap
ital Transit employees now received
95 cents an hour and will receive 81
an hour with the approval by the
WLB of new agreement, and that
Alexandria. Bancroft and Washing
ton Transit Co. employees receive 90
cents. He added that requirements
are similar for drivers on all of these
lines and that the wage rates should
be brought closer together.
The contract between the bus
company and the union expired
May 18. Wher negotiations failed it
was certified to the Cancellation
Service of the Labor Department
and then to WLB.
Members of TT special WLB
panel include DR.. Paul Douglass,
president of American University,
chairman: John Twohy, president of
the Mixed Concrete Corp, Norfolk,
Va, representing management, and
E. j. Shea, former secretary of the
Virginia State Federation of Labor,
representing labor.
Al r. n