Evening star., 1944-01-23
Hold-the-Line Wage Control
Circumvented in Many Ways
Administration Approves Various Devices
To Get Around Little Steel
Formula in Major Industries
By J. A. Fos.

passenger train makes in less than five
hours actual running time. the engine
crew is paid for two and e-fourth
days, because 100 miles constitutes
day" The train crew, whose day" is
$50 miles, gets day and half pay In
each instance, the actual time on duty,
including that spent in the terminals at
both ends of the run, is about six and
one-half hours.
In freight service, 100 miles or eight
hours is day" and on a 150-mile
division, the crew gets a day and half
for the trip, which requires, on the
average, 10 to IL hours.
In either class of service, it is next
to impossible for the crews to qualify
for overtime, because they would have to
be on duty for from 1112 to IL hours
before overtime would even start, and
ordinarily, trains do not run that slowly
1t might be added right here that pas
senger enginemen could not get over
time under any circumstance, because of
the way in which their wage schedule is
worked out.
Same Technique in Mine Case.
The technique used in dealing with
the railroad brotherhoods was on all
fours with that employed in the coal
case There, John L. Lewis demanded
a 50 daily increase for his miners. Un-
der the Little Steel" formula the miners
were not entitled to anything because of
a raise obtained in the spring Of 1912.
When the final showdown came, how
ever Mr. Lewis had won cash increase
Of $3.50 day for his men, plus provision
for tools and equipment worth about Is
cents per day per man.
Part of the raise was charged up to
an increase in productive time, but the
miners also obtained compensation for
underground travel, although their right
to this allowance under the Wage-Hour
Act right now is the subject of litigation
in the Federal courts. Also the travel
time was fixed arbitrarily at As minutes
a day, despite the contention of some
operators that it is much more, which
means that production is cut corre-
spondingly.
One important difference between the
raise obtained by the coal miners and
that given to the rail workers is that the
consumers are due to finance the former,
while the railroads will absorb their
added costs out of current earnings The
carriers, incidentally, have also had
about $500 100000 annually Topped off of
their earnings by rate suspension
ordered by the Interstate Commerce
Commission on the application of the
Office of Price Administration and other
Government agencies, which contended
freight charges were too high in view
Of the volume of business the roads are
doing
Against this background, it is evident
that it will be more than difficult to
! deny an increase to the steel workers,
who already have staged one "quickie'
strike to give point to their demand
that any new scale be retroactive. They,
too, have received more than the amount
allowed by the steel formula since jan
uary, 1941, and admit it, but want basic
increase of II cents an hour anyway.
The steel workers and their CIO as
sociates are on record in favor of doing
away with the Little Steel" formula,
which, they insist. does not adequately
represent cost-of- living increases.
What concessions they might receive
If the formula is retained is debatable.
They are asking in addition to the wage
increase more liberal vacation allow
ances and premium pay for certain
shifts.
There is a possibility that new
formula might be developed as the out
growth of living cost study by a War
Labor Board panel appointed by the
President more than two months ago,
when organized labor complained that
Labor Department statistics on costs
were inadequate. There has been moth
ing to indicate the nature of the board
findings, however
A question that naturally arises in
connection with this whole suject is Just
what will happen to these various wage
''reflnements' after the war They rep
resent definite gains for the workers,
and labor can be counted on to spare
no effort to hold them. In less prosper
GUS times, however, management would
not be willing, and perhaps not able, to
finance these extra forms of compensa-
ton, and if and when that comes to
pass they easily can become the source
of additional complications.