Evening star., 1945-11-08
Transit Negotiafors
Report 'Headway' al
Conference
Demand of Union for
30-Cent Poy Boost
CoIIed Only Issue

NegotlatorS attempting to iron
out the wage dispute that caused
Ia 35-hour tieup in transit service
here reported today they had
made headway" during "very
pleasant meeting" in the Offices
of the Capital Transit Co. this
morning.
The conferees recessed at 1890
PM. after discussing the contro-
versy for two and a half hours. The
session was to be resumed at pm.
Attending the meeting were Govern
ment officials and representatives OF
the company and the AFL union Of
streetcar and bus employees.
/. Martin j. O'Connell of the Labor
Departments Cancellation Service
was named chairman of what the
participants called the Cancellation
panel. Mr.. O'Connell said the morn
ing was spent reviewing the back
ground of the dispute. The only
issue, he said, is the unions demand
for 30-cent hourly wage increase.
Service Is Normal.
Meanwhile, service was normal
throughout the system today. For
the first time since Monday, the
SOC. 900 workers who normally de-
pend on mass transportation con-
veyances were able to get to their
jobs without thumbing rides or walk
ing.
The negotiations over the unions
wage increase demand began at 10
am. as specified in the agreement
which ended the two-day walkout
of the company's $500 operators.
The work stoppage was estimated
to have cost the company $4,000
in gross revenue, based on figures
filed monthly with the Public Util-
tiles Commission. The loss to the
employees is about $4,000.
The company and Local $50 of the
Amalgamated Association of Street,
Electric Railway and Motor Coach
Employees have IA days in which to
adjust their differences, under terms
of the back-to-work agreement. If
a settlement is not reached by No.
vember 81, union leaders warned,
the men will walk out again.
The conference between the two
parties is being held at the COM
pany offices, with three representa-
tives of the Labor Departments
Cancellation Service on hand. The
conciliators, named by Edgar L..
Warren, director of the service, are
Richard Goodrich, who played
leading role in ending the work stop
page; Mr.. O'Connell and Gilbert
McC Cutcheon
Chairman Randolph of the House
District Committee, who was instru-
mental in working out the 14-day
true plan yesterday, did not attend
the opening of negotiations because
his presence was required at a House
Committee hearing. Mr. Randolph
was reported to have told confer
ence of company and union leaders
at the Labor Department yesterday
that he had been called upon to in
tervene in the dispute by President
Truman.
Negotiate for Company.
The company is represented by its
president, E. D. Merrill; Samuel
Emmons, transportation manager,
and A. F. McDougald, superintend-
ent Of equipment.
Union negotiators are Sam Ber-
rong, secretary-treasurer of the
International Union: William F.
Simms, president of the local, and
Walter H. Van Stavern, Walter Bier
wagen and r. E. Hanna, comprising
a new union bargaining committee,
named by the membership Tuesday
after dissatisfaction with the old
Contracts Committee was expressed.
Union officials spent some time
before negotiations opened talking
among themselves in the company's
boartlroom, while company officials
and conciliators waited in Mr.,
Merrill,s Office. Later all the con-
lferees met in the boardroom.
Personnel of the negotiating con-
ference is virtually the same as that
LOT the Cancellation meeting yester-
lday which worked out the truce
" -